Name: Kristie Knapp
Hometown: Rockwall, Texas
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Class of 2005
Kristie Knapp says she came to SMU for a number of reasons - it was
close to home, the classes were small, and the engineering school had
a co-op program. "The opportunity that SMU seemed to be able to offer
me far outweighed any other school I was looking at," she says. Kristie
has made the most of these opportunities.
She has gotten involved in a wide variety of extracurricular activities,
ranging from religious to educational to social. She is a member of Alpha
Chi Omega sorority, is president of the Society of Women Engineers, serves
as a leader of a youth group for middle school
kids, and is on the SMU Student Foundation's Campus Events Committee.
She also has gotten involved with the School of Engineering's Gender
Parity Initiative, making calls to prospective female students and speaking
on panels at dinners for incoming first-year female students.
"Betsy Willis (Director of the Gender Parity Initiative) has been an
awesome role model for me," Kristie says. "She is a prime example of
women in engineering, and I am so lucky to have the chance to work with
her and hear all of the wonderful ideas she has to offer the SMU School
of Engineering. It is women like Betsy who prove that ordinary women
can make extraordinary impacts on the lives of so many."
Kristie began working with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth
as a co-op student in May 2003 and hopes to continue working with them
after graduation.
