Women Engineers Honored at ASME Fundraiser

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) honored a number of women engineers at its March 20 fundraiser in Washington, D.C. The ASME has presented its 2024 Kate Gleason Award to Patricia Brackin, Ph.D., director of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s engineering design program and an ASME Fellow. The award, established by the ASME Foundation in 2011 in memory of the first woman to become a full member of organization, recognizes the contribution of a distinguished female leader in engineering.

Sonya T. Smith, Ph.D., chair of the ASME Foundation, presented the award to Brackin at the Foundation’s third annual celebration of its progress toward empowering next generation engineers, a VIP event entitled "Reinventing the Future – Women Engineering Change."

Susan Ipri-Brown, ASME’s 143rd president of its Board of Governors, presented ASME Dedicated Service Awards to four exemplary honorees: Robin Coger, Ph.D., Carolyn Winstead Meyers, Ph.D., Sonya T. Smith, Ph.D., and Tahira Reid Smith, Ph.D. The Honorable Aruna K. Miller, the 10th Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland, who also earned an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, was a special guest speaker. Other speakers included ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile, P.E., FASME, and Stephanie Viola, executive director of the ASME Foundation and managing director of programs and philanthropy for ASME. Award-winning journalist Michelle Miller, a national correspondent for CBS News and co-host of CBS Saturday Morning, served as the event’s emcee.

Brackin helped develop Rose-Hulman’s Home for Environmentally Responsible Engineering program, a living and learning experience for students interested in sustainability and humanitarian engineering. She also spent 11 years as director of the Institute’s Operation Catapult program, helping to introduce high school seniors to science and engineering. She worked as a design engineer with the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company and has spent an academic sabbatical leave as a project engineer with Eli Lilly and Company.

Melissa Williams, general manager of Shell Oil’s trading operations products and former president of Shell Marine, presented the keynote address. In her remarks, she emphasized, “Now more than ever, we need to combine technical expertise with business practicality and critical thinking” to meet “growing energy demand and the post-COVID world.”