ASME District Leader Handbook

Students…......

Student District Operating Boards......

Student Sections......

Student Section Advisors......

Student Section Liaison Program......

Student Leadership Seminars......

Student Professional Development Conferences......

Student Competitions......

Students

Student District Operating Boards (SDOB)

The Student District Operating Board is a group of ASME students who work together to make improvements within their district. The SDOB acts as a grass roots network between local sections and districts, and offers leadership opportunities at district levels. SDOB members meet at SLSs and SPDCs, and the chairs of SDOBs meet at the Leadership Training Conference (LTC).

Mission - To recommend and enact enhancements and changes to the district's benefits and programs (technical, social and educational) that will be of interest to students.

Vision - The Student District Operating Board provides the enthusiasm and direction to help make the district's ASME student sections function as a unit and provide an outlet for student needs.

Purpose - ASME has established the Student District Operating Board (SDOB) under the direction of the District Operating Board (DOB) to:

  • Identify programs to improve student life in the district.
  • Increase interaction and unify the student sections within the district.
  • Increase interaction with Corporate sections.
  • Increase interaction with Industry.
  • Provide mentorship to the development and operation of student sections.

People Involved

  • Chair: SSC Student Representative
  • Vice Chair: Elected by the board from students within the district
  • Members-At-Large: Interested ASME student volunteers within a district chosen by the chair, district leaders, and ASME staff
  • Associates: District leaders, section advisors, SSC senior representative, senior section members, section chairs, and conference organizers.

Student Sections

"Ask not only what sections can do for student sections … also ask what student sections can do for sections … and also ask what they can do together"

  • Contact information for Student Section Officers is available on the Global Communities Directory (for instructions, click here).
  • Encourage interaction between student and corporate sections by inviting members of the corporate section to join you in visiting the student section.
  • Some ideas for how sections and student sections can work together is available at
  • The operations of student sections are outlined in the Student Sections Manual, ML-1., available online at This manual will be updated over the course of the coming year.
  • Coordinate visits to student sections with the Student Section Advisor (SSA) and the Student Section Chair.
  • Visit student sections and / or select a District Operating Board Student Liaison of some sort to visit schools, call schools, act on behalf of the District Leader in conference planning (SLS and SPDC), etc.
  • Visits will typically be schedule during the week when student sections hold their meetings.

Student Section Advisors

  • The vitality of a student section is heavily influenced by the Student Section Advisor (SSAs).
  • District Leaders are responsible for contacting all Student Section Advisors and providing them information about the student conferences (SLSs and SPDCs), and to arrange for a visit to the SSA and the Student Section, or designating a position on the District Operating Board to do this.
  • In organizing SLS and SPDC agendas, include a meeting of Student Section Advisors, and send out an invitation to all SSAs in your District to attend this meeting.
  • Inform all Student Section Advisors in your district that funding is available for attendance at SLSs and SPDCs. For the current funding policy, see the webs pages for the conferences:
  • When visiting a student section, plan to arrive early enough to meet with the Student Section Advisor to discuss section operations and student section needs.
  • Arrange with the Student Section Advisor to have a joint meeting with the ME Department Head and engineering Dean. While the purpose of this meeting is primarily social, it provides an excellent opportunity to build relationships and establish / reiterate the purpose and benefit of the ASME student section, and to express appreciation for the key role of the Student Section Advisor.
  • Presentations on the benefits of an ASME student section to an ME department (created by by Walter O'Brien, former Chair, Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tec) are available online at (PPT show) and (PDF with photos).
  • The roles and responsibilities of SSAs, along with information on ASME and student activities, are included in a SSA Handbook, soon to be available on the UnitLeadershipResourceCenter, A printed copy of this handbook is provided to SSAs at the Student Leadership Seminars.

Student Section Liaison Program

The Student Section Liaison (SSL) Program, a joint effort between the K&C and Centers Sectors, has been formed to develop a community of volunteers to conduct a coordinated effort to visit student sections and put a diverse face on ASME. Training is provided to selected persons, who attend targeted Student Sections to present information on the benefits of ASME involvement to students as well as present training modules to the student sections if so requested. For further information on the program and a list of District Liaisons, contact Thomas Wendt, .

Student Leadership Seminars (refer to SLS under District Meetings) The roles of the District Leader or their designee are to:

  • Arrange for an SLS host, lead organizer and location, ideally at least a year in advance;
  • Assist with venue(s) selection and agenda development (with ASME Staff liaison and SDOB members).
  • Ensure that the agenda includes key curriculum items
  • Work with host, using the preliminary agenda, to develop budget and set registration fee
  • Identify and/or recruit speakers and key organizers (with Staff liaison and SDOB members)
  • Send information on hosts, dates, location, contact information for key organizers, preliminary agenda and budget to ASME: District Liaison, SLS support (), and Sr. Program Manager, Leadership Development and Recruitment ().
  • Coordinate telephone outreach to all Student Section Advisors in the District to inform them of the SLS details and let them know that funding is available for them and two section officers to attend the SLS.
  • Roles and responsibilities of those involved in SLS planning and execution are summarized in Appendix Q.

Student Professional Development Conferences (refer to SPDCs under Meetings) Information about the planning and conduct of SPDC’s is included in the SPDC guide online at The roles of the District Leader are to:

  • Arrange a host and location;
  • Approve the meeting dates;
  • Send the location and date information, with lead organizer contact information, to ;
  • Review the budget;
  • Help identify and invite judges, according to the criteria (see and
  • Review and approve agendas.

Student Competitions

Old Guard Competitions: Conducted at the Student Professional Development Conferences in the Spring. Theconferencewinners are then sent to compete at the Society level, which takes place every year at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE). District Leaders help identify judges for these competitions.

  • Oral Presentation Competition - Designed to emphasize the value of an ability to deliver oral presentations. Presentations are judged in four categories: Content, Organization, Delivery and Effectiveness, and Discussion.
  • Technical Poster Competition - Designed to emphasize the ability to deliver visual presentations. Posters are judged on two areas: Visual Presentation and Technical Content.
  • Technical Web Page Competition - Intended to encourage the delivery of visual presentations using web page technology.
  • North American Districts choosing to have more than one Student Professional Development Conference in a given year are entitled to select a maximum of two (2) Oral Competition winners, but no more than one per conference. The OG Committee leaves it to the District Leader to decide which two winners are supported to attend the finals.
  • For Districts G, H, I, and J, the OG Committee willsupport only one Oral Competition winner each. So if more than one SPDC takes place in these Districts, the particular District Leader must decide which Oral Competition winner gets to compete in the finals.

Student Design Contest– Conducted at the Student Professional Development Conferences in the Spring. Teams that place first are invited to participate in an international competition held at ASME's International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE). District Leaders help identify judges.

  • A different challenge each year.
  • Coordinated within the Committee on Student Development (Centers Sector).

Student Sections Competition– Student activity and reporting, contest currently runs from March to February of the following year.

Student Stakeholders Meetings

On Saturday evenings at the Annual Meeting in June and the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (Congress) in November, a forum takes place for student stakeholders to meet, communicate and share information regarding student conferences, programs, and activities. District Leaders attend these meetings, organized by the Chair of the Committee on Student Development (Centers Sector). Student stakeholders include:

  • Student Section Committee (SSC) members
  • Committee on Student Development (CSD) members
  • Student District Operating Board members
  • District Leaders and other Global Community leaders
  • Any interested students or other ASME volunteers

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