NJIT’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an old club that is reinventing itself in front of our eyes. Per Vice President Stefan Knapik, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, the club now hosts 54 members and is working to become more active on campus and in the community.
This past fall semester, ASME hosted a STEM day, where approximately 60 middle school students from the Newark area came to NJIT to learn about careers in STEM fields.
Over spring break this year, ASME teamed up with NJIT’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to host Arduino Day, where Arduino boards were used to teach people basic programming skills. These boards act as small and simple computers that can be programmed for many different applications.
Knapik and ASME President Jake Haefner, also a sophomore mechanical engineering student, stressed that this has been a rebuilding year. Haefner stated, “ASME was having a hard time with participation and was becoming very inactive, but it seems to be finally picking up some speed due to the new Human Powered Vehicle project. It is really peaking everyone’s interest and starting to bring the ASME community together.”
Every year, the national ASME organization hosts the ASME E-Fest, where branches from all over the country compete in engineering competitions. NJIT’s branch is currently researching and developing their own human-powered vehicle for a race next spring.
The human-powered vehicle is a recumbent bicycle—a bicycle where the rider is laying back when pedaling—and the ASME team splits up into groups to work on designing and building the chassis, steering, brakes, body, and drivetrain.
“Our goal,” Knapik stated, “is to finish a design in CAD [Computer Aided Design software] by the end of the summer so we can spend the rest of the time building the vehicle and hopefully be done in time for the competition.”
ASME is not limited to just mechanical engineering majors. If you have interest in joining their team, reach out to President Jake Haefner at [email protected].
