Electricity surrounds 2002 Congress

Emily M. Smith
ASME NEWS

The aisles were crowded and the action was heavy on the exhibit floor during the International Congress and Exposition in November.

ASME President Susan Skemp's ribbon cutting opens Congress.

 

The debut of the newly launched R&D Expo attracted a record number of people to the exhibit hall in the Ernest Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Once onsite, attendees spent their time learning about new technologies, networking and waiting for their names to be called in a number of drawings for big-ticket items such as laptops, PDAs and X Boxes.

The throng at the opening reception mirrored the traffic at many of the events throughout Congress 2002.

 

"It was an electric event," Larry Kovarovic, director of Engineering, said of the Expo, which was co-located with the Congress. The charge was such that the total attendance numbers for the 2002 Congress surpassed those of the previous five years. Total attendance at the Congress in New Orleans was 4,300.


In the Student Design Competition, Oregon State University's winning team members are Brian Gin, Kalan Guiley and Darren Johnson.

 

"Because of the success of the R&D Expo in New Orleans, the R&D Expo for the 2003 Congress in Washington will be expanded from a two-day event to a three-day event that will include design components and a defense engineering show," Kovarovic said.

The University of Kentucky-Lexington team took second place for their baseball-pitching design. Team members are Karen Ballman, Dock Carter, Chris Delaney and Jennifer Smith.

 

 

Also new to the 2002 Congress was the expanded focus of the technical tracks to make discussions of new technology more relevant to current events. Instead of tying the development of a new technology to a specific technical division, each of the market-focused tracks addressed applications for the technology. Each of the eight technical tracks had a number of technical sessions, bringing the total number of technical sessions to 100.

Third place went to University of Vermont team members Rachel VanWagner and Travis Johnston.

 

Programming highlights of the technical tracks included Biomechanics in Sports, Energy Infrastructure Security and Nanotechnology Start-ups: Lessons Learned.

Part of the record-setting success of Congress 2002, Kovarovic said, could be attributed to a new pricing model that enabled attendees who purchased a Super Pass to attend a number of events that took place throughout the weeklong Congress. More than half of those attending Congress 2002, including 300 students, bought the Super Pass, which gave them access to all technical sessions, track sessions, the Career Fair, the exhibit and the opening night reception, the Keynote address and the Honors Assembly — the engineering version of the Academy Awards.


Nearly 150 young engineers attended the Young Engineers Forum during Congress. The daylong session highlighted "Career Essentials" with attendees listening to panelists explain global collaboration, competing in the job market and job hunting skills.

Super Pass purchasers also received a number of value-added products. Among them: one CD Conference Proceeding, a discount on an additional purchase, a year subscription to an online ASME Transaction Journal and a complimentary subscription to one of four ASME publications.

For more information about the R&D Expo, contact Kovarovic at (212) 591-7074. For information about exhibiting at the 2003 R&D Expo, contact Jim Forberg at Unicomm at (203) 878-2577.

 

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