ASME TechCast: Recent Episodes
Mechanical Engineering Mag
"The future is going to be the clean industrial revolution."
AtmosZero is on a mission to electrify and decarbonize steam. The startup's co-founder and CEO, Addison Stark, shares his mechanical engineering story, what led him to rethink the boiler, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurial engineers.
Where is the former Miss America now? Nuclear engineer Grace Stanke recently received her degree and moved to the East Coast for the next big step in her exciting career. In this episode, we talk about how her journey started and what 2024 holds in store for the Wisconsin native.
The workforce shortage and war for talent continue. One area that’s being hit particularly hard is the technical workforce, which is facing headwinds such as rapidly advancing technological requirements and antiquated perceptions.
Despite growing demand across industries, from energy to manufacturing and beyond, there’s a widening gap between available positions and qualified candidates. And the engineer-to-technician ratio is widening, even though the need for critical hands-on skillsets is growing as well.
Parminder Jassal, CEO and co-founder of Unmudl, a skills-to-jobs marketplace that connects learners and employers via a coast-to-coast network of leading community colleges, joins ASME TechCast to discuss these challenges and how industry, the public, and educators can turn this trend around.
Mechanical engineer, author, speaker, and trainer, the executive vice president of RMF Engineering in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., discusses how firms can recruit, retain, and train young professionals.
Mars has been a longstanding target for exploration, but for nearly 50 years, we've been sending robots to examine the Martian surface. Elizabeth Jens of Jet Propulsion Laboratory is one of the engineers working on systems used by the Perseverance rover and other missions. In this podcast, she talks about her work and the importance of encouraging young women to consider science and engineering careers.
Mechanical Engineering magazine's June/July cover story delves into the minds of early career engineers to hear their diverse stories, from humble beginnings to great achievements, and how they're paving the way forward for future engineering generations.
In this sneak preview, we hear from Amy Elliott about her work in 3D printing and robotics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as well as her public outreach initiatives representing women in STEM and helping kids find their passion in engineering.
Identifying, training, and retaining talent continues to be a challenge for all fields of engineering. At the same time, diversifying the mix of engineering graduates to include more underrepresented groups is critical.
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), minority serving institutions (MSIs), tribal colleges and universities, and others are making significant strides in growing the number of underrepresented groups entering engineering through a variety of strategies.
In this episode, Craig Scott shares insights into engineering workforce challenges and some possible solutions. Scott is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He is also president of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC)—a non-profit organization comprised of historically minority serving institutions working to produce a larger and better prepared pool of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American engineering graduates.
Lauren Neal talks about her experience as a working engineer in a male-dominated field. She covers strategies for recruitment, retention, DEI, and leadership.
Artificial intelligence isn’t just for faking voices or generating images. The technology can also sift through mountains of data and extract actionable insights. Humberto Moreira, principal solutions engineer at the software development services company Gigster, explains how these insights can assist manufacturers become more flexible and be more attuned to consumers.
When it comes to research and development, engineers lead the way across a wide range of industries. But when it’s time to translate cutting-edge research and prototypes into commercial applications and technologies, the process can be quite complex.
Paul Cherukuri helps shed some light on that process, from strategies to challenges to real-world examples. Cherukuri is Rice University’s vice president for innovation and he also serves as Chief Innovation Officer, Adjunct Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, and Associate Research Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Risk-adverse, technical professionals find securing new business takes understanding a new generation of buyers and how they build relationships, assess services, and ultimately purchase products.
While it may be an election year, there is plenty of opportunity for science and engineering policy to be passed and implemented in Washington. ASME's Paul Fakes previews the potential areas for bipartisan agreement.
In a year that started to feel like “normal,” technology and the engineers behind it were a big part of the story. Listen as the staff of Mechanical Engineering magazine discuss their picks for the top engineering stories of 2023 in this special year-end edition of ASME TechCast.
A program called Space Workforce 2030 is seeking to bring in a new generation of engineers that is more diverse and talented than ever. It will significantly increase the number of women and underrepresented groups not only in the workforce, but also across aerospace engineering programs and senior company leadership.
Via Van Liew, principal director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at The Aerospace Corporation, one of the many companies that has committed to the Space Workforce 2030 pledge, shares more about the program and how it's making its mark.
Alquist 3D CEO Zachary Mannheimer talks about 3D printing affordable housing and building a workforce.
Alquist 3D CEO Zachary Mannheimer talks about using 3D printers to build affordable housing and stand up a workforce.
Jorge Puente, vice president of engineering withKelly’s Science, Engineering, Tech, and Telecom unit talks about busy engineering firms that are enjoying low turnover rates, but still report that recruitment remains a challenge.
An often-overlooked source of air pollution is the household kitchen, especially those that use gas ranges and ovens. The environmental advocacy group WEACT for Environmental Justice recently conducted a study to look at the impact of switching out gas stoves for induction cooktops in New York City public housing. Jennifer Ventrella, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering who helped conduct the study, joins ASME TechCast to discuss the results and the steps that can be taken to mitigate reduce indoor air pollution.
Moving from a technical role into a management position is difficult to navigate. Engineers find themselves in uncharted waters. Jeff Perry, founder of More Than Engineering is a software, mechanical, and manufacturing engineer. For years he has been working with engineers and helping them map out the necessary skills for becoming a quality leader in the field.
In New York City, Local Law 97 is pushing owners of large buildings to take steps to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. Tristan Schwartzman, principal and director of energy services at Goldman Copeland, a New York-based engineering firm, discusses the impact of the law and the steps being taken to prepare buildings in the city for a low-carbon future.
