Technology & Society Division: Home of the Engineer- Advocate

"The professional opportunities and responsibilities of engineers increasingly demand appreciation of the environmental, social, legal and political context in which engineer's
work is embedded.”

The common issue that concerns members of the Technology & Society (T&S) division is how our actions – as engineers, technologists, teachers and leaders – impact greater society today and in the future. Established in 1972 during a time of global energy crisis, rising air and water pollution, cold war politics and at the dawn of the computer age, ASME created the division to respond to rising concerns about the limits of technological progress and its ensuing impacts on society. Throughout our division’s history we have sought to explore emerging technologies and their impact on greater society around the world while helping students, engineers and leaders build professional networks and advocate change.

As a 6,000 member ‘general interest’ technical division within the Engineering & Technology Management Group, we pursue our mission through the identification, development and delivery of technical information, public statements, policy advice, continuing education and social responsibility awareness programs and forums to broad audiences within ASME as well as to other technical communities within greater society. We currently deliver these programs through five program committees within the division. Each committee focuses on a specific aspect of the T&S mission and coordinates volunteers’ actions to achieve it. These committees include:

Emerging Technology & Society - Strives to understand the complex relationships between technology and society, and to establish cooperation between engineers around the world to promote the safe and responsible use of new technologies.

Energy & Economics - produces and delivers contents on technical subjects related to energy and economics that affect engineers as well as societies in general.

Engineering Public Policy - Coordinates closely with ASME’s Board on Government Relations to help formulate ASME positions on public issues and to study legal and legislative aspects of the interface of technology with society.

Ethics & Technology - In coordination with ASME’s Board on Professional Practice and Ethics, studies ethical questions involved in engineering that involve the indirect effects of engineering work on greater society and finds means to solve possible conflicts between such responsibility and responsibility to an employer.

Intellectual Property - Focuses on delivering professional development programs to practicing engineers and researchers in the areas of technology transfer, patent protection and knowledge management.

Sustainable Engineering - In coordination with ASME’s Environmental Engineering Division, Promotes technology assessment, development and application to the interdependence of communities, systems, environment and societies and promotes optimal and effective engineering solutions and tools to enhance, apply and measure targeted sustainable outcomes.

These committees primarily fulfill their objectives by organizing forums for pertinent knowledge exchange and dissemination, including the delivery of technical sessions at ASME-sponsored conferences, publishing technical articles in the Engineering & Technology Management (E&TM) newsletter, issuing public statements, contributing to public policy discussions and hosting discussion and networking events.