NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2006 – Consistent with its organizational objective to provide useful learning tools to engineers in the early stages of their careers, ASME will hold a speakers’ forum, career fair, panel discussions, and educational and training sessions at the 2006 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress, Nov. 5-10, in Chicago.

A keynote presentation on leadership and professional responsibility will open a two-day program of information exchange and skills enhancement, including the Society’s first Early Career Development Track featuring five sessions.  Activities associated with the forum will be held Nov. 5-6 at the Chicago Hilton.

Joseph A. “Bud” Ahearn, senior vice president of Human Capital Initiatives at the global firm CH2M Hill, will give the keynote presentation on Nov. 5.  Ahearn, who has had executive responsibility for leadership development and other key corporate programs over his 14-year career with the Denver-based engineering company, will discuss the professional competencies that build the framework for career success – and that are driving the engineering field today.

A career fair enabling early career engineers to interface with corporate recruiters, also will be held on Nov. 5.  During the career fair beginning at 1 p.m., representatives will be available to discuss job opportunities and ways to develop a career in engineering.

The Early Career Development Track will take place on Nov. 6 and include five sessions targeted to the unique needs of early career engineers.  The sessions are: Management Skills for Engineers; Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness – A Global Challenge; Tools for Advocacy and the Early Career Engineer; Incident at Morales – An Engineering Ethics Story; and The Future of Energy in the 21st Century.

In addition to the outreach program for early career engineers, the ASME Congress will feature more than 2,300 presentations on a range of subjects in the field of engineering, including aerospace, manufacturing, nanotechnology, and emerging technologies.

Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences.  ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community.

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