Mechanical Engineering magazine’s October/November cover story dives into the engineering feats and solutions that brought NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to its current home, orbiting the sun about 1 million miles away from Earth. Author Lina Zeldovich shares some insights behind the story, how it came together, and pieces that didn't make the story's final cut.
A proven way to secure billable hours, the seller-doer business development model allows firms a way to offer engineers a clear career development path.
Photovoltaic solar panels are becoming increasingly inexpensive, but there are many sunny surfaces where adding them is not feasible. Veeral Hardev, vice president for corporate strategy at Ubiquitous Energy, talks about his company’s quest to make transparent PV cells that can be applied to window glass.
Being a project manager is more than getting tasks done and ensuring your team does the same. Learn the skills needed and the steps necessary to move from engineer on a project to PM of the team.
Heat pumps, which use the outside as a source—or sink—for heat, are a familiar environmental control technology in many homes. Kathy Hannun, founder and president of Dandelion Energy, a company that makes household geothermal heat pump systems, discusses the efficiency advantages and engineering challenges of drawing heat from the ground.
As advanced manufacturing continues to thrive, the ties among academia, industry, and government must be fostered to ensure the next generation of engineering students enter the workforce fully prepared to tackle the technologies awaiting them.
In this episode of ASME TechCast, Kathryn Jablokow, a professor at Penn State, and Tom Kurfess, a professor at Georgia Tech, discuss technology readiness levels and strategies for educators and industry in partnering to prepare engineers for the future.
Jablokow and Kurfess are both members of ASME's board of governors and members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Study Committee. Both helped author “Infusing Advanced Manufacturing into Undergraduate Engineering Education,” a report that examines advanced manufacturing techniques for the defense industry and explores how undergraduate engineering programs can better develop advanced manufacturing capabilities in the workforce.
Kyle Saleeby and Gabriela Ciocarlie of the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute talk about standing up cyber protection throughout the manufacturing supply chain.
ASME sat down to talk with Reid Tolley, founding partner of Talent Matters, an assessment, analytics, and leadership development firm. In this episode he covered how the behavioral assessment, job suitability tool Harrison Assessments differs from personality testing.
Tolley explained that the tool can accurately measures how well suited a person is with a specific job and if they score a 75 percent or better, people are three times more likely to enjoy the job, excel at it, and try to excel at it.
Since 2012, Tolley has helped leaders of engineering firms and other organizations with talent acquisition and retention, company culture, succession planning, onboarding new talent, and more. Find him at Talent Matters.
Industry 4.0 is a suite of digitally enabled technologies that combine embedded sensors,new kinds of materials, models as digital twins, and cutting edge computing tochange the way that companies think about their product and facilities and eventheir customers. The idea of adopting these advanced manufacturing technologiescan be daunting to small companies that have had success with traditional processes.Pavan Muzumdar, chief operating officer at Automation Alley, a nonprofitIndustry 4.0 knowledge center based in Troy, Mich., discusses how 3D printingand other Industry 4.0 technologies are transforming small manufacturers.
Matt Ishler, associate director of career counseling at Penn State University, talks about what engineeringstudents need outside of their core classes.
Engineer, consultant, and author Joshua Plenert talks about Lean Six Sigma and what makes the problem-solving mindset of mechanical engineers uniquely suited for Lean Six Sigma.
Manufacturing has seen a resurgence over the last decade, and the adoption of digital technologies has transformed the industry. But now, engineering education must also adapt and find a way to ensure that the workforce of tomorrow has the right skills and can take full advantage of advanced manufacturing platforms. Tom Kurfess, professor at Georgia Tech and member of ASME's board of governors, discusses the challenges that today's educators and industry face, what some of these technologies are and their applications, and possible solutions.
Engineer, consultant and author Peter Atherton talks about burnout and what makes mechanical engineers susceptible to this medical syndrome newly recognized by the World Health Organization.
The Earth's core provides a tremendous amount of heat. Tapping that heat to produce electric power or to use directly in industrial processes could be a way to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Jamie Beard, founder and executive director of Project InnerSpace, a geothermal advocacy group, discusses a recent report on the prospects for geothermal energy in Texas and elsewhere.
Caltech research scientist Austin Fikes talks about capturing solar energy in space with a satellite that would relay the power to Earth.
Sara Hendren, associate professor of arts, humanities and design at Olin College of Engineering discusses the importance of keeping engineering students engaged in social and ethical issues throughout their education.
Paul Fakes, director of ASME's government relations education and outreach programs, talks about engineering and science policy in a new Congress.
It’s been quite a year, and technology has been part of the headlines all 12 months. Listen as Mechanical Engineering magazine’s Jeffrey Winters and John Kosowatz discuss their top engineering stories on 2022 in this special edition of ASME TechCast.
An electrical grid reliant on renewable power will require building new transmission, distribution, and storage capability, often in places that have layers of existing infrastructure. Nabil Hitti, the vice president of U.S. Offshore Wind for National Grid Ventures, talks about the enormous promise of offshore wind power in the New York region and the challenge of building the energy infrastructure to support it.
David Wrenn, the SpinLaunch's head of engineering, talks about the novel kinetic system developed to hurl satellites into space.
The climate impact of long-distance air travel is more substantial than most people realize. But the power requirements of jetliners are difficult—if not impossible—to meet without resorting to kerosene-based jet fuel. Writer Michael Abrams discusses the paths that researchers and entrepreneurs are exploring to develop a greener form of aviation and describes some fixes that could reduce the warming potential of flying.
