As a college student, it is common to join organizations. Some of them are for professional development, some of them are for fun.
In this post, I will write about all of the different organizations I am in and even a few I am not. We will look at the benefits of each, the time commitment, how they help me in my pursuit for higher education in Optics, and more.
Here we go!
Professional Organizations
Professional Organizations are organizations that extend beyond your college campus and work to provide you with an easy lead into the professional world. Often they are national or international with both collegiate and professional chapters. They carry long names condensed into a short acronym or initialism. Often, these organizations have membership fees, but you get a lot of mileage for those dollars.
SPIE: The International Society for Optics and Photonics
Membership Status: Student
Member since: January 2010
Cost: $20.00 annually
As an Optics student, SPIE is a great organization to join. They have a wealth of optics information on their website and a lot of scholarships available for students. Similar to SPIE, is the OSA (Optical Society of America). Both of these orgs are dedicated to advancement of Photonic technology. At Michigan Tech, I am a general member of SPIE. We educate local schools about light, run information sessions for incoming students, and many photonics-related on the side. Check out the Paulding Lights story for a cool project we did. Also look at the MTU Chapter and official SPIE pages.
IEEE: The Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers
Membership Status: Student
Member since: September 2009
Cost: $30.00 annually
IEEE is great because of the breadth and depth of the organization. Originally founded in 1884 as the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, AIEE later merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1963 to form the IEEE. Now, IEEE has over 395,000 members in 160 countries. As a student, IEEE offers many excellent resources. IEEE Spectrum magazine is a wonderful technological read and IEEE Xplore is a fantastic database site. It is my first stop for anything technological. At Michigan Tech, the IEEE has some of the best lab space on campus and is a great place to finish up lab projects.
SWE: Society of Women Engineers
Membership Status: Student
Member since: September 2008
Cost: $20.00 annually
Out of all of my professional organizations, SWE provides the most networking opportunities for college students. SWE is broken into regions which meet annually. By having regional meetings, it is much easier to meet and network than trying to travel to national conferences. SWE also has an annual national conference. This year, We11 is going to be in Chicago. At the national conference, it is possible to volunteer and really get to know the organization. With it being only 8 hours from Michigan Tech, a few of us are already registered as volunteers and are going to carpool. It is going to be awesome. Check back in October for an update on how it goes.
NSPE: National Society of Professional Engineers
Membership Status: Student
Member since: November 2009
Cost: FREE
National Society of Professional Engineers in a great society to be in if you desire to be a professional engineer. It is free for students to join. Also, they send you excellent engineering news updates and have great scholarships for incoming Junior students. I was fortunate enough to win the Steinman Award last year. Although most optics professions do not currently require professionals to be licensed as “Professional Engineers,” it is only a matter of time. My advice, take the F.E. exam now as a college student (I am!) when you still remember everything. Check back in the Spring for tales of studying for the FE.
HKN: Eta Kappa Nu Electrical & Computer Engineering Honor Society
Membership Status: Student
Member since: March 2011
Cost: $50.00 once
HKN is the newest of the organizations that I am involved in. Actually, I just got inducted last Tuesday and was nominated to be President the same night. I joined HKN because I wanted to be a part of a group of scholars who understood the demands of Electrical Engineering. Trust me, these people do. HKN is dedicated to encouraging and recognizing excellence in the electrical and computer engineering field. The Michigan Tech chapter (beta-gamma) was founded on June 6, 1936. In recent years, the presence of HKN at Michigan Tech has dwindled, but the new group of inductees have high hopes of success. Although HKN doesn’t participate in many optics specific activites, it is still very useful to be in a broader Electrical Engineering group.
Community Organizations
Community organizations come in many flavors. They can be local groups dedicated to improving your community or international groups dedicated to improving the world. Some examples are Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Red Cross, or Unicef.
American Cancer Society: Relay For Life
Involved since: February 2006
Relay for Life is the premier fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. What is Relay? Just a fantastic 24-hr fundraising event that you spend with awesome people walking around a track and raising money to fight cancer. My involvement started back in High School and I became hooked on Relay. I joined a team as a Freshman and then went on to captain a team for the next three years. When I got up to Michigan Tech, I spent a year as Co-chair of Team Development. Now, I have cut back a little bit and now am just a team member on the Society of Women Engineers team. Check out my team here.
Campus Organizations
Now, campus organizations are a breed of their own. They are wacky, zany, and sometimes out-right outrageous group of people who bond over a common topic. At Michigan Tech, there are many campus organizations to choose from. If you like dancing, you can join Swing Club. If you like smoking hookah, there is a hookah club. There is even a club dedicated to being a “permanent floating riot.” I have no idea what they do. I do, however, know about the ones I am involved in.
Huskies Pep Band
Involved since: August 2008
Instrument: Accordion
The Huskies Pep Band is “The Cream of the Keweenaw, The Pride of Pastyland, The Second Best Feeling in the World.” In short, we are utterly and totally obnoxious and amazing. We parade around in vertically striped, engineer overalls in wacky hats while playing music very very loudly. Our school, teams, and fans love us. Our opponents, small children, and Northern Michigan University fear us. We are the home field advantage. We can change the mood of a stadium with a couple of cheers. In the Huskies Pep Band, I play Accordion. Yes, you just read that right, Accordion. Originally, I was going to play Bass Clarinet, but decided that the Accordion was a much better pep band instrument. On Accordion, I play Tuba music. It was the only music in the key of C besides Flutes, ‘Bones, and Bells. The ‘bones didn’t want a misfit instrument and flute;/bell music was way too fast. Thus, the accordion sub-section was born. There are now 3 accordionists in the Pep Band. Look for us at the next game!
Superior Wind Symphony
Involved since: January 2010
Instrument: Bb Clarinet
The Superior Wind Symphony is the symphonic band at Michigan Tech. Led my Nick Enz, we play a wide variety of concert music. I joined last Spring when I began to miss playing concert music on my clarinet. Now, I absolutely love it. Although we meet late at night on Monday’s and Wednesday’s, it is nice to have a musical release. : )
Well, that about sums it up. Reading over this, I cannot believe how much I am or have been involved it at Michigan Tech. I’m only a Junior! Most days, I don’t know how I even manage to balance it all.
Elizabeth F. C. Dreyer 