ASME NEWS
E-Fest Tech Connect, Fusion Power Plant Code
A roundup of recent Society events.
Engineering Students: E-Fest Tech Connect is Taking Place Virtually on March 28, 2026
ASME E-Fest Tech Connect is a fully digital event comprised of career and professional development sessions. And thousands of engineering students and early-career engineers from around the world go head-to-head in exciting E-fest competitions.
Download the rules, form your team, and register for free for your favorite engineering competitions including: ASME Old Guard Graduate Student Video Competition (register by Feb. 12) or Extended Reality Challenge (XRC): Autonomous Vehicles (register by Feb. 18).
ASME, JSME, QST, and ANRIC Enterprises staff met at ASME’s Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Week in November 2025 in Dallas. Pictured left to right are: Dale Matthews (ASME volunteer, Framatome Inc.), TADA Eisuke (QST, JSME), Richard Barnes (ASME volunteer, ANRIC Enterprises), Kathryn Hyam (ASME staff), NAKAHIRA Masataka (QST, JSME), and Michael McKenna (ASME staff).
ASME and JSME to Collaborate on Global Tokamak Fusion Power Plant Code
ASME has agreed to work with the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) to develop a draft code for the construction of tokamak fusion power plants, marking a significant step toward global standardization in fusion energy technology.
A tokamak, a type of fusion reactor that uses a doughnut-shaped magnetic chamber to confine hot plasma, enables nuclear fusion reactions to occur.
A separate agreement has also be signed between the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), ANRIC Enterprises, and ASME ST-LLC to support the development of the draft tokamak Code. QST, a Japanese national research and development agency with experience on the ITER project, is conducting research on key tokamak components, including magnets. This research will be incorporated into the Tokamak Fusion Power Plant Construction Code, which will guide the design and construction of a demonstration facility in Japan. The demonstration facility aims to validate net electricity production from a tokamak reactor in the 2030s.
Society Launches ASME Ventures
2025 saw ASME reach several significant milestones. Among them the launching of ASME Ventures. ASME Ventures is a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary of ASME. Operating at arm’s length with independent governance and decision-making, it invests in visionary founders and breakthrough technologies that advance human progress in the built world.
Backed by over a century of leadership in mechanical engineering, ASME Ventures bring deep domain expertise, a global network, and a commitment to shaping the future through innovation. Areas of focus, early-stage startups at the intersection of engineering and innovation, include digital solutions, intelligent automation, and hardware design and operations. “At ASME Ventures, innovation isn’t just a goal, it’s our standard,” its website reported.
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