Terpenny Begins Term as ASME’s 145th President, New Members and Nominees to the Board of Governors Announced

NEW YORK (June 16, 2026) – Janis Terpenny, Ph.D., has begun her term as the 145th president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Society announced during its annual meeting on June 7. Terpenny, an ASME Fellow and active ASME volunteer for more than 20 years, currently serves as program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), primarily focused on smart/intelligent manufacturing and systems. She is a rotator (IPA), on loan from George Mason University where she is a professor of systems engineering and operations research and mechanical engineering.

Previously, Terpenny served as program director for the Division of Undergraduate Education at the NSF, dean of engineering at the University of Tennessee and department head of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Penn State University and at Iowa State University. She served as the first technical lead for the Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise (AME) area of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) during the development of the institute's roadmap and first strategic investment plan. She was co-founder and director of the Center for e-Design, an NSF IUCRC center comprised of seven universities and over 30 industry members. She has also been a professor at Virginia Tech in the departments of engineering education, mechanical engineering, and industrial and systems engineering, and in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has nine years of industry work experience with GE, including a two-year corporate management program.

Previously, Terpenny chaired ASME’s Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Group and served on the Fellows Review Committee. She founded, and for 10 years chaired or co-chaired, the Broadening Participation Committee (BPart) for the ASME Design Engineering Division. She served as the first associate editor of design education for the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design and has organized sessions and presented papers at the International Design Engineering Technical Conference and the Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference for many years.

Terpenny is also a Fellow and member of ASEE and IISE and member of INFORMS, SME, Alpha Pi Mu, and Tau Beta Pi. She is an associate editor for multiple journals. Previously, she served as a senior vice president on the IISE Board of Trustees. She has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching, in research, and for service.

In addition, the ASME Board of Governors welcomed the following four individuals who were elected by the ASME membership to a three-year term that ends June 2029:



Alisa Morss Clyne, Ph.D., an ASME Fellow, is a professor in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland and director of the Vascular Kinetics Laboratory. Her research focuses on vascular biomechanics, specifically how blood vessels respond to mechanical forces from blood flow.

Clyne started her mechanical engineering career in the GE Aircraft Engines' Technical Leadership Program. After earning her Ph.D., she then worked as a mechanical engineering professor at Drexel University before moving to the University of Maryland.

Clyne is an active participant in the ASME Bioengineering Division, having served as chair of the Education Committee, program chair and then conference chair of the Summer Bioengineering Conference, and most recently chair of the Bioengineering Division.

A passionate educator, she won several awards for her effective integration of engineering principles into biological applications, and she founded multiple initiatives to broaden opportunities in engineering research and education. Her research also has been recognized with numerous awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, an AHA National Scientist Development Grant, and the BMES-CMBE Rising Star Award. She is also a fellow of the American Heart Association, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society,

Clyne earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and a Ph.D. in medical and mechanical engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.



Daniel Kearney, Ph.D., MBA, an ASME Fellow, is the chief technology officer at Firmus Technologies in Singapore, where he manages the development of an award-winning AI infrastructure platform, directing hardware and software strategies to align with the Firmus vision of developing the most efficient AI infrastructure to address the demands of the AI-Energy nexus.

Kearney began his career in applied research in Ireland, obtaining his doctorate in mechanical engineering with a focus on liquid cooling solutions for high heat flux silicon chips. He continued his research at several renowned European institutions, including the CEA-Leti in France and ABB Corporate Research Centre in Switzerland, specializing in thermal management solutions from die to data centre. He has received several awards for his research and holds several patents and has a prolific publication record in his field.

In 2018, Kearney began working at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a global solutions architect. He later moved to Singapore to serve as the ASEAN head of technology and managed the enterprise solutions architecture function, supporting customers in utilizing cloud technology to advance their digital transformation.

Kearney has been a member of ASME since 2006 and has held various volunteer leadership positions including on ASME’s ECLIPSE Board of Governors (2013-14), chair of the Switzerland Section (2016- 2018), member of the Engineering Sciences Segment and member of the Nominating Committee.

