Twenty five members of UMBC's Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapter attended the WE13 national conference held in Baltimore from October 24-26, 2013. SWE is an educational and service organization that empowers women to succeed and advance in the field of engineering, and to be recognized for their life-changing contributions as engineers and leaders.

The UMBC SWE student chapter executive board, led by President, Ebony Tongo (CBEE May 14) actively promoted the event and leveraged gifts from Northrop Grumman and Advertising.com (a division of AOL) to pay for part of the student registration fee. Dean Warren DeVries, arranged for the UMBC delegation  to meet Betty Shanahan, SWE CEO. The members were inspired by their conversation with Ms. Shanahan about her career path, the importance of professional association involvement, and SWE's mission.