Keynote Speakers
Rachel Geilenfeld
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Rachel Geilenfeldis a policy advisor for Chevron Renewable Energy Group and a 2007 graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She also holds a law degree and MBA from the University of Iowa. Rachel has been studying and presenting on etiquette since 2005, and shares etiquette tips on Instagram on an account called Pass It Right.
Dr. Beth Hartmann
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Beth Hartmann is a Teaching Professor for the Program for Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE). As an undergraduate student, Beth was on the Iowa State Softball team and involved with the Naval ROTC Program. Upon graduation in 1989, she was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps. Beth served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, achieving the rank of commander before her retirement in 2009. She joined the Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering Department in 2009 and taught the construction engineering learning community, project management for civil engineers, and the civil/construction design-build capstone courses. Beth joined the WiSE office in February 2021 to teach leadership to women in STEM. She is a three-time alum of Iowa State (BA ARCH ’89, MSCE ’96, Ph.D. CE ’16), a registered professional civil engineer in the State of Florida, wife, mom, and dog mom.
Dr. Mani Mina
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Mani Mina received B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, Ames, in 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1989, respectively. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and in Industrial Design in the College of Design at Iowa State University. He has research experience in microelectronics and device physics, nondestructive evaluation, instrumentation, networking, physical layer challenges, high-speed systems engineering, and magneto-optical systems. He has industrial experience in instrumentation, system integration, and design in nondestructive evaluation and handheld/portable systems. He is also engaged in research in Engineering Education.
As a reflective practitioner, he has been working on ways of creating new approaches to bring cycles of Inquiry and Empathy in engineering education and particularly in the most challenging classes. His work in Electrical Engineering, Industrial Design, and Technological Literacy has always been informed with a philosophical basis. His work has been influenced by the philosophical approach of John Dewey in education. He has received national and international recognition for his work and has numerous awards, including Meritorious awards for his contributions and innovations in ASEE ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and ASEE TELPhE (Technological and Engineering Literacy and Philosophy of Engineering) Divisions’ continuations in the field and educational innovation, and his pedagogical impact has been recognized by IEEE and the ASEE Technological Literacy Division.
Session Speakers
Dr. Brenda Allen
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Dr. Brenda Allen serves as the Professional Development Manager for ISU Extension and Outreach. She supervises a team dedicated to supporting staff excellence within Extension and Outreach, providing training on communication skills, leadership, cultural competency, and supervision strategies. She has worked at ISU for over 20 years, much of that time providing leadership development for youth, staff and volunteers in the Iowa 4-H Youth Development program. In addition, since completing her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies in 2017, she has served as an adjunct faculty member and teaches courses in that department.
The title of the workshop session is: The Art of Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback
Brandon Clark
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Brandon Clark is the Leadership through Engineering Academic Diversity Program (LEAD) Student Success & Retention Coordinator. In this role, he provides programming and services designed to cultivate the academic, professional, and socio-cultural engagement, growth, and success of multicultural, international, and women scholars in the College of Engineering. Brandon is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Educational Leadership, Organizations, and Policy program in the School of Education. His major research and teaching interests include leadership and management, critical social justice education, postcolonial and Indigenous research, international comparative education research, paradigms of knowledge, and critical quantitative inquiry.
Kate Cossa
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Kate Cossa is a Career Advisor and Event Coordinator in Engineering Career Services. She is a graduate of Iowa State University and has a passion for helping ISU engineers be successful in their next adventure!
The title of session: “Marketing Yourself for the Career You Want”
Megan Decker
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Megan Decker is a junior at Iowa State University, studying Agricultural and Rural Policy + International Agriculture. Megan grew up on a corn and soybean farm in rural Calhoun County, Iowa. During her time at Iowa State, Megan served as Student Body Vice-president and is currently involved as a Group Fitness Instructor through Rec Services, CALS Ambassadors, and CALS Start Something (formally the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative).
Jeremiah Evans
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Jeremiah holds almost 15 years of experience in software engineering consulting, development, architecture, integration, infrastructure-as-code, and much more. His broad experience and ability to quickly learn new technologies give him the insight to design innovative solutions that meet our client’s business needs and drive efficiency and maintainability.
Alex Faucz
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Alexander Faucz is a metallurgical process/product engineer at Arconic in Davenport Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University in December of 2021 with a bachelors in materials engineering and a minor in chemistry. During college Alex was involved in Triangle Fraternity and a past member of Engineering Leaders of Tomorrow. He also had internships/co-ops at Wellman Dynamics, Collins Aerospace, and OshKosh Corporation.
Dr. Chandra Gannavarapu
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Chandra Gannavarapu has 30 years of experience in Plant Operations, Process Modeling, Advanced Process Control and Process Optimization.He has been with LyondellBasell for 13 years, and is currently serving as the Associate Director for Special Improvement Projects/Carbon Reduction Programs and is based in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining LyondellBasell, Chandra worked at various other companies including, Aspen Technology Inc., APC Consulting, and Dow Benelux (the Netherlands). He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney, a Master’s degree from Indian Institute of Science (India), and a Bachelor’s degree from Osmania University (India).
Dr. Adina Howe
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Dr. Howe leads the Genomics and Environmental Research in Microbial Systems (GERMS) Laboratory. The goal of the GERMS Lab (www.germslab.org) is to understand and manage the impacts of microbiology as we continuously change the environment that we live in. She is a co-advisor for the Iowa State University chapter of Society of Women Engineers. She enjoys teaching Numerical Methods to engineering students. Outside of work, she enjoys doing things outdoors with her family, board games, and sand volleyball.