As more people around the world move from the countryside to cities, the climate effects of urbanization become increasingly important. One of these is the urban heat island effect, where unshaded concrete and asphalt absorb sunlight and radiate heat, warming the surrounding areas by several degrees. Moncef Krarti, a professor at the University of Colorado and an expert on urban heat islands, discusses steps that cities can take to turn down the heat on their microclimates.
Rockwell Automation’s John Miles talks about electric vehicles and how to charge them, along with upskilling the current workforce.
Greg Boerschig heads TVA’s Clinch River nuclear project. He talks about TVA’s nuclear options and the development of small modular nuclear reactors.
The Jetsons promised viewers from the 1960s and beyond that the future would see robots that could cook, clean, and basically run the household. However, developing those sorts of multi-capable robots for real households has been a challenge. Writer Kay Sukel discusses the promise and future direction of this field.
In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, European nations declared their intention to find alternatives to Russian natural gas. One nation that could become a strategically important supplier of gas to Europe is the United States, which has more gas than it can use thanks to the exploitation of its shale gas reserves. Energy economist Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy and professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines explains the implications and limitations of U.S. gas exports.
The International Space Station has been the main site of human exploration in orbit for the past 20 years. Crews have been shuttling back and forth for missions as short as a couple of weeks or as long as a year. But the ISS can't last forever. Matt Ondler, chief technology officer and director of spacecraft development at Axiom Space, a space hardware and services company in Houston, discusses the challenges and opportunities in developing a one of a number of commercial projects vying to become humanity’s next outpost in orbit.
Doug Gudenburr, COO of DMI Companies, talks about the manufacturer's digital transformation.
In North America, wind power has been developed almost entirely on land, often 1,000 miles or more from the power-hungry Atlantic coast. But it turns out that there’s an even better, even windier place that’s much closer to the New York City–the waters off of Long Island. Listen as Georges Sassine, vice president for large-scale renewables at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, discusses the state’s plans for harnessing offshore wind.
With electric vehicles receiving so much popular culture love and governmental support, could the days of the internal combustion engine be numbered? Kelly Senecal, co-author of the book, Racing Toward Zero, contends that despite the rush to mandating EVs, there are many use cases where ICE- and hybrid-powered vehicles make the most sense. In this episode, learn about how we power cars and trucks in the past, present, and future.
Self-driving cars are some of the fastest and smartest computers today. They are equipped with advanced cameras, lidar, smart sensors, machine learning, and AI-voice recognition software. However, an autonomous vehicle cannot operate alone. Secure and smart infrastructure is needed to support these robots on wheels. Kevin Vincent, director of the Center of Connected and Autonomous Automotive Research at Coventry University, highlights how cities can create an ecosystem for self-driving vehicles and how it may impact our society.
Women in mechanical engineering are poorly represented. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only eight percent of working mechanical engineers are women. Low retention numbers are caused by multiple factors, including a lack of support among institutions and a lack of role models. Sonya Smith is a professor at Howard University and president of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network. She was the first African American woman to gain a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and in this episode, she highlights her journey in mechanical engineering, how it compares to the struggle of today’s women mechanical engineers, and what can be done to increase the retention of women in engineering.
As the pace of development in engineering and technology take place, so too do questions about ethics in the workplace. Michael Loui, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois has concentrated on ethics throughout his career. In this episode, he talks about ethics in the workplace.
The so-called Nuclear Renaissance of the 2000s may have fizzled, but the small modular reactor concept is still going strong. Jose Reyes, co-founder and chief technology officer at NuScale Power, has been working on SMRs for almost 20 years, and his company is making progress toward building the first commercial SMR before the end of the decade. In this episode, he describes the evolution of the small modular reactor concept and how it fits into an electric grid being shaped by wind and solar power.
Industry 4.0 has been on a continuous evolution over the last century. Design and manufacturing companies leverage connected networks, additive manufacturing, and digital engineering to become faster, more efficient, and flexible. These advances are helping companies overcome supply chain disruptions and labor shortages that have plagued the industry over the last few years. Dean Bartles, president and CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, highlights ongoing and future trends within Industry 4.0 and what engineers can expect to develop over the next decade.
Teaching future engineers to think about the possible ramifications of their work comes through a series of classes in ethics that universities require of their students. Andrew Katz is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. In this podcast, he talks about the importance of ethics in education and the profession, and how students react to ethical problems.
The advancements of robots as everyday tools are driving them out of the factory floor and into public spaces. Delivery bots, social bot companions, and automated household assistants are just some examples of how robots interact with people daily. In this episode of ASME TechCast, we speak with Tom Ryden, executive director of Mass Robotics, a nonprofit organization, to support research and development within the robotics industry. He highlights how technological innovations like advanced cloud computing, vision systems, and voice recognition software are creating smarter-social robots.
Picking up where we left off the last episode, the editors of ASME.org and Mechanical Engineering magazine dive back in and discuss some of the top engineering stories from the past year. Listen to editor in chief Jeffrey Winters, senior editor John Kosowatz, and special projects manager Carlos González as they continue their talk about the latest digital twins, additive manufacturing, the supply chain, power plants, and more.
The editors of ASME.org and Mechanical Engineering magazine discuss some of the top engineering stories from the past year. Listen to editor-in-chief Jeffrey Winters, senior editor John Kosowatz, and special projects manager Carlos González as they talk about biotechnology, electric vehicles, engineering education, and more.
