Engineering AmbassadorsAchieving Excellence in Presenting
Sponsored by the NSF Penn State University
September 9 - 11, 2016
Contents of Workbook
Learning Notes for Junior Ambassadors Content & Structure 1 Visual Aids 7 Delivery 12
Learning Notes for Senior Ambassadors 15
The TED Commandments 18
Assertion-‐Evidence Guidelines 19
Power Point Tips 20
Presentation Feedback Guidelines & Sheet 21
Resources & References 23
Instructor Bios 25
Workshop Goals for Junior Engineering Ambassadors
1. To learn the messages of Changing the Conversation2. To learn the skills needed to communicate those messages3. To apply those messages into a talk for middle school and high school students4. To develop a presentation so that it is classroom ready
Workshop Goals for Senior Engineering Ambassadors 1. Offer mentorship and guidance to new Engineering Ambassadors2. Refresh your presentation skills and knowledge of outreach practices3. Learn new and advanced methods of communication to share the messages of Changing
the Conversation4. Further strengthen the bond between ambassadors in your program and across the
Engineering Ambassadors Network
©Engineering Ambassadors Network www.engineeringambassadors.org www.assertion-‐evidence.com 1
w]
w]
To excel in your presentations, you will need content, passion, and a keen sense of the audience
Some perceptions that middle and high school students have about engineering need to be reshaped
©Engineering Ambassadors Network www.engineeringambassadors.org www.assertion-‐evidence.com 2
Our messages should be guided by the findings of the National Academy of Engineering
Engineering makes
Engineering encourages
Engineering is essential to our
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 2
Content
Delivery
This workshop discusses strategies for how to be successful in three critical areas of your presentation
Visual Aids
Successfully structuring your presentation calls on youto lead your audience up your mountain of information
*
Path
Entry point
[Bauer, 2005]
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 3
To have your ideas stick with your audience, your message should contain certain qualities
S U C C E S S
Working against you is the
Beginnings engage and prepare the audience
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 4
A key step with the introduction is finding an entry point that __________________
Your talk should have organization clear for the audience
to keep the
A good way to keep the audience on the trailis to
In your speech, you have to decide which details to reveal and which to keep beneath the surface
[ralphclevenger.com]
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 5
[Matthew Bates]
A CT/PET scan images like a weather map where the boundaries and activity are displayed simultaneously
can be effective to gainthe attention of an audience
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 6
To keep the audience on the trail, you often need to
Your talk should have a
[Resonate, Duarte, 2010]
The ending of the talk is your final opportunity to influence the audience
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 7
w]
w]
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 8
n Different alloys have different in-reactor corrosion rates and consequently different degrees of hydriding and degradation of mechanical properties
n => benefit of designing good alloy (e.g. M5 (Framatome) and ZIRLO(W) have better corrosion properties than Zircaloy)
Hydrides are brittle and can severely degrade cladding ductility
Sabol et al. Portland 1997
Oxidation measured by weight gain
Exercise: With a partner, identify the three biggest problem that you see in projected slides
1.
2.
3.
Typical Slide
PowerPoint’s defaults have not changed much since 1987
2003
1987 2007
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 9
Corrosion and Hydriding
PowerPoint’s defaults run counter to how people learn
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
A data acquisition system changes the form of the data
[estevejobs.com]
A key assumption is that
A digital acquisition system has to sample at a rate fast enough to retain the shape of the analog signal
Measurement Device
Analog- ‐to- ‐Digital Converter
Also, the slides that we project are for our rather than for
,
≠
Temperatures in urban centers are often much warmer than in surrounding rural areas
Build your talk on
[CSP, pp. 115, 184]
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
Research shows that green roofs are extremely effective in lowering the roof temperatures of buildings
[Chicago City Hall, EPA]
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
In a scientific presentation, the sentence headline serves as a for the audience
CSP, p. 135 [Bunoz]
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
6,0 000,000,0 000,000, ,000,000,0 ,000,000,0times the strength of
Nuclear energy is the energy that holds protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of an atom
When an object is placed in a liquid, the liquid level rises
The basic forces of Felix’s free fall can be found using Newton’s Second Law
= ½ ρACv2
Σ F = ma
= mg
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
To avoid the weak defaults of PowerPoint, use an artist template
CSP, pp. 154- ‐159
Questions ?
