ASME's Unconventional Engineering

Tom Costabile and Jay Flores met with Nora Toure—Founder of Women in 3D Printing, a global organization advancing visibility and connection across the additive manufacturing ecosystem. Nora brings deep experience in strategy, business development, and leadership across additive manufacturing and healthcare applications.

Tom Costabile and Jay Flores met with Ilayda Samilgil - Co-Founder & CEO of LLume, a company developing wearable sensors (“Light Lace®”) which can measure pressure, motion, respiration, CO₂, etc., using light and fiber optics. A Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, her company has worked on research projects with the U.S. Department of Defense and Major League Baseball. Her unique story began with a passion for ice skating, leading her to research at Cornell University and become a young CEO.

In this ASME Insights special episode, Dr. Lester Su (ASME President) is joined by guest Chandrakant Patel.

Chandrakant Patel is a consultant and advisor on technology strategy. He previously worked at HP for 37 years as a Senior Vice President, Senior Fellow and Chief Engineer. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Chabot College and at the University of South Florida. In 2021 he was awarded the ASME Foundation’s Inaugural Next Gen Award.

Chandrakant covers the engineering industry’s critical need for local workforce development, and how community college programs such as ASME’s Community College Engineering Pathways Program (CCEP) can help bridge that gap.

In this special ASME Insights episode, Dr. Lester Su (ASME President) is joined by guests Dr. Calvin Mackie and Dr. Akin Keskin.

Dr. Calvin Mackie is an award-winning inventor, author, former engineering professor, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of STEM NOLA and STEM Global Action, two non-profit organizations with the goal to inspire and engage communities in learning about opportunities in STEM. Dr. Mackie is also a keynote speaker for ASME’s IMECE conference on November 16–20, 2025 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Akin Keskin is the IMECE Conference Chair and Vice President Digital - Business Aviation and RR Deutschland at Rolls-Royce.

Dr. Mackie covers teases his keynote speech about fostering the next generation of engineers, and Dr. Keskin shares the unique features of the 2025 IMECE conference.

In this episode of ASME Insights, Dr. Lester Su (ASME President) is joined by guest Dr. Arindam Banerjee.

Dr. Arindam Banerjee is the Paul B. Reinhold Professor and Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics at Lehigh University. His scholarly background is in fluid mechanics and energy systems, with research spanning renewable energy, turbulence, and data-enabled modeling. He is an ASME Fellow and a former associate editor of ASME’s Journal of Fluids Engineering. Dr. Banerjee was recognized as Associate Editor of the Year in 2023.

Dr. Banerjee discusses why the energy space is uniquely positioned for AI impact and how mechanical engineering curricula must evolve. He also reflects on takeaways from a recent ASME session with department chairs and his presentation at ASME’s Mechanical Engineering Education (MEEd) Conference on March 29–31, 2026 at George Mason University.