Photo Courtesy by Ivy Kwok
Congratulations to Ivy Kwok in receiving the Outstanding Graduate Student Member Award from SWE (Society of Women Engineers). This award honors a SWE graduate student who has made an outstanding contribution to SWE, engineering societies, the community, and their campus.
About Ivy:
Ivy Kwok, a fifth-year PhD Candidate in Dr. Shaily Mahendra’s group, was an inaugural recipient of the Society of Women Engineers’ (SWE) 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Member Award. Each year, the international organization hosts an awards program to celebrate trailblazers from leading companies and institutions around the world who are driving progress within the STEM community and championing the advancement of women in engineering. This was the first year that the Society created a new award to recognize a SWE graduate student who has made an outstanding contribution to SWE, engineering societies, the community, and their campus.
Having grown up in a low-income household and having grown into a first-generation college student, much of Ivy’s present-day life revolves around uplifting others with resources she wished she had. Whether that be sharing a taste of university with her parents when she completed her senior year virtually at home during the pandemic, effervescently embracing her graduate student identity and championing for opportunities for graduate students in SWE Los Angeles, working alongside an amazing team to coordinate UCLA’s Graduate Student Orientation, or extending her mentorship to high school researchers from her hometown, she enjoys repurposing her lived experiences to empower those around her.
Ivy is incredibly grateful to have been able to attend WE24 (SWE’s annual national conference) in Chicago, IL with SWE-UCLA to accept her award alongside her incredible nominator (and fellow award winner!) and also catch up with several UCLA C&EE / Mahendra Lab alumnae!
Official SWE Award Announcement: Link