Pittsburgh meetings to cover design and computers

Benedict Bahner
ASME NEWS

Engineers: If you've been waiting for one event where you could learn about the latest developments in a number of areas, including design automation, mechanical vibration, failure prevention and computers in engineering, the wait is over.

The 2001 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, to be held in Pittsburgh this September, will cover these subjects and much more.

The event will take place from Sept. 9-12 at the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers, which encompasses seven design and computer conferences: The 2001 Design Engineering and CIE Conference are the Biennial Conference on Mechanical Vibration and Noise; the Design Automation Conference; the International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology; the Reliability, Stress Analysis and Failure Prevention Conference; the Design for Manufacturing Conference; the Computers and Information in Engineering Conference; and the International Issues in Engineering Design Conference.

Design engineers, researchers and educators will have an ample number of technical sessions and symposia to choose from during the conference.

The technical program will address such topics as active and hybrid vibration control; nonlinear dynamic systems; smart mechanical systems; decision-based design; design education; computer-aided product development; embedded and ubiquitous computing; computers in education; and system identification, order reduction and fault detection.

Other areas to be covered during the technical sessions include robust design methods; rapid manufacturing; reverse engineering; physically based geometric modeling; compliant mechanisms; design for layered manufacturing; CAD and planning integration; nontraditional computing; and international issues in engineering design.

Conference keynoters will include Y.K. Lin from Florida Atlantic University, the 2001 den Hartog Award recipient, who will discuss "Random Vibration Theory: Its Development and Present Status" on Monday, Sept. 10. On that day, James Antaki of the University of Pittsburgh and AntakaMatics, will speak on the subject "Design of Spare Parts for the Human Body."

On Tuesday, Sept. 11, Ali H. Nayfeh of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will give a plenary lecture called "Can the Mechanical Engineer Ignore Nonlinear Phenomena?" Later that day, V.I. Mel'nikov, of Russia's Bolgoliubov Laboratory of Theoretic Physics, will deliver a speech on recent achievements in nonlinear dynamics.

Charles Steele of Stanford University will deliver Wednesday's plenary lecture, "Some Mechanics of Hearing in Man and Beast."

Nine specialized tutorials will be offered on Sunday, Sept. 9, on the topics of active and passive damping; vibration isolation; design of structronic and mechatronic systems with smart materials; random vibrations; friction-based vibration and noise; decision-based design; abridged failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA); conceptual product design using the Brief Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (BTIPS); and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.

Registration for the workshop on decision-based design is free. However, there will be an additional registration fee, ranging from $30 to $140, for the other classes.

Full registration is $475 for members of ASME and cooperating societies, $600 for nonmembers. One-day registration is $375. Retired ASME Life Members and nonmember students may register for $25. ASME student members may register free of charge.

To find out more about the Design Engineering Technical and CIE Conference, visit ASME.ORG, www.asme.org/conf/confers.html; or contact ASME Information Central, (800) 843-2763 or (973) 882-1167, e-mail: infocentral@asme.org.

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