Congressional Outreach 2026!

By: SWE Advocacy Committee

SWE Advocacy had the incredible opportunity to represent our individual states at the 2026 Congressional Outreach held in Washington DC on March 18th and 19th. We spoke to the offices of Congresspeople from our states. It was an incredible way to advocate for issues important to women in engineering: such as funding for scientific research, funding for K-12 STEM education, and support for the STEM Restart Act. Check out our accounts of this super fun trip!

Lavanya Shankar- Georgia

My name is Lavanya Shankar, and I am a freshman in bioengineering, and most importantly, a member of SWE Advocacy! This March, we went to Washington DC to advocate for women in engineering, specifically on how to get women who took gaps in their career back into the work force, funding K-12 education, and continuing to support research development. We met with both Senators and members of the House of Representatives to express our support on these important issues, and I specifically met with a Senator from Georgia, Senator Ossoff. During our meeting with his staff member, Gerria Dimps, Ellen, Yastika, and I discussed how important it was for young women to understand that they have a way back into the workforce if they take a break for any reason, whether that way to start a family, to be a caregiver, or just due to life circumstances. We also continued to emphasize the significance of having K-12 education be funded in Georgia, as it is a key form of encouragement for students to pursue STEM in their future. This was one issue that truly felt integral to me, as I've seen the impact that funding can have on K-12 education growing up in Georgia. The last issue we touched on was the necessity of research funding, as it helps propel scientific innovation forward. We had a great conversation with Gerria Dimps, and we were able to advocate for issues that are extremely important to continuing to improve our work force and scientific innovation.

Yastika Singh- New Jersey

It is rare that one gets to feel that they have truly made an impact as a constituent of their state, yet SWE Congressional Outreach 2026 gave me this opportunity. My name is Yastika Singh and I am from New Jersey. At SWE Congressional Outreach 2026, I had the incredible opportunity to speak with staffers from the offices of Senator Corey Booker and Senator Andy Kim’s offices. 

I met my fellow New Jerseyans the day before at the SWE Congressional Outreach Training Day where we learned about statistics about women in STEM fields and how to approach a conversation with a Congress person’s office. Our New Jersey group had women from all backgrounds: industry, research, SWE leaders, and college students like us. We became fast friends and I even received an interesting piece of advice from my colleague during a group picture: never squat during a picture- you deserve to take up space. After an amazing dinner at Himalayan Doko with my SWE girls, we got some last minute homework and studying done before retiring for the night in our hotel rooms. 

On the morning of March 19th, we had a quick breakfast with all representatives from SWE attending Congressional Outreach. We made our way to Capitol Hill. The day was gorgeous and we got glimpses of cherry blossoms ready to bloom. We first went to Senator Booker’s office and our meeting was amazing: we shared stories of the impact of reduced research funding, the importance of K-12 STEM programs, and the need for cosponsorship on the STEM Restart Act. I focused on my mother’s story: how she took a leave from work to take care of my sister and I when we were sick and how she had to learn skills outside of work and return to school in order to catch up to her colleagues. She would have benefited greatly from the types of grants the STEM Restart Act would provide for mid-career entry STEM training. 

We had a tasty lunch at the Senate dining hall and then repeated another amazing meeting at Senator Kim’s office. We felt that the staffers were genuinely interested in learning more about how investing in STEM, and women in STEM especially, would benefit the country as a whole, particularly the economy. 

We then did a couple of classic DC sightseeing activities: the Library of Congress, strolling along the National Mall, and visiting the Botanical Gardens (my personal favorite:). And then it was time to return to Penn, satisfied with the advocacy we had done, and back to pursuing the engineering degree that made this all possible.