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Franklin W. Olin, |
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Panel
Description: There are many different ways to
earn a technical graduate degree:
part-time, full-time, paid through a grant or TA position,
company-funded, immediately after completing your undergraduate degree or
after working a while. How you use
your degree also varies, such as a stepping stone to a new career or
increased technical depth in your current role. The panelists have a wide variety of grad
school experiences to share with those considering a technical Masters or
Ph.D. About the
Panelists: Karen Johnson graduated in
September 2006 from Sara E. Campbell, PE is a
self-employed Civil Engineering consultant. She earned a BS in Civil
Engineering from Union College in 1980.
After two and a half years working for Langan Engineering in New
Jersey in site/geotech engineering, she went back to school full-time a MS
from Cornell in Hydraulics/Hydrology in 1984, using a school grant which paid
50% tuition. He employer continued to pay her medical insurance during her 9
month leave and she returned to work for them for two more years. After
moving to Massachusetts in 1986, she began taking night courses toward an MBA
through Western New England College.
Tuition was paid by her employer, C.T. Male Assoc during the time that
she was working for them at a rate of two or three courses per year. After
Sara left in 1991 she continued to fund her own courses until completing the
program in a total of 8-years. Sara is a proponent of NOT going straight from
undergrad to a masters program who recommends work experience to develop a
range of interests before taking on more debt for a program that may not be
the best use of your time. Sara has
three children aged 21, 17 and 12 who were mixed in between various parts of
her career. As a single mom of teens,
she can't imagine having a fixed schedule, and finds consulting is a perfect
fit for that. Kimberly Vecchione, E.I.T.,
currently works at New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc. Hi-Tech division in
Peterborough, NH. As a chemical
engineer she is responsible for all materials in the plant including: testing
and implementation of new materials.
Her efforts involve energy and resource conservation in addition to
environmental, health and safety improvements. She is also responsible for day to day
troubleshooting and is a certified Hazardous Waste Coordinator in the state
of New Hampshire. Previously, she has
worked for Freudenberg/NOK in Manchester, NH as a laboratory assistant and a
quality engineer. Kim is currently
pursuing her Masters in Environmental Engineering at University of
Massachusetts, Lowell. In 2003, she
graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson
University. At Clarkson University she
was involved with the SWE student section as secretary and president. As a professional SWE member, Kim has held
a position on the council of representatives for the Region F Members at
Large (MAL) for two years. Since 2005,
she has been involved in chartering a new section of SWE, and is President
elect for the proposed Southern New Hampshire Section (SNH) section. Kim is a member of the Society of
Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and volunteers with Girl Scouts. Kim enjoys playing sports, hiking and
learning dance (tap, jazz and lyrical), when she is not working or going to
graduate school. Allison Cyganowski (panel moderator)
is currently a Senior Systems Engineer at Raytheon’s |
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