ASME announces speakers, award nominees for event on Dec. 3-4

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)’s Engineering for Change (E4C) has announced keynote speakers and award nominees for its fourth annual Impact.Engineered forum, a virtual event and networking experience, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST, Thursday and Friday, Dec. 3-4, 2020.

Keynote speakers Asha Varghese, president of The Caterpillar Foundation, and Jenny Frankel-Reed, climate adaptation strategy lead for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will open and close the event with their remarks. Varghese, a thought leader in workforce readiness, international business development, and sustainable infrastructure, and Frankel-Reed, an advocate of technology enabling climate resilience, will share their unique perspectives on engineering pathways to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Impact.Engineered offers participants the opportunity to meet and learn from engineers, social entrepreneurs, multilateral agencies, impact investors, industry leaders, and rising stars who are shaping the future of business and engineering. The two-day program includes a full roster of global thought-leading speakers — more than 60% of whom are women — in interactive workshops and presentations, a technology showcase, and awards reception.

The program focuses on “partnerships advancing the decade of action,” in recognition of the 2030 agenda for achieving the U.N. SDGs and acknowledging that global challenges from climate change to COVID-19 and economic downturn require technical solutions, workforce development, resilient infrastructure and public leadership to drive implementation. The virtual format creates new opportunities to connect with E4C’s global audience of more than one million innovators. Visit the event agenda for more details.

Impact.Engineered Awards will recognize “the best of the best” across several categories. The 2020 nominees are:

For the Connecting the Unconnected award:
Mpost
Digiduka
Diversidad Rural
Yolk Corp.

For the Hardware Trailblazer award:
Rise Products
Neopenda
Wekebere
New Leaf Dynamic Technologies

For the Industry Driving Social Impact award:
Black & Veatch Corp.
JPMorgan Chase, Force for Good program
J&J Africa Innovation Challenge

For the Rising Star award:
Hydroquo+, Zahin Razeen
Re+Connect, Jasmine (Yiyuan) Qin
Household Farming System, Stephen David-Longe
Sesi Technologies, Isaac Sesi
KOKO Networks, Sagun Saxena

For the Women Leading in Technology and Impact award:
Dyan Gibbens, founder and CEO, Turmbull Unmanned
Jayshree Seth, corporate scientist and chief science advocate, 3M Company
Nicola Dell, assistant professor, Cornell University

Winners will be announced based on the selection of an esteemed panel of experts, including: Phyllis Westerman, senior manager of Red Hat’s global services knowledge management organization; Shaun Stewart, CEO of New Lab; Joe Speicher, executive director of Autodesk Foundation; Heather Fleming, co-founder and executive director of Change Labs; and Jackie O’Brien, CEO of Engineers Without Borders (EWB)-USA.

Impact.Engineered will also honor the important contributions of the ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) 2020 cohort of innovators and two Innovate for Impact: Siemens Design Challenge winners, who will exhibit their social impact hardware in the Tech Gallery.

“The change agents and thought leaders who participate in Impact.Engineering are truly inspiring in their commitment to improve the quality of life for people around the world,” says ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile, who will deliver opening remarks at the event. “ASME shares their belief that engineering and technological innovation can help solve many challenges for humankind and our planet.”

For more information, visit impact-engineered.org.