Local Section News
Montana Section Revitalization

In April of 2008, 6 section members participated in a telephone conference call with ASME District leadership. The point of the conference call was to discuss trying to get the Montana Section revitalized and active again. We discussed many of the obstacles that have contributed to past inactivity; among those is the vast territory that is involved. Travel across the state in winter is not a journey most look forward to and summers are short and filled with personal activities. The discussions ended with a request for someone to step forward and see if we can figure out a way to make this section active again.

Ladies and gentlemen, I chose to accept that challenge. My name is David Gierke. I hold a BSME degree from Montana State, awarded in 1978 and am a PE in Montana. I began my career at a paper mill in Missoula, working on a multi-million dollar mill expansion project. I have always been in the pulp and paper industry and have worked in Michigan (U.P.), Texas (Pasadena) and Alberta besides Montana. My focus has been steam generation and utilization in a process environment. I have been a member of ASME including the MSU student section since 1976. I can be reached via email at dgierke@smurfit.com.

Local Section News

One of the goals of ASME is to provide the resources necessary to insure that each of us has the opportunity to grow professionally through out our careers. Those resources available include professional development seminars and interaction with fellow members. Each of us has experiences that share common ground between our different industries. One example is pulp and paper and sugar processing, both use multiple effect fluid evaporation of scaling, sticky, pluggage prone organic substances. How about bulk materials handling, fuels processing and process control.

This section has several different industries represented including power generation, forest products, oil & gas, coal, metals and more. Each industry has a unique perception of a problem and each of us can benefit from a different point of view.

Our biggest challenge is going to be how to interact as a group with the challenges of vast distances between small clusters of members. I have had some thoughts and would like your ideas so please comment. Some ideas I have include quarterly meetings rotated between different regions of the state, monthly meetings in "subsection" areas, teleconference, periodic section conference combine with one or more of above. There are advantages and disadvantages to each so please propose something you can support. I personally prefer to associate with people in person; I also understand the challenges of spending 6 or more hours driving one way for a 1 to 2 hour meeting.

One of Our section's resources is our engineering schools in Bozeman and Butte. MSU has an active student section that requires our support.

Section Officers

Chairman: David Gierke dgierke@smurfit.com
Vice Chairman :Gary Christianson, PE
Secretary: Gary Bond
Treasurer: Marty Albini
Web Master:
Student Section Officers:
Faculty Adviser:

The ASME Foundation

The ASME Foundation Grants Program funds programs that support students and early career engineers and activities that help shape their careers. Planned gifts to the Foundation are the groundwork on which funding for scholarships and grants is based, helping in many ways to inform the future of engineering.

A capital campaign, "World Class by Design," was launched in 1996 to endow the Grants Program. The focus of the Foundation Grants Program is three-pronged: technical literacy, specifically early (K-12) math and science literacy and tuition and scholarships at the college level; career planning and skills development to nurture early career engineers; and technologically sound public policy stewardship.

For calendar year 2008, the Foundation Grants Program awarded support to six programs. Five of those specifically benefit students and early career engineers. Those projects are: Increasing ASME Impact at the Graduate Level, World-Class Engineering Student/Engineer Design, Students Engineering a Sustainable Planet, Heroes of Engineering Comic Education Series and ASME Faculty Development Workshops - Understanding Student Diversity; Increasing Learning.

The ASME Grants Program is trying to streamline the application and reporting processes moving forward. Currently, there is $264,300 available in funding for approved ASME programming in calendar year 2009. Proposals selected for funding will be announced following the meeting of the Foundation Board of Directors at Congress in November in Boston, MA.

Do you feel strongly about the direction of ASME? Are you passionate about new ideas and initiatives? Are you ready to step up and lead? Become an ASME Leader TODAY!

Consider running in June 2009 for the following offices:

President - one year term

Board of Governor - 3 year term

Vice President (Centers Sector) - 3 year term
Vice President of Professional Development, Practice & Ethics
Vice President of Public Awareness

Codes and Standards Sector
Vice President of Standardization and Testing

Knowledge and Community Sector
Vice President of Affinity Communities
Vice President of Financial Operations

Visit the Nominating Committee Website at http://www.asme.org/Governance/Nominating/Nominating_Committee.cfm or email RuthAnn Bigley at bigleyr@asme.org for details.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! ENGINEER YOUR LIFE

Help Inspire the Next Generation of Young Women to Become Engineering Leaders!

ASME (as part of its Engineers Week collaboration) actively supports Engineer Your Life (EYL), the national campaign to encourage college-bound girls to consider engineering enrollment.