Medical experts estimate there are 160 million people around the world with an unruptured intracranial aneurysm. When it breaks, more than half of those people die. The situation is frustrating for surgeons because the location of those blister-like lesions are in arteries too thin and too difficult to reach.
That may change with the development of a steerable, hydraulically actuated catheter that is thin enough to reach those small arteries. The design was inspired by flagella that allow microscopic organisms to swim but required University of California, San Diego, researchers to devise a novel technique to produce it. Mechanical Engineering Professor James Friend and Golpesh Tilvawala, who earned his Ph.D. on the project, talk about its development.
Engineers focus more on their technical abilities than soft skills. Like in any other job, soft skills are essential for engineers to succeed in their careers. But soft skills might not come naturally to everyone and have to be developed and improved. In this episode, Nader Mowlaee, the founder of Engineer Your Mission and the creator of The Job Search Acceleration System, talks about how does one develop soft skills before applying for a job, or even in an existing job.
Hydrogen is the simplest atom there is – just a proton and an electron – and when you burn it, not only do you release a lot of power per pound of fuel, but the byproduct is simply water vapor. Jeffrey Goldmeer, Emergent Technology Director for Decarbonization at GE Gas Power and one of their resident experts on hydrogen talks with Jeffrey Winters, editor in chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine and describes recent advances that allow hydrogen to replace natural gas in power plants.
Generative computer-aided design is typically compared to how nature creates. When a tree grows, it will naturally find the strongest footing and the best path toward sunlight. The tree doesn’t grow unnecessary limbs; it is efficient in the way it expands outward. Generative design operates in the same way. Engineers designate their material and the constraint design points, and the generative CAD software automatically creates a part that meets the strength and load criteria in the most efficient design possible. The next step for generative design is to introduce AI and automation to the process. Colin Swearingen is a design solution consultant for Dassault Systemes. He discusses how generative design is being used by engineers today and how the tool is evolving into cognitive augmented design.
Dr. Lonnie Love is a corporate fellow and section head over precision manufacturing and machining at the U.S. Dept of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He leads many of the large-scale additive as well as advanced manufacturing for defense programs at the lab. His team has demonstrated advanced manufacturing technologies on several high-profile projects, including the first 3D-printed car. Here, he talks about what is coming in large-scale 3D printing.
The electric vehicle is positioned to become the vehicle of tomorrow. Major manufacturers such as Ford and GM are now joining the ranks of Tesla, debuting new fleets of electric cars. According to BloombergNEF, by 2030, the electric vehicle fleet will reach 116 million across the globe, up from an estimated 8.5 million units in 2020. BloombergNEF’s Nick Albanese, head of intelligent mobility, and Milo Boers, lead modeler of electric vehicle outlook, share insights from the Electric Vehicle Outlook report of 2021 and discuss the future outlook of the electric vehicle industry. The report highlights ongoing trends in the EV industry and how shared auto-mobility, battery manufacturing, and autonomous driving will change from now out to 2050.
In any industry, understanding how to apply computer modeling toward practical installation solutions is a challenge. To help engineers, simulation software can help anticipate the design requirements for proper installation. Concluding our three-part series, Doug Fast, technical leader for industrial mineral wool, and Alec Cusick, a technical services engineer from Owens Corning, discuss how engineers can turn acoustic modeling and simulation into real-world piping systems design solutions.
As NASA plans to returning astronauts to the Moon and future long-duration exploration missions, additive manufacturing will continue to play a greater role in the future of space. One of additive’s most exciting areas is bioprinting of living cells. Indiana-based aerospace company TechShot’s Chief Scientist Eugene Boland, who is currently leading the team that manages the 3D Biofabrication facility aboard the International Space Station, discusses the advances and challenges of bioprinting in space.
With a lack of clear understanding of the industry standards and the difficulties in laboratory testing, engineers have had many challenges when designing acoustic insulation for piping systems. The engineers at Owens Corning look to solve the problem by introducing a new method of modeling and simulation that can accurately predict a piping system’s acoustic insulation need. Doug Fast, technical leader for industrial mineral wool, and Kevin Herreman, a principal acoustic scientist from Owens Corning, sit down for part two of our series on piping system design and how engineers can leverage the power of simulation to design more efficiently and accurately.
The challenges surrounding the piping industry are multi-faceted. One of the significant issues is proper guidance on sound insulation. While there are test methods and houses that can help engineers predict the required acoustic insulation, understanding the exact requirements for proper insulation can be challenging—one many engineers make retroactively on-site. Owens Corning is introducing new simulation software that helps predict the insulation requirements, and engineers can create predictive design models to reduce costs and improve installs. Doug Fast, technical leader for industrial mineral wool, and Kevin Herreman, a principal acoustic scientist from Owens Corning, discuss the challenge engineers face when designing piping systems and their acoustic insulation requirements.
As the manufacturing supply chain starts to shift into the digital space, firms large and small will explore new opportunities in on-demand manufacturing as a service. Xometry, a leading AI-enabled digital marketplace where buyers can source on-demand manufactured parts and assemblies, has helped companies of all sizes explore digital manufacturing possibilities. Greg Paulsen, director of application engineering at Xometry, walks us through how companies like NASA and BMW have leveraged on-demand manufacturing.
