2022 TBP Convention Professional Development Presenters

An abbreviated schedule of in-person professional development sessions will be offered at Convention on Thursday and Friday. Presenters are listed below with title of their session, session summary, and short bio. The professional development schedule can be found here.

Jason A. Abellada (FL Alpha '04) — Robert's Rules of Order This session is for anyone who has never used or has little experience with Robert's Rules of Order. If you want to learn more about how to effectively participate in the meetings of the Convention, this is for you! Jason has served as president of the Tampa Bay Alumni Chapter and is a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians.
Joey & Rachel Alexander (CA Upsilon '06/'15) — How to Target Your Resume Joey and Rachel are passionate about crafting resumes targeted to both the position and the company when applying to a new job. Their presentation will break down an example job description and discuss how to take your resume from generic to specific. Joey has a B.S. in computer engineering from the University of California, Davis. He has performed a variety of IT related roles over a 15-year career. He is the Director of Information Technology for a local data company in Sacramento, CA. In this role, Joey manages a team of IT professionals that run a website used throughout the world. Joey has also served as a TBP chapter secretary and president of the Sacramento Valley Alumni Chapter. Rachel has a B.S. in civil engineering from California State University, Sacramento. She currently works for Sacramento County Department of Airports as an assistant engineer. Rachel performs design work and project management for a variety of runway, taxiway, and roadway projects across the four airports operated by the Department. After serving at CA Upsilon, Rachel has served as president and secretary of the Sacramento Valley Alumni Chapter. Additionally, Rachel currently serves on the Executive Council as the vice president of the Association.
William Cleveland (MS Alpha '10) — Judy and Ron Pasadyn Professional Development Session: Personal Finance for New Grads Learn how small decisions you make now can set yourself up for big wins later in life. This session provides an overview of both day-to-day budgeting and how to start making long-term retirement plans. William is a human factors systems engineer at Honeywell Aerospace creating avionics for pilots. His bachelor's degrees are in aerospace engineering and computer engineering from Mississippi State University. He serves as an Engineering Futures Facilitator, is the recipient of both a TBP Fellowship & Scholarship, and is a past collegiate chapter president.
Allan Griggs, P.E. (FL Alpha '81) — Jason Ditman Professional Development Session: Professional Licensure and Certification I have my diploma. Why would I ever want to take another exam? This session will acquaint you with why and how to obtain your Professional Engineer license(s). We will explore professional certifications that can distinguish you in your specialty areas and enhance your career including how to begin, prepare, obtain, and maintain these designations. Allan is a senior management consultant helping clients develop, implement, and enhance programs that improve performance and reduce risk. His practice is built on 30 years of facility and corporate positions in industry. Throughout his career, mentors advocated professional credentials. He is a Professional Engineer, a Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP), a Certified Professional Environmental Auditor (CPEA), and a Director on the Board for Global EHS Credentialing.
Teresa Hutton (WI Beta '91) — John Schmuhl Professional Development Session: Rock Your Resume Learn the secrets to making your resume the one a hiring manager spends more than 5 seconds reading. We will discuss how to present and format your education and experience to make a compelling case for you as the right candidate for the role. Teresa is a member of the Milwaukee Alumni Chapter and has worked as a software engineer, project manager, and Scrum Master. She has interviewed, hired, supervised, and coached engineers. Teresa became a Certified Professional Resume Writer in 2021 and was awarded 2nd place in the PARWCC Elite Circle resume writing contest in the Recent College Graduate category in 2022. She currently works at Johnson Controls and publishes a weekly blog for engineers looking to explore their full potential at Q2Leader.com.
Bruce Lindvall, Ph.D. — Preparing & Deciding When to Go to Grad School Dr. Lindvall is assistant dean for graduate studies, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University. Having a graduate degree in your future can be very important for many reasons. Deciding when to go to graduate school can be a very difficult decision. The options include staying in school after completing the BS degree, working full-time and going to school part-time, or working for a few years and going back to school full-time. We will also look at the ASEE Profiles to learn about the size and demographics of all engineering graduate programs. Come prepared to ask questions and interact with the speaker? Learn more from Dr. Lindvall, the 2016 DuPont Minorities in Engineering Award recipient.
