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 the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport.  Yadira has served several executive board and committee chair positions in the past including membership committee, secretary, treasurer and president.  In her spare time Yadira enjoys reading, going to the beach and spending time with her family.  She is the coleader for a local Girl Scout troop. She has two daughters ages 10 and 15.
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

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

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Treasurer – Donna Matthews​

Donna Matthews is a charter member of SWE-NESS and is running for the position of Treasurer. She has held positions in SWE-NESS for 32 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, FY20 and FY21. 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, local COVID vaccination clinics and the local COVID testing site. She is also the proud mom of 2 college grads!​
Email Donna

Communications Chair - Amanda Rock

Amanda Rock graduated from Tufts University in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. After graduating, Amanda started at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI. She began as a test and evaluation engineer for the surface ship SONAR system. Amanda's current position is the lead of a software development team that is responsible for designing cutting-edge, interactive web applications that train Sailors and engineers on fundamental principles of SONAR and RADAR. In her free time, 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

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Professional Development Chair - Available

Membership Chair - Available

Social Chair - Available

Fundraising Chair - Available

Outreach Chair - Available