That's What SWE Said: Recent Episodes
SWE at UC Berkeley
Hosted and brought to you by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) section at UC Berkeley, That's What SWE Said is SWE at Berkeley’s podcast featuring the inspiring and exciting lives of UCB SWE members as women/allies in engineering.
Welcome back to another episode of That's What SWE Said! Our co-hosts catch up with two of our internal officers, Jennifer Toy and Inas Zulaikha Binti Anwar Syahrin! Hear them chat about their current work in Membership and Intersocial within SWE, their journeys to their majors, stories about their pets, and more!
In this episode of That's What SWE Said, our co-host Julie catches up with our Social Media Co-Chair Olivia Kris! Olivia manages our social media platforms along with our other co-chair, Annie Lin.
Hear Olivia talk about her favorite social media platforms, the music she enjoys, the inspiring journey she took into studying data science, her hot takes, and more!
Check out all of our social media platforms below!
Visit our Website: https://swe.berkeley.edu/
Sign up to get email updates: https://tinyurl.com/sp23-swemail
Join our calendar: https://tinyurl.com/ucbswecal
Join our Slack: https://tinyurl.com/ucbsweslack
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ucberkeleyswe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ucb_swe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UCB_SWE
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ucb_swe
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uc-berkeley-swe
Welcome back to Season 5 of That's What SWE Said! Join us for our first episode, where our new hosts - Riya Jain and Julie Lynch have a casual chat with our previous co-hosts, Sadhika Akula and Vivian Chung!
Hear about how Spring semester is going, our experiences with internships, our love for Capri Suns, and what pasta shapes we would be ... Hana, our VPI, would be a rigatoni.
Welcome back to another episode of That’s What SWE Said! On this week’s episode, hear us chat with three alumni who have largely contributed to UCB SWE - Allison Nguyen, Sierra Dean, and Andrea Palomo!
Allison is currently part of the Product Engineering Leadership Development Program at Thermofisher, Sierra is a software engineer at Meta, and Andrea is a Postgraduate Research Associate at Yale University.
Hear them give advice to their younger selves, talk about their college experience, decide what they wanted to do after college, and give light on what they have learned throughout their journeys!
With our annual Evening with Industry Event quickly approaching, Sadhika and Vivian chat with our two EWI co-chairs, Joelle Siong Sin and Julie Lynch! As recruiting season is coming up, it can be incredibly stressful, but no fear because your SWEsters are here! Our amazing co-chairs are here to debunk EWI, recruiting season, and give tips to stand out.
For this week's episode, we are chatting with two of our SWE Advisors, Katherine Wang and PeiWen Xiao! Hear Katherine and PeiWen chat about what it means to be a SWE Advisor, how SWE has changed during their time in this club, and their favorite memories!
In this week's episode, we will be talking about inclusivity in SWE and the steps that we, as an organization, are taking to make a SWE a safe and supportive community for individuals of all backgrounds. Hear from our Advocacy, Equity, and Inclusion Director, Riya Jain, and President, Ashley Chu, about what we can do to make SWE more inclusive.
In this week's episode, we are joined by our SWE officers who have joined for their first semester as an officer this year. SWE has been growing each and every year and we’re excited to get to know our newest officers and hear about what they’re excited for this semester and what they have been working on in SWE!
Welcome back to Season 3 of That's What SWE Said! Join us for our first episode of the semester where our two hosts, Vivian Chung and Sadhika Akula interview students of the incoming class and get their insight on the engineering space and beyond! Hear about what they're looking forward to this year and maybe even why we think you should join SWE!
In our final episode of Season 3, our co hosts Sami and Kuhu talk with Celestina Calarde, SWE alumn and recent graduate from UC Berkeley, and she is now working at General Motors! Please tune in to listen to Celestina’s transition to her job, how SWE has been influential in her career, and how her day at work typically looks like! You’ll also get the chance to learn more about her unique Spotify playlists, favorite memory from Berkeley, and so much more! And with that…that’s a wrap on Season 3 of That’s What SWE Said!
To all of our listeners: thank you so much for tuning in to this third season of That's What SWE Said! Please look forward to Season 4 in Fall 2022!
In this episode of That’s What SWE Said, our co hosts Sami and Kuhu wrap up our game show trilogy with SWE Officers CJ (Public Relations), Julie (Public Relations), and SWE Committee Members Kelly (Career Options) & Amanda (Public Relations Committee)! Tune in as we play SWE’s take on Cards Against Humanity or “Apples to Apples”!! We have some fun prompts and stories you don’t want to miss out on!
In this episode of That’s What SWE Said, our co hosts Sami and Kuhu chat with Elle Tran, who manages all of our SWE social media platforms! In this episode, you’ll get a chance to learn about Elle’s favorite social media platforms, which platform she enjoys using most for SWE, her vision for creating accessible designs and content for our platforms, and how design intersects with her own fashion style! Tune in to find out Elle’s hot takes, including favorite and least favorite astrological signs!
This semester, Elle and her committee have worked hard to utilize new platforms such as Twitter and Tiktok for SWE! Check them out here:
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UCB_SWE
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ucb_swe
In this episode of That’s What SWE Said, our co hosts Sami and Kuhu chat with our Academic Chair, Andrea Palomo. The Academic committee is new to SWE this semester, and it’s spearheaded by Andrea! In this episode, we talk about the goals of the Academic committee, Andrea’s legacy in SWE, her advice to listeners, and upcoming events you don’t want to miss! You’ll also get a chance to learn about her most random stories, favorite tiktoks, and more!
To learn more about Andrea’s podcast episode on founding That’s What SWE Said, check out Episode 15 of Season 1!
In this episode of That’s What SWE Said, our co hosts Sami and Kuhu chat with our SWE Science Directors, Sharicka Zutshi and Shalini Namuduri. Together, they have worked hard to develop fun ways to engage middle and elementary students in STEM and engineering workshops! They are also very excited to be piloting the first SWE Science tutoring program! Tune in to listen to some of their favorite SWE Science memories – you don’t want to miss these! You’ll also get a chance to learn about their favorite classes at Berkeley, current obsessions, and their most influential mentor.
To become involved in SWE Science as a volunteer, sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/swesciencevolunteering
To learn more about the mentorship program, check this out: https://tinyurl.com/swesciencetutoringvolunteering
If you have any questions, please contact swesciencesaturday@gmail.com!
In this episode of That’s What SWE Said, our co hosts Sami and Kuhu chat with Sarah Mehtabuddin (Intersocietal Chair) and Yeiji Lee (Membership Director)! Together they have put on memorable events for SWE! Tune in to listen to what they look forward to in SWE, pivotal moments they’ve had while in Berkeley, and what event they have in store for us! You’ll also get a chance to learn about their favorite artists, senior high school quotes, and stories their friends and family love to share about them.
We’re back with another gameshow episode on our podcast, That’s What SWE Said! Our co-hosts Sami and Kuhu prepared an all-encompassing trivia game about SWE, engineering, historical STEMinists around the world, and also a few riddles to ask our four amazing SWE Officers joining us today: Esme Cohen (E&I Director), Kirthi Kumar (Startup Spring Co-Director), Michelle Ramirez (Mentorship Co-Director), and Vivian Chung (Advocacy Director). Tune in to find out which team won & try to guess the answer as you’re listening! Hope you enjoy it and laugh as much as we do :)
We can continue the conversation if you join us for GM #2 on Tuesday, March 8th from 6:30-8:00PM PT at 410 HMMB!
In this episode of That’s What SWE Said, our co-hosts Sami and Kuhu chat with CJ Hines, our SWE Co-Chair of Public Relations! CJ is a junior studying both Computer Science and Economics and is joining the SWE Officer team for the first time this semester! CJ is coming back to Berkeley from a study abroad program, where she was able to study in London during the Fall 2021 semester. Tune in to learn more about her study abroad experiences (and favorite location she visited), her goals for the Public Relations marketing team, and her favorite movies!
In our fifth episode, our co-hosts Sami and Kuhu have a comfortable chat with UC Berkeley alum and Dreamworks Animation Supervising Technical Director, Kathryn Rumohr!
Listen in to find out how Kathryn Rumohr changed her major at UC Berkeley to study computer science, how she discovered animation through UCBUGG, roles she’s had at Dreamworks Animation over the past 12 years, favorite movies she’s worked on, and iconic figures she’s seen (and met!) while working at Dreamworks Animation. Be sure to watch The Bad Guys in theaters April 22, 2022 to support Kathryn’s latest work!
UC Berkeley Undergraduate Graphics Group (UCBUGG) Website: http://www.ucbugg.com/static/index.html
Dreamworks Animation: https://www.dreamworks.com/
For this week’s podcast, That's What SWE Said is partnering with Cal Women in Gaming (CWG)! Our co-hosts, Sami and Kuhu, chat with Isa and Viansa, two members from CWG, to get to know their mission, how to get involved, their involvement in the organization, and how they fell in love with gaming. Be sure to tune in to listen to Isa and Viansa’s favorite game, pet peeve when gaming, and their favorite ridiculous fact! If you have any interest in gaming, be sure to check out CWG – their organization prides itself on being a welcoming, inclusive, and empowering space for gender minorities in gaming. CWG offers fun activities (including gaming, of course!) and the opportunity to develop professional development relationships!
CWG Website: https://cwg.berkeley.edu/
CWG Discord: Cal Women in Gaming (discord.com)
That's What SWE Said is partnering with CalSMV, the Cal Super Mileage Vehicle team, for this week's episode! Our co-hosts Sami and Kuhu sit down with Dana and Megan, two members from CalSMV, to get to know CalSMV’s mission, how to get involved, and their involvement in the organization. Be sure to tune in to listen to Dana and Megan’s favorite class at Berkeley and their favorite CalSMV tradition! You can learn more about CalSMV by checking out their website!
CalSMV Website: https://smv.berkeley.edu/
CalSMV email: calsmv@gmail.com
Welcome back to That’s What SWE Said! For our second episode, we are joined by this year’s UC Berkeley SWE Spring Startup Co-Chair, Joelle Siong Sin! Tune in to learn more about Joelle, her vision for Startup Spring, transitioning from New York, and her favorite boba place (...it’s not Feng Cha)!
Welcome back, SWE! With the new semester, we are kicking off Season 3 of “That’s What SWE Said” with a new episode! We are starting this season with our SWE Execs to tell us a bit about upcoming events they are preparing for! We have Allison Nguyen (President), Ashley Chu (VP Internal), Jazz Ramos (VP Corporate), Sierra Dean (VP Outreach), Carolina Rios (Secretary), and Iris Hsu (Treasurer) joining us! We’re also changing up Tea with SWE for this episode to…True Confessions! Be sure to tune in to listen to their true…or possibly false…stories and find out who’s the best at this game!
Join us for Spring 2022 Welcome Week and apply to be a committee member!
Welcome Week Events: https://fb.me/e/1fPI49QLC
Committee Descriptions: https://tinyurl.com/swesp22committeedesc
Committee Applications: https://tinyurl.com/swesp22committeeapp
For this season’s finale, Kuhu and Sami chat with Professor Ranade from the EECS department! Tune in to learn about her transition from Microsoft Research AI to becoming a Berkeley assistant professor, her undergraduate memories from MIT, her advice to women in engineering, and her favorite café to visit in Berkeley (and her go-to order), and much more!
To all of our listeners: thank you so much for tuning in to the second season of That's What SWE Said! Please look forward to Season 3 in Spring 2021, and if you’re interested in collaborating for next semester’s podcast, feel free to reach out to us at swe.berkeley@gmail.com!
That's What SWE Said is partnering with ASCE, the American Society of Civil Engineers, for this week's episode! Our co-hosts Sami and Kuhu sit down with Lean and Ivan, two board members from ASCE, to get to know ASCE’s mission, how to get involved, and their involvement in the organization. Be sure to tune in to listen to Leah and Ivan’s childhood dreams and their favorite quote that keeps them going! You can learn more about ASCE by visiting their website: https://www.asce.berkeley.edu/. Check out their podcast, “civil.”, to listen to their conversation with our co-hosts, Sami and Kuhu!
In this episode, Kuhu and Sami sit down with this year’s Secretary, Carolina Rios! Carolina is currently a 4th-year majoring in Bioengineering and loves to share her passion for research. Be sure to tune in to this episode to hear about her experiences in the Streets lab and at Microsoft Research, and the legacy she would like to leave behind as a mentor. Find out more about her passion for music and dance - especially her newfound love for kpop!
In this episode, Kuhu and Sami sit down with this year’s SWENext Director, Anvisha Saxena! Anvisha is currently a 4th-year majoring in EECS and she is taking the semester off to work in industry. Be sure to tune in to this episode to hear about her experience transitioning to the workforce this year, the legacy she would like for SWENext, and her favorite hobby!
We’re back from attending SWE National Conference (WE 21) in Indianapolis, Indiana! Tune in as our hosts Kuhu and Sami chat with three SWE officers that attended WE 21 - Kat Wang, Kirthi Kumar, and Iris Hsu - and hear about their favorite memories and takeaways from the conference. We have so many stories to share from WE 21 - you don’t want to miss them!
This week, our hosts Sami and Kuhu chat with Renee Francisco and Phoebe Chang, this year’s Team Tech leads! Team Tech is UC Berkeley SWE’s project/competition team working to create a solution for a specific problem within the tech industry. Listen in to learn about their goals and how they are working to achieve them and more about their personal lives -- including their favorite go-to karaoke songs and the fictional family they’d like to join!
For this week’s episode, we’re bringing in That’s What SWE Said’s first co-hosts, Amanda and Sarina! Tune in to hear about what they have been up to lately, how SWE has impacted their college years and current post-undergrad experience, and their favorite (and most embarrassing) college memories!
In this episode, Kuhu and Sami catch up with SWE Advocacy Director, Sharicka Zutshi. Tune in to hear how SWadvocacy has grown over the past two years and hear Sharika’s advice for how to get started in advocacy! You’ll get a chance to reflect on what advocacy means to you, think about what you want to advocate for, and why! Come to our second general meeting, GM #2, on Monday, October 18th from 5-6pm at HMMB to keep this advocacy conversation going!
This week, Kuhu and Sami chat with Malvika Singhal, a SWE and Berkeley alumni who graduated in 2020 and left a big impact on UC Berkeley SWE’s Outreach sector! Be sure to tune in to learn more about Malkiva’s life updates, advice for SWE members, and how SWE has and continues to shape her.
In this week’s episode, Kuhu and Sami talk with our SWE VP Corporate, Jazz Ramos! Tune in to hear Jazz talk about her goals for SWE Corporate and learn how you can get involved (both virtual and in-person) with our hybrid events! To stay connected on all corporate events, be sure to join the linkedin jobs-opportunities group (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12462059/)!
In our third episode, Kuku and Sami chat with Leena, our SWE Transfer Outreach Officer, to learn more about her unique outlook as a transfer student and her experience transitioning to Berkeley. Leena shares advice for current transfer students or for students thinking of transferring in our episode! Her guide for how to survive as a transfer can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/swe-transfer-guide.
Welcome back to That’s What SWE Said! For our second episode, we are joined by this year’s UC Berkeley SWE VP Outreach, Sierra Dean! Tune in to learn more about Sierra and her journey with SWE Outreach programs and how you can volunteer for our many outreach events!
Welcome back to Season 2 of That’s What SWE Said! Join us for our first episode, where our hosts -- Kuhu Sharma and Samantha Torres -- have a casual chat about our Welcome Week events with Ashley Chu, this year’s UCB SWE Vice President of Internal Relations! We also introduce Allison Nguyen, UCB SWE President, for a warm welcome to the SWE community!
For the last episode of That’s What SWE Said Season 1, Amanda and Sarina have a comfortable chat with Andrea Palomo, a Bioengineering and Materials Science & Engineering joint-major who is starting her senior year this coming Fall. In addition to being this past year's SWE Secretary, Andrea is also the mastermind behind this podcast! Be sure to tune in to learn about Andrea’s behind-the-scenes story of creating That’s What SWE Said, her involvement in enhancing the cohesiveness of SWE’s branding this year, as well as Andrea, Amanda, and Sarina’s personal podcast ideas and Berkeley bucket list items!
To all of our listeners: thank you so much for tuning in to this first season of That's What SWE Said! Please look forward to Season 2 in Fall 2021, and if you’re interested in being a host for next semester’s podcast, feel free to reach out to us at swe.berkeley@gmail.com!
Please join us for this week’s episode, where Amanda and Sarina chat with SWE’s Faculty Advisor, Professor Amy Herr! In addition to being a Bioengineering Professor at UC Berkeley, Professor Herr is an Investigator at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and a Faculty Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Tune in to learn about her research group’s work in measurement science, her inspiring advice for women in engineering, her favorite café to visit in Berkeley (and her go-to order), and much more!
In this week’s episode, Amanda and Sarina have a casual chat with this year’s VP of Corporate Relations, Sami Torres! Sami is currently a 3rd-year studying Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR), and has really enjoyed being able to broaden the scope of corporate events this online school year. Be sure to listen in to hear about Sami, Amanda, and Sarina’s takes on certain aspects of pop culture -- including their favorite Hannah Montana song and One Direction member -- as well as their experiences meeting famous people!
This week, Amanda and Sarina chat with Professor Angjoo Kanazawa for our podcast’s first Professor Chat! As a professor in the UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) department, Professor Kanazawa is working to conduct research in Computer Vision (a field of artificial intelligence training computers to understand human vision from digital images/videos). Please tune in to this episode to hear about her life journey/career path thus far (from her hometown of Kobe, Japan to the Bay Area), her advice for younger women in STEM, her story of getting and training her cats, and much more!
In this episode, Amanda and Sarina sit down with this year’s VP Outreach, Teresa Yang! Teresa is currently a 4th-year majoring in Bioengineering and EECS, and has been a part of SWE since her freshman year. Be sure to tune in to this episode to hear about her experience as VP Outreach this year and the legacy she would like to leave behind, her secret talent (it has to do with music!), and her favorite item from Trader Joe’s!
