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ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT STEP IN OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER? It’s already been a year and a half that we’ve been producing Mechanical Engineering in the form of digital issues. We’ve had some incredible successes as well, winning numerous magazine industry awards for our enhanced content and format. But now is not the time to sit back on our laurels.
Engineers are always facing new challenges that require cutting-edge solutions, from new technologies and processes to attracting and training the next generation. And for nearly 150 years, Mechanical Engineering has been a trusted source of insight for ASME members, exploring and informing our readers about these critical issues and innovations.
We’re continuing our digital transformation with a plan to make our content more accessible than ever before, not just for ASME’s 72,000 members, but for anyone looking to discover and understand the achievements, challenges, and rigors of the engineering profession.
Starting in August, all our new content will be published at ASME.org while we take time to build out a comprehensive engineering content destination. There, we’ll continue to bring you the engineering news, analysis, and thought leadership that you expect from ME—just in a whole new way.
Instead of being limited by the confines of monthly issue delivery, we’ll have the flexibility to bring our content to you in more accessible and responsive formats.
But rest assured, you’ll still be able to access all our digital and print issues. We’ll also be unlocking the rest of our digital issues as well, so you can access them easier than ever before. (And share them with anyone you’d like to, as we’re so often asked.)
But before all that happens, we’ve assembled one last jam-packed digital issue for you in the virtual pages that follow.
My first run-in with extended reality of any kind was when Nintendo first launched the Virtual Boy many moons ago (the 1995 one, not the recent re-release). So, I’ve often wondered when virtual reality might become more than a gimmick. In the 2010s, smart glasses by all your favorite big tech companies became the next thing. Augmented reality was here, they said. But it seems like that sort of fizzled out, since few people appear to be wearing them.
With AI’s great boom, perhaps AR’s time has finally arrived. In this month’s cover story, “Engineered to Redefine Reality,” Poornima Apte explored some of the tangible uses the various forms of extended reality are finding today. And the challenges left ahead. “Getting to the Goldilocks of consumer wearables—feels just right in form and function—is not easy and depends on many technologies advancing in parallel,” she wrote.
Photo: Rowan University
It’s hard to mention anything AI-related these days without the thought of ethics popping into one’s mind. And, as Kayt Sukel wrote: “Between Elizabeth Holmes defrauding investors at Theranos, Boeing’s quality control issues, and the unfulfilled promise of autonomous vehicles, it would seem engineers are under more pressure than ever to sign off on questionable work.” Are engineers prepared for such dilemmas? She took a closer look in “How to Become an Ethical Engineer.”
We have a special insert in this issue as well. Since it often flies under the radar, we wanted to give a bit of special attention to ASME’s quarterly R&D Pulse publication, which draws its content from the expansive research published in ASME’s technical journals. (It’s what inspired our monthly R&D Pulse department!) There are four stories in this issue: exploring nuclear potential in Canada, contact mechanics of touchscreens, a game that captures real-time data on design decision-making, and a study into the correlation of seatbelt and body position with car crash injuries. If you’d like to see more R&D Pulse issues, check out the full archive of quarterly issues going back to 2022. (ASME membership is required.)
Elsewhere, we have stories about how ion beam testing could accelerate nuclear reactor material qualification, the challenges facing 3D printing underwater, and multi-stable fabrics that could open the door to responsive textiles.
In July’s Member Spotlight, Kevin McNeil shares why better structural tubing can unlock faster, more efficient automation. Our friends at Engineering for Change shared a piece about a new desalination approach without waste. And the Student Section at the American University of Beirut contributed a story about some of the solutions their members are developing to combat the impacts of fast fashion.
We also wanted to take a second to honor the United States’s 250ᵗʰ anniversary with an infographic that looks back at some American inventions and ingenuity that have had a big impact on the world in a variety of ways.
There’s even more to explore in this issue, so please read on and enjoy.
We’ll be sharing more with you in the coming months as this transition comes together. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions, concerns, comments, or just want to share your favorite part of ME so that we can make sure to carry it forward.
Here’s to a summer of transformation. Thanks for sticking with us.
—Louise Poirier, managing editor
There’s more to ASME than the magazine. Be sure to check out these features.
Some of our most recent episodes include:
BOEING’S MELISSA ORME TALKS SMART MANUFACTURING
ASME Techcast talks with Boeing’s Melissa Orme about smart manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and the role of Women in 3D Printing.
SEEING CLEARLY WITH LIDAR GLASS
SCHOTT’s Tina Gallo returns to discuss the glass materials inside LiDAR systems and why material selection can make such a difference in performance.
2026 POLICY OUTLOOK FOR ENGINEERS
Paul Fakes of ASME’s Washington office examines the 2026 policy issues—from federal funding to AI regulation—that could shape the future of engineering.
ASME UNCONVENTIONAL ENGINEERING
Join ASME CEO Thomas Costabile and STEM educator Jay Flores as they talk with some of the most exciting names in engineering. Check out the podcast landing page to hear them all.
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