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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS. While I still occasionally get the creeps when AI jumps out from every corner of my computer (hard not to, having grown up in the Terminator heyday), there are undoubtedly some incredible things that such digital tools are doing for industries far and wide.
Longtime ME contributor Lina Zeldovich dove into AI’s impact on the maritime industry in this month’s cover story, “AI Sets Sail.” She wrote: “Just like everywhere else, AI is quickly becoming a gamechanger in the marine industry, revolutionizing the way ships are designed, built, maintained, and operated.”
And in our second feature, we dig into an industry that’s a little closer to home. Kids of the 1980s and 1990s will remember the mantra, “reduce, reuse, recycle,” but how much of what we supposedly recycle is actually recycled? As Michael Abrams discovered in “Reworking Recycling,” it’s less than five percent of the nearly 60 million metric tons used annually here in the U.S. But there are ways to recycle more, faster and cheaper than ever.
In other news outside the realm of the May issue, I’m thrilled to share that Mechanical Engineering was recently honored with two regional awards in the American Society of Business Publication Editors’ 2026 Azbee Awards, which celebrates the highest quality reporting, editing, and design in business-to-business, trade, association, and professional publications.
Our team picked up a Northeast Regional Gold Award for Best Conversion from Print to Web for our digital transition that took place in 2025. And our Cathy Cecere, membership content program manager, was honored with a Northeast Regional Silver Award for Online Single Topic Coverage for her incredible work on Mechanical Engineering’s Career Center. Two of our team members represented ME at an awards luncheon in New York City on April 10: Sarah Alburakeh, strategic content editor, and Adrian Castillo, lead digital designer.
Both of our regional wins are also finalists in the national Azbee Awards contest, the results of which will be announced in mid-May. And we’re one of just four magazines selected as finalists for 2026 Digital Magazine of the Year. We’re honored to be in such esteemed company!
From left: Adrian Castillo, lead digital designer, and Sarah Alburakeh, strategic content editor, represented Mechanical Engineering at the 2026 Northeast Regional Azbee Awards on April 10.
Turning back now to the May issue in your hands, we have a full lineup of stories exploring the latest engineering developments above and below the clouds, from the best way to wrap cables inside a spacecraft to the U.S. geothermal potential being unlocked in Nevada.
For this month’s member spotlight, we spoke with Sagar Bocheer, a senior design engineer who found that pursuing ASME’s Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Professional Senior Certification was a practical step toward reducing errors and rework while strengthening collaboration across teams.
Don’t miss Engineering for Change’s annual list of sustainable development prototypes to watch out for—the team has shared four inventions that have the potential to overcome obstacles in global development and climate change mitigation.
We have another installment of STLLC Corner that takes a look at two projects that are laying the groundwork for ASME’s growth in to new standards and a guest column from Robert Sty at HDR diving in to how data center cooling is evolving to more efficiently manage higher power densities.
And check out this blast from the past: everything you wish you knew about the mechanical systems that made salmon canning possible in 1925.
There’s even more in the pages that follow. We hope this issue will keep you busy while we continue preparing Mechanical Engineering’s 2026 Watch List for its June 1 premiere.
—Louise Poirier, managing editor
There’s more to ASME than the magazine. Be sure to check out these features.
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ASME UNCONVENTIONAL ENGINEERING
Join ASME CEO Thomas Costabile and guest hosts such as ASME President Lester Su 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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