Master of Electrical & Computer Engineering

The event also gave me a tremendous opportunity to speak directly with Andrew Schmidt about their VCU108 FPGA, which our senior design team was trying to acquire. Talking to him in person provided us with a channel to discuss donation possibilities for our team as well as the potential for future collaboration between AMD and Rice for on-campus events. 

Another thing that really stood out to me was how many opportunities came directly from being at the conference. You leave with a huge list of contacts and have real conversations with engineers and recruiters and are able to get a lot of follow up interviews. Myself and others even received job offers before the conference ended, which showed me how valuable it is to put yourself out there and be prepared. The whole experience made me more confident in how I talk about my work, how I ask questions, and how I navigate professional situations. Overall, SWE gave me direction, motivation, and a stronger sense of where I want to go in my career. 

At the conference’s career fair, I was able to practice speaking about my research and internship experiences to recruiters at both computer hardware companies and national laboratories, which was a new experience to me– and thus very helpful for my professional development.

Even outside the conference hours, I approached students with their badges and leveraged the conference as a conversation starter to meet engineers attending school or working in different cities. I met a PhD student studying mechanical engineering in my hometown of New York City and invited her to walk with the Rice group. We shared fascinating conversations about everyone’s work and interests in propulsion or rocketry at Rice. I would say that this wasn’t the only instance in which the conference’s social environment emboldened me to reach out to people and encourage us to forge new connections– and in that respect, I also found the conference to be very helpful for my leadership development.

During the conference, I interviewed with three different companies, one arranged before the conference and the other two during. After the conference, I received competitive summer 2026 internship offers from all three companies (Stellantis, Polaris, and Qnity) and ultimately chose to proceed with Stellantis since I am interested in pursuing a career in automotive applications to Electrical Engineering. I doubt this would have been possible had I not attended the conference. Overall, I am incredibly grateful for the ECE department’s support and hope to share what I learned with other students.

I love my major and field, and yet consistently see a lack of women within it. Attending WE25 created a sense of camaraderie between the Rice SWE chapter and gave me the chance to meet industry leaders. Alongside networking, I attended developmental and leadership workshops such as Beyond the Lab: How Engineers Can Unlock Business Opportunities and sought out job opportunities that I am still in the process of pursuing currently. Thanks to the Electrical & Computer Engineering department’s generous contribution to my ability to attend this conference, I was able to work on my future career for when I graduate in a few short months.

During the last two days, I spent as much time as possible at the career fair. I spoke with various companies, including ASML, IBM, NXP, Hubbell, Meta, Exelon, Lam Research, Texas Instruments, KLA, Polaris, Lincoln Electric, and finally Cummins. After speaking with one of their (Cummins) recruiters, I was offered an interview slot - with only 15 minutes’ notice. I rushed across the (very large!) conference center to the interview booths and completed the interview.

Later, I was invited to an exclusive reception for interview candidates and Cummins representatives. There, I met more employers and students, built meaningful connections, and gained a deeper understanding of the company, its positions, and the career paths of its employees. It was truly the cherry on top of an already amazing experience!

The conference also contributed to my academic development because I was able to talk to representatives from various graduate programs that were present at the conference, such as Georgia Tech, Michigan and Stanford. From these conversations, I was able to learn more about each program’s structure, research environment, and expectations for applicants. Lastly, it contributed to my leadership development because I attended various SHPE Networking events and engaged with student leaders from other chapters. I also helped mentor some of the Rice students that attended the conference.

Academically, Andrew Schmidt’s talk on AMD’s accelerator and NPU architecture reframed how I think about designing future ECE systems, especially the practical tradeoffs between performance, power, and on-device machine learning. I left with a clearer understanding that “AI-infused” hardware isn’t just about adding capability, it’s about system-level alignment between compute, energy, and real-world constraints.

Professionally and on the leadership development side, the conference gave me concrete tools I can apply immediately. The recruiting session with Dr.Glavan (from Rice!) reinforced the importance of communicating my technical story with clarity and intention, and it helped me think more strategically about building authentic relationships with recruiters rather than treating networking as a transaction. I also took actionable guidance from our region governor, Colleen Bailey, on how to grow our chapter’s presence and make membership feel more meaningful through consistent engagement and better-defined value for members.

Finally, noticing the gender imbalance at the conference strengthened my desire to help create spaces where women in ECE are supported and encouraged to lead.

Overall, I returned to campus with a new technical perspective, sharper professional communication habits, and a clearer plan for translating these insights into tangible improvements in my student organization and community.