The Society of Women Engineers' history is relatively brief, but charged by the inspiration, desire and strength of its members since its inception in 1950. Four sections were chartered in the beginning: Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., with Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Los Angeles sections soon to follow. Dr. Beatrice Hicks from the New York section was selected to serve as the society's first president. SWE members were kept busy forming the foundation of the organization and conducting national conventions.
In 1952 the Society of Women Engineers was incorporated as a non-profit, educational service organization. SWE continued to grow in size as well as services. SWE's first scholarship was established in the name of Dr. Lillian Moller Gilbreth in 1958. From these humble beginnings, SWE has grown to 11 regions encompassing 90 professional sections and 289 student sections. SWE offers several scholarships and has joined with industry to administer outreach programs for middle and high school age students.
The Rochester Section of SWE was chartered on April 5, 1982 by 44 members. Over the years this section has provided career guidance, technical and leadership sessions, networking and engineering outreach programs. In 1996 the Rochester section awarded its first annual high school scholarship, with an additional college scholarship to be awarded in 1997. One of the most exciting events in 1997 was the Region E Conference hosted by the Rochester SWE section. Eleven SWE sections were represented during a weekend of seminars, lectures, business meetings and a healthy balance of fun activities. In 1999, the Rochester SWE section awarded $3,000 in high school scholarships. The section has maintained this scholarship award for five years running.

• 1982-83 Joanne M. Higgins
  
• 1983-84 Carol A. Richardson
  
• 1984-85 Cynthia A. Vaessen
  
• 1985-86 Susanna V. Biancheri
  
• 1986-87 Sheryl Gracewski
  
• 1987-88 June Kanik
  
• 1988-89 Elizabeth Diehl
  
• 1989-90 Theresa A. Tuthill
  
• 1990-91 Ruthanne Kmetz
  
• 1991-92 Sharon D. Robinson
  
• 1992-93 Suzanne Marcellus
  
• 1993-95 Kate Smelker Dohan
  
• 1995-96 Ronna Robertson
  
• 1996-97 Heather J.T. Lieb
  
• 1997-98 Julia Ispentchian
  
• 1998-99 Ellen Chamberlain
  
• 1999-00 Laurie Wells
  
• 2000-01 Susan Aurand
  
• 2001-02 Edith Kondor
  
• 2002-03 Katherine Jedzinak/Lisa Norwood
  
• 2003-05 Lisa Norwood
  
• 2005-07 Mary Barker Steblein
  
• 2007-09 June Kanik