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ASM
CHAPTER BEST PRACTICES NEW!!! Best Practices and Successes Newsletter
ASM Chapters want to know about you! ASM International’s Chapter Council is proud to be able to showcase our chapter’s Best Practices and Successes for all to receive through our new Best Practices and Successes newsletter . During Leadership Days 2005, held in Cleveland, OH, many of our professional chapters were given the opportunity to provide a brief introduction about what programs and initiatives have proven successful for their chapter . Due to the overwhelming response from participants, Chapter Council would like to share this information with all of our members so these stories may provide opportunities for: networking, learning about what works and what doesn’t, program development, idea sharing, student programs, technical meetings/attendance, educational initiatives, collaborations/joint meetings, and to raise overall awareness of what other chapters are doing . The schedule for each release is as follows: May 30, 2006 (submissions due by May 15) If you have any additional questions, require further assistance, or to submit your chapters Best Practices and Successes please contact Candace Cunningham, Chapter Relations Administrator at Chapters@asminternational.org .  The Italy Chapter is a category II chapter with about 150 members, most of which come from medium-sized companies and universities. Each year, the Italy Chapter organizes two meetings, one of which, suitable for all students, has always been a great success with some of young attendees becoming new members. Traditionally, the chapter has had very strong ties with universities such as Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, Università di Trento, and Università di Ancona, which offer material science courses about metals or ceramics which are fields that most of our officers are involved in. We pay attention to the past to look at the future. The Italy Chapter continues to develop student programs with new ideas to support to education initiatives. With the cooperation of other association such as AIM (Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia), we increase the possibility for students to use ASM Italy Chapter library. Although financially the chapter is sound, due to a careful administration, it is not always possible to organize events without sponsors to help support our initiatives. The chapter has a continuous focus on the needs of its members. For instance, last year we organized a two-day seminary about the innovation of materials and technologies in the modern paper plants in Lucca, which is one of the most important sites in Italy for the production of paper. This exciting event was made possible through enthusiastic participation of both speakers and of attendees coming from major companies in the field. The recruitment of many new members was a direct result of this successful event. Italian history, sites and events has played a prominent part in the discovery, development and growth of materials. As a result of this, three ASM historical landmark has been awarded in Italy; Electric Arc Furnace, The Museum of Science and Technology ( Milan, 1992), Polymeric Materials Laboratory (Politecnico di Milano, Milan, 1999) and Populonia-Isola D’Elba ( Tuscany, 2003). Roberto Venturini It’s all about the Students in Detroit The Detroit Chapter of ASM has long recognized that the future of our organization is the students. As such, in recent years, we have increased our efforts in the area of student outreach. We define student outreach as more than interacting with your local colleges or universities. We include secondary, high school and college levels in our activities. For instance, do you know that studies at Stanford University have indicated that at age 12 children are making decisions about what they are good at, which in turn affects their choices in high school and then college? If you ignore the 12 year olds, then you may have lost your opportunity to approach them about careers in Materials Engineering in later years. With this in mind, we sponsor an After School Materials Program at Avondale Middle School. This program is for 8 th graders and introduces them to metals, ceramics and polymers by conducting basic experiments. In addition to providing the funding for the students to conduct these experiments, our members get an opportunity to visit the students and talk about careers in Materials Engineering. By working with this group, we have discovered that the payback for our investment is substantial. When the students were polled, all of them stated they had never heard of Materials Engineering prior to working with our organization. After interacting with us, 75% of them said they would now consider taking classes in high school or college that would lead to a career in materials. All of the students in this after school program also become student members of ASM. The Detroit Chapter is currently in the process of establishing a student chapter at this location. Each year the Engineering Society of Detroit holds a Future Cities competition. This event requires teams of middle school students to construct a model of a city of the future for less than $100, write a narrative of the city and then present their city story through a judging process. The Detroit Chapter funds “Best Use of Materials” awards along with providing judges for the event. The awards are presented to the 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd place teams at our February meeting with the National President of ASM. In addition, the students display their cities and share their stories with our membership at our Feb meeting. The Detroit Metro Science Fair consists of activities at both the junior high school and senior high school levels. The Detroit Chapter gives “Best Use of Materials” awards and provided judges for both divisions. We are very careful in selecting our award winners. The student presentation must include a materials based topic/explanation as well as demonstrate that the student did the exploration by themselves and was not coached by an adult or engineer. We find that the students who receive these awards are delighted and it is truly a big event in their lives. The awards presentation takes place at our April meeting where the winners and their parents are present. The students display their projects and share them with our membership at this meeting as well. The Detroit Chapter displays information about careers in materials at local high school career fairs. We participate in activities in both the Royal Oak and Southfield-Lathrup school systems. During these career fairs, we have talked to several hundred students and provided information about Materials Engineering and ASM to them. The students from the University of Michigan have also participated in this activity with us. In addition to interacting with the students, we feel that it is important to reach out to the teachers. The Detroit Chapter was the first chapter of ASM to hold a Teachers’ Materials Camp. We have continued this tradition by annually sponsoring a blended 5-day residential/commuter camp. Each teacher has the ability to influence 30+ students on a daily basis in both the middle school and high school environments. A teachers’ camp is a very cost effective way of getting the materials word out there. Our relationships with the students at both the University of Michigan and Michigan State are very strong. We have moved our November University Night meeting to the University of MI campus in Ann Arbor. The evening consists of dinner, a student poster session and networking. The student count is in excess of 60 for this event. We have two members who serve as official liaisons for each of the above universities. This gives the student members a point of contact for their requests/concerns. When the University of Michigan MMS group was struggling to find speakers for their weekly Wednesday meetings, our Chapter guaranteed at least one speaker per month. At present, we are working to assist with putting a blueprint in place to hold a career fair for Materials Engineering in Ann Arbor every spring. In addition, one of our members pays for the meal costs of the students to attend our monthly meetings. The Detroit Chapter assists with funding the MSE/AiChE Symposium Day at Michigan State. The materials engineering majors join the chemistry/chemical engineering students for an event that approximately 200 students attend. In addition to providing speakers for this special event, we assist with their resume workshops and providing speakers for their student meetings. Each year we handed out $8000 in scholarships to 5 needy students. In order to continue our scholarship efforts in perpetuity, an Endowment Committee is actively putting the plans in place to raise the funds for these scholarship programs to continue for many years to come. We actively recruit new student members. One of our Sustaining Member companies pays for the first year membership dues for all new student members. We make annual presentations at the universities within our jurisdiction to recruit new members, including a trip to Michigan Tech which is a 10 hour drive from Detroit. The sky is the limit when it comes to student outreach. At present, we are exploring how to better assist our student members with finding employment opportunities. We post openings on our website and in our newsletter and have a resume board at our monthly meetings. Interest has risen in publishing a resume book so we are evaluating that endeavor. We encourage all chapters to get involved with the students. You will never regret it. They will introduce you to new topics in the world of materials and make you feel young again. Kathy L. Hayrynen, PhD
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