The Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) Stevens chapter, established in 2012, hosted its first Regional Conference on Feb. 10, 2018 at The Westin in Jersey City. SASE is a professional organization open to all students, dedicated to the advancement of Asian scientists and engineers, in order to achieve their full career potential, and enrich the communities in which they live. Marketing Director and Network Administrator Jenna Wong called the event “an exciting milestone” for SASE Stevens’ legacy.
The Northeast Regional Conference (NERC) is one of six SASE regional conferences held annually in the Spring. Over 500 people attended this year, including 425 collegiates, 72 professionals, and 18 high school students from 34 chapters. Seventeen companies were present at the company mixer, including new tech startups, government agencies like the CIA, Army Medical, and the Marines, and industry powerhouses like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and UTC Aerospace.
Collegiates, professionals, and high school students could attend workshops, speeches, networking events, and a job recruitment fair that attendees from all backgrounds and demographics could benefit from. “[NERC] is one of the few times each year that every chapter in our region gets together in one place. It’s an opportunity to experience how large and impactful SASE is as a professional society. Students learn inspiring lessons from the workshops, form connections with recruiters, and build friendships with SASE members across the whole region,” said Phoebe Lai, Conference Chair.
The conference featured multiple panels and breakout sessions, with workshop leaders including Mukesh Patel, Thein (Tim) Win, Alex Chen, Linda Zheng, Leigh Ann Soltysiak, Jonathan Crombie, unnamed CIA officers, Nasir Uddin, Seth Kirshner, Wilson Tsao, Cecily Kovatch, Brendan Lowe, Wayne DeFeo, Steve Yang, Cindy Chin, Cerille Avetria, Patty Torres, Francine Nieva, Deonne Francisco, Dr. Kathryn Abel, Janice Perez, Karl Flores, Dr. Kevin Ryan, and more. Topics included innovating yourself, innovating your career, innovating your community, Women in STEM, and Internet of Things (IoT).
SASE Stevens has been working on the conference since April 2017. The planning team had been working nonstop to build connections with Stevens Faculty, Student Life, The Westin Jersey City, and the professionals presenting workshops and recruiting. “This is the first NERC ever hosted by Stevens,” said SASE Vice President Nirav Sampat. “The biggest challenge came from the things that had a lot of ‘liability.’ For example, raising funds from sponsors and Stevens departments was very stressful. If we didn’t raise the money, the event would have to be cancelled. Securing a venue was also challenging. We essentially had to convince everyone that we would be able to raise enough funds before we had them so we could sign a contract. This was the most expensive NERC in the history of SASE. Most of the time [NERC] is held on school campuses. This year, we wanted to raise the bar and have a more premium experience, so we went with the Westin Hotel in Newport.”
“In order to be the host for NERC,” Sampat explained, “your chapter needs to fill out an application that explains why you are capable of hosting the event. I spearheaded the application process in April 2017. We had Professor Mukund Iyengar as our keynote speaker, as well as Professor Kathryn Abel and Professor Kevin Ryan as workshop leaders. We were sponsored by the School of Engineering, Graduate Affairs, the School of Systems and Enterprises, the Business School, and President Farvardin’s Office. All of them had booths at our career fair to recruit for graduate programs and they gave out gifts like bags and notebooks.”
The theme for the conference was “Empower you to innovate.” SASE NERC 2018 Communications Director Tim Zhang shared a personal anecdote regarding what the theme meant to him:
“[The theme] is meant to bring people out of their comfort zones. Now, I cannot speak for all Asian families and cultures, but it is very common for kids to grow up in an environment that focuses on discipline. My parents especially, told me to focus so much on doing well in school and then getting a generic “good” job and getting promoted from there. As many of us have found out already or will soon find out, a GPA is not the only factor that determines if a someone succeeds or not in life. Following the standard path of life will only get you so far. In reality, it is your connections and network will bring you more success than a number on your transcript ever will. Many of NERC’s workshops focus on developing professionalism and soft skills that will help develop and mature our attendees. ‘Empower you to innovate’ encourages our attendees to step out of their comfort zone and work on improving ourselves so that they can rise and reach more fulfillment in their professional careers and lives.”
As for how they did it, Sampat said, “Our sincerest thanks goes out to everyone involved in making this conference successful.” As said by workshop leader Mukesh Patel, “people can connect to the entire world just by talking to 3.5 people. That means you only need to speak to 3.5 people on average to get to know virtually anybody in the world.” Lai added, “It’s astonishing that we can bring in every keynote speaker, workshop leader, and company recruiter with connections through our previous co-ops, alumni, and SASE friends.”
As to whether SASE wants to host it again, the consensus seemed to be that it was a lot of stress and anxiety, but definitely a worthwhile and unforgettable experience. “All of the fundraising and planning is done by Stevens students. However, this was an incredible learning experience for us all; we really paid close attention to all of the details to make everything special.” said Sampat. They hope that other chapters will be empowered to host the regional conference themselves, and maybe that students at Stevens would take it up again after a few years.
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