What is INN?
Industry Networking Night (INN) is a semi-formal annual networking event hosted by SWE at UCI. INN is traditionally an in-person banquet-style event where students and company representatives can network for the duration of the night over dinner. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this format was altered to a virtual event, in which all networking occurred in breakout rooms, which you can read more about below! Through both formats, company representatives can discuss their career experiences, company culture, background, and potential opportunities that their company offers for students. Following a brief presentation by the keynote speaker, company representatives will engage in a closed networking session with students who are interested in their company and have chosen to sit with them. The remaining portion of INN is an open networking session where students can go to different tables and network with separate companies.
INN 2023-2024
SWE at UCI’s annual flagship event, INN went off without a hitch in fall of 2023. There were company representatives from a multitude of different disciplines such as Henkel, Kia, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Fluor, Northrop Grumman, Clark Construction, and Skanska. Tickets for Winter INN were purchased on a per company basis by students with six of the eight companies completely selling out the space for their closed networking sessions. To start off the night, attendees listened to the keynote speech given by Professor Natasha Buswell, who was specifically chosen to speak at the night by student’s testimonies. We hoped everyone had an amazing night and had the chance to speak with multiple different representatives and wished everyone walked away feeling a boost of confidence.
INN 2022-2023
SWE hosted their first in person INN after the COVID-19 Pandemic in Fall of 2022. The evening was attended by company representatives from Tesla, Medtronic, Skanska, Fluor, Northrop Grumman, Johnson & Johnson, Kia, Geosyntec Consultants, MKS Instruments and Rivian. Tickets for Fall INN were purchased on a per company basis by students with the event being sold out! Prior to closed networking sessions, attendees listened to the keynote speech given by Marvin Maldonado, Interim Director of the Office of Access and Inclusion. We are ecstatic to have been able to host INN in-person, and we hope the event was benficial to all who attended.
INN 2021-2022
SWE Board 2021- 2022 hosted their Winter INN on January 20th, 2022 via Zoom. This networking night was attended by company representatives from BKF Engineers, Illumina, Johnson & Johnson, and Garmin. UCI alumni were present on behalf of Boeing, Firefly, Medtronic, Northrop Grumman, and United Launch Alliance. Tickets for Winter INN were purchased on a per company basis by students with seven of the nine companies completely selling out the space for their closed networking sessions. Over 90 attendees were able to listen to a presentation by the keynote speaker of the night, the Dean of Engineering at UC Irvine, Magnus Egerstedt, prior to their closed networking sessions. As SWE UCI continues to transition to an in-person format for a majority of our events, INN will follow suit returning to a banquet-style event for the expected date of November 17th, 2022. If you have any questions regarding INN or how to participate, please reach out to the corporate chairs via email at swe.uci.corporatechair@gmail.com.