The supply chain experienced significant disruption last year as the pandemic wreaked havoc across several industries. Digital manufacturing as a service has aided companies in transitioning traditional manufacturing processes to an online platform. Companies now have access to a multitude of vendors and suppliers at their disposal, creating new opportunities for faster production times and new manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing. Greg Paulsen, director of application engineering at Xometry, discusses with Mechanical Engineering how the supply chain has shifted and the future of digital manufacturing.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how many viewed engineering education. The push towards online education highlighted new possibilities and vulnerabilities within the education sector. As schools being to reopen and students return to school, engineering colleges and universities must reevaluate their educational direction and build upon the new models established during the pandemic. Mike Grandinetti is a mechanical engineering professor, and CEO and co-founder of Global Venture Catalyst, a new model of professional education that leverages data and AI to connect professionals and students through project-based learning. He speaks with ASME TechCast on the state of education and how the model can pivot in the digital age.
The U.S. offshore wind power industry is in its early stages but is poised to move quickly. The Biden administration is throwing its weight behind the buildout. There are 18.6 GW of procurements forecasts through 2030 and a whopping $68.2 billion in work and contracts for suppliers. However, to be successful, there must be a solid supply chain, unlike a mature network of suppliers in Europe. Brandon Burke, vice president of policy and regulatory engagement for the Business Network for Offshore Wind, talks about standing up a supply chain in this latest ASME Techcast.
The manufacturing industry is always in a state of flux. As new technologies are introduced, the methods of production need to update to stay current. Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for digital transformation and on-demand manufacturing solutions robust enough to survive supply chain disruptions. Jean Olivieri, chief operating officer at Fictiv, an on-demand manufacturing cloud platform, discusses the company’s 2021 State of Manufacturing Report and how the events of 2020 have shaped the future of manufacturing.
The industrial centers of the United States were once called the Arsenal of Democracy, but manufacturing and national defense are still tightly linked. Jeffrey Winters, the editor in chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine, talks with manufacturing experts Steven Schmid and Shreyes Melkote about the importance of maintaining—and expanding—America’s manufacturing edge.
As the Internet of Things has developed throughout the years, different industries are exposed to its advancements at different times. The oil and gas industry is currently experiencing the “big data” revolution like the manufacturing sector had undergone years prior. Robello Samuel, Ph.D., is a chief technical advisor and technology fellow at Halliburton since 1998. He will be speaking on “Hu: The Human Element in Data-Driven Digital Transformation” panel on how the human element and data-driven digital transformation will change the outlook of the oil and gas industry.
As an aerospace pioneer, Don Kinard, who is a senior fellow in production operations at the aeronautics business unit of Lockheed Martin, has been using digital twins for product applications even before the term was coined. In this podcast, he discusses the challenges of extending digital twins into operational environments and shares lessons learned at Lockheed that the engineering community can apply in the digital lifecycle. Kinard has been at Lockheed Martin from the early days of the F-35 program and served in both engineering and manufacturing roles for the F-22 development.
Additive manufacturing is starting to make inroads into the fabrication of wind turbines as well as their towers. 3D printing of turbine blades as well as their concrete towers is expected to lower costs and allow them to rise over their present heights of 80 meters to 100 meters. GE Renewable Energy’s Matteo Bellucci talks about the impact additive manufacturing is having on the development of wind energy systems.
On-demand digital manufacturing ecosystems look to become the future of manufacturing. By transitioning away from traditional supply chains, stockpiles of inventory, and excess materials, on-demand manufacturing can offer companies robust and flexible supply chains, reducing inventory and raw material costs. On-demand manufacturing also looks to reduce the effects of supply disruption by allowing companies to shift manufacturing sites at a moment’s notice.
Todd Taylor is the vice president of application engineering at Fictiv, a digital manufacturing ecosystem that rapidly delivers custom mechanical parts through its quote-to-order platform and distributed network of global partners. He discusses how on-demand manufacturing will benefit not just startups and smaller firms but also how larger manufacturing firms do business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education of many young students. Due to the necessity of distance education, it has been challenging to keep children interested in science, technology, engineering, and math subjects. Jay Flores, CEO and founder of Invent the Change, has spent his entire career trying to inspire young STEM minds. Over the last 10 years, he has worked with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Rockwell Automation, and FIRST Robotics to mentor and educate young people, exploring the power of STEM. On this episode of ASME TechCast, he speaks with us about the current state of STEM, how the pandemic has impacted education, and the disparities found in today’s STEM society.
As vice president at HearstLab Lisa Burton O’Toole, evaluates and invests in women-led startups and strongly believes that we need diverse teams working on technical problems. Burton is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship among technically minded women. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Burton discusses why mentoring is valuable for women and shares advice on how to find a mentor. In 2020, Burton received ASME’s Kate Gleason Award honoring women entrepreneurs who make a significant contribution to the engineering community.
Additive manufacturing has long been a tool used by the aerospace industry to manufacture parts. The latest advancements within AM are now shifting production toward end-use parts. There are still many challenges including quality, productivity, repeatability, and materials availability. Hauke Schultz, the Additive Manufacturing Roadmap leader at Airbus, is building a vision and roadmap to enhance AM technologies and applications within its three business units: Airbus Commercial, Helicopters, and Defense and Space. Schultz talks about the journey of AM in aerospace, how the last year impacted the industry, and how the future of AM in aerospace will impact engineers.
One of the best places to build railways and highways is underground, away from people on the surface. But tunneling is a costly process that involves small armies of workers and giant tunnel boring machines. But a contractor working on a subway project in Kuala Lumpur has devised a system for self-driving tunneling that could revolutionize the industry.