June 23, 2008 2008 ASEE Annual Conference -- Pittsburgh
A common error in the endings of scientific talks is
[CSP, pp. 181- ‐184]
Miscanthus x giganteus
In conclusion, miscanthus is a promising fuel crop for the northeastern United States
Energy ratio 6:1
Cold tolerance:6⁰ C
Questions?
Root depth: 2 m[Energy Biosciences Institute]
[TED.com]
In the assertion- ‐evidence approach, the speaker shows ownership of ideas by fashioning sentences on the spot
Many engineers and scientists have had successusing the assertion- ‐evidence approach
CSP, pp. 199
Handlin Nervou
]
Delivery is the interaction of you, the room,and the audience
VoiceMovement
g sness
[TED.com]
HandlingEquipment
[TED.com
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
Because undercut your authorityyou should invest effort to rid your speech of them
We have long known that one’s body language affects how the audience perceives one’s confidence
[psmag.com]
Your body language does not just affect the audience— it also affects
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
[UConn EA Program]
Presenting in a team introduces special challenges, especially with movements
[WPI EA Program]
In your delivery, your goal should not just be to handle nervousness, but to
©Engineering Ambassadors Networkwww.engineeringambassadors.o 1
Lauren Murphy 1
Guidelines for Creating a Scientific Film
Planning● Create a story that connects your ideas and experiences to your audience.
○ Define who your audience is.○ Be able to summarize your story into a one sentence main message.
● Be creative in deciding how you will tell your story through video.● Your video can have scripted and unscripted parts.
○ Scripted: narrative style with a planned story written ahead of time■ This could include voiceover or narration.
○ Unscripted: documentary and interview style, ask people relevant questions to get more candid responses
■ Spend time planning who to interview and what questions to ask.
Shooting● The main footage to collect will be your interviews or other main content.
○ Align your subject with the Rule of Thirds.
Lauren Murphy 1
○ Make sure the subject looks across the camera to avoid empty space behind them.
○ The subject can also talk directly to the camera. This works well for scripted dialogue directed to the audience.
○ When conducting an unscripted interview, have the interviewee repeat the question in the answer.
○ Make sure you shoot in an area where the background is visually and audiblynon-distracting.
○ Shoot your subjects in lighting that keeps their faces bright and not shadowy■ Don’t place your subject with a bright light behind them.
● In addition to shooting the interviews or main content, you will shoot and collect b-roll.○ Broll includes all of the visuals that are not the main content or interview.○ Shoot a wide variety and large amount of broll.○ In addition to shooting broll on your iPhone or camera, collect media from other
sources or create your own.■ Videos or photos from your organization■ Powerpoint Slides■ 3D models or sketches■ Animations■ Videos available through Creative Commons
Lauren Murphy 1
Editing● A technique for editing is to arrange all of your interviews or main content first, then cover
with relevant broll as needed.● The iMovie layout is shown below, with similar conventions in Windows Movie Maker and
other editing programs.○ Footage is imported into the Events Library and viewed in the Viewer.○ Clips are selected from the Events Library and dragged into the Timeline.○ Within the Timeline, clips can be arranged and trimmed with all changes shown in the
Viewer.○ Music and other media can also be imported into the Events Library and then dragged
into the Timeline.○ The Timeline displays your final movie.
● Titles help convey information to your audience quickly and efficiently.○ An opening title will introduce your video to the audience.○ A lower third includes a person’s name and title to introduce the subject to the
audience.○ At the end of your movie, give credit to you and your team members, people in the
movie, and any media that needs attributed through Creative Commons.○ iMovie and Windows Movie Maker have templates for various forms of titles and
rolling credits.● Adding music to your movie can help convey an emotion or help keep the pace.
○ Do not use copyrighted music in your movie.■ iMovie has music available within the Jingles Folder in Sound Effects.■ Free Music Archive has music available through Creative Commons. Be sure to
check the license for each song and attribute the artist as needed.