Lauren Logan, Ph.D. (OH Delta '10) — Jason Ditman Professional Development Session: The Academic Career Path Attendees will learn what is involved in pursuing an academic career path (e.g., tenure-track professor), and how to be successful in your academic career. Advice for every step of the process (undergraduate education up through applying to and interviewing for faculty jobs) will be covered, with special emphasis on how to ensure your time, resources, and effort set you up for success in academia. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and working professionals pursuing a faculty position are the target audience, but anyone is welcome to attend! Dr. Logan is an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Ohio Northern University.
Michael Peterson (IA Alpha '89) — Jason Ditman Professional Development Session: Leadership Life Lessons: How to Motivate, Teach, Coach, and Influence Both Yourself and Others This session will be an opportunity to learn about new approaches to leadership and how to take your leadership skills to the next level at work and in your life in general. Mike will be covering a variety of leadership approaches and situations, drawing from his recent article in The Bent (Summer 2021), as well as from the Positive Leadership course he currently teaches at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. He'll also pull from his experience as an engineering manager at General Motors for 30 years, as well as his work with youth in grades K-5 as part of the Challenge Island outreach program. (Kids can teach us more about leadership than you might think!) Please come join us for this interactive session, and give yourself an opportunity to reflect on your leadership experiences in your life's journey so far, as well as challenge yourself to take concrete steps to improve even further in the future.
George Miyata (WA Delta '10) — New Engineering Solutions for Tomorrow Come learn about NEST (New Engineering Solutions for Tomorrow), TBP's new project competition program! This is an exciting new program where students submit solutions that address a general topic chosen by the Convention body each year. Student solutions or Engineered Gadgets for Good (EGGs) are presented at the following Convention to persuade alumni and industry sponsors that their ideas are the best investment to solve the NEST challenge. A panel of judges select the most economic, innovative and practical EGG(s) to be awarded an investment. At this session you will get an overview of the program, information on how you and your chapter can participate, and details on what to expect at this year's Convention where we will select our first topic! George Miyata is a systems architect with DeNOVO Solutions. He has a decade of experience in software design and leading teams to develop, integrate and deploy large scale software systems. George graduated from Gonzaga University in 2010 with his B.S. in mechanical engineering and he graduated from CU-Boulder in 2012 with his M.S. in aerospace engineering sciences. He was a TBP District 12 Director from 2012-21 recently leaving the position to focus on developing the TBP NEST program with Chris Potts.
Sally J. Steadman, Ph.D. (WY Alpha '69) — Jason Ditman Professional Development Session: Graduate Fellowships Sally is Tau Beta Pi Director of Fellowships and adjunct professor at the University of South Alabama. Learn about graduate fellowships and how to get them. Get tips on completing applications from Dr. Steadman who has experience reviewing applications for NSF, NDSEG, TBP, and more. Bring your questions!
Chris Whaley — Jason Ditman Professional Development Session: Constructive Conflict Conflicts are triggered when differences in needs, values and motives come into play. Something core to 'who you are' or 'what you need' feels in jeopardy. Intense emotions can follow. In this session participants will review the Conflict Curve to understand how things can escalate and ways to prevent reaching a crisis. They will learn how to frame a dialogue with another person to make conflict constructive. Chris is the founder and principal consultant of Escape To Expand. He provides expert facilitation and a road map to help team members achieve their mission while building an engaging personal experience as part of a high performing team. He brings 20+ years of working experience ranging from start-up public service to high-volume consumer goods and global medical technology solutions. He holds a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering, a master's degree in industrial engineering, certifications as a 6-sigma Black Belt and PMI Project Management Professional.