The Women In Sensors Engineering (WISE) program has been a successful feature of Sensors West and Midwest for the past three years. Attracting some of the greatest talents in the engineering community, the program has done much to bring attention of the accomplishments of women in the field of technology, which is one of its intentions. Equally important, it has created a collaborative entity within the sensors and engineering community with a focus on extending and expanding knowledge across a broad range of engineering talent, both female and male.
At Sensors Midwest 2018, on Tuesday, October 16 at 12:00 pm, the WISE program will kick off with noted female engineers engaging in a panel discussion of the contributions they make to the sensors community. This year's program will feature Dr. Elina Vitol, recipient of the Rising Star award from Sensors Magazine and Sensors Expo & Conference 2015.
Dr. Elina Vitol is a Staff Scientist at Ecolab with expertise in optical engineering, materials science, and biomedical engineering. Dr. Vitol is the technical lead for open innovation and technology transfer in microbial control and monitoring for the global Ecolab organization. She also serves as subject matter expert in optics-based analytical and diagnostic instrumentation, materials science and nanotechnology. Dr. Vitol has served on multiple committees for the Optical Society of America (OSA). Recently, she was elected to serve as Chair of the Therapeutic Laser Applications Technical Group at OSA.
The session will also feature several other leaders in their respective fields. They include Dr. Jennifer Bonniwell, Professor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Carol Smith, Lead Market Surveillance Engineer at UL LLC, Elsa Madrigal, Senior Principal Engineer at Panduit, and Aleksandra Egelja-Maruszewski, Director, North America Customer Excellence, ANSYS, Inc.
Dr. Jennifer L. Bonniwell joined the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department faculty at the Milwaukee School of Engineering as an assistant professor in 2016. Dr. Bonniwell is one of the core instructors to teach control systems and frequently teaches the sequence of digital logic courses. Both topics involve the use of sensor technology; feedback control systems rely on sensors to provide desired system responses.
Many of Dr. Bonniwell’s publications examine inherent properties of the extended Kalman filter and its variants. She also has publications on engineering education in the proceedings of the IEEE Frontiers in Educations conference and the American Society for Engineering Educators (ASEE) Annual Conference. She was elected as the secretary and treasurer for the ASEE Electrical and Computer Engineering Division and is the faculty advisor for the IEEE student chapter.
Carol Smith is an electrical engineer at Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL), an independent safety science company located in Northbrook, Illinois. She has over 25 years’ experience in testing, evaluating, and certifying products for compliance to safety standards.
In early 20218, Carol transitioned into a new role as Lead Market Surveillance Engineer, investigating concerns related to UL certified products. This new role involves verifying the concern, determining the root cause and taking the appropriate action to protect the integrity of the UL Mark. These investigations require working with consumers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, UL Field Engineers and authorities having jurisdiction. Carol conducts public UL seminars, Designing for Compliance to IEC 61010-1, Safety Requirements for Electrical Equipment for Measurement, Control, and Laboratory Use, and enjoys sharing her knowledge about safety as one of UL’s company spokespersons.
If you are ready to get enlightened and inspired by these great engineers with a wealth of knowledge and practical experience, you’re therefore ready to do those two very simple things:
- Register for Sensors Midwest 2018.
- Attend the “WISE Program” on Tuesday, October 16 at 12:00 pm in Theater 2.
Also, checkout the conference schedule for related sessions and the exhibitor lineup for presentations of the latest sensors and sensor-related products plus a plethora of other technologies.
