ASME's Unconventional Engineering
28 episodes listed below
Engineering careers with public purpose.
ASME's Unconventional Engineering is a measured interview series about the people and systems behind mechanical engineering. Its conversations move from personal origin stories to practical questions about education, safety, emerging tools, and how engineers build opportunity beyond the lab.
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ASME's Unconventional Engineering frames mechanical engineering as a human system, not just a technical discipline. The show is organized around interviews with people whose work connects invention, education, standards, safety, manufacturing, energy, and professional service. It moves slowly enough to let expertise breathe. That pace suits the material, because many episodes are less interested in headlines than in how a career, program, or technical practice actually develops over time. Guests often begin with origin stories. Those stories are not decorative; they become evidence for how curiosity turns into skill, and how one visible role model can shift a student's sense of what is possible. The show returns often to the engineering talent pipeline. Chandrakant Patel's discussion of community colleges, high schools, adjunct faculty, and local workforce scale gives that theme a concrete shape. Dr. Calvin Mackey's work through STEM NOLA and STEM Global Action adds another layer, centered on family, community, college students, professional volunteers, and K-12 exposure. Other episodes widen the lens. Dr. Arindam Banerjee's conversation about AI in the energy sector asks how mechanical engineers should use new tools without surrendering verification, physical understanding, or lab experience. Jason Lopes brings 3D printing into the world of design rooms, scanning, character work, and the hard discipline of making digital geometry printable. Diana Iracheta's episode connects product design engineering with advocacy for Latinas and Hispanics in STEM. Dr. Lonnie Johnson's appearance traces invention from childhood tinkering to patents, energy storage, and the Super Soaker. The show also covers professional infrastructure, including pipeline integrity, competency standards, ASME committees, conferences, and volunteer leadership. Its best moments come when technical detail and public purpose sit in the same conversation. It suits listeners who want engineering discussed with warmth, rigor, and a clear belief that the field's future depends on who gets invited in and how well they are trained.
Made for: Designed for engineers, students, educators, STEM advocates, and technically curious listeners who want career stories tied to real institutions and practical problems. It especially suits people interested in mechanical engineering's role in education, safety, manufacturing, energy, and professional standards.
What sets it apart: The show stands apart by treating engineering achievement and engineering access as parts of the same story. Rather than focusing only on inventions or trends, it asks how knowledge becomes reliable, teachable, and useful across communities.
ASME's Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile welcomes guests from across the world of mechanical engineering to discover the interesting and unconventional ways they are using their skills to advance engineering for the benefit of humanity. RSSVERIFY
3D-printed movie suits share a bench with asteroid defense, and your curiosity gets the good seat.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A measured case for building the engineering pipeline closer to home.
ASME Insights treats the engineering workforce gap as a matter of scale, and Chandrakant Patel makes that case with steady conviction. The path he describes starts in community colleges, reaches into high schools, and relies on paid adjuncts who bring real industry experience.
A first ASME Insights episode connects outreach, volunteerism, and the upcoming iMackey conference.
This opening ASME Insights episode presents a practical view of a more resilient engineering future, centered on community-led STEM outreach. Dr.
A grounded 3D-printing story about geometry, scanning, and hard-earned habits.
Jason Lopes treats 3D printing as a production discipline, not a novelty, and that framing gives the discussion its shape. He recalls a Legacy Effects rule that work had to be proper, the kind of standard a traditional model maker would respect, and that mindset travels cleanly…
Practical launch engineering, analysis tools, and the work of making space hardware survive the trip.
Joan Melendez-Misner's episode stays close to the practical side of space work, where launch loads, avionic boxes, and Florida weather all sit in the same frame.
Sustainability is presented as a cross-disciplinary engineering challenge.
ASME's Unconventional Engineering follows Tom Costabile in conversation with Sean Bradshaw and Timo Marquez, using sustainability to frame engineering as a problem that reaches well beyond hardware.
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Lester Hsu speaks with Chandrakant Patel about building the engineering workforce from the ground up at the local level.
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Dr.
Tom Costabile and Jay Flores open by welcoming Jason Lopes, whom Jay frames as a trailblazer in 3D printing.
Diana Iracheta, a product design engineer and founder of Latina Engineer Organization, shares her story of being featured in a Toyota commercial highlighting Latinos in STEM.
Tom Costabile discusses conformity assessment and competency standards in the pipeline industry with guests Patrick Vieth and Phil.
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A panel of ASME volunteers discuss the upcoming EFEST TechConnect 2025 event and their roles in the organization.
ASME and the ASME Foundation spotlight the women who are engineering change.
Tom Costabile hosts.
Tom Costabile and Christine Riley from ASME interview Matthew Blieske, CEO of Lyft H2, about the hydrogen supply chain and its role in achieving net zero emissions.
Hosts Tom Costabile and Caitlin Kulbaugh introduce themselves and set the stage for an interview with a cybersecurity expert.