Ehsan Azimi, 24
Isfahan University of Technology, Iran, BS '05
First International Finalist of the Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition


ASME Student Membership

I have been a student member of ASME Since 2000 at the time that I started studying Mechanical Engineering at Isfahan University of Technology. During my study as a distinguished student of the university, I was involved in several projects, as well as national and international scientific competitions in Iran, Japan and Portugal. Unfortunately, my school did not have an ASME student section and despite all our efforts, we could not finally form one. Therefore the only possible way for me to take part at Old Guard oral competition was participating as an at-large student member from former Region XIII, Iran.

Participating in the Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition

As an engineer it is essential for one to be able to present an issue technically for the audience and this capability is not attained within routine curriculum of the universities. In order to take part in finals the winner is selected among all of students outside the U.S., so I understood that being a finalist could not be accomplished unless I performed a coherent effort. Finally, when the committee announced that I was selected as the first international finalist of the Old Guard Oral competition, I really became exited. Attending at ASME Congress, which is definitely one of the biggest gatherings as to my major of study, has always been one of my desires. Furthermore, finding new friends both experienced members of the Old Guard Committee and other contestants was an opportunity that may not be available to many.

Besides getting ready to for the presentation, getting a visa was my most difficult problem. Since there is not a U.S embassy in my country, I had to go to another country for this procedure twice, once for an interview and a month later for a security check. Furthermore, because of having a little familiarity with U.S, I had some problems regarding accommodations.

In preparing my presentation I learned how to be more interactive and how to attract the attention of the audience by not being monotonous. Also I did my best to prepare an interesting presentation that transfers both technical soundness and the inherent multimedia feature of the subject.

Advice to other Students

From my point of view, promoting in life is not an easy task. We have to work as hard as possible in order to achieve our goals. On the other hand when there is a will, there is a way. Competition is a field in which, not only we can evaluate the skills we have gained throughout our life but also we can develop them. And the Old Guard Competition has a focus on a fundamental engineering capability, oral presentation of a technical issue, which in addition to the university knowledge, would shape a perfect future for an engineer. So if we try to excel throughout practice, we would definitely make it.

Because of the diversity of the international region participants in the world, I think some modifications should be made to the regulations to involve more students. In my opinion, for the final competition since all other 12 participants are from The U.S. and this contest is somehow evaluating oral communication ability, for those International students whose native language is not English, some additional points should be considered to provide balance. This may be at judge’s discretion.