MARCH 2010

ASME DISTRICT J ISSUE 3

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SDOB-J NEWSLETTER
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Greetings ASME leaders and friends,

Here is the third issue of the ASME district

J’s newsletter.

First, you will find a general overview of

the International Mechanical Engineering
Congress & Exposition (IMECE) held on
November 13-19, 2009, at the Swan and
Dolphin Resorts, Disney World, Florida
and in which two students were
representing our District in the
competitions along with the SSC student
representative and SDOB chair, and the
SSC senior representative. Moreover, in
this section, you will find an overview of
the meetings held by our district leader
with ASME international leaders.
The second part presents an article about
the personal experience of a student from
our district who participated in the
IMECE.
Third, you’ll find a close-up on the
upcoming Student events taking places.
Finally, I would like to thank Mostafa
Shaaban, for all his help in editing and
writing this issue of our newsletter!
So, we look forward to your full
participations in the coming events, for
their success, and for your own interest as
well. For any of your comments, thoughts
or articles, feel free to contact us at
newsletter.sdob.j@hotmail.com.
Regards,
Joe Lattouf,
SDOB Newsletter Editor
lattoufj2@asme.org

Moreover, a small word about some events

which took place in Kuwait University’s
student section and Texas A&M University
at Qatar.

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INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CONGRESS & EXPOSITION

NOVEMBER 13-19, 2009, SWAN AND DOLPHIN RESORTS
DISNEY WORLD, FLORIDA

As mentioned earlier IMECE 09 was very

successful, five people attended this year’s IMECE:

 Mr Hadi Tahboub – District J Leader.

 Dr. Najib Metni – SSC Senior Representative.
 Charles Haddad – SSC student representative
and SDOB chair.
 Alain Achkar – Winner of the District J
Student Design Challenge.
 Carmen Chraim – Winner of the District J Old
Guard Oral Presentation.

It’s really hard to sum up all the IMECE experience

with one or two pages.
Mr. Tahboub - District J Leader (on
However, in this section you will first find some the left) with Dr Aldrin
information on the background, taken from the ME
magazine about Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to
set foot on the moon, and some more points on the
meetings held by the district leader. Finally this
section is concluded by an article about the
experience of one of the participants from District J.

“ASME 2009 Congress in Orlando, Florida

presented Keynote event that celebrates space
exploration.”

APOLLO TEAM

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On hand to celebrate with ASME were Dr.
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on
the moon, and T.K. Mattingly, an astronaut
originally scheduled to fly on Apollo 13 but
who instead played a pivotal role in safely
returning the mission’s astronauts to Earth.
th
In recognition of the 40 anniversary of
Apollo 11, ASME President Amos Holt and
Immediate Past President Thomas Barlow
presented one of ASME’s most prestigious
prizes, the ASME President’s Award, to the
crew of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz
Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
DR ALDRIN AT IMECE
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MARCH 2010
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In accepting his award, Aldrin stirred the crowd by
his presence and his words. His remarks emphasized
the importance of engineering and teamwork. He
said the Apollo 11 mission succeeded only because
of the commitment to cooperation exhibited by
countless engineers behind the scenes. He credited
engineers and scientists for the success of the overall
space program.
Aldrin also urged everyone in the room to continue
to dream beyond the Moon. But behind every dream,
he said, lies the good work of engineers.
In his introduction, Thomas Barlow said of Aldrin:
“In 1963 he was one in the third group of astronauts
named by NASA. He flew with Jim Lovell onboard
Gemini 12 and, at the time, set a new record for
extravehicular activity spending five-and-a-half
hours outside the spacecraft. In 1969 he served as
lunar module pilot for Apollo 11, the first manned
lunar landing mission. He followed Neil Armstrong
onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, completing a
two-hour and 15-minute walk on the Moon. When all
was said and done at the end of his NASA career, he
logged a total of 289 hours and 53 minutes in space.”
The crowd jumped to its feet at the sight of Aldrin
and greeted him with a standing ovation.
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Mr. Tahboub (on the right) with Mr Chang
In light of creating a more amiable and
cooperative atmosphere between ASME
districts worldwide, Hadi Tahboub, District J
leader, met with Ed Chang, Head of ASME
Hawaii Chapter, in order to discuss mutual
ASME ideas. These ideas mainly revolved
around engaging the ASME Hawaii Chapter
Student Section with District J’s Student
Section in areas of training and exchange
programs. On a final note, it is important to
point out that the Hawaii Section is part of
District D and serves members in the states of
Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa.
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MARCH 2010
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Furthermore, Mr. Tahboub met with Dr. Aldrin
and presented him with an update on ASME
District J's overall progress, with special
mention on the emerging important role played
by District J's SDOB and active circle of
Student Sections in the Middle East & Africa
region.
At the Global Communities retreat event, which
encompassed attendance of District Leaders
from all of ASME's global Districts and
operations, the delegates took a break to walk
outside the event's facility and witness the
launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, as it darted
across the sky en route to the International
Space Station.
newsletter.sdob.j@hotmail.com
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AN EXPERIENCE AT IMECE

