ASME TechCast

NREL’s Greg Stark talks about hydropower’s impact on the evolving electric grid.

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.