Register Now for the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Education Leadership Summit

There’s still time to register for the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Education Leadership Summit (MEED), which will be held from March 20 to 23 at the Renaissance New Orleans Pere Marquette in New Orleans, La. Since 1989, MEED has been an annual forum for university, industry and government leaders to discuss current issues in engineering education and research and to share the latest business, management and curricular practices.

MEED 2019, which will address the theme “The Digital Mechanical Engineer: Engage, Explore, Empower,” will kick off with an opening session and luncheon on March 21 featuring remarks from Oscar Barton, chair of the ASME Committee on Engineering Education and mechanical engineering department head at George Mason University; H. Dwayne Jerro, mechanical engineering department head of Southern University and conference co-chair for MEED 2019; Nadir Yilmaz, mechanical engineering department head at Howard University and conference co-chair for MEED 2019; ASME Executive Director/CEO Thomas Costabile; and Aisha Lawrey, director, ASME Engineering Education. A keynote presentation featuring Pamela Norris, executive associate dean for research at the University of Virginia and chair of the ASEE Engineering Research Council, will follow the luncheon.

Over the course of the conference program, MEED 2019 will also feature a number of activities, including ASME/ABET preparation workshops, a “New-to-ABET” orientation session, ASME committee meetings, breakout sessions and briefings on such topics as ASME’s Engineering 4 Change (E4C)/Engineering for Global Development initiatives, the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, ABET updates, and the impact of online education.

The conference will also encompass three plenaries. The first of these sessions, on March 21 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., will focus on how industry and department heads and chairs can engage mechanical engineering departments to ensure that their students acquire the computer programming, coding and artificial intelligence skills they’ll need for future success. The second plenary session, on March 22 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., will provide an overview of the current best practices and innovative approaches in the use of digital tools in mechanical engineering. That afternoon, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the third plenary will cover the various digital tools with which mechanical engineers are now expected proficient and the effect they will continue to have on mechanical engineering education.

Panelists scheduled to take part in these sessions include Tracee Walker Gilbert, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Ron Benczkowski, vice president of engineering at Moog Inc.; Marcelino Gomes, executive manager of pipeline protection for Petrobras Transporte; Shengmin Guo, Holmes Endowed Professor at Louisiana State University and director of the Turbine Innovation and Energy Research (TIER) center; Steven Goldsmith, mechanical engineering professor at Michigan Technological University; and Patrick Mensah, associate dean for research at Southern University and director of the NSF CREST Center for Next Generation Multifunctional Composites. Other plenary speakers will include Fab Clayton, Autodesk’s education engagement program manager; Mario Rotea, mechanical engineering department head at the University of Texas-Dallas; William Messner, professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University; and Darrell Robinette, faculty advisor for the SAE/GM AutoDrive Challenge Team at Michigan Tech.

In addition, the ASME Industry Advisory Board (IAB) will convene its annual spring meeting in conjunction with MEED. The IAB and the Committee on Engineering Education will hold crossover meetings and discussions related to accreditation and program criteria as well as other topics. For more information on the IAB meeting agenda, the MEED conference program, or how to register for the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Education Leadership Summit, visit https://event.asme.org/MEED.