August 12, 2020

Where are they Now: Amanda Levenson

Spotlight

Receiving the Husky 100 meant that the university and its supporters cared about the efforts I was invested in at the time of the award and believed in my potential to continue making a difference in these areas in the future. I was heavily involved in my chemical engineering community through research and clubs, and was motivated to improve academic/career development opportunities and retention of women in STEM fields. To me, the Husky 100 award meant that my UW community valued diversity in STEM, the impact I had while at UW, or the impact I could have moving forward in my professional career. The Husky 100 was an acknowledgment of the hard work I put into school and encouragement for tackling my post-college endeavors, especially as I moved to a new state to start a full-time job at Intel Corporation. The recognition also reinforced my participation in women in STEM and professional development related efforts specifically, propelling me into multiple leadership roles with the Phoenix Professional Section of the Society of Women Engineers and the Women at Intel Network employee resource group. Through these roles, I have been able to build a larger network of technical women and expand my reach, in turn impacting my own engineering and leadership development.

Since moving to the greater Phoenix area since graduation, I have continued to take part in numerous leadership roles within diversity/inclusion-focused organizations in my community and at work, which I think demonstrates my commitment to an inclusive community and capacity for leadership. I am the Vice President and Scholarship Chair for the Phoenix Professional Section of the Society of Women Engineers, where I have ownership of coordinating professional development, outreach and mentorship events for over 300+ professional engineering members, and ownership of the Collegiate Scholarship Program, which provides direct scholarships to engineering students at local universities (ASU, NAU, ERAU). I am also the Speaker Series Chair for the Women at Intel Network employee resource group, where I coordinate external and internal speakers for over 600 women at my workplace, on topics such as burnout recovery/prevention, leadership, working women, allyship, and more.  I think my roles in these organizations represent leadership and commitment to inclusion because I am working to develop/grow programs targeted at minority groups in STEM while also providing opportunities for these groups to be actively involved. The ultimate goal is to help others become more actively involved and to grow academically/professionally in their fields.