In 2008, ASME NDU Student Section, in collaboration with AUB (American University of Beirut)
and LAU (Lebanese American University), organized the first Student Design competition in the
venue of Notre Dame University, Lebanon. Student Design competitions give (District J) ASME
members the opportunity to compete and battle on various intellectual levels, in an attempt to not only
nourish the sense of team work, but also promote design creativity through implementation of learned
engineering techniques.

The 2009 Student Design competition requirement was to build a vehicle capable of retrieving rocks
from Mars surface and then transporting them to a designated location. One of the main features
required from this vehicle, was an ability to surmount obstacles simulated by small wooden studs.
Depending on the difficulty of retrieving the rocks and then the accuracy in placing them in the
receiving area, points were awarded. The final designed vehicle’s features included speed, light weight
and low power consumption. Finally, the vehicle must be built to fit in a box of certain predefined
dimensions.

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“My experience in the SDC finals
was amazing; I competed with the
best universities in the world. I was
able to network with international
students, where I learned a lot
about their different cultures and
societies. I was able to check their
designs and learn more about how
they think and approach problem
solving.”- Alain Al Achkar
To get a closer look at the competition, ASME
(District J) SDOB spoke to Alain Al Achkar, a
mechanical engineering student at Notre Dame
University, who ranked first place, in the 2009
Student Design competition held in Lebanon.
Alain’s prize was a $1500 monetary award and
flight to USA to represent District J by
participating in the international Student design
competition finals, held in Orlando, alongside 17
other finalists from across the world. Alain
realized the importance of improving his design in
order to live up to competing at an international
scale. To do so, he used the SolidWorks 3D CAD
software to design his robot and he then built
several different versions, never hesitating to start
from scratch. To overcome the obstacles, specially
shaped foam wheels were used to provide traction
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MARCH 2010
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and stability.
When push came to shove, Alain decided on two
final prototypes which he shipped to the Swan and
Dolphin Hotel (Orlando, Florida), where the
competition was being held. Alain, like his robot,
had to overcome a few obstacles himself, one of
which he faced directly upon his arrival, the 110V-
220V voltage difference.
This was a great setback, where after failing to
find appropriate transformers; Alain was forced on
using a regular power supply to charge his robot’s
batteries. On November 15th, the day of the
competition, Alain competed with his robot that
ran relatively slower than expected, due to the
batteries not having fully charged yet.
Despite this major setback, Alain completed the
task on time and was able to rank 5th out of the 17
competing teams.
Mostafa Shaaban
American University of Beirut
Newsletter Team
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 MARCH 2010
ASME DISTRICT J ISSUE 3

NEWSLETTER

STUDENT PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 2010

 Venue: Notre Dame University

(NDU) – Lebanon.

 Date: May 7, 8 and 9, 2010.

 Eligibility: Non African Student

Sections only

 Website:

www.spdc-lebanon2010.com

2010 Student Design Competition – EARTH SAVER

The goal of the 2010 ASME Student Design Competition is to design, build,
and test an autonomous system capable of accurately sorting common
recyclable materials, namely ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics and
glass into distinct waste containers. The competition will take place during the
Student Professional Development Conferences (SPDCs) in the spring.

