Mechanical Engineering Magazine

On an active road construction site, danger is constant. Warning alarms beep, lights blink, heavy equipment rumbles and nearby traffic moves past only feet away from workers. Yet those sights and sounds that are designed to keep workers safe can gradually lose their impact through repeated exposure. Over time, construction workers can become desensitized to familiar hazards, tuning out those flashing lights and blaring alarms as they focus on completing their tasks.

In applications from healthcare to environmental monitoring, ultrasensitive sensing devices are fundamentally changing what is possible by detecting elements at the microscopic level. A team at Pennsylvania State University (PSU) is leading research in this area with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Who doesn’t love discount season at the local shopping mall? The rows upon rows of brand-new, clean-smelling sweaters, and the vast masses of meticulously cut blue jeans. The smell of brand-new clothes at our favorite retail stores fuels our craze for consumerism as we hunt for our next fashion find. You shop till you drop and then go back home with bags full of pretty tops and jackets, amongst other pieces of the seemingly infinite products you see at just one store.

The ASME Career Center offers mechanical engineers career insights, salary benchmarking data, employment outlook information, and professional development resources to support career planning and growth. Some resources are available to the public, while member-only information provides additional insights and benefits.

A breakdancer performs a “wave” by managing muscle rigidity and tension to unlock seemingly frozen poses in the arms or legs to deliver smooth motions. Researchers at ETH Zürich are researching how they can use sound to create similar movements in artificial muscles in work that has promising biomedical applications ahead.

Compared to their electronic counterparts, photonic chips deliver lightning-fast communication speed and greater bandwidth by relying on light. But because light travels through optical wires in most chip-scale systems, much of the light remains trapped inside the chip.

Whether they are moving into leadership, switching industries, or building a new skill set, mechanical engineers can better navigate a career pivot effectively when they take a strategic approach and make sure each move connects to the next. “As engineers, when we sit down to design systems, we don’t just throw components at a wall,” said Janeen Uzzell, CEO of the National Society of Black Engineers, based in Alexandria, Va. “We start with requirements. We define constraints.

What do you know about the machines and processes that built modern manufacturing? Machine shops are home to many an engineer. But before CAD software and massive machining centers took over, the shop floor ran on machines with distinct mechanisms that machinists could identify by sound, smell, or design. Are you up to speed on the machines that set the bar for machining? Find out with this ASME quiz. What do you know about the machines and processes that built modern manufacturing?

Caroline DeWitte, co-founder and COO of Oklo, discusses the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of advanced nuclear power. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Caroline DeWitte explores how advanced reactor technologies are moving from promise to deployment—and what it will take to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale.

In 1986, the ASME Foundation was established with a singular, clear mandate: to empower the next generation of engineers. Today, as I step into my role as the newly elected chair of the ASME Philanthropy Committee, we mark the Foundation’s 40th anniversary. This milestone arrives at a profound inflection point. We find ourselves standing at the intersection of a rapidly accelerating, AI-driven marketplace and a planet facing unprecedented environmental and humanitarian challenges.