Mechanical Engineering magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Winters asked senior editor John Kosowatz to explain how the system works. Kosowatz researched the technology for his article, “Big Data Spurs Autonomous Tunneling” for the February/March 2021 issue of Mechanical Engineering.
Digital manufacturing is an ever-growing, expanding world that is leaving the world of design and permeating into the world of manufacturing. Fictiv’s platform introduces a digital ecosystem that directly connects designers and makers with manufacturing facilities, eliminating the traditional back and forth of production quotes, lengthy design iterations, and long lead times. In the last seven years, Fictiv has manufactured over 12 million parts for some of the world’s most innovative companies — building the next rockets, self-driving cars, medical devices, and IoT devices. On this episode of ASME TechCast, Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO, highlights Fictiv’s journey from conception through the COVID-19 pandemic and shares tips for how engineers can accelerate development cycles by transitioning to a digital sourcing workflow.
As Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States, his administration promises big changes in policies affecting science, energy, environment, trade, and more. He will have to work with the new 117th Congress, which also brings new faces as the Democrats take control of the Senate by the slimmest of margins. The House of Representatives continues to be led by Democrats but their majority has been greatly reduced. Paul Fakes, ASME's senior manager of government relations, talks about these changes and how they will impact the industries in which engineers participate.
Artificial intelligence has seen a rapid implementation in several industries. When talking about AI in automotive engineering, the first thought that comes to mind is autonomous vehicles. What role do mechanical engineers play in this intersection of AI and autonomy and what are the opportunities for them? What skills will become increasingly valued in automotive companies with the advancement of AI? Dragos Maciuca, executive technical director at Ford’s Research and Innovation Center, answers these questions, and more, in this episode of ASME TechCast.
The editors of Mechanical Engineering magazine tried something different this year with the annual Emerging Technology Awards. Listen as editor in chief Jeffrey Winters talks with editors John Kosowatz and Carlos González about five innovations that are taking on COVID-19.
The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s new report shows offshore wind generation growing in the U.S. and globally. Turbines are getting larger and developers want to site them in ever deeper water. Design of floating foundations has advanced to where deepwater sites are feasible, while fixed foundations may prove more economical in deeper water. NREL’s Walt Musial, principal engineer and offshore wind lead, talks about the offshore market and what can be expected in the coming year in this podcast.
Technology writer Jean Thilmany has followed software-enabled engineering for decades. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Thilmany talks with Jeffrey Winters, editor in chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine, about how digital engineering is expanding into the manufacturing sector.
The CEO of Protolabs, Vicki Holt, has almost 40 years of experience in world-class manufacturing companies in various executive roles. In this episode of ASME TechCast, she provides insights into the digital trends shaping manufacturing and how companies can prepare the current and future workforce for this rapid transition accelerated by the pandemic.
Lockheed Martin designed and built the new OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft. The spacecraft will collect samples from the asteroid Bennu which may provide insight into our solar system’s early formation. To help construct the spacecraft, Lockheed Martin Space utilized the power of the digital twin.
Lockheed’s journey with the digital twin can serve as an example of how other organizations can adopt the digital twin methodology for a more efficient design.
Noah Fehrenbacher, digital twin portfolio manager for Lockheed Martin Space, speaks with ASME TechCast on how Lockheed Martin uses the digital twin as an advanced design tool.
The term "fluid power" was adopted more than sixty years ago to describe hydraulic and pneumatic systems for transmitting power. Often, engineers learn about mechanical and electric power transmission as part of their formal education. Unfortunately, most engineering schools in North America do not fully cover the capabilities and strengths of fluid power.
Fluid power is a versatile method of transmitting power, capable of moving satellite dishes and heavy construction equipment, and refined enough to operate aircraft and automation systems. Alan Hitchcox, longtime editor-in-chief of Hydraulics and Pneumatics magazine and recent inductee into the International Fluid Power Society 2020 Fluid Power Hall of Fame, sits down with Mechanical Engineering magazine to discuss the strength of fluid power and how engineers are using it today.
A collaboration between Cornell and Penn Engineering has resulted in the first microscopic robots that incorporate semiconductor components, allowing them to be controlled—and made to walk—with standard electronic signals. In future, these microbots could be injected into human blood for medical treatments. In this podcast, Itai Cohen, professor of physics, who is leading the research at Cornell, discusses the cross-disciplinary research that led to this breakthrough.
Chinese factories produce a huge chunk of the world’s manufactured goods. Recently, global companies have begun to reconsider their dependence on China. Some have looked at bringing critical manufacturing to the United States, while others have set up factories in Vietnam and Mexico. Mechanical Engineering magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Winters asked senior editor John Kosowatz to explain the issues and whether it was possible for multinational firms to leave the China market.
NASA recently recognized Robo-Glove, a soft robotic exoskeleton for the hand, as its commercial invention of the year. Its original application was meant to assist astronauts by making it easier to perform simple tasks that become more cumbersome in space. Its potential, however, is beginning to be realized in manufacturing and health care. General Motors co-developed the system, now being commercially produced as IronHand by Sweden’s Bioservo. In this episode, Stephen Krajcarski, GM’s senior manager of global ergonomics, talks about how the company is testing the glove and other exoskeletons on the factory floor.
