Nanotechnology helps Congress get on track for the future

The highly successful Nanotechnology Track, which was held at the 2001 Congress in November, marked the debut of a new programming format for the technical program of the International Congress. This new format will be one based on "tracks," sequential series of multidisciplinary sessions unified by a common theme.

A track may run over several days of the Congress and may contain podium sessions contributed by multiple divisions, groups, committees and councils, along with panel discussions, lectures, workshops, tutorials, professional development sessions, practical demonstrations, tours and associated poster sessions.

The program for each track will be organized by track managers who will solicit contributions to their tracks' programs from ASME Technical Divisions, Committees and Councils, and from the ASME membership.

James J. Marek, Jr. (left) and Arun Majumdar, chair of ASME's Nanotechnology Institute, listen to a presentation during the keynote panel session.

 

The health of a professional society and its value to its members are dependent on the society's ability to adjust its products and services to reflect the ever-changing needs of its membership. The technical divisions of ASME have long provided forums for the advancement of their specialties, and many now have developed very successful technical specialty meetings. At the same time, the practice of mechanical engineering has become ever more interdisciplinary.

The International Congress is a meeting of the entire ASME International, and provides opportunities for networking, collaborations and multidisciplinary exchanges of views, information and technology not available at any other venue. To maximize value for all ASME members, the International Congress must capitalize on the unique opportunities it provides.

The new track-programming format will provide forums for interdisciplinary communications, to complement and support the divisional specialty meetings rather than compete with them.
The track-programming format is intended to increase the value of Congress to ASME members; promote interdisciplinary activities at the Congress; promote balanced participation of industry, academia and research at the Congress; promote focus and quick response of the Congress program to new developments; and increase Congress attendance.

Harold Craighead, director of the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell University, explained the creation of nanosystems to the keynote audience.

 

Following its highly successful debut with nanotechnology in 2001, track programming will be expanded at future ASME Congresses. New tracks will be developed and existing tracks may be modified or discontinued to reflect changing interests expressed by the ASME membership.

The tracks being planned for the 2002 Congress are listed below along with contact information for their respective track managers.

The 2002 track program advisor will be Jack Whitehead, who can be reached at whiteh5@gateway.net.

The track manager for biomedical technology will be Gerald Miller, who can be reached at gemiller@hsc.vcu.edu.

The track manager for electrical systems design will be Timothy Bennett, who can be reached at tbennett@dvirc.org.

Landis Kannberg will be the track manager for energy. He can be reached at ld_kannberg@pnl.gov.

Daniel Koenig, at koenigd@asme.org, will be the track manager for engineering business management.

The track on microelectromechanical systems will be managed by William Alzeheimer. He can be reached at wealzhe@sandia.gov.

The track manager for nanotechnology will be Avram Bar-Cohen. He can be reached at abc@cdtl.umn.edu.

Greg Kowalski will be the track manager for photonics. His e-mail address was not available at press time.

The transportation track will be managed by John Punwani at john.punwani@fra.dot.gov.
Please contact these track managers if you would like to contribute to the track program at the 2002 Congress.

The participation and support of ASME members will help maintain the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition as the world's premier mechanical engineering meeting.

 

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