The TED Commandments
These are the guidelines that are sent to speakers invited to present at the TED conference. Given the consistently excellent presentations that occur at TED, these guidelines can also give us something to think about when giving our own presentations. See all of the videos of the TED presentations at www.TED.com.
1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story.5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.
18 www.TED.com
Exhaling through the midlateral slits does not disturbthe vapor stream from the scent source
scentsource
[Settles et al., 2002]
Guidelines for Assertion–Evidence Slidesfrom The Craft of Scientific Presentations
Style1. Begin each body slide with a sentence assertion‐ headline that is left
justified and no more than two lines2. Support the assertion headline with visual evidence (photographs, drawings,
graphs, films, or words and equations arranged visually)—avoid bullet lists3. In the body of the slide, use words only when necessary—design your slides
so that the audience reads no more than 20 words per minute
Typography1. Use a bold sans serif typeface such as Calibri2. Use 28 point type for the headline, 18–24 point type for the body text, and
12 14‐ point type (not bold) for reference listings3. Avoid setting text in all capital letters, in italics, or with underline
Layout1. Keep blocks of text, especially the headlines, to no more than two lines2. Keep lists to two, three, or four items3. Use small margins on the sides, so that you can insert sufficient white space between
elements—for instance, leave at least one half inch‐ of white space below the headline
PowerPoint Template: http://writing.engr.psu.edu/AE_template.ppt
The Craft of Scientific Presentations 19 Michael Alley, Penn State
Key Features in PowerPoint for Assertion−Evidence Slides
1. Blanking the screen: Press B button in slideshow mode. To unblank the screen, simply press B again.
2. Jumping to a slide during a slideshow: Type in the slide number that you want to jump to and then hit Enter. Tip: place a post it‐ on your laptop with the numbers of key slides in your presentation.
3. Grouping objects: To group objects such as a photograph and its reference listing so that you can animate in both at the same time or so that you can simply move them around as one unit, use the Group button, which is under the Format tab across the top of the screen. See Figure 1.
4. Aligning and distributing objects: To position visual evidence and text blocks in the body of a slide, use the Align button, which is under the Format tab across the top of the screen. This feature, shown in Figure 1, allows you to align objects on a left, top, right, or bottom edge. The feature also allows you to distribute three or more objects vertically or horizontally.
5. Setting the order of images that are stacked on one another. For slides in which you have images stacked on one another, such as in an animation sequence, you can establish the order of which image is on top with the Bring to Front feature and the Send to Back feature, which is under the Format tab.
6. Cropping images: To remove unwanted details from illustrations, which is under theFormat tab across the top of the screen.
7. Keeping the format of a pasted slide: When you paste a slide into a file, PowerPoint tries to change the format of the pasted slide format of the file. That can be a problem. To keep the format of a pasted slide, you need to click on Keep Source Formatting, which will be under a small tab beneath the slide that is pasted (see Figure 2).
Figure 1. Features under the Format tab. Figure 2. Tab to retain format of pasted slide.
The Craft of Scientific Presentations20 Michael Alley, Penn State
Engineering Ambassador Presentation Feedback Guidelines
Content Do the assertions and visuals match the message? Does the content support the messages of Changing the Conversation and inspire interest in
STEM fields? Is the technical information tangible and understandable? Is the content relevant and connectable to school curricula? Have possibilities for demonstrations/hands-on activities been considered? Is the presentation organized in a way that is easy to follow?
Slide design Are the assertions consistently and appropriately formatted? (1 sentence, 2 lines max, 28 pt.
Calibri bold font, left-justified assertions) Are the text, animation, and color schemes consistent, readable, and non-distracting? Are all images appropriately formatted and sized with proper citations and image quality? Does the presentation rely on assertion-evidence style rather than default PowerPoint
settings (i.e. Bullet points, backgrounds, headings, etc.)? Are the slides visually appealing with effective and aesthetic use of positioning, evidence,
and empty space?
