About SWE-NESS....

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a non-profit, educational service organization dedicated to making known the need for women engineers and encouraging young women to consider an engineering education. We are a national organization of over 15,000 women and men, engineers and scientists.

The specific goals of the Society are:

• To inform young women, their parents, counselors, and the general public of the qualifications and achievements of women engineers and the opportunities open to them;
• To assist women engineers in readying themselves for a return to active work after temporary retirement;
• To serve as a center of information on women in engineering; and
• To encourage women engineers to attain high levels of education and professional achievement.

The New England Shoreline Section is a small section in the Society of Women Engineers, having less than 35 members. It encompasses the geographic areas of Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut (063 zip codes). There are four student sections included within the NESS area: United States Coast Guard Academy, University of Rhode Island, Brown University and Roger Williams University. Similar to the beginnings of SWE with a group of women engineers getting together and networking issues, NESS also began with a small number of women engineers talking together in the early 1980's. Read more about this start in the History of NESS.

SWE-NESS has two general areas of concentration: Personal and Professional Development programs for its members and Career Guidance programs to encourage young women to enter technical fields.

The Professional Development program focuses on the professional and personal growth of our members. Activities include technical tours, charitable activities and personal growth topics. The schedule is supplemented with several networking and social gatherings. See the Professional Development page for more details.

Our nationally award-winning Career Guidance programs outreach to students from elementary school through college. There are programs specific to every school age level, and all SWE members (student and professional) are encouraged to join in making these outreach programs fun and educational for all concerned. See the Career Guidance page for more details.

SWE-NESS also publishes a national award-winning newsletter containing meeting notices, a calendar of events, section activities, regional and national Society news, Career Guidance and Professional Development issues and other items of interest. There are two versions, printed and electronic. The formats are different of course, (more graphics in the printed), but the information covered is the same for both. The newsletter is distributed in the format requested, as a service to all SWE-NESS members, local corporations, local student section members, related professional groups and interested non-members. The electronic version can be viewed through a link on our website's home page.