The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) honored an alumna and a student of The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) with Distinguished New Engineer Awards. Alumna Shela Joyce and student Rachel Carter Snoddy were recognized for their impact on the society and the engineering community at WE24, SWE’s annual conference, held Oct. 24-26 in Chicago.
Joyce graduated from UAH with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 2020; she is a quality assurance and control manager at IPEX. Snoddy, a software engineer at Boeing, is pursuing an MBA at UAH, a part of The University of Alabama System.
The Distinguished New Engineer Award recognizes SWE members who have been professional SWE members for less than 10 years and who have demonstrated professional excellence in engineering, engineering management, engineering education, engineering technology or science related to engineering, and leadership in SWE and other professional organizations and/or in the community.
Joyce joined UAH’s collegiate SWE section as a freshman in 2016 and spent two years developing a mentoring program with local SWENext clubs as a leader in the section. Later, she revitalized the North Alabama professional section while serving as president. Having spoken at two previous SWE conferences, she served as a member of the “Engineering Your Career” panel at WE24.
Snoddy joined SWE in 2021. She has attended three SWE annual conferences and one WE local conference and currently serves the North Alabama section as data officer. She is also a part of the society’s leadership coaching committee, finance committee and several affinity groups.
The North Alabama professional section of Society of Women Engineers (NAL SWE) was honored at WE24 with the Gold Mission Award, which recognizes SWE groups that embody SWE core values and demonstrate continuous improvement and growth as they work to achieve the society’s strategic goals, and the Membership Growth Recognition for SWE groups that have demonstrated exceptional membership growth over the past year.
The SWE awards program recognizes individuals and groups for their 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.
For more information about SWE, visit www.swe.org. For more information about the North Alabama professional SWE section, visit nal.swe.org.
