FY 17 Central Coast Section Officers:

President: Karla Carichner
Karla graduated with a BS in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois. The majority of her 26 years in industry has been in the semiconductor field. She started as an assembly engineer and worked up to VP of Operations at several companies, ranging from start-up to $1B companies. She has worked as an independent consultant for 5 years until she retired in December of 2013. She recently relocated to San Luis Obispo where she is working as a part-time lecturer in the Industrial and Mfg Engineering Department at Cal Poly. Karla's goals for the Section are to increase membership and networking as well as increasing our interaction with the Cal Poly section particularly with K-12 outreach to encourage girls to pursue engineering as an exciting career.
Contact Karla at kcarichner@gmail.com
Karla graduated with a BS in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois. The majority of her 26 years in industry has been in the semiconductor field. She started as an assembly engineer and worked up to VP of Operations at several companies, ranging from start-up to $1B companies. She has worked as an independent consultant for 5 years until she retired in December of 2013. She recently relocated to San Luis Obispo where she is working as a part-time lecturer in the Industrial and Mfg Engineering Department at Cal Poly. Karla's goals for the Section are to increase membership and networking as well as increasing our interaction with the Cal Poly section particularly with K-12 outreach to encourage girls to pursue engineering as an exciting career.
Contact Karla at kcarichner@gmail.com
Vice President: Helene Finger
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![]() Data Manager: Barbara Curry
Barbara graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara. She served in the Air Force as a weather officer after earning a MS in Meteorology. Her meteorology and modeling career led her back to engineering, working in the utility modeling and planning industry. From there, she earned her PhD in Operations Research/Economics at Colorado School of Mines. She currently teaches economics and runs a small financial services practice. Contact Barbara Curry at equalityecon@gmail.com |

Section Representative: Helene Finger
Helene has been a faculty member in the Civil/Environmental Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo since 1997, with a break from 2007-2010 to pursue her PhD in Mechanical Engineering. She teaches courses in Water Resources and Water Quality. In 2000, she took on the additional role of Director of the Women’s Engineering Program and advising the Cal Poly section of SWE. Her responsibilities include mentoring collegiate members as well as research of recruitment and retention of female engineering students. In addition to being a mother of two children, she currently chairs the Bob Jones Trail City to Sea Trail Committee and has served on the AYSO Regional Board, and coached and refereed youth soccer since 2000.
Contact Helene Finger at hfinger@calpoly.edu
Helene has been a faculty member in the Civil/Environmental Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo since 1997, with a break from 2007-2010 to pursue her PhD in Mechanical Engineering. She teaches courses in Water Resources and Water Quality. In 2000, she took on the additional role of Director of the Women’s Engineering Program and advising the Cal Poly section of SWE. Her responsibilities include mentoring collegiate members as well as research of recruitment and retention of female engineering students. In addition to being a mother of two children, she currently chairs the Bob Jones Trail City to Sea Trail Committee and has served on the AYSO Regional Board, and coached and refereed youth soccer since 2000.
Contact Helene Finger at hfinger@calpoly.edu
FY 20 Section Council:
President Karla Carichner
Vice President Helene Finger
Data Manager Barbara Curry
Treasurer Michele Coffin
Section Rep Helene Finger
Web Master Deb Willems

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