Professional Development and Educational Opportunities at ASMSpeaker - Dr. Michael Kenney - Director of Education - ASM International
ASM has an Educational Programming and Entrepreneurial Focus. It is known as the Material's Information Society and it gathers, processes and disseminates information on materials.
MEI (Materials Engineering Institute) began in 1954 and will continue to be the educational arm of ASM, but with more focus to the Society as a whole. MEI courses are offered on site at headquarters, locally, at the Annual Event, and as customized training for corporations. In 1998 there was major renovation at headquarters which included a new state-of-the-art training facility. The best possible training is available there in the laboratory/class environment.
Soon the courses will undergo some major changes:
1) New, Updated, and Revised topics and material
2) Increased Laboratory Offerings
3) Distance Education - (On Line)
4) College accreditation of coursework
5) Partnership with industry/Universities
DISTANCE EDUCATION:
Courses offered on-line will have identical content as those offered by other formats.
The instruction will be self-paced.
All students will have access to an instructor, and no instructor will have more than 24 students assigned at any time
The courses will have interactive content
A sample is available at: www.asminternational.org/training
ACCREDITATION:
ASM is currently seeking accreditation from the American Council on Education (ACE) for 16 of its most popular courses. More will follow.
PARTNERSHIPS:
ASM is entering into partnerships with corporations and two year institutions to include its courses in Associate's Degree programs. In the future it will try to forge similar relations with Four Year Institutions, other Professional Organizations, and its own Professional Chapters. Accreditation is also important for fulfilling Military training requirements. The first of these project involves Tri-C (Cuyahoga County Community College), Kent State University, and Energy Industries of Ohio. It will be a program in Casting technology.
CHAPTER PARTICIPATION:
ASM Chapter members are needed to:
1) Review and author courses
2) Develope new ancillary course material
3) Serve as instructors
4) Host Courses
5) Coordiate Regional Courses
Please contact Kim Stone klstone@asminternational.org to get involved.
EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH:
ASM'rs need to reach out to community and students. Connect with other volunteer organizations such as Rotary, and Lions. Sponsor or judge science fairs. Host activities for National Engineer's week.
Dr. Kenney then showed how to involve children in material by showing how a "lead" bell had no ring. However, after placing the bell in liquid nitrogen for a few moments, it could ring just like any other metal. It was a good attention getter.