Delivery Does the presenter show passion, excitement, and confidence? Do the presenters show partnership dynamic and divide the presentation responsibilities
evenly? Does the presenter appropriately use humor and/or personal experience to enrich the
presentation? Does the presenter effectively use their body (including their facial expressions and eye
contact) and their space while avoiding distracting habits (i.e. playing with hair, pacing, wringing hands, etc.)?
Does the presenter enunciate and project keeping an appropriate pace while avoiding verbal fillers?
Does the presenter display preparation and sufficient knowledge of the content while maintaining a conversational and natural tone?
Does the presenter use smooth transitions and/or blank sides to enhance presentation flow and coherence?
Audience awareness Are the scope, breadth, and depth of the topic appropriate for the audience? Is the presenter relatable, personable, and engaging? Were techniques, such as discussion, questions, or activities, used to engage audience? Is the grade level (high school or middle school) of the audience evident?
Developed by Engineering Ambassadors from Penn State, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and University of Connecticut
21
Presentation: Time: Presenters:
Continue:
Start:
Stop:
ContentContinue:
Start:
Stop:
Delivery
Continue:
Start:
Stop:
Slide designContinue:
Start:
Stop:
Audience awareness
References & Resources
Articles
Alley, Michael, & Kathryn A. Neeley (2005). Rethinking the design of presentation slides: A case for sentence headlines and visual evidence. Technical Communication, 52 (4 ), 417-‐-426.
Alley, M., Schreiber, M. M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the design of headlines in presentation slides affects audience retention. Technical Communication, 53 (2), 225–234.
Garner, J., M. Alley, A. Gaudelli, & S. Zappe (2009). The common use of PowerPoint versus the assertion–evidence structure: A cognitive psychology perspective. Technical Communication, 56 (4).
Garner, J. and M. Alley (2013). How the Design of Presentation Slides Affects Audience Comprehension: A Case for the Assertion-‐-Evidence Approach. International Journal of Engineering Education. 29 (6), 1564-‐-1579.
Gomes, Lee (2007, June 20). PowerPoint turns 20, as its creators ponder a dark side to success. www.wsj.com. The Wall Street Journal.
Pallotta, Dan (2011) I Don’t Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore. https://hbr.org.
Harvard Business Review.
Parker, Ian (2001). Absolute PowerPoint. www.newyorker.com. The New Yorker.
Schwartz, John (2003, 28 September). The level of discourse continues to slide. www.nytimes.com. The New York Times.
Shaw, Gordon, Robert Brown & Philip Bromiley (1998). Strategic stories: How 3M is rewriting business planning. Harvard Business Review, 41–50.
Sweller, John (2005). Implications of cognitive load theory for multimedia learning. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, ed. by Richard A. Mayer. New York: Cambridge Press, pp. 19–30.
Books
Alley, Michael (2012). The Craft of Scientific Presentations, 2nd ed. New York: Springer-‐-Verlag.
Atkinson, Cliff (2008). Beyond Bullet Points. Washington: Microsoft Press.
Berkun, Scott (2009). Confessions of a Public Speaker. Cambridge: O’Reilly.
Carey, Benedict. (2014). How We Learn. New York: Random House.
Duarte, Nancy (2008). Slide:ology. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
Duarte, Nancy (2010). Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences. Sebastopol, CA: John Wiley and Sons.
Gladwell, Malcolm (2008). Outliers. New York: Penguin Books.
Gallo, Carmine (2014). Talk Like TED. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Godin, Seth (2010). Linchpin. New York: Portfolio.
Heath, Chip, & Dan Heath (2007). Made to Stick. New York: Random House.
Heath, Chip, & Dan Heath (2010). Switch. New York: Random House.
Mayer, Richard E. (2001). Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge.
Meyers, Peter and Nix, Shann (2012). As We Speak: How to Make Your Point and Have It Stick. Atria Books.
23
2
Pink, Daniel H. (2006). A Whole New Mind. New York: Penguin Group.
Paivio, A. (1986). Mental Representations. New York: Oxford University Press, 53.
Reynolds, Garr (2008). Presentation Zen. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Tufte, Edward R. (2003). The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.
