Purdue Engineering well represented at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) National Convention
Purdue undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and staff attended the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) National Convention in early November. The SHPE convention is the largest gathering of Hispanics in STEM with over 10,000 participants this year alone. Purdue Engineering sent over 10 graduate students, three staff and a faculty member to attend and had participation from 36 undergraduate Purdue Engineering students.
These efforts were a collaboration between multiple offices, including the Dean’s Office for Graduate Education, the CISTAR NSF Engineering Research Center, the Minority Engineering Program (MEP), AAMP-UP and the Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Graduate Program in Civil Engineering. Specifically, CISTAR and MEP sponsored the SHPE Graduate Academic Track, which is a series of workshops focused on graduate school. The Purdue Engineering Graduate Academic Track sponsorship was in collaboration with Penn State College of Engineering and University of Michigan School of Information.
The Purdue Engineering team talked with prospective graduate students from around the world sharing their thoughts with prospective students looking for more information on whether industry or graduate school was the right path for them. At the conference, Purdue Engineering graduate students and faculty also shared their research through poster and oral presentations and their experience at panels, workshops, and networking events. They spoke about whether a student’s journey might include the Purdue Engineering SHPE Familia, either through graduate studies or a summer research experience.
From the Purdue undergraduate SHPE chapter, 72% of members in attendance received job or internship interviews from companies, and more than 50% said that they talked with 11-25 companies. There were also undergraduate students who were offered jobs at the career fair.
“To me, SHPE has brought me so much from the moment I got involved as an undergrad: career development, leadership, self-awareness, empowerment, and most recently the space for connection with other wonderful engineers excelling at their careers and overall professional goals," said Anelis Chiluisa, a Purdue graduate student in chemical engineering.
Further, over the last year Emily Garcia, a doctoral student in industrial engineering, has developed additional support for Hispanic graduate students on campus by establishing a SHPE graduate student chapter.
Overall, the Purdue Engineering Familia had a strong presence at the 2022 SHPE National Convention through building community, disseminating research and having conversations about how Purdue Engineering might be the next step for prospective Hispanic Professional Engineers across the country. The 2023 SHPE National convention will take place November 1-5, 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah.