Founded in 1950, SWE is a non-profit educational service organization dedicated to supporting and encouraging women to pursue careers in engineering and related technical and scientific fields. Its mission is to:

• Inform young women, their parents, counselors, and the general public, of the qualifications and achievements of women engineers and the opportunities open to them.
• Assist women in readying themselves for a return to active work after temporary retirement.
• Serve as a center of information on women in engineering.
• Encourage women engineers to attain high levels of education and professional achievement.

Through its Awards Program, SWE brings awareness to the many contributions of women engineers and the individuals and companies that champion diversity. The Society offers a variety of individual awards, including Upward Mobility, Resnik Challenger Medal, Rodney D. Chipp, Distinguished Engineering Educator, Distinguished New Engineer, Fellow, Distinguished Service, Entrepreneur, Work Life Balance, and Emerging Leaders. The Achievement Award is the highest award given by the SWE. It is presented annually to a woman who has made an outstanding contribution over a significant period of time in a field of engineering. Her academic training may be in either science or engineering. Requirements include a minimum of an engineering degree and 6 years of increasingly important engineering experience; or a degree in science related to engineering and a minimum of 8 years of increasingly important engineering experience; or a minimum of 11 years of increasingly important engineering experience indicating outstanding competency and achievement. The main criteria for selection are based on the significance of the lifetime achievements cited on behalf of the nominee and on the sustained contributions of the nominee to the field of engineering. Awards criteria are listed on the SWE website.

Each December, HQ AMC requests nominations from its MSCs and other Army Major Commands. An HQ AMC panel then selects and submits a nominee to the SWE Awards Conference Committee for consideration. Completed nomination packages should be sent to:

U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command
ATTN: AMSRD-HR (Ms. Martha Newman)
6000 6th Street, Suite 100
Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5608
Telephone: 703-806-0893
e-mail: martha.newman1@us.army.mil

AMC has joined with Career Communications Group and The Council of Engineering Deans of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities to recognize outstanding Black Army civilian and military engineers. In May (usually), AMC invites its MSCs and agencies to nominate outstanding black engineers. There are numerous Black Engineer Award Categories, some with subcategories, with each having different selection criteria and evaluation factors. The nomination package must include:

• A cover letter identifying the award category and explaining how the nominee meets the criteria for the award category
• The nominee's curriculum vitae
• Narratives describing how the nominee fulfills the selection factors. Limit narratives to one page per selection factor
• Letters of recommendation
• An organizational personnel chart
• A recent color photograph
• Other supporting documentation such as papers and articles by and about the nominee.

Although a nominee can be placed in more than one category, a separate nomination package is required for each award category. Nominations from AMC MSCs and activities are reviewed by a panel at HQ AMC that selects AMC winners and submits them to the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference committee as nominees for the national awards. National winners are recognized at the Black Engineer of the Year Conference held each February. The overall winner of Black Engineer of the Year is recognized on The Black Family Network. Nomination packages complying with the suspense dates should be sent to:

HENAAC, Inc. was established in 1989 as the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference, to identify, honor, and document the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American science, engineering, technology, and mathematics professionals. A core mission of HENAAC is to highlight and showcase outstanding role models to inspire young people to pursue careers in technology and to motivate professionals to continue to connect with the Hispanic community. HENAAC award categories for 2008 are:

• Hispanic Engineer of the Year
• Outstanding Technical Achievement
  sssIndustry
  sssNational Laboratories/Government
  sssMilitary
  sssAcademia
• Executive Excellence
  sssOrganizations with over $20 billion in revenues
  sssOrganizations with under $20 billion in revenues
• Lifetime Achievement
• Professional Achievement
  sssIndustry
  sssNational Laboratories/Government
  sssMilitary
  sssAcademia
• Information Technology Distinction
• Civil Engineering Distinction
• Most Promising Engineer or Scientist – Undergraduate
• Most Promising Engineer or Scientist – Advanced Degree
• Education
  sssUniversity
  sssCommunity College
  sssHigh School
  sssMiddle School
• Community Service
• Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award
• Entrepreneur
• Special Awards
  sssThe Vanguard Award
  sssChairman's Award
  sssAlbert V. Baez Award.
  

Criteria for the 2008 awards are listed on the HENAAC website

AMC Award Winners

• 2008 Society of Women Engineers’ National Achievement Award – Dr. Melanie W. Cole
• 2008 AMC Engineer of the Year – Mr. Mark E. Mahaffey
• 2008 AMC Black Engineer of the Year – Ms. Yolanda L. Hinton
• 2007 AMC Hispanic Engineer of the Year – Ms. Katryna A. Segovia

Federal Engineer of the Year 2008

• Capt. Anthony Todd Zimmer, Ph.D., P.E., C.I.H. – Environmental Protection Agency

Black Engineer of the Year 2008

• Mr. Reginald Lee, Booz Allen Hamilton – Black Engineer of the Year
• BG Robert Crear, US Army Corps of Engineers – Stars and Stripes Honoree
• MG Ronald L. Johnson, US Army Corps of Engineers – Lifetime Achievement Award

Hispanic Engineer of the Year 2008

• Elena Ochoa, Ph.D. – Hispanic Engineer of the Year
• Miguel A. Contreras, Ph.D. and Alicia Abella, Ph.D. – Outstanding Technical Achievement
• RADM Patrick H. Brady, USN and Thaddeus Arroyo – Executive Excellence
• Alfredo Larre – Lifetime Achievement
• Lisa G. Ramos, Adabelle Narvaez-Legeza, and Luis D. Villarreal – Professional Achievement
• Raul Cosio – Information Technology Distinction
• Jose M. Rosado – Civil Engineering Distinction
• Noramay J. Cadena and Carlos L. Enllanche – Most Promising Engineer or Scientist - Undergraduate
• Robinson E. Pino, Ph.D. and Wilmel Varela-Ortiz – Most Promising Engineer or Scientist - Advanced Degree
• David (Greg) Moore – Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award
• Yamaris Soto – Community Service Award
• Nayda G. Santiago-Santiago, Ph.D., P.E. – Education Award
• Alvio S. Barrios – Chairman’s Award
• Ronald W. Moya – Pioneer Award

Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award 2008

• Melanie W. Cole, Ph.D. – Achievement Award