November - ASABE/SAE/ASME/SME/SWE Joint Section Meeting
Annual Joint Meeting of SME/ASABE/SAE/ASME/SWE
You are invited to attend the annual Joint Section Meeting of the following engineering societies:
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers [ASABE], Iowa Section
Society of Automotive Engineers [SAE], Mississippi Valley Section
American Society of Mechanical Engineers [ASME], Central Iowa Section
Society of Manufacturing Engineers [SME], Waterloo Chapter
Society of Women Engineers [SWE], Cedar Valley Section
The meeting will be held at the Clarion Hotel [5826 University Avenue, Cedar Falls, Iowa] on Thursday, November 6th, 2014.
Keynote Speaker: “Think for a Change – The Strategic Role of Engineers in Corporate Innovation”
Dave Beckmann – [Retired Emerson-Fisher Marketing Executive, Engineer, and a part time pastor]
Technical session topics will be:
1. "Single-Pass Round Bailing of Crop Residues” – Kevin Shinners [John Deere/Hillco/University of Wisconsin]
Crop residues – particularly corn stover – can serve as a valuable cellulosic biomass feedstock or roughage feed for ruminant animals. Baling crop residues (MOG) exiting the combine harvester produces a clean feed or feedstock without additional field operations. This presentation will present details about the development of the process; combine and baler performance characteristics; bale handling and storage challenges; and future design considerations.
2. “New Product Development – Viking Pump” – Brian Comiskey [V.P. Engineering & Business Line Director]
Brian Comiskey has worked with IDEX Corporation since 2006, serving as Vice President of Engineering. In 2011, he relocated with his family to Waterloo, Iowa and became Vice President of Global Engineering until he accepted his current role of Vice President of Engineering & Business Line Director of Specialty Pumps for Viking Pump.
Prior to joining Viking Pump, Brian spent the majority of his career in product development. In 1993 he became a Product Engineer for a small startup company Bio-Plexus, Inc. where he was part of the original team taking the company public on NASDAQ. In 1996 he moved to Texas where he was a Systems Engineer for Behr Climate Systems designing heating and cooling systems for the Class 8 truck industry. This led into his next role in 1998 where he served as Project Engineer at Allied Signal in Torrance, CA specializing in prototyping and new product development of aircraft cooling systems. In 2000 he progressed to Manager of Advanced Development with Gentherm working with a company developing heating and cooling systems for the automotive markets. While at Gentherm he received six US patents for heating & cooling and controls designs related to automotive car seats. In 2003, he was promoted to Director of Engineering for Gentherm responsible for all of engineering and R&D. Most recently Brian became Vice President of Engineering at IDEX Corp in 2006 until he entered his current position with Viking Pump (largest business unit of IDEX) in 2011 as Vice President of Engineering & Business Line Director of Specialty Pumps.
Brian attended the University of Connecticut in Storrs Connecticut with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy. He also has a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCONN. He is married with two children and currently resides in Waterloo, IA.
**New this year: Optional tour at Viking Pump starting at 2:45 pm
-For the tour you must have:
1. Closed-toed shoes
2. Long pants
3. No cameras and/or phones allowed
4. Safety glasses and hearing protection will be provided
Agenda for the evening:
- Optional tour at Viking Pump: 2:45 pm
- Registration starts: 4:00 pm
- Concurrent Technical Sessions: 5:00 pm
- Social Hour: 6:00 pm
- Dinner Buffet: 6:45 pm
- Evening Speaker: 7:30 pm
Registration closes Friday, 31 October 2014 and can be found at the following link:
Payment is online via credit card. [Cost - $30, students: $10]
Due to large crowd of John Deere direct employees attending, they can select “Deere Employee” and a single check will be written to cover their expense.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Noel Menard
Program Co-Chair
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers [ASABE] & Society of Women Engineers [SWE]
Phone: 319.292.6877
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