ASME co-sponsors National Academies' "Convocation"; videocast now available

On Sept. 28, the National Academies' "Convocation on Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing Regions, States, and Cities" in Washington, D.C., brought together more than 600 government, industry, research, and education leaders from all 50 states to discuss ways in which to advance U.S. competitiveness.

ASME co-sponsored the discussion, which focused on education, research, and innovation, all key action areas identified in its report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," released earlier this year.

The Convocation was split into three parts: a morning plenary session that included marquee speakers from Congress, business and industry, and state government, including U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Dean Kamen, founder of the FIRST robotics program; a midday set of best practice workshops; and afternoon regional breakout sessions.

ASME member John W. Ahlen, president of the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, chaired the southeastern regional breakout session at this event. This was one of the five breakout sessions that was videocast simultaneously, and is now available for viewing on the Gathering Storm Web site, www7.nationalacademies.org/gatheringstorm.

Please note: Due to the size of the videocasts, you may experience difficulty viewing them in your Web browser. If you experience problems viewing the files, right click on the videocast and select "Save As" to save the file to your desktop. Once the file completes downloading, you should be able to watch it.

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