From the President July 2015

A Passion for Engineering

I am honored to write this letter as the 134th president of ASME. Each president brings a certain focus, passion and energy to our organization and I look forward to working with the Board of Governors, senior volunteers and the staff leadership to continue that tradition.

I believe there are two things that make us all human, first that we can love, and secondly, we can create. Engineering is connected to one of those two things — the ability to create. I love engineering with a passion, and I want to work together with you through our association with ASME to inspire the millions of students and engineers worldwide to feel as passionate as I do about life and about our profession. 

As a 6-year old I fell in love with engineering after seeing Neil Armstrong become the first human to walk on the moon. When I was a 12-year old visiting a shipyard in Peru, I learned how a 30,000-ton ship can float, and after visiting hydroelectric plants in the Andes with my father, I began to learn how they operated. These and other experiences not only helped shaped my passion but helped me understand the importance of mentors and experiences in shaping a passion for engineering.

Over the past three years, we have begun an important journey to prepare the Society to meet the needs we will face in the 21st century. It began with Pathway 2025, which galvanized our focus on having a global impact, developing the engineering workforce, and addressing the energy issues of our planet.

As I addressed the delegates at the 2015 Annual Meeting, last month, in Jacksonville, Fla., I shared some of my ambitions as president. During my tenure I would like to see us focus on engineering our own transformation — to give our organization a crisp articulation of what is possible and the path that will bring it to life. We know that it will be a significant yet exciting journey to become the kind of driving force for innovation and networking that we all know that ASME is and can be around the world. Everything we have accomplished as a Society has prepared us for this time in our history. I believe we are ready to explore the kind of transformation that successful organizations undertake to build a foundation for our growth for future decades and beyond.

That being said, the presidency of ASME must never be about the person who is in that position — it is, however, about us serving our organization and inspiring all of us to fulfill its mission. During the next year, I would like very much to meet and talk with as many of you as possible about how we will work together to achieve our mission to serve our global communities and to apply engineering knowledge to improve the quality of life and to communicate the excitement of engineering. Together, we can set our sights on a brighter future for ASME.

 For well over a hundred years, ASME has been the place for mechanical engineers to grow and develop — developing codes and standards, doing research, networking, collaborating and bringing their ideas both to our community and to life — making a difference in our world. Our transformation must prepare our organization to inspire more students and early career engineers to join our community. They need inspiring reasons to join us. 

This year, we will focus on developing our capability to build and execute more global strategies so that we can have a greater impact on the engineering community. I invite you to join me and our Society in the passion of engineering so we can reach our goals. Let's be passionate about our work and find fulfillment in our profession so that we can make our world a better place.

Julio C. Guerrero ASME President