Alumna receives Society of Women Engineers award

Siya Scindia, who graduated with degrees in materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering earlier this year, continues to receive recognition for her many stellar achievements as a student leader at Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering.

She received the Outstanding Collegiate Member Award from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at their annual conference in October. Each year SWE recognizes no more than 20 undergraduates from among their 19,000 student members by honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to SWE, their campus, and their community.

Scindia joined the Society of Women Engineers as a first-year student in 2020 and took on the role of publicity chair. She launched social media takeovers to keep members connected during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. By inviting SWE upper-class students from each engineering discipline to share information about their coursework, research, and professional experiences on Instagram, she kept new members engaged with the group and the college.

The following year, Scindia was elected SWE secretary. She also worked to enhance the group’s advocacy efforts by hosting voter registration sign-up events and an LGBTQ+ panel and participated in a Gender Equity Coalition to advocate for issues affecting the female student body at CMU with other women’s groups on campus.

As president of the Carnegie Mellon SWE chapter, a post she held during the following two years, Scindia oversaw many of the group’s major events including the annual STEM career fair, which is attended by more than 100 employers and thousands of CMU students. She also oversaw planning for the annual Engineering Ball, a semi-formal social event that is open to all CMU students. And in 2023, she helped to plan and manage the group’s 50^th anniversary celebration.

Scindia was also very involved in SWE’s outreach programs, which included day-long events for local high school and middle school girls to learn about different engineering disciplines through workshops hosted by CMU faculty and SWE volunteers, a nine-week coding camp for middle school girls, and a high school mentoring program, which was started under Scindia’s leadership in 2022.

As president, Scindia also developed the leadership potential of other executive board members, led all section meetings, and served as SWE’s main contact for university stakeholders, corporate sponsors, and other student organizations.

According to one friend and fellow SWE member, her greatest contribution may have been her ability to create a welcoming and supportive environment at Carnegie Mellon’s SWE.

“Siya was the catalyst and inspiration for why I wanted to join SWE,” said Katherine Wu, who is currently serving as the group’s president.

Wu said Scindia not only made her feel part of a supportive community, but she also provided guidance that helped Wu find her way to also choosing material science and engineering and biomedical engineering as her majors.

“Siya was so understanding and receptive to my struggles. It made me even more excited to contribute to the CMU SWE community,” said Wu.

While a student, Scinidia also organized the group’s participation in and travel to the SWE national conferences each year, which she was invited to attend this year as the recipient of the Outstanding Collegiate Member Award.

At the Chicago conference, she also recruited students for Merck, where she is now working as an associate scientist in New Jersey.