is a Professional Section of the
Society of Women Engineers
A world with gender parity and equality in engineering and technology.
The Society of Women Engineers is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology. For more than seven decades, SWE has given women engineers a unique place and voice within the engineering industry. Our organization is centered around a passion for our members’ success and continues to evolve with the challenges and opportunities reflected in today’s exciting engineering and technology specialties.
Rocky Mountain Section (RMS) is one of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) largest sections with over 600 members. The section is also large in physical space encompassing all of Wyoming and most of Colorado with the Colorado Springs and Pueblo areas being part of Pikes Peak Section.
RMS has dedicated leaders, volunteers and contributors thorough its large membership base that are committed to SWE’s core values and mission. RMS hosts many programs and events throughout the year that highlight four focus areas: Collegiate Engagement, Membership, Outreach, and Professional Development.

Collegiate Counselors
Gear Up Collegiate Partnered Series
Professional Enrichment Talks
Scholarships
Spring Summit
RMS Collegiate Engagement focuses on connecting and supporting collegiate sections within our section boundary. RMS regularly hosts events that directly partner with local collegiate SWE sections.
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Awards
Discussion Club
Local Socials
Membership Events
RMS Membership focuses on supporting RMS members by highlighting their accomplishments and bringing them together for networking and fun.
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Certificates of Merit
Essay Contest
Girls Exploring STEM
SWENext
RMS Outreach focuses on introducing girl identifying students in K-12 grades to STEM. In addition to RMS hosted program and events, RMS actively supports other local K-12 outreach events that connect with our mission.
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Collective Wisdom Groups
Women in Industry
– Lightning Talks
– Professional Development Sessions
– Technical Tours
– Women in X
RMS Professional Development focuses on providing mutual support and professional development for STEM professionals. RMS also partners with local companies and professional organizations to host many of these events.
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News and Announcements
Volunteer as a GESTEM Guide
150 volunteer guides needed. GESTEM group guides will lead a group of 8-10 students through 3 hands-on STEM workshops. This is a wonderful opportunity to interact one-on-one with the students! And the students appreciate you – 86% of attendees rated their guide highly for being helpful and easy to talk to. Consider volunteering for our May 21 event.
FY26 Executive Council Slate
The Section Nominations Committee is pleased to announce the FY26 Officer Slate:
President | Kaitlin Chapman |
1st Vice President | Heather Munoz |
Secretary | Ashley Kreuder |
Treasurer | Sara Ellis |
VP of Membership | Shannon McAvoy |
VP of Professional Development | Madalene Fetsch |
VP of Collegiate Engagement | Breanna Hayes |
VP of Outreach | Jayme Lara |
Per the Section agreement additional candidates may be nominated by petition following the release of the slate, provided that:
- The member is eligible for the position.
- The member has given written consent to being placed on the ballot.
- A minimum of 15 voting members of the section signed a petition or endorsed an email to place the candidates name on the ballot, and
- The petition, together with the written consent, is submitted to the Chair of the Nominating Committee via the swerms@gmail.com email by April 30.
- Write-in votes for eligible candidates shall be allowed.
The ballot will be open from May 1 – May 21. Voting members of the Section will be able to find a link to vote on the https://swe-rms.swe.org/membership/vote/ website when voting is opened.
A copy of the Section Agreement and the Executive Council Procedure may be reviewed on the Governance page.
Thank you, Nomination Committee Members
Virtual Book Discussion – Dracula
Join RMS on Mon, May 13 at 5 pm for a virtual book discussion on Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula. If you are interested in attending, email Bounkheana Chhun.
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently uncrewed ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the ‘Master’ and his imminent arrival.
In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters.
Colorado Gives Day
You can join the wave of generosity.
You can join the statewide movement and make a big impact in your community. ColoradoGives.org is a year-round giving platform.
Giving is Open with one-time or recurring gift options. RMS recommends giving towards our general fund to support “where needed most”. If you prefer, you may designate** GESTEM, K-12 Outreach, Scholarships, or Spring Summit.
** If you would like to designate your donation to support a specific activity, please use the full donation page or follow-up with an email to us, as the widget does not include a designation field.
Employment Opportunity
Payload Systems Communication Systems Engineer at D-Orbit
D-Orbit USA is seeking a Payload Communication Systems Engineer with RF aperture design familiarity who can be a technical interface with partner RF payload providers, and who can support both payload and spacecraft architecture development by calculating and developing interface requirements. Email info@dorbit.com to apply.
Role: Work with potential customers to understand mission requirements and translate into
payload requirements, proposing various solutions to meet customer needs; Communicate our mission needs (throughput, frequency, etc.) to payload vendors; Work with RF communications payload vendors (Viasat, MDA, etc.) to iterate system architecture and sizing and derive specifications (power, mass, size, throughput, etc.) for
their communications payloads; Perform cross-functional payload trade studies to explore multiple solutions; Maintain knowledge of “state of the art” RF communications payload systems, vendors, use cases and market trends; and Communicate payload capabilities with our D-Orbit USA engineering team.
Skills: Detailed understanding of communications system architecture, interfaces and
functionality; Detailed understanding of RF engineering for satellite communications in S, X, Ka, Ku
and V Bands; Demonstrated knowledge developing and owning link budgets for space applications; Clear communication skills; and Strong organizational skills. Education: BS in Electrical or Systems Engineering with MS preferred.
Upcoming Events
RMS upcoming events are shown in our Google calendar. For more information about our events and other interesting events, join the RMS email newsletter and follow us on social media.

FY24 SWE Recognition Awards
SWE Rocky Mountain Section was honored at WE24 Chicago with SWE Mission Recognition Award. Mission recognitions are for SWE Groups that embody SWE core values and demonstrate continuous improvement and growth as they work to achieve the Society’s strategic goals. 2024 SWE Mission Recognition, Silver The FY2024 awards process was updated to be the SWE…
RMS Mailing Address
Society of Women Engineers – Rocky Mountain Section
1090 S Wadsworth Blvd Unit C-7201
Lakewood, CO 80226
Mail from our previous PO Box is being forwarded to our new permanent mailing address. This new mail service includes a variety of features that improves our section’s ability to better manage mail and ultimately better serve our members and partners.