Half-day Event Features Online Student Leadership Training, Multiple Competitions via Video Submission, and Virtual Networking Opportunities for Engineering Students

NEW YORK, April 6, 2020 – As the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the closure of college campuses and cancellation or postponement of many events, engineering students are finding productive ways to apply their education and skills as they shelter in place. Engineering faculty and professionals are collaborating with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to amplify this activity by hosting a FREE half-day virtual event for engineering students around the world. ASME Engineering Festivals® (E-Fests) presents  E-Fest Digital on Saturday, April 25, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT, on the ASME E-Fests® YouTube channel.

Building on the success of ASME E-Fests® and ASME EFx®, the E-Fest Digital program will include an engaging new mix of sponsored content, design and presentation competitions, mentoring sessions and skill-building sessions, plus awards and prizes designed to empower the diverse, multidisciplinary engineering workforce of tomorrow. ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile will deliver opening remarks. Online registration is now open.

All engineering students are encouraged to participate in E-Fest Digital, including those individuals and teams who previously registered for the cancelled 2020 E-Fest North or E-Fest South events. The virtual experience will include five reimagined competitions that give students a chance to apply their engineering education and demonstrate their abilities via video submission (video submission deadlines are posted on the E-Fest Digital website):

• Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) – Student teams from colleges and universities can submit videos of their designs and prototypes of sustainable transportation alternatives for everyday use – from commuting to work, to carrying goods to market.
   
• Student Design Competition – Student teams design prototypes, typically involving robotics, and will record and submit a five-minute video presentation that describes the design, production and re-design process of their device.
   
• Innovative Additive Manufacturing 3D (IAM3D™) Challenge – The 2020 ASME IAM3D Unmanned Aerial Racing Cargo Vehicle (U.A.R.C.V.) competition tasks university students to use an iterative design process and additive manufacturing techniques to produce an U.A.R.C.V. that can navigate obstacles and deliver its payload. Teams must submit a six-minute video design report.
   
• Oral Competition (sponsored by the ASME Old Guard Committee) – This competition is designed to emphasize the value of delivering clear, concise and effective oral presentations, particularly pertaining to some sphere in which an engineer is involved. Student competitors are required to create a 15-minute-maximum-length video of their technical presentation.
   
• Elevator Pitch Competition (sponsored by the ASME Old Guard Committee) – Students are challenged to pitch a project, idea, product or themselves, demonstrating this essential tool for interviews and career development. Competitors are required to create a 95-second video of their pitch, choosing from one of two challenge statements: the first on additive manufacturing; or a new challenge statement focusing on the coronavirus. Finalists for this new challenge statement will present their pitch LIVE via Zoom during E-Fest Digital.