WiE student, SWE recognized for positive impact in annual Student Life Awards
Purdue University Student Life recognized outstanding students, student organizations and staff on April 19, 2026. Honorees are community minded leaders with active involvement in student life through activities, community service, employment and continuous learning. Awardees represent the Boilermaker values of community, growth, inclusion, honor, respect and integrity.
Among the spring 2026 awardees were engineering students who are part of the Women in Engineering (WiE) Program and the Purdue section of Society of Women Engineers (SWE). A closer look at the awarded students and organizations:
Charles O. McGaughey Leadership Award: Elizabeth Possin
Elizabeth Possin met an alum living her dream life while facilitating a Mentees & Mentors (M&M) meeting through WiE.
But every M&M meeting has that overwhelmingly positive effect on Possin, and they have since she became a mentee in fall 2024. While Possin started out shy, she quickly grew into a sociable and involved student, taking part in group mentoring and retaining an openness to the lessons each of her peers could teach.
Now on the M&M Leadership Team (LT), Possin coordinates the meetings that she enjoyed so much as a first-year engineering student. Her involvement earned her respect and recognition through the Charles O. McGaughey Leadership Award. Students who receive the award are recognized leaders with demonstrated community service and achievement within Purdue.
Honorees have “an appreciation of basic American values,” which, to Possin, points to innovation and ambition.
“When you learn about American history, it's all about starting something new and being super ambitious. That's always been a large quality of who I am,” Possin said. “Being in (the) Women in Engineering (Program) and on the leadership team, I'm constantly surrounded by teammates and participants who are equally or more ambitious than I am. It’s inspiring and supportive to be in a community where I feel lifted up and I have resources that I can reach out to, and I just feel like I'm always being pushed and motivated.”
Possin credits two strong support systems — WiE and sorority Chi Omega — with her success at Purdue. And she’s only just wrapped her sophomore year.
In the LT, Possin helps coordinate monthly meetings two to three times each month, which each have 200-300 participants, totaling about 1,000 monthly M&M attendees. Each event has a networking activity — often a Purdue engineering alum speaker — and a mentoring activity. Possin’s favorite part is sitting with the participants, reflecting on the topic and learning from one another.
That’s the key to leadership, according to Possin: openness to learning from everyone, whether in a leadership role or not.
“A big part of leadership is the way that you live your life,” said Possin, from St. Charles, Illinois. “I was taught my whole life that leading by example is the best way to lead. So all of these roles that I'm in help me as a person lead always by example, no matter what I'm doing.”
Society of Women Engineers: Student Organization of the Year Excellence Award and Outstanding Program Award
SWE at Purdue was incorporated into the national organization of the same name in 1954 and has been influencing the leadership development of engineering students ever since.
In short, to create a life-changing community of support and opportunities for engineering students.
The section received two awards from Student Life: the Outstanding Program Award and the Student Organization of the Year Excellence Award.
The Outstanding Program Award recognizes student organizations with positive contributions to Purdue throughout the 2025-26 academic year. The program specifically honored was SWEekend, a visitation weekend for high school seniors who have applied to Purdue to introduce them to engineering and the engineering community.
“SWE has not only helped me develop as a leader and professional through our various programming, industry events and mentorship, but has also helped me to build a community within engineering at Purdue,” said Meg Wentz, 2025-26 SWE president and Purdue Engineering Fellow. “Members within PSWE can participate in many different types of programming, like technical teams, mentorship, professional development events, outreach, intramural sports and social events. There is really something for anyone within the organization's programming.
“SWE was a great way to engage with the Purdue engineering community and beyond, and I couldn't imagine my time at Purdue without SWE.”
It’s the second time that SWE has won the Student Organization of the Year Excellence Award, with the first win coming in spring 2025. Considered a “lifetime achievement award,” the accolade honors an unyielding dedication to excellence in offered programming, student and staff leadership and community service. The organization’s positive effects are long-lasting and ongoing, both in developing student leaders on campus and teams that serve the greater Lafayette community.
