NEWS FROM THE 2004 CONGRESS:

Board of Governors meet, discuss Continuity and Change, program prioritization (11/15/04)

ASME's Board of Governors held its meeting at the Congress yesterday in in Anaheim, Calif., where Society volunteers and staff members discussed the Continuity and Change Initiative, which is now underway.

ASME's senior vice presidents had some fun at the BOG meeting in Anaheim yesterday by donning their Hawaiian shirts as the Beach Boy's "Surfin' U.S.A." played in the background.

During the meeting, ASME's President Elect Gene Feigel led the presentation "Continuity and Change Summit Team: Program Prioritization and Budget Process."

ASME President Harry Armen (left) answers a question during the "Continuity and Change Summit Team" presentation yesterday. A representative from the consulting firm Expert Choice discussed his company's range of advanced decision support software and services with BOG members and meeting attendees.

Expert Choice, a provider of decision support software and services that counts IBM, AOL and Feigel's company, the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co., as clients, was was presented to the Board as an example of a firm ASME could use to prioritize its programs. A representative from Expert Choice explained how his company provided services to help organizations figure out their priorities and make decisions using their methodology.

Also at the BOG meeting, Senior Vice President Victoria A. Rockwell gave an update on the Continuity and Change Project Management Task Force, which she chairs. Marc W. Goldsmith, an ASME Fellow, vice president of Public Information for the Council on Public Information, gave an update on the Society's Corporate Service Initiative. June Ling, associate executive director, Codes and Standards, gave an update on ASME's Globalization Initiative involving China. John Corcoran, managing director of Member Services and a member of the Executive Management Committee, gave a presentation on the Society's Young Engineers Initiative.

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Region VII team wins ASME Student Design Contest (11/15/04)

The goal of this year's ASME Student Design Contest Challenge, "Mine Madness," was to design and build devices that would locate and disarm land mines. According to the United Nations, 50 million land mines are buried and active in nearly 70 countries throughout the world, and thousands of people are injured or killed every year.

The team from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville — the winner of the 2004 Student Design Contest final competition.

The 13 best design entries from each of the Society's 13 regions competed yesterday at the Student Design Contest final competition at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress in Anaheim, Calif.

The team of ASME student members from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, in Region VII, took top honors in the final competition. The team's members are Chad Burns, Dennis O'Connor, Andrew Rummer and Jerrod Hock.

Hyung Jung (left) and Timm Strayer from the Villanova team, demonstrate their land-mine remover during yesterday's final competition.

The winner of Region III's regional contest, Villanova University, claimed second place in yesterday's competition. The student members who make up the Villanova team are Hyung Jung and Timm Strayer.

Region X's LeTourneau University finished third.

The team from LeTourneau University, in Region X, placed third in the finals. That team's members are Justin Neilson, Michael Connor, Matthew Hammer and Jacob Kobisa.

The regional student teams were given the task of designing, building and demonstrating a vehicle that will navigate over or around several obstacles and retrieve six simulated mines from a minefield and place them into a controlled receiving area within a three-minute time frame. Each simulated mine was given a weighted value depending on the difficulty of retrieval. The team with the highest value of mines retrieved was the winner.

The competition was organized by the Council on Engineering and the Council on Member Affairs, and sponsored by the Boeing Co.



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