SWE-NESS Officers
​FY21

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President -
Yadira 
Gilchrest

Yadira Gilchrest joined SWE in 2003 shortly after receiving the Helen Martha Sternberg Award at NUWC Division Newport.  Yadira has served several executive board positions in the past including secretary, treasurer and president.  In the past year, she has stepped up to the role of supervisor for the Systems Analysis and Passive Systems Engineering Branch.  In her spare time Yadira enjoys reading (doesn’t really get to do this much), going to the beach and spending time with her family.  She has two daughters ages 9 and 14 who are currently participating in Girl Scouts. 
Email Yadira

Vice President - Emily Pietrzak

​Emily Pietrzak is a 2013 graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and 2015 graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a master’s in ocean engineering.  She is currently an ocean engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI. Emily is part of the systems analysis team in the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department.  She enjoys tennis, living in Newport with other NUWC new professionals and learning how to play the ukulele (and is currently taking lessons!). Emily has been a member of SWE NESS since 2016.
Email Emily

Treasurer – Donna Matthews

Donna Matthews is a charter member of SWE-NESS and has held positions in SWE-NESS for 31 years including President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Chair and Archives Chair.  She took a “short” break for 7 years to serve as the Committee Chair for her sons’ Boy Scout Troop then returned to SWE-NESS to serve as the Treasurer in FY19 and FY20. Donna retired as a mechanical engineer from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport after 34 years, serving as a supervisor for the last 6+ years.  She used many lessons learned in leadership from SWE-NESS in her professional career. Since retiring, Donna has traveled, skied mid-week, sewed costumes for local theaters, gardened, coordinated 2 SWE-NESS outreach programs and, thanks to COVID-19, sewed masks, volunteered at the emergency food bank and delivered for Meals On Wheels. She is also now the proud mom of 2 college grads!
Email Donna​

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Secretary - Christina Leise

Christina Liese graduated from the University of Rhode Island International Engineering Program in 2014 with bachelor's degrees in Biomedical Engineering and German. She currently works at Becton Dickinson as a quality engineer supporting the development of surgical mesh and fixation products. She was an active Girl Scout growing up, and now enjoys camping and hiking with her fiance and German Shepherd. 
Email Christina

Communications Chair - Amanda Rock

Amanda Rock graduated from Tufts University in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. She currently works at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center developing interactive web applications that teach SONAR fundamentals. Amanda enjoys spending time with friends going to restaurants or the beach, traveling, photography, and making jewelry. Amanda is responsible for maintaining the SWE-NESS website and Facebook group.
Email Amanda

Professional Development Chair - Margaret Duckett

Email Margaret

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Membership Chair - Available

Social Chair - Available

Fundraising Chair - Available

Outreach Chair - Available