Chad Huyser is the regional director and North America president of Lely International. Lely was founded in the Netherlands and, for over the last 70 years, has introduced new mechanized methods to help eliminate redundant processes or labor requirements on the farm, particularly in dairy farming. Lely’s latest Astronaut-5 is a milking unit that uses automation and artificial intelligence for cows to feed and milk themselves. Huyser shares his thoughts on automation in farming today, how COVID-19 impacted the supply chain, and how the future may look like as farmers transition to new automation techniques.
The Chief Executive Officer at Girl Scouts of the USA, Sylvia Acevedo, is a woman engineer, rocket scientist, author, entrepreneur, and more. Since becoming the CEO, she has led the organization’s largest rollout of 125 new Girl Scout badges that include 42 new STEM badges such as cybersecurity, robotics, design thinking, coding, data analytics, and space science. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Acevedo shares her passion for all things engineering and talks about the long-term benefits of a focus on STEM, especially for girls. Girl Scouts of the USA now offers 109 STEM badges and award programs compared to 22 in 2014.
Metal pipes have dominated the pressure piping market for decades. Today, however, innovations in material science have resulted in companies considering plastic pipes that can support high pressures and temperatures. Many companies have started to shift from metal to plastic for several high-pressure applications across a range of industries. In this podcast, Charles Henley, chief engineer, piping and material applications, Kiewit, talks about ASME’s new standard that could help simplify nonmetallic pressure piping projects. Henley is also vice chair of ASME’s nonmetallic piping standards committee.
Lisa Seacat DeLuca is a Distinguished Engineer and the director of IBM Watson’s Internet of Things division and one of their most prolific inventors, with more than 500 patents to her name. In this episode, she discusses the future of IBM’s IoT goals, how STEM is vital to the future of engineering, and how her works in children’s literature were inspired by her want to provide STEM awareness to her children.
For decades, utilities have been concerned with reliability, which is a measure of how well the grid can avoid short-term blackouts. But resilience goes deeper and covers multiple, intersecting factors. It’s not just preparing to recover from devastating storms, but also taking steps to avoid a pandemic from incapacitating utility control rooms. To learn more about what companies are doing to build a grid that can bounce back quickly from multiple, unexpected challenges, ASME’s Carlos González talks with two engineers with a deep understanding of resilience issues. Mike Bryson is senior vice president for operations at PJM, the regional transmission organization for the mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. And Nirmal Paudel is a consulting R&D engineer at ABB, the global manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment.
Mechanical Engineer Matt Carney, who recently completed his PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, works at the MIT Media Lab Biomechatronics Group, where he designs and builds personalized bionic limbs. In this podcast, Carney discusses his interest in humanoid robots as well as the importance of design aesthetics and user experience in developing prosthetics.
Engineers are being forced to work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To help these engineers as they transition to the home environment, Siemens Digital Industries Software is looking to provide manufacturing solutions for those engineers working at home. By using the power of the Internet of Things, data analytics, and the digital twin, Siemens is helping engineers connect via a digital manufacturing network, from the factory floor to additive manufacturing products. We spoke with Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO of Siemens digital industries software and Robert Meschel, Director at Siemens Additive Manufacturing Network about how they are tackling the ongoing challenges.
Durable, fast-charging batteries are essential to the development of electric vehicles and evolution of the smart grid. StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf talks about the breakthrough in battery technology, eliminating carbon and using nano and other materials to make a battery that can charge an electronic device in 60 seconds. The next step is overcoming obstacles to a full-sized battery.
With no vaccine expected for Covid-19 anytime soon, preventing its spread could be as important as treating it. In this special edition of ASME TechCast, Managing Editor Chitra Sethi speaks with Professor Qingyan Chen, the James G. Dwyer Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, who has researched the spread of viruses through ventilation systems in passenger vehicles. He believes cruise ship air conditioning systems are not designed to filter out particles as small as the coronavirus, allowing the disease to rapidly circulate to other cabins. Prof. Chen’s lab is currently developing a ventilation system that would prevent the airborne transmission of pathogens like Coronavirus by allowing each person to breathe in only his or her own air.
Antleron nv is a Belgian life sciences firm building a living therapy factory designed to bring biomedical solutions to eventual commercialization. Most 4D materials and applications are still in research and development labs. CEO Jan Schrooten talks with ASME.org about building a process to produce 4D materials for medical applications that differs from existing strategies and layouts.
This year’s Hannover Messe, arguably the world’s most important industrial trade show, has been postponed due the ongoing spread of the coronavirus. Now scheduled to take place on July 13 through 17, Hannover Messe will welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors and will focus on industrial transformation. Join Editor-in-Chief John Falcioni in this edition of ASME TechCast as he previews the Fair and speaks with representatives from Harting and igus about what they will be showcasing in Germany.
The Caribbean island of Bonaire is an idyllic vacation spot, but its power generation and grid system was unreliable. When ContourGlobal bought the energy assets it knew the system had to be reworked. The result was a 24-MW system using wind and solar, along with backup diesel generators, coupled with a lithium-ion battery storage system. A digitalized management system ties it all together, providing greater efficiencies in producing and storing renewable energy, and eliminating brownouts that plagued the old system. In this edition of ASME TechCast, Risto Paladanius of Greensmith, a Wartsilla company that provided the management system, and Giorgio Narminio of ContourGlobal, described the project at PowerGen International.
From clean energy and climate action to good health and quality education, Siemens has been at the forefront of supporting and advancing United Nation’s sustainable development goals for 2030. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens USA, talks about the role digital technology plays in building a sustainable world and improving lives. She also offers advice to young engineers on how they can get involved in addressing some of the biggest challenges facing humankind.