Talks
Ballard, Robert (2008, February). Exploring the ocean’s hidden worlds. www.ted.com.Monterey, CA.
Doumont, Jean-‐-luc (2007). Creating effective presentation slides. ewh.ieee.org/soc/pcs/index.php?q=node/111, IEEE Professional Communication Society: audio file.
Gilbert, Dan (2004, February). The surprising science of happiness. www.ted.com. Monterey, CA.
Gilbert, Elizabeth (2009, February). Your elusive creative genius. Longbeach, CA.
Hayashi, Cheryl (2010). The magnificence of spider silk. www.ted.com. Monterey, CA.
Loftus, Elizabeth (2013, June). How reliable is your memory? www.ted.com. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Marshall, Melissa (2012, June). Talk Nerdy to Me. www.ted.com. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Pollan, Michael. (2009). Poptech. http://poptech.org/michaelpollan/
Sinek, Simon (2009 Sept). How great leaders inspire action. www.ted.com. Puget Sound, WA.
Stevenson, Bryan (2012, March). We need to talk about injustice. www.ted.com. Long Beach, CA.
Rosling, Hans (2006, February). Debunking third world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen. www.ted.com. Monterey, CA: TED Talk.
Taylor, Jill Bolte (2008, February). My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey. www.ted.com. Monterey, CA
TED (2004). TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. www.TED.com. New York.
Slides
Banegas, Elena (2013) Solid Lipid Nanoparticles: A new light in drug delivery. Engineering Ambassadors: Worcester, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Brown, Genevieve Miller (2010). Engineering the human body: Bone repair and reconstruction. Engineering Ambassadors: University Park, Penn State.
Funke, Simon (2014) Resource Assessment and Tidal Farm Optimization: Based on PDE-‐- Constrained Optimization. International Conference on Ocean Energy: Nova Scotia, Canada.
Kirsch, Kathryn & Kim Harrison (2010). Space exploration: to infinity and beyond.Engineering Ambassadors: University Park, Penn State.
Midttun, Øystein (2013) Improved reliability of the H-‐- ion source or CERN’s new linear injector. Norway, University of Oslo.
Muñoz-‐-Mateos, Juan Carlos (2014). Where old stars in galaxies come from (and why you should care). European Southern Observatory: Santiago, Chile.
Workshop content was created by Michael Alley (Penn State University) and Melissa Marshall (Melissa Marshall Consulting, LLC).
2
About the Engineering Ambassadors Teaching Team 2016 EA Conference at Penn State University
Michael Alley holds a master of science in electrical engineering and a master of fine arts in writing, and is an associate professor of engineering communication at Penn State. He is the author three textbooks, including The Craft of Scientific Presentations (2nd edition, Springer, 2013), which has been translated to Japanese. Over the past twenty years, he has taught technical presentations to scientists and engineers across the United States and in Europe, Asia, and South America. Sites include Penn State, MIT, Harvard Medical School, the University of Illinois, Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, United Technologies, the Army Corps of Engineers, Simula
Research Laboratory (Norway), the Institute for Energy Technology (Norway), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Seoul National University, the University of Barcelona, the University of Oslo, and the University of Seville. Michael’s website on slide design is a top Google listing for the topic of presentation slides: http://writing.engr.psu.edu/slides.html.
Christine Haas brings over ten years of experience working in communications with a focus on the science and engineering fields. She’s held positions as the director of marketing for Drexel’s College of Engineering and director of operations for Worcester Polytechnic Institute- Engineering.‐ Since founding Christine Haas Consulting, LLC (www.christinehaasconsulting.com) in 2012, Christine has traveled around the world teaching courses to scientists and engineers in industry, government and higher education on presentations and writing. Clients include The North Face, Texas Instruments, Sandia National Lab, Simula Research Lab (Norway), and KAIST (Korea). Christine directs the Engineering Ambassadors Network , a collaboration between 25+ universities worldwide that teaches presentation skills to undergraduate engineering students, particularly women and underrepresented groups in engineering. She received her MBA in marketing and international business from Drexel, and her BA in English and film from Dickinson College.
