The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) recently hosted its annual High School Conference at the Seamans Center for the Enigineering Arts and Sciences.

The conference gives high school junior and senior level girls the chance to learn about what a career in engineering entails. SWE pairs with the East Central Iowa (ECI) Professional SWE chapter to hold the event.

This year's conference was planned by Tess Davis, a junior in biomedical engineering, and Anastasia Hertz, a senior in biomedical engineering.

A highlight of the conference was a tour of the college's Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Lab, conducted by Matias Perret, lecturer in mechanical and industrial engineering.

The DFM lab is a student workshop that provides students with practical hands-on design and manufacturing experience to College of Engineering students. Students are introduced to the DFM lab while taking ENGR:2760 Design for Manufacturing, where they gain hands-on manufacturing experiences while completing course lab assignments. Upon completing ENGR:2760, students continue to use the DFM lab for subsequent class projects, including Senior Design, Mechatronics, and Experimental Engineering. The DFM lab is also utilized by the college's student organizations for their prototyping needs. 

The High School Conference also included activities such as binary coding bracelets, discipline presentations presented by current University of Iowa engineers, a professional engineering panel consisting of women engineers, dinner with faculty members, biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and chemical and biochemical lab tours, a Guess the Male Engineer Q&A game, and the challenge of making a Rube Goldberg machine.

The conference was attended by about 30 women, many of whom have already been accepted into the College of Engineering.

For more photos on the conference and the DFM Lab Tour, go to https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6KpPSib1jC4dzJvMkliRWttLVk.