A key element of EYL outreach is collaboration with the college counseling community through the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). We are asking for volunteers - engineering and engineering students - for high school fairs throughout the U.S. this fall.

Cities, dates and locations of fall fairs can be found at http://www.eweek.org/site/pdfs/college_fair.pdf. For more information or to sign up, contact Marina Stenos at 212 591 8614 or stenosm@asme.org. For more information about Engineer Your Life, visit www.EngineerYourLife.org.

Participate in ASME's Salary Survey get a FREE salary report based on your experience level and geographic area. Visit https://asme.enetrix.com and
see how you compare!

ASME Member Exclusive! Purchase comprehensive, custom reports at a discount price.

Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible engineers and engineering students.
ASME and EWB-USA have been collaborating for several years on a variety of projects. You can get involved too! EWB-USA offers several opportunities to become involved in building a better world one community at a time, whether you are an engineering student (undergraduate or graduate; a student in some other field of study; a professional engineer or university faculty member; or, not an engineer at all!

There are several EWB_USA workshops taking place this fall around the country. More details on these workshops are available at http://www.ewb-usa.org/Fallworkshops.php. To find out how your Student Section can get involved in EWB-USA, contact Marina Stenos at stenosm@asme.org or 212 591 8614.

Sponsored by ASME's Center for Leadership and Diversity, the Diversity Action Grants program provides awards ranging from $500 to $1500 to ASME Student Sections to sponsor events which:

• Promote the inclusion of women and under-represented minorities in ASME Student Sections and in mechanical engineering;
• Inspire K-12 students to excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education;
• Engage international participation in ASME Student Sections;
• Assist minority- and/or women-owned businesses solve engineering design problems

Projects that emphasize collaborative partnerships with other engineering societies on campus, as well as international in scope are strongly encouraged to apply. To be considered for the 2008-09 academic year, all applications should be submitted by November 10. For more information on the DAG program and an online application, contact Marina Stenos at stenosm@asme.org, or visit http://www.asme.org/Communities/Diversity/Diversity_Action_Grant.cfm.

Mentors are a great way to gain knowledge and learn from the experiences of experts in your field. ASME offers an e-mentoring service right at your fingers!

To learn more and sign up for mentors, or to register to become a mentor, log onto http://www.asme.org/jobs/mentoring/Ementoring_Early_Career.cfm or contact Noel Netel at neteln@asme.org

Have you thought about volunteering at ASME, but don't know where to start? Try the Volunteer Opportunities Bulletin Board (VOBB). Whether you are an experienced ASME volunteer or new member looking to make a difference, the VOBB is the place for you to start. As a tool designed to help volunteer leaders promote local Section and Society-wide positions, it opens the door to new opportunities. The opportunities for involvement include pre-college and educational activities, standards development, government relations, honors and awards selection, the development of new programs and more.

To learn more about the VOBB and the volunteer positions available, go to http://volunteer.asme.org/vobb.

The ASME Foundation promised something big at Congress this month. Did we deliver? Were you front and center at the Keynote Address? If not, stay tuned for a recap in the December Section Newsletter!

The ASME E-Library is a members-only benefit that allows you to access online collections of engineering reference books to help you answer questions and find practical solutions to daily on-the-job problems.

As an added bonus, the ASME E-Library is powered by Knovel, whose interactive and user-friendly technology gives you the ability to manipulate and search for content across the entire collection quickly and easily. To learn more, go to http://www.asme.org/Membership/Benefits/Professional/eLibrary.cfm.

Programs and Activities Training Committee

Seasoned members: Looking for a way to pass on your expertise to new members? New members: Looking for a way to increase your participation in ASME at your own pace?

The Knowledge and Community (K&C) Sector recently formed a Training Committee to work on the following:

1. Review and update existing skills and knowledge material. Volunteers use this material, called the body of knowledge (BOK), at each K&C leadership level.
2. Develop and implement an annual training plan for leaders in the K&C Sector. The training plan will include face-to-face conferences, webinars, online self-study material, and information that can be downloaded for local use.
3. Work closely with other ASME members to provide world-class leadership training and orientation for volunteer leaders, which will contribute to the quality of leadership at
   all levels.
4. Develop the knowledge and skills needed to lead ASME units in forming collaborative efforts, sharing best practices, providing forums for outreach, focusing programs on critical issues (students, early career engineers, industry, new technologies, etc.), encouraging more active volunteer participation, and developing new business opportunities.

Choose topics that most interest you. Contribute your special talents (speaking, teaching, editing, etc.) to enable learning at training events in your local, district or society events. We'd love to have you.

Last updated December 16, 2008