PAST EVENTS
WIA & Sustainability: Mount Vernon Trail Cleanup
November 9th, 2024 | Mount Vernon Trail, Arlington, VA
National Capital Chapter's Women in ASHRAE and Sustainability committees joined ofreces with Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail for invasive species removal and trash cleanup on this beloved trail.
After a morning of hard work, we gathered for a networking brunch with insightful discussion on sustainability in our industry.
Thank you to all who attended to give back to the local community and nurture the native ecosystem!
Yoga & Networking
October 22nd, 2024 | AECOM DC Office Rooftop
Thank you to everyone who came out to the first Women in ASHRAE event of the year, sponsored by CMTA, Inc.!
This fall's Yoga & Networking event consisted of a wonderful fall-themed yoga practice taught by REHAU's Sue Martin at AECOM's DC office rooftop, followed by food and drink at Proper 21.
Thank you again to our sponsor, CMTA, and to AECOM for hosting us on their beautiful rooftop in DC!
About Women in ASHRAE (WiA)
The Women in ASHRAE group was formed in 2015 as a joint effort between the National Capital Chapter and Baltimore Chapters of Region III in an effort to provide leadership opportunities for women within ASHRAE and a platform for networking to support the retention of women in the HVAC&R industry. The group has been open to engineers, manufacturers representatives, sales representatives, architects, and people of all backgrounds who support the initiative.
The National Capital Chapter saw an increase in membership during 2016 of 43 members, 22 (51%) of those new members being women. Recognizing this success, the National Capital Chapter presented a motion at the annual CRC meeting in August 2016 asking ASHRAE to develop and maintain WiA as a formal committee, rather than an affinity group. This motion passed at the regional level and moved forward to Society where it became a diversity initiative for ASHRAE Society.
WiA NCC hosted Fall, Winter and Spring events annually in 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 including speed networking, panel discussions, joint happy hours with YEA, and partner presentations with organizations like the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). WiA programming pivoted to a virtual platform during the COVID-19 pandemic but continues to offer leadership opportunities to women within the Chapter. The Women in ASHRAE Breakfast has become a sold-out event at the annual Winter Meeting and is open to both Members and Student guests.
WiA NCC has provided resources to facilitate the creation of WiA committees in other ASHRAE Chapters around the United States and world including Phoenix, Az, Central Oklahoma, Mumbai India, Toronto, Canada, and more.
WiA events include...
Happy hours, yoga classes, volunteering, panels, networking BINGO, and more!
QUESTIONS?
E-mail: wia@nccashrae.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
Spring events coming soon.... check back for updates!
ABOUT YOUR WIA COMMITTEE
Caroline Evans: LinkedIn
Caroline Evans is a Product Specialist for REHAU. She manages REHAU’s product portfolio for radiant heating & cooling and snow & ice melting applications in North America. She is passionate about reducing the environmental impact of the built environment with efficient and sustainable building conditioning, accessibility of and diversity in engineering and construction, and continued education of all kinds. She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Business Administration. Caroline currently serves as Electronic Communications Chair, Women in ASHRAE Chair, DEI Chair, and Governor for NCC ASHRAE. In her free time, Caroline studies behavior science and learning theory and its application to improving relationships professionally and personally among humans, and in improving quality of life of domesticated animals.
Bailey Estes: LinkedIn
Bailey Estes, PE, LEED Green Associate, is a mechanical engineer, project manager, and Senior Associate for GHT Limited. She provides mechanical engineering design for commercial office interiors, law firms, associations, and government projects. She is passionate about giving back to the industry and splits her time between USGBC-NCR and ASHRAE-NCC, where she holds leadership roles as both Committee Chair for Women in ASHRAE and Governor. Bailey has been involved with ASHRAE since 2013, when she joined the student chapter at the University of Central Florida and has been an active member ever since. She also regularly volunteers time to high school career training initiatives about women in STEM, which educate female students about career opportunities in architecture, engineering and construction.
PAST WIA CHAIRS
Laura Morder: LinkedIn
Laura Morder is the founding chair for the Women in ASHRAE committee for the National Capital Chapter of ASHRAE. Laura has been a volunteer for the National Capital Chapter since 2012 holding various roles including Newsletter Chair, Chapters Regional Conference (CRC) Chair, Winter Party Chair and Governor. Laura is a Senior Associate with GHT Limited based in Arlington, VA where she is a mechanical engineer and project manager providing mechanical system specifications for equipment replacements, building repositioning projects, and energy consulting services for Building Energy Performance Standards. Laura graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering (BAE) degree and minor in Architecture Studies.
Janay Griego: LinkedIn
Janay Griego is a mechanical design engineer where she works on HVAC designs for a collaborative Southland Industries. Her current work spans across multiple project types including mission critical, office space, government, manufacturing plants, and laboratory designs. She has been in the industry since 2015 after graduating from University of Colorado with a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering. Janay started her involvement in ASHRAE throughout college and continued involvement through Southland in the National Capital Chapter region. She is a past Women in ASHRAE Committee Chair and looks forward to continuing to provide support for WiA and future women in STEM.
