MADISON, Wis.—Erin Berry, Master of Engineering: Engineering Management (MEM) class of 2008 graduate, has been awarded the Society of Women Engineers’ WE Local Engaged Advocate Award. The Society of Women Engineers’ WE Local Awards program recognizes SWE members, women engineers, advocates and groups who are making a difference in their community and among peers in engineering and technology.
The Engaged Advocate Award honors individuals who have contributed to the advancement or acceptance of women in engineering. Erin has advocated for young girls to take on STEM in a new light through working with the Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois. Her involvement touches all aspects of Girl Scouting, from hands on badge work to council training to exposing troop leaders to the accessibility and benefits of STEM programming.
Berry has been instrumental in introducing new STEM-related girl scout badges and the resources to train non-STEM leaders with support from the Society of Women Engineers through a grant. Her experience in MEM influenced how she approached communicating and implementing these Girl Scout initiatives. When asked what her experience was like as a student of the MEM program and how it influenced her to be a better leader and role model to girls, Berry replied,
“MEM was the education I missed in my undergraduate…My Technical Communication class taught me how to boil messages down to a need to know basis. Don’t over complicate things and make your delivery clear and concise. Always know your audience. From this advice, I developed my Girl Scout workshops to be active and based on easy to remember physics terms. The smallest Girl Scouts walked away understanding the difference between kinetic and potential energy”.
The award also recognizes Erin Berry’s continuing dedication to SWE’s mission—striving to highlight the impact and importance of women in engineering across the globe, leading by example, and demonstrating that a career in engineering can be a fulfilling, rewarding pursuit for women of any background.
Click here to learn more about EPD’s Master of Engineering: Engineering Management program.