UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mechanical engineering undergraduate Nicole Gallegor received the 2017 Achieving Women Award from the Penn State Commission for Women.
In its 11th year, the award recognizes seven Penn State women who have shown notable leadership and accomplishment in their fields and have gone above and beyond to support the University's diversity efforts, help promote equal opportunities, or contribute to human causes and public-service activities.
At Penn State, Gallegor has been a leader in efforts to introduce and encourage other young women on a path to a career in engineering.
She held leadership roles in the Women in Engineering Program, serving as resource innovations lead for the group's orientation, a three-day, interactive orientation for incoming first-year engineers. In that role, she planned and executing an alumni workshop.
Gallegor served as a mentor and speaker for It’s All About ME, an American Society of Mechanical Engineers student-run effort to introduce first- and second-year students majoring in engineering to mechanical engineering and what it has to offer.
She was a Penn State Engineering Ambassador in her senior year. Engineering Ambassadors connect with middle- and high-school students, prospective students and their families, alumni, industry partners and the community, to communicate the impacts that engineering has on our daily health, happiness and safety.
Gallegor also served the Penn State chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), a national organization composed of both student and professional members united to support women in the engineering field. She was outreach director for SWE for two years and then served as vice president of student relations in her senior year.
Accepting her award and speaking to more than 400 people in attendance at the awards ceremony left an impression on her, she said.
“Having the opportunity to speak in front of a group of people who were all there to support the efforts of women was empowering and inspirational. I was glad to see the other recipients and learn about their accomplishments,” Gallegor said.
A graduating senior, Gallegor will soon join Rockwell Automation, an industrial automation and information company, and take part in its Engineering Services Leadership Development Program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Cleveland, Ohio. She is familiar with Rockwell, having completed internships in two of its business units while at Penn State. During the leadership program, she will rotate through four of Rockwell’s operations and engineering services divisions over 24 months.