Whether you’ve just been admitted this year (in an Engineering or Computer Science major) or are a current SWE member, be sure to tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about how you can get involved in this year’s Online Host Program (OHP)! OHP is an event hosted by UC Berkeley SWE for female and non-binary students admitted to Engineering and CS majors to get a taste of life as a Berkeley Engineer. In this episode, our hosts, Amanda and Sarina, sit down with this semester’s OHP Co-Officers, Ashley Chu (a 2nd-year studying Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) and Sierra Dean (a 3rd-year studying Computer Science) to learn about their own journeys in choosing Berkeley as well as their experiences in planning for a virtual OHP. And please be sure to stay tuned for the second half of the episode, “Truth or Scare,” where many popular Berkeley myths are deemed to either be truth or just a scare.
If you are a female or non-binary Berkeley Engineering or CS admit this year (congratulations on your acceptance!!!) and are interested in attending SWE's Online Host Program, please register at https://tinyurl.com/sweohpsp21 by April 22nd, 2021 11:59 PM PT!
This week, our hosts Amanda and Sarina chat with Lily Sai (a 3rd-year studying Computer Science) and Sydney Osugi (a 4th-year studying Mechanical Engineering), this year’s Team Tech leads! Team Tech is UC Berkeley SWE’s project/competition team working to create a solution for a specific problem within the tech industry. Listen in to learn about their project this year with Beckman Coulter (a manufacturing company creating products in biomedical testing) and how they bond with their team members through Codenames, their favorite experiences in SWE throughout the years, and more about their personal lives -- including their favorite Berkeley eats and the fictional family they’d like to join!
This week, Amanda and Sarina sit down with last year’s SWE President, Haruka Ichikawa! Since graduating last Spring, Haruka has been pursuing her Master’s in Transportation Engineering at UC Berkeley. Be sure to listen in to hear about Haruka’s favorite and most memorable SWE experiences, as well as some of her fun facts (including her avocado allergy, favorite childhood TV show, and more)!
For this week’s episode, we have an Officer Spotlight featuring this semester’s Equity & Inclusion director, Thena Guttieri, a 3rd-year studying Mechanical Engineering! Tune in to hear about how Thena has found a family within SWE this semester, how she started working on her herb garden, and what her entrance song would be!
Join us this week for our first episode featuring SWE alumni! In this episode, Amanda and Sarina catch up with SWE alumna, Cynthia Tien, a 2019 grad who studied Chemical Engineering and Computer Science. Currently working abroad in Korea at Applied Intuition, a startup focused on autonomous vehicle simulation, Cynthia Tien shares her experiences traveling for her job, general advice on exploring campus and its resources, as well as her take on certain fashion statements, such as bucket hats!
This week, Amanda and Sarina chat with Yukai Tomsovic, a third year Materials Science & Engineering major who has been involved in UC Berkeley SWE’s Outreach sector! Be sure to tune in to learn more about Yukai’s Taiwan research experience, her current involvement in the Fung Fellowship, and her take on which grocery store has the best produce!
In this week’s episode, Amanda and Sarina interview Edlyft Co-Founder and CEO, Erika Hairston! Across multiple college campuses (including UC Berkeley), Edlyft offers personalized, small group-based support and mentorship in CS courses. Get ready for a jam-packed episode of fun -- from hearing Erika’s inspiring stories and experiences about starting Edlyft with her high school friend, Arnelle, to learning what Erika would call herself if she were Snow White’s eighth dwarf. If you would like to learn more about Edlyft and/or how you can join an Edlyft cohort, please visit edlyft.com!
In our third episode, Amanda and Sarina have a comfortable chat with Geek Girl Careers CEO, Sandhya Iyer! Through their online platform, live workshops, and more, Geek Girl Careers aspires to help young women discover their passions and careers within the tech industry. Listen in to find out how CEO Sandhya Iyer got started at Geek Girl Careers, her experiences in STEM, as well as her hot take on being a Rihanna stan. To learn more about Geek Girl Careers, please visit geekgirlcareers.com!
Welcome back to That’s What SWE Said! For our second episode, we are joined by this year’s UC Berkeley SWE President, Zoe Husted! Tune in to learn more about Zoe and her journey with SWE -- starting from before she got to Berkeley to today, in her senior year!
Join us for our first episode, where our hosts -- Amanda Guan and Sarina Xin -- introduce SWE at Berkeley’s purpose behind starting That’s What SWE Said, as well as have a casual chat with Allison Nguyen, this year’s UCB SWE Vice President of Internal Relations!