ASME Honors Two Women for Excellence in Engineering Management

NEW YORK, May 14, 2010 – Denise J. Elston of Shell International Exploration and Production Inc., and Delores Etter, Ph.D., the director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education at Southern Methodist University, have been cited for distinguished work in the field of engineering management.

ASME honored the engineering contributions of these women during the proceedings of the 2010 ASME Global Engineering Management Conference (GEMC) held recently in Dallas.

Elston, who holds the position of general manager for upstream major projects at Shell, received the Frederick W. Taylor Award recognizing outstanding practitioners of engineering management. Elston has worked at Shell for 25 years and held a variety of management positions in engineering, operations and projects. Her current work at the global oil company focuses on surface facilities for arctic, deepwater, and unconventional projects.

Elston serves on the Department of Mechanical Engineering External Advisory Committee at the University of Texas, Austin. She earned her bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Houston.

The Frederick W. Taylor Award is named after the 25th president of ASME, who was also known as the “father of scientific management.”

Delores Etter received the Henry Robinson Towne Lecture Award recognizing an outstanding leader in the field of engineering management, economics, or business. At GEMC, Etter lectured on the changing roles and expectations of engineers in the global marketplace, emphasizing the need for technical professionals to be good communicators and comfortable functioning in team environments.

A member of the electrical engineering faculty at Southern Methodist University, Etter is involved in research for digital signal processing, biometric signal processing, and related subjects. She has authored several textbooks on software engineering and computer language. Prior to joining the faculty of SMU in 2008, Etter held positions in the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Naval Academy, where she became the first Office of Naval Research Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology. In 2005, Etter was named Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions), and is a recipient of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award.

Henry Robinson Towne in 1886 published “The Engineer as Economist,” which established the theory of scientific management. Towne served as president of ASME in 1889.

Held in April, the 2010 ASME Global Engineering Management Conference included interactive sessions and workshops providing tools and techniques for success in the international marketplace.

About ASME

ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world.

###

ASME Contact:
John Varrasi
varrasij@asme.org
212.591.8158

Media Contact:
Regina Nisita
rnisita@affectstrategies.com
212.398.9680 ext 145