In the Aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake

ASME is profoundly concerned over the devastating 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 and we send deep condolences to members, partners and customers of ASME who may have been affected by the tragedy. The people of Haiti are in our thoughts as so many people struggle to survive and as we continue to learn of the full magnitude of the enormous damage on the island nation. The people of Haiti need immediate help and continued support. We encourage you to participate in this massive international relief effort. Many countries have already pledged aid to Haiti. Food, water and medical supplies are arriving on the scene and rescue teams from around the world are lending assistance. But greater relief efforts are needed. Individuals wishing to contribute personally can donate to the Red Cross International Response Fund to support its humanitarian efforts or to other relief organizations of their choice. Additionally, ASME is poised to contribute assistance through a technology interchange. We will keep you informed of joint engineering initiatives as they develop. ASME is collaborating with other engineering organizations on rebuilding initiatives that promise a brighter future to Haiti and other affected areas.

Thank you for your concern and generosity during this time of great need.

Thomas G. Loughlin
Executive Director

More information about contributing is available on the ASME.org website.

Current Event

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Please join us for the February event that will be about environmentally responsible air and ground transportation on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. This is a joint society dinner meeting at the Engineers Club of ASME and AIAA. Dr. Ramesh K. Agarwal will be the speaker.

Among all modes of transportation, travel by airplanes and automobiles continues to experience the fastest growth. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 air vehicles and 750 million ground vehicles in service worldwide. They are responsible for 50% of oil consumption and 60% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. These numbers are forecasted to double by 2050. This talk will provide an overview of specific energy and environmental issues related to both air and ground transportation. For air transportation, topics dealing with noise and emissions mitigation by technological solutions including new aircraft and engine designs/technologies, alternative fuels, and materials as well as examination of aircraft operations logistics including Air-Traffic Management (ATM), Air-to-Air Refueling (AAR), Close Formation Flying (CFF), and tailored arrivals to minimize fuel burn will be discussed. The ground infrastructure for sustainable aviation, including the concept of 'Sustainable Green Airport Design' will also be covered. For ground vehicles, the technologies related to reduction in energy requirements such as reducing the vehicle mass by using the high strength low weight materials and reducing the viscous drag by active flow control and smoothing the operational profile, and reducing the contact friction by special tire materials will be discussed along with the portable energy sources for reducing the GHG emissions such as low carbon fuels (biofuels), Lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and stability, and fuel cells.

Professor Ramesh K. Agarwal is the William Palm Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. From 1994 to 2001, he was the Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Professor and Executive Director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University in Kansas. From 1978 to 1994, he worked at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis. Over a period of 30 years, Professor Agarwal has worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization, Rarefied Gas Dynamics and Hypersonic Flows, and Flow Control. More recently, he has devoted some of his efforts to renewable energy systems and issues related to sustainable transportation.

Location:

Three Monkeys Restaurant
3153 Morganford Road
St Louis MO 63116

Directions from Highway 44 North: Exit Kingshighway South. Make a right, go to Arsenal Street and make a left. Follow Arsenal east to Morganford Road and make a right, go 4 blocks to Three Monkeys at the corner of Morganford and Juniata.

Voting for the nominating committee will be closed as of Sunday February 7th 2010. Results will be announced at our February 24th event by Dr. Ala Moradian, or contact phone 636-226-3545 or email ala.moradian@bausch.com for results. Thank you for your vote.

Saint Louis University is hosting the ASME District C Student Professional Development Conference (SPDC) Thursday-Saturday, April 8-10, 2010. Approximately 180 District C students are expected to attend the event, which includes many exciting competitions and presentations. Highlights include the Student Design Competition (an autonomous "Earth Saver" material sorter), the Old Guard Oral presentations, Old Guard Technical Poster Competition, Technical Web Page Competition, and a new YouTube® video competition. Volunteers from the St. Louis ASME membership are sought to serve as competition judges, and to enhance the students' professional development experience by sharing career advice, inspiration, and thoughts about trends in engineering. If you are interested in serving as a judge, or if you would like to make one of the two keynote dinner presentations to share your engineering experience, please contact Dr. Arif Malik at 314-977-8185 or amalik8@slu.edu. Further details for the Student Professional Development Conference will be posted in mid February at http://districts.asme.org/spdc/

ASME District C Student Professional Development Conference (SPDC) Agenda:

Thursday, April 8th, 2010: Il Monastero St. Louise de Marillac Room, Saint Louis University

Friday, April 9th, 2010: Il Monastero St. Louise de Marillac Room, Saint Louis University

Saturday, April 10th, 2010: Xavier Church Grand Ballroom

Hosted by St. Louis University Student Section
St. Louis, MO, April 8-10, 2010
Contact: Dr. Arif S. Malik
e-mail: amalik8@slu.edu
phone: 314-977-8185

http://districts.asme.org/spdc/MO/index.htm

St Louis will also host the District C Face-to-Face meeting, which will be piggybacked onto the Student Professional Development Conference hosted by SLU. The Face-to-Face (F2F) meeting will start at noon on Sat April 10th with an overnight for the out-of-towners on Sat night and 1/2 day agenda for Sunday. There is already some interest by people coming from other sections to St Louis for this meeting. We are going to start working on an agenda - if any of you have ideas on things we could do, please contrct John Kiplinger. This as a great opportunity for exposure for the St Louis Section, networking and assistance to put on an event that is more memorable than has been done in recent years. While the general membership may not be interested in every activity, there will be plenty of options between the SPDC and the F2F to draw people who've been dormant for awhile or never active. This will take outreach and lots of advertising to get the word out.

Possible agenda items for the F2F meeting:

*Professional Development Hours.
*Networking Event.
*Section Best Practices.
*District Operating Board -- elections and direction setting for the District's goals/masterplan.
*Dinner and Social Time.
Please call our chairperson, John Keplinger at 314-622-8226 or e-mail john.keplinger@gmail.com with your ideas.

Thank you for your electronic-newsletter support as the St. Louis Section continues to migrate toward electronic distribution of our monthly newsletter via internet e-mail. We will continue to mail paper hard copies of our newsletter only to those members who specifically request it to be sent. If you want to receive a paper version of the newsletter send your request to our Secretary.

St. Louis area professional persons are sought for visits with mechanical engineering students. We would like to have informal group discussions to give the students more insight on what to expect after graduation. We would like to set up visits between senior members and student sections at SLU, SIUE, SIUC, or Missouri S&T between February and April 2010. If you would like to help and be one of the section members to make one or more of the visits, please call our chairperson, John Keplinger.

This page last updated February 8, 2010.