Lauren Murphy is a professional in the film and television industry, an engineer through schooling, and an advocate of sharing amazing ideas through better communication. As a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with degrees in film/video and mechanical engineering, she believes creative videos can tell stories to help communicate technical ideas in an educational and enjoyable way. Employed as a camera operator and cinematographer in New York City, Lauren’s portfolio spans commercials, documentaries, narratives, and television including work on Discovery, Travel Channel, TLC, and Bravo. This wide variety of jobs has led her to cities across the United States and the world. Her adventurous work life has led her to crawl miles underground in a cave, hike through a snake filled forest, and rappel off the side of a mountain.
2
Emil Atz is a senior in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. This will be his fourth year of involvement in Engineering Ambassadors (EA) and is one of the Co-‐Presidents for the UConn chapter. He joined EA because he thoroughly enjoys the reaction he gets from younger students when they realize the magic in engineering.
In his spare time, Emil likes to fish during the summer and ski during the winter. He finds great reward in working with his hands and loves to remodel homes, woodwork and metalwork.
Cecilia Bashaw is a senior studying Industrial Engineering at Penn State University. Although math and science were always encouraged at her high school, engineering and its applications were never a main focus. She is grateful for the opportunity to participate in outreach activities and create interactive presentations that give students a new perspective on engineering. This is Cecilia’s second year as an Engineering Ambassador and she is excited to welcome everyone who is new to the organization.Cecilia’s hometown is Pittsburgh, PA, and she loves to spend time in the city. Outside of engineering, she enjoys skiing, reading novels, catching a Penn State volleyball game and attending the musicals at Penn State.
Emily Curci first heard about airplanes from the stories her grandfather told her while she was growing up. From there, and with a little extra push from a high school math teacher, Emily decided to pursue a career in aerospace engineering. Now she is a senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.Inspired by the words of her grandfather and teachers, Emily joined Engineering Ambassador three years ago hoping to have the same effect on middle school students. This summer she used her years of EA knowledge to coordinate and facilitate STEM summer camps for middle school students in New Jersey. Through the camps she taught a variety of different topics, including computer science, robotics, backyard ballistics, and the science behind film making. When she’s not teaching STEM topics, she loves traveling, reading, cooking, and binge watching shows on Netflix.
2
Shelby Harris is senior in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Labor and Employment Relations Studies at Penn State. She serves as the EA Social Media Chair for Penn State, so she manages the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. This past summer Shelby worked as a Production Engineering Intern for Axiall Corp. in Lake Charles, LA. While not at work, she avidly watched the summer Olympics. Her favorite Olympic sports are table tennis and judo. Her favorite flavor of ice cream is half baked. And, her favorite part of being an EA is getting to work with all of her best friends.
Dana Stevens is a senior Mechanical Engineering student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She will be pursuing a Master’s degree after completing her bachelors. This will be her third year as an Engineering Ambassador. Along with being involved with Engineering Ambassadors, Dana is the public relations officer for the curling team. She has competed in several college tournaments (called bonspiels). Dana has also been involved in a research group on nuclear powered spaceflight. She will be beginning her master’s research on micro-‐fluids this year.
She spent the summer of 2016 as an intern at Pratt and Whitney in Systems Engineering and Validation. In the past, Dana has worked as a summer camp counselor at a Girl Scout camp. She spent her time training and supervising the volunteers, working with girls on their leadership and teamwork skills on
the ropes course, and running STEM activities. Dana enjoys hiking and camping in her spare time.
Shelby Williby is a junior Chemical Engineering major at the University of Nebraksa-‐Lincoln. She had the opportunity to be a part of Nebraska's inaugural Ambassadors program, and now serves as their President. Shelby loves watching students discover the amazing things that STEM fields can do, and she enjoys working with students of all ages.
Shelby has a wide range of interests outside of engineering. She serves as the President for Lincoln's chapter of the suicide prevention organization, Out of the Darkness, and she also works for Launch Leadership, an outreach program that helps middle and high school students develop leadership skills.