Dayton Engineer

By Lexi Kemble

On Oct. 4, female industry professionals from varying engineering disciplines joined the UD Women’s Engineering Program for our Dinner with an Engineer event. This year, Dinner with an Engineer was organized as a conference-style hospitality suite, offering students the unique opportunity to interact with professional engineers in a relaxed and informal setting. While sharing a meal, students had the chance to mingle and engage with engineers from companies such as GE Aerospace, Procter & Gamble, Air Force Research Laboratory and the EPA, seeking insights and advice from their experiences. 

Dinner with an Engineer has remained one of my favorite events since my freshman year, primarily due to the evolving perspectives I've gained through the years.

When I was a freshman, I remember being nervous to approach industry professionals because I wasn’t sure what exactly to share with them, as I hadn’t had any work experiences yet and was still trying to select an engineering discipline. At that time, my primary focus when speaking to the professional engineers was as basic as, “What do you do day-to-day as an engineer?” 

During my sophomore and junior years, my involvement in internships and hands-on classes allowed me to connect with these professional engineers on a much deeper level. I then started asking more intentional questions, such as “What drew you to mechanical design? What CAD programs would you recommend learning to prepare for a similar position?” 

However, as a senior, I got to experience something particularly special in my last year attending Dinner with an Engineer. Through connections from my capstone class, internships and attending career fairs, I’m grateful to have plenty of opportunities to give my “elevator pitch” and talk to professionals about their experiences. 

This year, I found it very exciting to assist freshman engineering students in acquiring these same networking skills. Rather than being there solely for our benefit, I noticed my senior classmates walking first-year students up to the professional engineers to make initial connections, which can be the hardest step when learning to network. We gave advice to the underclassmen about what they can talk to industry professionals about, even with only 2 months of engineering school behind them, which helped ease some apprehension about not being experienced or knowledgeable enough to make those connections. 

At Dinner with an Engineer this year, the network of support that deeply interconnects UD undergraduate students with graduate students, alumni and working professionals was evident. I’ve grown so much over the years from attending events like this to learn how to network, and it’s just as exciting to witness the growth that all of the underclassmen now get to experience there as well.