New industry tracks introduced at '05 Congress

Three new tracks of industry-oriented technical sessions, covering the topics of ethics, and licensure, sustainable engineering, and design and analysis, will debut at this year's ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Orlando, Fla.

The Congress will include a total of nine special industry tracks showcasing practical applications and innovative technology for increasing efficiency, building market share, and enhancing product design. The Congress will be held from Nov. 5–11 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Orlando.

The new Ethics and Licensure track will explore the challenges that face engineers as technology evolves. Attendance at this track's sessions will add a valuable supplement to ethics training sponsored by your place of work, improving your ability to make principled choices. Topics to be covered in the track's sessions will be taken from today's headlines, including 21st century disasters, international and cross-border cultures, and whistle blowing and ethics. The track will also include a session examining the historic ASME Hydrolevel case.

Another new track, Sustainable Development, will comprise technical sessions that are intended to promote and educate engineers, managers, technical professionals and the general public on the subjects of sustainability: challenges and rewards, best practices, and social responsibility. This is especially important since we play a crucial role creating the world's infrastructure and improving the quality of life. These sessions are aimed to provide attendees with information and tools that can be used in the workplace long after Congress is over. The track will cover such topics as life-cycle analysis, energy alternatives, renewable portfolio standards, and the creation of engineering synergies. Participants will include ASME Past President Reginald Vachon, heat transfer icon Frank Kreith, and high-ranking members from other societies Brian O'Connell and Clinton Andrews (president and past president of IEEE), and Earl Beaver of AIChE's Institute for Sustainability.

The third new industry track, Design and Analysis, was created with the young engineering community in mind, according to Jack Whitehead, who is organizing the nine Congress tracks. Topics will cover subjects such as understanding the design process, modeling sensitivity analysis, real world examples of unique solutions, best practices, and developing procedures to assure modeling accuracy.

This year will also be the first for a track that combines three topics — micro-, nano- and electro-systems — that had been addressed in separate tracks at previous congresses. Integration and Packaging of Micro/Nano/Electronic Systems will feature 20 sessions over four days, examining these three hot high-tech topics. The sessions will address microfluidics, nanotechnology, integrated components, 3-D packaging, and robotics.

The other five industry tracks will cover the areas of manufacturing, health and safety, engineering business management, transportation, and energy.

To find out more about the technical program, or other aspects of the 2005 ASME Congress, visit www.asmeconferences.org/congress05.

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