Elana Shippen, P.E., is a licensed professional engineer in mechanical engineering with 22 years of experience, including 14 years in the aerospace industry with Boeing Company's commercial airplanes program. She has a very strong background in engineering and other technical fields, such as HVAC systems for commercial buildings, Lean Manufacturing, the Toyota Production System (TPS), project management, and education.
At Boeing, she designed, integrated, and tested various systems design. She also communicated extensively with multiple engineering and manufacturing organizations, airline customers, and global suppliers. As a consulting engineer, she designed Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems for commercial buildings and was responsible for documenting the design specifications for those systems.
Elana also offers a technical editing course, for those currently working or studying in technical fields. This course varies between three and seven days in length to meet the client's specific needs and can be taken either in Seattle or at your work place for a group of employees. The course covers the necessary skills of the technical editor and it is primarily focused towards the needs of engineers and technical staff, who are seeking to improve their technical editing skills in their daily workplace. It includes an overview of the editing process; reviews of grammar, punctuation, and spelling for technical editors; steps for improving technical writing style; and key strategies for enhancing the overall quality of technical communications.
She has written and edited documents for the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Defense (DOD), National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Elana completed the Technical Writing and Editing Certificate Program at the University of Washington in 2001.
Specialties
As a freelance technical writer and editor, and project manager Elana can help you improve or write your technical documents in the following areas:
Engineering, information technology, and scientific books and publications
Development of online technical courses for certification purposes
Educational publications
Technical reports
Manufacturing processes documents
Project management
Aerospace industry-related technical documents
Case studies
Engineering mathematics
Feedback
"Elana is a terrific editor and organizer and a very pleasant person to work with. She really took charge of a challenging project; the creation of a custom-published magazine about careers for the Department of Labor called "In Demand." Elana edited three issues--careers in advanced manufacturing, careers in science and technology, and careers in biotechnology. She scouted out the story ideas and found and guided freelancers developing the stories. She also worked with graphic designers to create the look of the magazine for a very demanding client. Throughout, Elana demonstrated intelligence and attention to detail. And she was calm and cheerful even during tense moments on deadline. I give her a high recommendation!
Jan Tuchman
Editor-in-Chief
Engineering News-Record
The McGraw Hill Companies
"Elana is very professional, great to work with, and is excellent at communicating and keeping you updated on project deliverables. We definitely plan to continue using Elana for future projects."
Steve Bjornberg, President
American Continuing Education
"It is rare to find a combination of skills such as Elana's. Her engineering expertise along with her technical writing and editing skills has been a great asset for us."
Michael S.
Patent Attorney
"Our company publishes books for the computer industry, specializing in Novell products. I have worked with Elana for several of my published titles. She has delivered very good quality work when editing our titles. Since we are based in the Netherlands and are non-native English speakers, it was great that she was very patient with us and gave us great directions in improving our writing throughout the projects. It was also very good that she was able to keep up with our very tight schedule.
Rob Bastiaansen
Publisher
www.Books4Brains.com
"I am so glad that I used your services. Your turnaround time was fast so I was able to submit my thesis on time. I will definitely recommend your service to other students.
Thank you for everything!!!!! You are the best!"
Ella Chan
Graduate student at NYU
"English is my second language. Sometimes, writing in English can be difficult for me in some specific situations; For example, when I am trying to express or explain something that is abstract. Elana has been of great help along the course of my writing with her patience and professional writing skills. I will certainly come back to her when I have my next project."
C.S. Yoo, Taiwan
Adjunct professor/semiconductor processing
REQUEST FOR ESTIMATE/CONSULTATION
Cut and paste the text that follows into your e-mail editor (e.g., Outlook, Word) and answer each question.
A sample is required to receive an estimate for editing services
6. Describe your project: (e.g., book, business document, dissertation)
7. Describe the level of writing or editing required: (e.g., copyediting, proofreading, content editing, fact-checking, ghostwriting, formatting)
8. Current word count of document:
9. Your deadline date:
10. Required manual of style, if any: (e.g., Chicago Manual, APA, MLA, AP, AAA, CBE/CSE)
11. Number of charts, tables, and pictures:
12. Do you need charts, tables, pictures edited/formatted?
13. Do you have a budget for the project? (Please be specific.)
14. Number of footnotes and entries in reference list:
15. Do you want to contact a particular writer/editor?
16. How did you learn about our service?
16. Attach a sample chapter/section or other important documents related to your project. Please zip large files (max 1MB)
YOUR NAME MUST BE IN YOUR SAMPLE DOCUMENT OR IT CAN BE THE FILE NAME (e.g., johnsmith.doc).
The network coordinator will forward your submission (plus any attached files) to the consultant(s) you select. If no selection is made, your submission will be forwarded to several consultants who might be a good match. Final choice of consultant is yours.
If you do not get a response within 3 hours (M-F) of submission, send a follow-up e-mail to:
Coordinator @ Airmail.net
and/or
EditingNetwork @ gmail.com
You may also use the chat button and/or leave voice mail for the network coordinator: 469-789-3030.
Allow a longer response time if you sent your submission during the weekend or after U.S. business hours.
All of the consultants listed on this site are freelance. They are located throughout the U.S. The coordinator cannot answer cost/timeframe questions for each consultant. You must go through the submission process to receive direct responses from the consultants listed on this site.
