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Thanks for a great year
by Eleanor C. Joffrion
Section Chair
This year is finally winding down. I would like to start by saying thanks to you, the membership. I have gotten numerous phone calls and emails with suggestions and comments throughout the year. This helped shape this year's program to be one of th more positive and well attended program years. Keep up the feedback! I especially liked you helping Almath in his "instant volunteer" status as vice chairman. He was open to many suggestions and speakers, and the membership as a whole benefitted tremendously.
A big thank you goes out to the Executive Committee. This year started out on a roller coaster but you ladies and gentlemen hung in there. There were no complaints with extra meetings, last minute changes, etc. I have to say I was blessed with a group that kept up with their volunteer duties and workload. I would like the members to know these people worked hard to keep this year great.
A special thanks goes to Jack Helms for his continued support as recent past chairman. I called his number just a "few" times this year for guidance, advice and blowing off steam. Thank you very much.
I have enjoyed my time as chairman, getting to know the membership and greeting new people. This is a great organization that has many things to offer. I hope you take the time to checks out what ASME-BR has for you. Thank you for a great year.
One final note: There has been a request for a Gas Turbine Technical Chapter in New Orleans. Would there be any interest in a similar chapter in Baton Rouge? Please contact me or Jerry Creasy to voice your vote.
Click here to RSVP
A great year ahead for BR Section
by Eleanor C. Joffrion
Section Chair
Holiday greetings and a Happy New Year to all ÅSME Members! What a great year 2000 was. This Baton Rouge section was buzzing with exciting presentations and great tours. If you attended any meetings so far, you now know a little more about thermal induction bending, flare tips, fugitive emissions and what exactly is going on with Dresser-Rand! I hope you enjoyed some, if not all, of these information packed sessions.
Now, to a new year and more good things. The Joint Engineering Conference is in February. My thanks go to Patrick Mensah, Jerry Creasy, Jack Helms and Bart Kemper for their outstanding efforts and countless volunteer hours with LES members to put on the most interesting conference. LES had plenty to learn from ASME's wealth of knowledge and experience in getting speakers, organizing activities each day and putting on a great vendor show. Members, I ask you to do one thing. Get out to the Conference and see what your associates have put together for you. Learn something new, meet others and share what you can with those around you. As for the licensed folks, benefits of the Conference can be summed up with one quote, "So many PDHs to earn, so little time." Great job, gentlemen, and I look forward to February.
Another item of interest is Engineers Week, February 18-24. Check out the website at www.eweek.org. Celebrate your profession in the best way possible. Share with young minds why you studied engineering and what has made you stay. So many young people today understand the titles "lawyer" or "doctor" but "engineer" just doesn't click. Help these young people understand an engineer's impact: the cars they drive, the cold milk they get from the refrigerator and the chip that controls those hand held games and (my favorite) air conditioning! Please take some time to spark some interest. Answer the questions of everything they wanted to know about engineering but were afraid to ask.
The coming months look great and promise great programs. Thanks again for your prompt RSVPs with the new email system and by phone. It makes Almath's job easier and keeps cost down for you. See you soon and have a great New Year.
Resolutions for ASME members
by Michael Luckett, P.E.
Membership Development Chair
I hope everyone had a trememdous Christmas and New Year holiday. Now that we are entering 2001, it's time for some New Year's resolutions. Don't worry, these will be easy to keep. Please repeat after me.
1) I resolve to attend more ASME meetings this year. After all, the schedule is on the website, the meals are inexpensive, and I get PDH credits for attending.
2) I resolve to pay my dues early this year. Three chances to win a laptop and other high tech gadgets sound good to me!
3) I resolve to con..err...convince my fellow mechanical engineers to join ASME. Chances at more free stuff are at stake here.
4) I resolve to volunteer more in ASME. Ok. This one is a little tougher but I use the benefits that ASME provides to I might as well give something back. Besides, those ASME volunteers are good people.
Now that I have made my resolution, I can have a peaceful, relaxing worry free 2001. See you at the meetings.
How to build the perfect catapult
book review by Rayma N. Kemper
Imagine how shocked most people would be if they were told the rock they'd just found could be used as a weapon. One man found out when he was barred from bringing a rock onto an aircraft. He didn't stay mad. He built a catapult.
The book Catapult: Harry and I build a Siege Weapon by Jim Paul is a funny look at a poet who knows little about siege weapons and his friend who decide to build a catapult after being told rocks are weapons.
This was one of the most enjoyable books I've read lately. As a non-engineer, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the various types of catapults and how they worked. The author brings the engineering of the catapult down to a level anyone can enjoy. He describes all the trials they went through to complete the project as well as the history of the siege engine. Included are recounts of their designs and designs and redesigns before they actually got it to work.
This book captures what engineers enjoy about being engineers even if they can't hurl rocks through the air each day.
Looking forward to a great year...
by Cliff Hay
Section Secretary
Greetings Everyone!
I trust that y'all had a great holiday and are ready to get back into the swing of things. The New Year is a time of new beginnings. It's always exciting to anticipate what will happen each year. We have a great slate of ASME events scheduled for the spring, starting with the Joint Symposium with the LES in February. Encourage any other mechanical engineers you know to get involved. It will be a great year. I look forward to seeing you when the semester kicks off.
