ASME's 125th, EWeek celebrated

Emily Smith
ASME NEWS

ASME members are making plans to celebrate two significant events next year: ASME's 125th anniversary and Engineers Week, which ASME will co-host with energy giant BP p.l.c., marking a major push to encourage the celebration of engineering on an international scale.

Although separate events, many celebrations will merge the two early in the year.
In addition to EWeek, which takes place Feb. 20-26, three dates in particular are noteworthy ASME occasions around which to organize celebratory programs: Founders Day on Feb. 16, Boiler Code Day on March 12, and Heritage Day on April 7.

Not only can members add special celebrations to their regularly scheduled events, they are encouraged to reach out to their communities to include civic leaders, educators and students, fellow engineering societies, and local industry leaders.

Looking toward ASME's future as it celebrates the past, events can be further enhanced by writing letters to the editors of local newspapers, explaining the importance of engineering, holding open houses to demonstrate how engineering has helped your community grow, or organizing public tours at a local power generation facility or manufacturing plant as a way of introducing students and interested newcomers to engineering and ASME.

To help organize these kinds of efforts on a local level, ASME has asked for section members who will serve as organizing contacts. Several contacts from most regions have been identified. To date, the list of local organizers numbers 43. Anyone interested in serving as a local-event organizer should contact Diane Kaylor at anniversary@asme.org, or call (212) 591-8159.

Any ASME region, section, student section, and technical division that would like to commemorate these events but isn't sure how, needs to go no further than the Web to find a cornucopia of ideas. On the ASME.ORG homepage, members will find scheduling tips and outreach ideas for organizing local events to mark ASME's 125th anniversary. Those can be found at www.asme.org by clicking on "Getting Involved," and then "Planning to Participate."

Another idea is to get involved with a volunteer organization such as Engineers Without Borders-USA, which has partnered with ASME as its legacy EWeek project. Every EWeek host has a legacy project that lasts beyond its term as host.

EWB-USA forms project teams that use appropriate and sustainable technology to solve problems in communities throughout the world. These projects meet site-specific needs that are attuned to the culture and environment of the communities selected.

In addition to student engineering teams, professionals can form teams or join existing teams as mentors. Engineers are also needed on the Technical Advisory Committee that helps EWB review projects prior to implementation. Visit the EWB "Getting Involved" website at www.ewb-usa.org.

More EWeek tips are outlined on "50 Ways One Engineer Can Make a Difference" at www.eweek.org/site/Engineers/50ways.shtml.

 

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