Pi Tau Sigma National Convention Report University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Transcription

1 Pi Tau Sigma National Convention Report 2015 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2 Convention Summary After a snowy day of travel, the Centennial Pi Tau Sigma National Convention began. Once the University of Illinois and the Student Advocacy Committee gave a brief introduction, it was time for the Best Practices Think Tank. The room was set up with long tables that faced the podium. This allowed tables to turn around and speak with their colleagues behind them. Chapters from around the world were able to share their ideas on multiple topics including membership, retention, outreach, sponsorship, and alumni relations. 1

3 During lunch, Dr. William King, Chief Technology Officer of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, spoke about the history of manufacturing and the impact of digital manufacturing on the future. Next, attendees were given the choice of touring the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (Blue Waters), Research Park, or Caterpillar Simulation Center. The final event of the afternoon was the Department Head Panel. Dr. Placid Ferreira (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Dr. Farzad Mashayek (University of Illinois at Chicago), Dr. Jaal Ghandhi (University of Wisconsin), and Dr. Keith Bowman (Illinois Institute of Technology) gave insight from their years of experience to Pi Tau Sigma members. 2

4 Introduction and Roll Call was given by Pi Tau Sigma President Dr. Mun Choi. During dinner, the most famous members of each chapter were rotated on the projector for all to see. American Society of Mechanical Engineers President J. Robert Sims spoke on the future of mechanical engineering. This included the global view that engineers must take and the interesting future of manufacturing. 3

5 Saturday began with a history lesson of Pi Tau Sigma from Dr. Wilson, Central Vice President. Considering that 2015 marked the centennial anniversary of Pi Tau Sigma, it was important to reflect on our first 100 years of history. His talk highlighted the history that Pi Tau Sigma has built from its start at the University of Illinois in Cynthia Mitchell and Laura Chemler introduced and ran the Combine It! competition. The task was to take two or more everyday objects and combine them into a new object. Each group acted out a short commercial for their product. Then, everyone voted on their favorite commercials, with prizes handed out to the winners. 4

6 After lunch, Dan Banach from Autodesk gave a look into the future of computer-aided design and engineering. An interesting talk including many incredible pictures and videos both educated and entertained the audience. Both alpha chapters, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had the honor of initiating new members at the centennial convention. Department heads Dr. Jaal Ghandhi (Wisconsin) and Dr. Placid Ferreira (Illinois) conducted the ceremony. 5

7 The next event, the career panel, consisted of four members, two from industry and two from academia. The industry representatives were Mark Niemeyer of Caterpillar and Yaning Zhang of Schlumberger. The academics were Dr. Bruce Flachsbart of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Dr. Amos Winter of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Each panelist gave a unique perspective and participated in an intense debate. 6

8 Due to weather conditions, the group picture was taken indoors, but luckily, we were able to quickly take the picture. This was followed by tours of the University of Illinois Mechanical Science and Engineering Department. We were very fortunate to have many professors open their labs up for tours on a weekend. The Engineering Student Projects Laboratory, housing the university s Formula SAE teams and more, was also showcased. In addition, we had representatives from Caterpillar and Schlumberger present for our career fair. 7

9 At the Saturday dinner, the national awards were given, and new chapters were brought into Pi Tau Sigma. The votes for the competition were tallied throughout the day, so the winners of the competition were announced at dinner as well. Saturday closed with a speech from Mike Molnar, Director of NIST Advanced Manufacturing. Mr. Molnar did a great job of bringing in all of the information we had heard at our previous talks and showed how it all fit into the future of manufacturing. He also gave us more reasons to be excited about the future of mechanical engineering. 8

10 If you have any questions about the 2015 Pi Tau Sigma National Convention, please contact Gavin Hamilton at Please enjoy the miscellaneous photos below. We would also like to thank all of our generous sponsors for making this event possible: Platinum Gold Silver Bronze 9

11 Best Practices Think Tank Friday Dinner 10

12 Friday Dinner Saturday Competition Brainstorm 11

13 Saturday Competition Commercial Practice Saturday Competition Commercial 12

14 Career Panel Academia Career Panel Industry 13