Title of session: Imposter syndrome from a professor’s perspective.
Gavin Jerome
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Gavin Jerome has been a professional entertainer for the past 30 years. He has worked with Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser (“Rise –Err”), Steve Martin, Martin Short, Steve Harvey, and many others not named Martin or Steve. For nearly two decades, Gavin has been providing humor workshops for companies worldwide. His client list includes 3M, IBM, Facebook, The Principal Financial Group, The Mayo Clinic, The United States Probation Office. For 5 seasons, Gavin was seen on the Speed Channel as the track announcer for the hit television show PINKS. Currently, he can be seen on MavTV as the host of the drag racing game show “Instant Green”. His best-selling book, “The Comedy College Handbook” is now in its 8th printing. His online course “Gavin’s Comedy College” is being taught at Iowa State University where he is a two-time recipient of the W. Robert Parks Commendation for excellence in Honors Education. He has never had a day job and he has never sold Amway.
The title of session: If You Can Laugh at It, You Can Live with It!
Nathan Karasch
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Nathan is an accomplished software engineer with expertise in designing, developing, testing, deploying, and supporting software solutions to meet strategic business goals. His effective written and verbal communication skills help keep development efforts aligned with customer expectations. A thorough understanding of web application architecture and a talent for learning new systems enable him to bring valuable insights to conceptual planning and problem resolution.
Carson Kneip
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Carson is a2021graduate of Iowa State University in Electrical Engineering. Initially his path began in Civil Engineering and throughout the journey ended up pursuing a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He started his career programming microcontrollers and recently took a leadership role as a Project Engineer at Wells Enterprises, Inc. In his current position he manages projects from start to finish; this includes forming budgets, defining scopes, working through safety management of change, establishing timelines, etc. During the conference he will share some of his journey throughout college and tie that into his transition into becoming a leader in the everyday world.
Kayla Knipping
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Hello! I’m Kayla Knipping. I graduated from Iowa State in 2018 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. I currently work for Cargill as a Process Safety Engineer at our Fort Dodge, IA plant where I work in our ethanol production area. I’ve worked in a few chemical plants since graduating from ISU and I’m excited to share my experience in planning for your future after college.
Nicole Lauzon
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Nicole is a 2008 graduate of Iowa State University in Chemical Engineering and has held a variety of roles in her career including Plant Engineer, Commercialization Manager, and Project Manager. Nicole is currently the Director of Commercialization at Wells Enterprises, Inc. and is responsible for overseeing the operationalization of new products from concept to in-market. She also serves as the liaison between Innovation, Procurement, Marketing, Operations, and R&D and manages a portfolio of projects that helps grow the business and drive efficiencies.
Dr. Ryan Lott
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Dr. Ryan Lott currently serves as the Principal Data Scientist for the Asset Valuation Team at John Deere Financial. This role is responsible for leading and developing production level inferential models across a wide range of applications. In this highly collaborative role, Ryan is tasked with working with a large end-user base within the confines of a Smart Industrial/Agile technological environment while also innovating new modeling techniques. Ryan is also heavily involved in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at John Deere through serving on the ABLE’d and Community Pipeline Employee Resource Groups in addition to new employee recruiting. Ryan earned his bachelor’s in Psychology, M.S. in Human Development and Family Studies, and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Iowa State University (research interests were Quantitative Psychology, Adolescence and Biopsychology).Ryan also was a post-doctoral fellow at Auburn University. Ryan enjoys attending as many Iowa State sporting events as possible.
Nicole Martindale
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Nicole Martindale is currently a graduate student at Iowa State University obtaining her master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. In the Spring of 2022, she graduated from ISU with her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in sustainability. After interning at Fox-Strand Associates and HDR, she has acquired a passion for water and wastewater treatment plant design and construction. After graduating with her master’s degree in Fall 2023, she plans to work as a consulting engineer in the water industry. Since freshman year, Nicole has been highly involved in the Society of Women Engineers at ISU and serves as the Career Development Chair where she enjoys helping students prepare for their professional career. She also enjoys being involved in several other student organizations such as the Tau Beta Pi Engineering National Honor Society, American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and ISU Running Club.
Corrine Schwarting (she/her)
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Corrine is a third year student in the Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program. She works within Student Wellness as a Wellness Coach and at Student Counseling Services as the Suicide Prevention Coordinator. Corrine comes from a person centered, strengths-based perspective and enjoys working with students to remind them of their existing strengths. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, volunteering at a community farm, and any type of movement with friends.
Hanna Stec
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Hanna Stec is a Senior in Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State. She is deeply passionate about supporting women in engineering and has built a strong record of student leadership around that. Hanna is President of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), a member of the WiSE Community Coordinator Leadership Team, and participated in FY21 Cohort of the National SWE Leadership Development Program. A culmination of her background of intentional leadership, she was named a Brooke Owens Fellow for the Class of 2022, which is a competitive program for women and gender minorities interested in the aerospace industry.
Dr. Richard Stone
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The core of Dr. Stone’s research is in human augmentation and human performance enhancement in both physical and mental domains. He employs multiple approaches towards this goal, including biomechanical, cognitive and physiological engineering, mechanical design, sensor design, augmented reality, and the incorporation and application of new technologies.