SWE-NESS Officers
​FY18

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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 7 and 11 who are currently participating in Girl Scouts. 
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Vice President -Adriana Blanco

Adriana Blanco works as a Test Engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI. In this role, she tests the sonar interface for all legacy and new-construction submarines. Outside of work, she enjoys running, sewing, and visiting breweries. She was active in SWE at her undergraduate chapter and was one of twenty female engineering students in the country to earn the General Electric Women’s Network Scholarship through SWE in her senior year. She also served as Vice President of her undergraduate chapter. Adriana graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and Texas Woman’s University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, in May 2014.

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Treasurer – Donna Matthews

Donna Matthews is a SWE-NESS Charter Member and has held many positions since 1989, including 4 terms as president.  She has a masters degree in mechanical engineering from URI and has spent 33 years at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport where she is currently a supervisor of the Product Engineering Branch.  Now that her two sons are all grown up she enjoys  gardening, hanging at the beach with her husband and friends, spending time with family, and eating out!  Donna is looking forward to serving SWE-NESS again after a 8 year hiatus.
Email Donna​

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Secretary - Emily Pietrzak

​Emily Pietrzak is a 2013 graduate of Penn State with a bacherlor’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 joined SWE in 2016 and is looking forward to being this year’s secretary.
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Web Master - 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 demonstrate 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.
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Professional Development Chair - Margaret Duckett

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