“Receiving these awards is an indication of the caliber of the students involved and the significant efforts the organization puts into developing its members and its leaders,” said Beth Holloway, SWE’s advisor and senior assistant dean for student access and success in the College of Engineering.
Rising Boilermaker Awardees
Students awarded with the Rising Boilermaker Award have demonstrated knowledge of and interest in student life activities and organizations. Awardees are enthusiastic, motivated, communicative and organized. Rising Boilermaker recipients are students who have stepped up within their organizations and made an impact.
Kate Anderson, civil engineering
Kate Anderson loved Purdue from the first moment she parked. And it wasn’t even her college visit.
Tagging along to an older sister’s visit to Purdue put engineering on Anderson’s radar. So when it came time to apply to colleges — and dive into all the possibilities of engineering — Purdue was already in Anderson’s No. 1 choice.
Anderson moved from Grandview, Texas, to the Meredith South WiE Learning Community and fully embraced the events and field trips the resident assistants and WiE courses coordinated. Her involvement in SWE began with the September 2024 callouts, and not long after she joined the outreach pillar as a volunteer.
“These events mean so much to me since I attended many events similar when I was younger, ultimately leading me to choose engineering,” said Anderson, a rising junior studying civil engineering.
She remained on the SWE board every semester after, ultimately being elected to SWEekend co-chair in fall 2025. Anderson’s efforts to make two impactful and fun weekends for the high school seniors in attendance were rewarded with the Outstanding Program Award in spring 2026.
“SWEekend was very meaningful to my co-chair (Mattea Johnston) and I as we spent a lot of time planning and making sure the seniors had a fun and educational weekend,” Anderson said. “Many of them reached out and said how helpful the weekend was and how thankful they are that they are going to go into college already knowing a few others.
“My goal when joining SWE and becoming a board member was to reach out to younger generations and show them how exciting and fun engineering is. Receiving the Rising Boilermaker Award has showed me that I have been making the impact that I want and encourages me to continue to do it.”
Johanna Keller, chemical engineering
Johanna Keller’s mission is encouragement.
Her recognition as a Rising Boilermaker only further fuels her goal of making a positive, inspiring impact in SWE as outreach committee chair. After all, SWE was the source and spark of Keller’s own positive, enthusiastic and supportive Purdue experience.
“Coming to such a large school helped me recognize the deep importance of placing yourself in an environment that uplifts you,” said Keller, from Cincinnati. “For me, this empowering community was SWE. I am so grateful for the welcoming space that is SWE, where I have been able to not only learn and improve myself, but also to act as a cheerleader for other engineers.”
As outreach chair, Keller made a point to support event attendees — school-aged children from elementary to high school — as they cultivate a confident and collaborative mindset. Events include Girl Scout Day, SWEekend and STEM collaborative events, like tea parties with seventh and eighth grade students, in the Greater Lafayette community.
“It means the world for me to receive this award because it reaffirms that I am making the impact I dream of having,” Keller said. “I am so excited to continue challenging myself at Purdue and in SWE. When I graduate, I hope to know that I empowered others to the same depth that my family, friends, peers and SWE companions have empowered me.”
Advitiya Srinivasan, mechanical engineering
Advitiya Srinivasan, a rising junior studying mechanical engineering, is a passionate leader in SWE with a longstanding passion for Grand Prix.
In fact, she’s the first leader for the first SWE Electric Vehicle Grand Prix (EV Grand Prix) team. Srinivasan’s excitement to pioneer SWE into a new arena — one that included competitors from nine other universities — opened the team to new connections and opportunities.
Srinivasan, from Ashburn, Virginia, also serves on the SWE Grand Prix team. Her first year at Purdue was spent exploring engineering applications in karts and racing as a SWE Grand Prix pit crew member. Srinivasan has been part of the Grand Prix technical solutions team for two years, where she tests new design components through computer aided design and ANSYS thermal and structural rotor simulation tools.