Siemens and Engineering for Change recently announced a new call-to-action for socially minded engineers and hardware innovators to address two of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals—zero hunger and clean water. The program is called Innovate for Impact: Siemens Design Challenge and you can learn more about it on: http://bit.ly/InnovateForImpact.
When it comes to digital transformation, the aerospace industry is pursuing model-based engineering, digital twins, simulations, and agile methods for design and manufacturing. Raytheon Missile Systems, the industry’s giant, is also adopting these technologies. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Laura McGill, vice president of engineering at the company, talks about the many job opportunities available for young engineers in the aerospace industry, her own career path, as well as offers management advice for large multi-generational engineering teams that have to work together in the new digital era.
Smart cars work through sensors and technology that give the driver safety and road information. Eventually those IoT systems will connect to other vehicles, leading to the development of an overall traffic monitoring system—a building block of smart cities. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Rob Tiffany, vice president of IoT strategy for Ericsson, talks about the issues affecting connectivity between vehicles and everywhere else, as well as the development of smart cars.
Climate scientists see a clear relation between global warming and extreme weather events such as the catastrophic Australian bushfires that have devastated New South Wales and surrounding areas for months. What will have to happen before the society takes climate change seriously? What role will engineers play in building solutions to fight climate change? Let’s find out from Professor Steven Chu of Stanford University, who was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997 and has devoted his scientific career to the search for new solutions to our energy and climate challenges. Prof. Chu served as the Secretary of Energy from January 2009 until April 2013, where he was charged with helping implement President Obama’s ambitious agenda to invest in clean energy and address the global climate crisis.
Each episode of ASME TechCast brings you the innovators, the innovations, and the issues that are advancing engineering. This episode, perhaps the most quintessential ASME TechCast, presents you the top innovators in bioengineering, robotics, clean energy, manufacturing, and pressure technology for this year.
Editors of the Mechanical Engineering magazine examine ASME’s core technologies annually and select one innovation from each that has successfully moved from the lab to the cusp of commercialization. Here are the Five Emerging Technologies Awards 2019.
Lockheed Martin’s Danielle Richey has a very exciting job: She’s working on sending humans out to the Moon and to Mars. She is also very engaged in inspiring and mentoring young women to pursue careers in STEM fields. John Falcioni, editor-in-chief of ASME’s Mechanical Engineering magazine, caught up with Richey to discuss her own career journey.
John Browne, former CEO of BP and chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, discusses his new book, Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering the Future of Civilisation.
Stephanie Depalma, AddWorks Lead Design Engineer at GE Additive, and Eric Utley, Protolabs Application Specialist Engineer, talk about the collaboration with Zac Posen, the famous fashion designer and founder of the House of Z, and how exactly does one produce fashion clothing using 3D printing.
Trimble’s mixed reality manager Jordan Lawver talks about partnering with Hololens to bring augmented reality to workers with a hardhat that lays drawings over the physical jobsite.
Engineers and pathologists won a challenge to develop an automated method to detect breast cancer cells by training an algorithm used for automotive and defense applications. David Chambers talks about the collaboration and the challenge.
He’s described as the Edison of Medicine, whose inventions have saved or improved lives of more than two billion people. His laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the largest biomedical engineering lab in the world. He was awarded numerous prizes, including the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. He is the most cited engineer in history. In this episode of ASME TechCast, MIT’s Bob Langer explains how he manages to achieve so much and shares insights into his latest discoveries.
Aaron McClung is leading the Southwest Research Institute’s work into proving supercritical carbon dioxide technology with a $119-million, 10-MW pilot plant being built on SwRI’s Texas campus. In this episode, he talks about the pilot plant and the promise of this low-cost energy generation technology.
In this episode of ASME TechCast, Bob Doyle, VP of the Robotics Industries Association, discusses the robotics market and how robots are changing the manufacturing landscape.
Fifty years after humans first set foot on the Moon, Astrobotic is one of the companies selected by NASA to go back to the Moon to carry payloads and instruments and set the stage to potentially colonize the planet. Mechanical Engineering magazine Editor-in-Chief John Falcioni talks with Astrobotic’s CEO John Thornton.
Thousands of engineers worked on the Apollo program. In this episode of ASME Tech Cast, we listen to some of those engineers and technologists as they recount the emotion, excitement, and triumph of building the Apollo 11 lunar module.
William Sanford Nye, also known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, talks with John Falcioni on ASME TechCast about the need for diversity in STEM, feeding the world, and the technology that scares him.
Stanford mechanical engineer Ovijit Chaudhuri talks with Jeff O’Heir on ASME TechCast about breakthrough research that could lead to new treatments for cancer.
Learn how high-school senior Ashley Kimbel built a special prosthetic foot for a wounded U.S. Marine.
Listen to ASME TechCast to hear about the challenges and benefits of creating solar farms and other sources of renewable energy in big cities and rural environments.
This week we speak with Evelyn Wang, who was recently named the head of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. We talk about some of the new educational models and grand research challenges she’s implementing into the curriculum.
Entrepreneurial engineer Robert Giasolli, founder, CTO, and vice president of R&D for Cagent Vascular, speaks with Jeff O’Heir, ASME’s senior content manager, about his work to improve communications between engineers and doctors in emergency rooms.
Featuring Roma Agrawal, engineer and author of “Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures”. Hosted by Jeff O’Heir, ASME.org’s Senior Content Manager, and Chitra Sethi, Managing Editor of Mechanical Engineering Magazine.