Meeting Minutes for June SAWE Meeting

Meeting Time: Saturday June 17, 2023 at 10:00 AM 

Meeting Location: Virtual (Zoom) meeting

Meeting Agenda: Discuss current business

Attendance: (6)

Lawrence Cruz (LA Chapter President & Webmaster)

Dan Rowley (SAWE Vice President-Training, LA Chapter Vice President & SAWE Fellow)

Michael Notarangelo (LA Chapter Secretary & SAWE Fellow)

Ian Mac Neil (LA Chapter Member)

Miguel Espinoza-Bazan (LA Chapter Member)

Pat Mitchell (Guest from Seattle Chapter)

SAWE LA Chapter Business Meeting:

Lawrence called the meeting to order at 10:05 AM

  1. Lawrence Cruz unveiled new items on the LA Chapter website including a “Projects” tab to keep track of chapter projects and contacts, and a QR code for use in posters and flyers. 
  2. Pat Mitchell from Seattle called into the meeting. He may be potentially taking a job in the LA area (with Lockheed Martin) and wanted to connect with the SAWE organization in Los Angeles. Lawrence Cruz mentioned that Salwa Francis, also previously from Boeing, is in SAWE and currently works at Lockheed Martin. Pat also mentioned that he might be working in Palmdale, and the team also recommended he check with the Mojave Chapter.
  3. Lawrence mentioned details of the upcoming picnic and narrowed the site down to three locations: Corona Del Mar Beach, Peninsula Park and Marina Park. The team is moving forward with a Corona Del Mar Beach picnic in late July.
  4. Dan Rowley reported that Donna Gerren retired from both teaching and the SAWE Academic VP Chair.
  5. Dan also noted that SAWE received a proposal from Dr Mostafa Hassanalian and the New Mexico TechStudent chapter to host the 2024 SAWE International Conference in lieu of a planned virtual conference. If their offer is approved, then the potential conference we are researching could move up to 2025 instead of 2026.
    • Long Beach was suggested as a potential site for the conference, Las Vegas was also mentioned
    •  DJ Feldman is the “go to” person for negotiating SAWE conferences and can provide hotel leads
    • Richard Manning, Dan Rowley and John Hargrave are on the conference research committee
    • LA Chapter has not committed to hosting a conference
  6.  Dan Rowley has an action to arrange a dual chapter meeting in LA with the Mohave Desert Chapter.

Lawrence adjourned the meeting at 10:35 AM