Welcome to the first issue of AIME news. This publication’s genesis stemmed from recent strategic planning efforts of the AIME Board to communicate more effectively (i.e. directly) with the membership of the Societies that belong to the AIME. We plan to send information approximately quarterly and hope that it is interesting and informative.

We should celebrate our success while remembering the legacy of those that came before us through harder times. Future issues of this e-News will highlight the great history and foundation that AIME preserves to help us understand from whence we’ve come and appreciate what we have today. If you have questions or suggestions about this newsletter or AIME activities, please contact Associate Executive Director, Michele Gottwald.

Sincerely,
Dan Thoma
2007-2008 AIME President, TMS Past President, and Materials Design Institute Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory

President Thoma recently had the pleasure of visiting AISTech (AIST’s annual meeting and exhibition) in Pittsburgh, PA and presenting AIME Honorary Membership to David K. Matlock, as well as an update on AIME activities to their Board. Their town hall forum where a journalist fields viewpoints from leading CEOs in the industry on hot trends, issues, and opportunities was enlightening. He also enjoyed hearing from the leader of ThyssenKrupp USA about their strategies to operate in their global marketplace. The iron and steel industry, like the fields of the other AIME Member Societies, is thriving, as witnessed by the over 8,000 attendees.

CLICK HERE for the complete list of Honorary Membership recipients.

In 1871, 22 mining engineers in Pennsylvania had an idea: preserve their collective knowledge and experiences for the benefit of future engineers through a society of similar professionals. Hence, the American Institute of Mining Engineers was born. AIME grew with man’s quest to explore and increase productivity and created a petroleum division in 1922, an iron and steel division in 1928, and an institute of metals division in 1933. In 1956, the organization changed its name to the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. Today, the four Member Societies of AIME (now separately incorporated 501(c)3 organizations) include:

• The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME)

• The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

• Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST)

• The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

AIME supports these four member societies through the conferring of awards, scholarships, and grants and represents them in the larger engineering and scientific community.

AIME was one of the first national engineering Societies established in the United States, and along with the ASCE (civil), ASME (mechanical), IEEE (electrical), and AIChE (chemical), it is known as an engineering Founder Society. Together these groups form the United Engineering Foundation.

The AIME Board is made up of 8 voting trustees, two nominated from each AIME Member Society (see http://www.aimehq.org/offtrust.cfm for current photos and bios). The AIME Board meets via conference calls in the spring and fall and an in-person meeting each summer.

AIME staff consists of Executive Director, J. Rick Rolater, located in Eagle, CO, and Associate Executive Director, L. Michele Gottwald, located in Littleton, CO.

This July 31 – August 2, the AIME Board will be meeting in Jackson Hole, WY. For a complete list of other upcoming AIME events see related Meeting/Events table below.

AIME confers 9 Major awards and funds 15 other awards each year. It currently gives away approximately $60,000 in scholarships annually. Nominations and applications are currently being accepted for most through June 15th. For more information or to submit online, please see http://www.aimehq.org/awards/awardlist.cfm.

AIME has digitized 247 volumes of technical papers and meetings proceedings from 1871-1970. Online access to these documents is free to members of the AIME Societies via the Members Only section of your Society’s website.

For more information, see http://www.aimehq.org/transactions/index.cfm

TMS is leading a joint effort of staff from AIME, its Member Societies and three other engineering Founder Societies (AIChE, ASCE and ASME) to develop world-class leadership training and an online community for emerging leaders in our industries. The mission of the Emerging Leaders Alliance is to provide an interdisciplinary community of learning for engineering and scientific professionals who will guide our professions in addressing the needs of people in the 21st Century.
The first event will be held October 9-11, 2008 in Pittsburgh, PA. Registration and hotel costs are being covered by a project grant from the United Engineering Foundation. The goal is to expand the program in 2009 to include on-line training to accompany a second capstone course in the fall of 2009. For more information, please send an email to ela@tms.org.

July 31-August 2, 2008	AIME Annual Board Meeting	Jackson Hole, WY
September 21-24, 2008	SPE Annual Meeting	Denver, CO
October 5-8, 2008	MS&T	Pittsburgh, PA
October 9-11, 2008	Emerging Leaders Training	Pittsburgh, PA
February 15-19, 2009	TMS Annual Meeting	San Francisco, CA
February 22-25, 2009	SME Annual Meeting	Denver, CO
May 5-7, 2009	Offshore Technology Conference	Houston, TX
May 4-7, 2009	AIST Annual Meeting	St. Louis, MO