1st place District award: $500 and a travel allowance to go to the finals.

1st place Finals competition: $3000 plus $1000 awarded to the Student
Section of the Winner's Institution.

Register* Now! Don’t Miss The Chance!

*Registration to attend can be done through the SPDC website.

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 VARIOUS EVENTS MARCH 2010
ISSUE 3

STUDENT LEADERSHIP SEMINAR (SLS) 2010

District J ASME Student Sections namely

TAMUQ (Texas A&M University at Qatar)
along with AUS (American University of
Sharjah), AUC (American University of Cairo),
Birzeit University & AUB (American University
of Beirut), hosted the first Web based Student
Leadership Seminar on February 20th, 2010.

Full Details in the next issue!

TAMUQ FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

Delete text and place photo here.

On another note, the Student Sections at Texas

A&M University at Qatar hosted their major
football tournament on Friday February 19th,
2010. The contestants were teams of the different
engineering majors in the disciplines of
mechanical, electrical, chemical and petroleum
engineering. Proudly, the mechanical
engineering team, which was sponsored by the
ASME, won first place after defeating the
electrical engineering team 3-2.

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VARIOUS EVENTS MARCH 2010
ISSUE 3

The keynote speaker was Dr. Najib Metni, assistant

professor at NDU and SSC Senior Representative,
regarding his expertise in the field. The objective
behind these sessions is for the students to become
comfortable with the LabVIEW environment and data
flow execution, the ability to use LabVIEW to solve
problems by taking measurements and analyzing data
since LabVIEW users have gained improved quality,
shorter time to market and greater engineering and
manufacturing efficiency.

An overview about the general components of

LabVIEW was given, such as the front panel, block
EDUCATE TO INNOVATE diagram, control palette as well as many instructions
such as drawing for and while loops, creating a case
Over the past three weeks, ASME NDU student
structure, building arrays, charts and graphs, as well as
section has been organizing fast sessions, on
acquiring sound from a sound card which is one form
Wednesdays at the university’s lunch break, i.e. from
of data acquisition i.e. the process of sampling of real
12 to 1 pm, called “educate to innovate”.
world physical conditions and conversion of the
resulting samples into digital numeric values that can
The purpose of these sessions is to gather as much
be manipulated by a computer.
ASME student members as possible in order for
them to bond together under the theme of learning
Mr. Ralph Saab, field Applications Engineer at
while being introduced to a whole new engineering
National Instruments, was present at NDU on
concept that they will be in need for later on during
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 during the “educate to
their engineering journey.
innovate” session to deeply introduce NI to students
and the rate at which NI is growing worldwide in
The topic of these sessions was an introduction about
addition to its products and achievements.
the National Instruments software, namely
LabVIEW.

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 KUWAIT SS ACTIVITIES MARCH 2010
ISSUE 3

The ASME section in Kuwait had an event

packed year which included both academic and
non-academic activities. Safe to say, however,
that they embarked on this fruitful journey with
the opening of their new ASME office which
was fully equipped with all necessary
paraphernalia. As in every year, ASME
organized MATLAB sessions for its members
(the sessions often given by a faculty member).

Also, a trip to the Porsche garage was one of

the highlights of their term. The trip comprised
of studying the body dynamics for several car
brands and then a study of their respective
engines. The ASME section also participated
in the alternative energy fair that was
organized by the Kuwait Society of engineers.
Finally, what better way to escape the college
stress and final exams drama than a good old
fashioned Barbeque!

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 DID YOU KNOW? MARCH 2010
ISSUE 3

ASME CAN HELP YOU FIND A JOB!

Easy steps to follow, to make the best of the ASME Job Finder

Log in through Members Only

Under Career > Job Board > Find a Job
Click My Account > Getting started
After creating an account, just fill in your details and contact information.
How does it benefit YOU?
1. Search through online posted job offers in the different fields of engineering.

2. Receive emails on different job offers in your field of interest.

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