The Maine Section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE F004) is a volunteer based organization. We are always looking for members that wish to step up and contribute to our mission of supporting female engineers in the state of Maine.
Section Leadership
President – Evelyn Beebe, PE
Evelyn Beebe is a graduate from the University of Maine where she served as Vice President of the UMaine SWE Collegiate Section for two years and majored in Chemical Engineering. After completing her Master’s at Carnegie Mellon University in Energy Science, Technology, and Policy, Evelyn moved to New Jersey and became an active member in the New Jersey Professional Section as the Collegiate Relations Committee Chair and then the Secretary. Evelyn has lived in San Diego (2 years) and Dallas-Fort Worth (2 years) during which time she served as a Leadership Coach with a Collegiate-Focus on the Leadership Coaching Committee (LCC). Evelyn is now a wife and mother of two girls and works from home in Wells, Maine. She is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Partner of Energy Compliance Services at Weaver & Tidwell, LLP, the largest independent accounting firm headquartered in the Southwest.
Treasurer – Karen Horton
Karen J. Horton is a retired Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) at the University of Maine (UMaine) and a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Maine. Horton taught introductory and upper division MET courses and served as Program Coordinator. She is passionate about preparing graduates for professional practice through technical excellence, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills. Prior to her academic appointment she was a mechanical engineer at Bath Iron Works, a shipbuilding firm in Maine. Her first engineering position was at the Naval Coastal Systems Center in Panama City, Florida.
Horton served as the Interim Director and co-principal investigator on the 2010 $3.5M UMaine National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant to increase recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty in STEM and social and behavioral sciences. The grant supported measurable increases in faculty satisfaction with the institutional climate. Over ten years the percentage of tenure track and tenured women in engineering increased from 8% to 19%. She continues to move the needle on issues of inclusion and equity in engineering fields through her service on the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) SWE Research Advisory Committee and the UMaine SWE Collegiate section SWE Counselor. She served previously on the SWE Senate, for twenty years as advisor of the award-winning UMaine SWE Collegiate section, and as Maine SWE president and secretary. She was the first SWE representative to the engineering accreditation board, ABET, and she chaired the SWE Government Relations and Public Policy Committee. Horton holds a M.S. in Industrial Mathematics from the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany; a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering, Summa cum Laude from Arizona State University; and a B.S. in Education from the State University College at Oneonta, New York. In May 2023 she also completed a B.A. in Music, summa cum laude, at the University of Maine. She is a SWE Fellow and Life Member, the recipient of the SWE 2010 Outstanding SWE Counselor Award and the UMaine 2012 Presidential Public Service Achievement Award. Horton sings enthusiastically in choirs and as a soloist.
