ASME Congress in Montreal Begins Nov. 14

Featuring more than 2,400 presentations, nearly 450 technical sessions, and a busy exposition floor showcasing leading-edge products and services for today's engineering professional, plus a multitude of unique events including special Engineering for Global Development keynote and forum sessions, a number of exciting plenary and invited-speaker sessions, the annual Honors Assembly, and high-profile competitions for engineering students, the 2014 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Montreal, Canada, promises to be the mechanical engineering event of the year.

“Engineering for Global Development” is the theme of this year’s Congress, which will be held from Nov. 14 to 20 at the Palais Des Congres convention center. The conference program will feature an entire day devoted to EGD-related sessions on Monday, Nov. 17, beginning with a Keynote Event that will lead into a three-part EGD Forum continuing throughout the afternoon.

The opening Keynote, featuring a panel of social entrepreneurs and representatives from industry and academia discussing the issues facing engineers while introducing appropriate technologies into developing communities, will taking place from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in rooms 517 A and B, following a breakfast starting at 7:30 a.m. The session will be moderated by John Hockenberry of National Public Radio's The Takeaway and will feature panelists Paul Polak, author of Out of Poverty, Shyam Rajan of GE Healthcare – India, Juliana Rotich of Ushahidi Inc., and Bryan Willson from Colorado State University. The Keynote will also be made available as a free live webcast. Visit the Keynote Event webpage on ASME.org to register.

The EGD Forum, which will follow the Keynote, will consist of three informative panel sessions further exploring the theme: “Case Studies in Global Development” from 9:45 p.m.-11:30 a.m.; “The Rise of Research in Engineering for Global Development” from 1:00 p.m.-2:45 p.m.; and the town-hall-style session “Aligning Global Development with an Academic Career,” from 3:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m.

(From left) John Hockenberry of National Public Radio's The Takeaway will be the moderator for the Engineering for Global Development opening Keynote Event, which will feature panelists Paul Polak of Windhorse International and Paul Polak Enterprises, Shyam Rajan from GE Healthcare, and Bryan Willson of Colorado State University.

Another highlight of this year’s meeting will be the three Congress-Wide Plenary Sessions that will take place from Tuesday to Thursday. The first plenary, “Taking on the 'Impossible': The Sikorsky Innovations Story” on Tuesday, Nov. 18, will feature Chris Van Buiten, vice president of Sikorsky Innovations. The session be held from 8:00 a.m.-9:15 a.m. in rooms 517 A and B. The next day, Dennis O'Donoghue, vice president at Boeing Test and Evaluation, will present the second Congress-Wide Plenary, "Testing the Future of Flight — Boeing's ecoDemonstrator Program," at the same time and location. The final Congress-Wide Plenary, "The Next Energy Storage Revolution — Cheap, Clean, Solid State Devices" to be presented by Ann Marie Sastry from the battery technology company Sakti3, will be held Thursday, Nov. 20, from noon-12:45 p.m in rooms 517 A and B.

This year's event will also include a new addition to the Congress program, the Invited Industry Presentations, to be comprised of three sessions from Tuesday to Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 1:45 in room 510 D: "Extension of the Natural Gas Envelope on Rolls-Royce Industrial Engines and Development of the Industrial Trent Dry Low Emissions (DLE)," with Brian Nolan, chief engineer of engine development programs at Rolls-Royce Energy, on Nov. 18; "Trends of the 21st Century in Aero Engines," presented by Keith Morgan, engineering executive director of systems organization for Pratt & Whitney Canada, on Nov. 19; and "Bombardier Strategic Technology: The Future of Business and Commercial Aviation," with Mathieu Boisclair, chief of the Strategic Technology Program Office at Bombardier Aerospace, on Nov. 20.

The ASME Honors Assembly, the prestigious annual event that pays tribute to engineering trailblazers, their work, and their impact on the profession, will be held Monday, Nov. 17, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in room 517 D. This year’s ceremony will recognize the contributions of eight engineering leaders: Ursala M. Burns, James W. Coaker, Warren R. DeVries, Adam Hart-Davis, Van C. Mow, Robert E. Nickell, Pol D. Spanos and Xiang Zhang. The event will be preceded by a reception from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the room 517 foyer, and followed by the lavish Honors Dinner from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in room 517 C.

(From left) Brian Nolan of Rolls-Royce Energy, Keith Morgan from Pratt & Whitney Canada, and Mathieu Boisclair of Bombardier Aerospace will be the speakers for the Invited Industry Presentations, to be held Nov. 18-20.

The 2014 Congress will also encompass a wealth of activities for engineering students, including three major competitions. Two of these competitions will take place on Saturday, Nov. 15: the Old Guard Oral Competition Finals, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in room 525 B, and the final round of the inaugural ASME Innovative Additive Manufacturing 3D (IAM3D) Challenge, from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in room 519. The next day, more than 20 teams from around the globe will face off during the ASME Student Design Competition Finals. In this year’s competition, “Lighter than Air UAV,”  taking place from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in rooms 511 D and E, students were given the task of design a small unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, that could its cargo through a set of gates, drop a payload, and return to the starting point. The final round of the competition will take place on Nov. 16 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in rooms 511 D and E.

Other special events at the Congress will include:

• The History & Heritage and Old Guard Presentation/Reception, Nov. 15, 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m., in room 516 C;
• The Exhibit Hall Grand Opening and Opening Reception, Nov. 16, 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m., in room 210;
• The Robert Henry Thurston Lecture, Nov. 17, 10:00 am.-noon, room 519 B;
• The President's Luncheon, Nov. 17, noon-1:30 p.m., in rooms 511 A and B;
• The Micro- & Nanotechnology Society Wide Forum, Nov. 18, 10:30 a.m.-noon, in room 511 D;
• The Women in Engineering Reception, Nov. 18, 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m., in room 511 A; and
• The Social Meet-up for Early Career Engineers Featuring Mini-Talks, Nov. 16, 8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m., in rooms 511 A, B and C.

To find out about the other special events taking place at the ASME International Congress and Exposition, visit www.asmeconferences.org/Congress2014/Events.cfm. For more information on the Congress in general, visit www.asmeconferences.org/Congress2014.