In Memoria
Bill Hecker
Many condolences to the family of Bill Hecker. Bill was a dedicated member who attended may meetings. He passed away on December 30, 2000.
The Cameron Hydraulic Data Book will be available at the Registration Desk during the conference. They will be on sale for $20.00 each. Supplies are limitied so get yours early. Proceeds will go to the ASME Scholarship Fund.
E-Week Banquet set for February 23, 2001
Join us for a night of fellowship as we celebrate National Engineers' Week and recognize engineering and academic excellence. The dinner will be at White Oak Plantation. Please mail your reservations before Feb. 19
Social Hour (cash bar) 6:00 p.m.
Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Awards Program 7:45 p.m.
National Engineers' Week Banquet on Feb. 23, 2001
Reservation Form
(Must be received with payment no later than February 19, 2001)
Name:
(Please indicate if you are the official rep. of an engineering organization, incl. title and organization.)
Company:
Telephone:
Guests:
Number of students you wish to sponsor:
Total number of tickets ($32.50 each):
Total amount enclosed: Please make payable to LES, B.R. Chapter)
Mail to: Bart Kemper C/0 Kemper Imageering, Inc.
P.O. Box 66688 Baton Rouge, LA 70896
Tel. 923-2945 for more information or alternate menu needs.
Tour of Dresser-Rand Service Center in Dec.
Where: 2444 Durmont just off Choctaw near Sherwood Forest Blvd.
When: December 12, 2000 at 6:30 p.m.
Contact: Mr. Mike Bruton at 275-6550 for more information.
This meeting will include a free jambalaya dinner provided by Dresser-Rand. Following dinner there will be a plant tour conducted by Mr. Mike Bruton. Dresser-Rand provides repair and maintenance services for steam turbines, turbo-compressors, reciprocating compressors and reciprocating engines.
Please call 297-8892 or email: mluckett@craworld.com to RSVP or leave a question.
Flare Systems topic of Nov. ASME meeting
Where: Don's Seafood at 6823 Airline Hwy. Baton Rouge, La.
When: November 14, 2000 at 6:30 p.m.
Cost: $18.00/person with RSVP
Topic: Types, components, applications, and regulations for flare systems.
Speaker: Jon Goeckel of Ford-Gelatt & Associates, Inc.
PDHs Awarded: 1
Please choose one of the following menu items:
• 8 oz. Ribeye with stuffed potato and salad
• 1/2 Fried shrimp and 1/2 fried catfish with fries and salad
• Crawfish etouffee
• Roland's stuffed eggplant
• Grilled tilapia
• Large shrimp and crab gumbo with potato salad
All entrees come with iced tea, coffee, or soft drinks and fruit bread pudding.
A great year of programs in store for 2000-01
by Eleanor Joffrion, E.I.
Section Chairman
Hello Everyone! I want to welcome you to a new and already exciting ASME-BRyear. The Vice Chairman, Darren Hopkins, can not complete his year with ASME. I wish him the best of luck with his endeavors. The new Vice Chairman, Alamath Carter, has stepped in with energy and positive attitude that really makes this year look great.
The Shrimp Boil was a success even with last minute arrangements for the speaker (Thanks Alamath) and meeting notices. I would like to thank all the sponsors for a delicious event. Plenty of boiled shrimp, corn and potatoes were enjoyed by all. The speaker, Mr. Firdosh Cavarona, presented his research on Thermal Induction Bending of pipe and the metallurgy involved. He was brought in by the Shaw Group from Utah. If anyone is interested in the notes from his presentation, copies will be available at the next meeting or they can be emailed to you.
There were several LSU students in attendance also. They brought with them information on Senior Projects to be presented at the April meeting. If anyone is interested in sponsoring or mentoring a projects, please contact Rachel Lacinak at klacinak@lsu.edu. She is the Student Chairman and has information on all the projects and groups who are looking for help.
I want to encourage you to mark your calendar now for the meetings of this year. Meeting notices will go out every month and a quarterly newsletter will also be published. Also, the newsletter and other information will be available at the ASME-BR website, www.bigdogz.com/brasme. A new feature this year will allow you to RSVP by email. Now you have two options to RSVP meetings, phone (297-3892) or email. Details will follow on the website.
Program year begins with Shrimp Boil
by Michael Luckett, P.E.
Section Treasurer
Welcome to the 2000-01 program year. I am honored to serve as Treasurer and Membership Devel-opment Chair for the Baton Rouge Section. I am very excited about our program for 2000-2001. We have some excellent learning opportunities each month in a variety of broad based topics that should interest a large part of the membership. As usual, each program comes with a PDH, all the more reason to come out and be an active part of our Section.
We had our annual Shrimp Boil in September which was a lot of fun. The food was free, the beer cold and the speaker informative. I learned more about the metallurgical properties affecting pipe bending than I ever thought I would. In October, our speaker will be discussing fugitive emissions and associated regulatory issues. The Executive Committee is working hard to provide interesting and relevant speakers and topics to make the Baton Rouge Section as good as it can be. We actively encourage your input on what we can do to improve our operations. If you have any suggestions on what you would like ASME to do, please contact any of the officer with your opinions. We want to hear from you.
I look forward to this year and hope you will too. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a message or email for me or one of the other officers. Thanks again for your continued participation.
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