Kearney holds a B.E. in mechanical engineering from UCD Dublin, a Ph.D. in experimental heat transfer and fluid mechanics from the University of Limerick, and an MBA from IMD Switzerland, where he was valedictorian speaker. He is currently a Forbes Technology Council member, board member of the Irish Chamber of Commerce Singapore, and a Chartered Engineer with Engineers Ireland.



Victoria (Vicki) Blocker Risinger, an ASME Fellow, has over 20 years of energy industry and ASME leadership experience. At ExxonMobil, she served as a key architect for strategic planning, contract frameworks and stakeholder alignment for multibillion-dollar global projects and capital investments, including Guyana's deepwater developments, one of industry’s most technically demanding and fastest-growing frontiers. Her career spans the full oil and gas value chain, including technical, commercial, and business development roles across manufacturing, engineering, subsea equipment and services.

For more than two decades, Risinger has shaped ASME's direction through leadership across four of five sectors, often serving as the youngest or first female in significant roles, including vice chair of the Technical & Engineering Communities Sector and chair of the Petroleum Division Executive Committee. She also founded ASME’s first diversity-focused leadership award in honor of a late colleague and partnered with the ASME Foundation to expand scholarship opportunities. Her ASME journey began as Student Section Chair and Capstone Design Project Team Lead for an ASME Student Design Competition.

Risinger earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering technology with a minor in industrial supervision from the University of Houston, where she was an Academic All-American, four-year letter winner and Division I athlete in swimming.



Robert J. (Bob) Stakenborghs, MSME, PE, an ASME Fellow, is currently president of Advanced Microwave Imaging, Inc. (AMWI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Apave North America, with offices in Houston and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He leads the development of specialized microwave non-destructive testing (NDT) equipment and techniques for inspecting composite materials, including wind turbine blades, GFRP tanks and piping, and HDPE piping. He continues to support clean energy projects, including advanced nuclear reactors, nuclear fusion systems, and renewable energy technologies.

Previously, Stakenborghs served as general manager at ILD and Evisive, Inc., where he led a team of engineers developing nuclear power engineering and microwave inspection equipment, processes, and ASTM/ASME standards for HDPE piping. His earlier roles include senior management positions at Sargent & Lundy and consulting positions at Enercon and NEPCO, supporting nearly all the U.S. commercial nuclear fleet.

Stakenborghs previously served as the senior vice president of the ASME Technical and Engineering Communities (TEC) Sector, is a past chair of the ASME Nuclear Engineering Division, and participates in multiple ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code committees.

Stakenborghs earned a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Catholic University of America and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana State University, with minors in nuclear engineering and fluid mechanics. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Louisiana and has authored numerous articles and peer-reviewed papers in the areas of microwave NDT, thermal/hydraulic analysis, and equipment performance.



The Nominating Committee, under the leadership of Gemma Iruegas, selected the following four nominees for future member-at-large positions on the Board of Governors. The nominees’ names will appear on the ballot in September 2026 and, if elected by the ASME membership, they will serve on the Board for a three-year term beginning June 2027. The Governor-Nominees are:

Oscar Barton, Jr., Ph.D., PE, an ASME fellow, is professor and dean of the Morgan State University Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering. Serving as its third dean, he joined Morgan from George Mason University where he established its Department of Mechanical Engineering. Under Barton’s leadership, the undergraduate program received initial EAC-ABET accreditation retroactive to fall of 2015. Prior to joining Mason, he began his academic career at the United States Naval Academy. While at the U.S. Naval Academy and in its 163-year history, Barton was one of only three African-Americans to obtain the rank of tenured full professor and the first to achieve this milestone in the Division of Engineering and Weapons, Division I. He was the first African-American to lead the Mechanical Engineering Department as chair.

Barton chaired ASME’s Committee on Engineering Education, ASME’s Nominating Committee, served as a member of ASME Public Affairs and Outreach Council, and served as a member-at-large on the Engineering Accreditation Commission’s Executive Committee of ABET, after having served numerous years as a program evaluator and commissioner. Currently, he also serves on the ASME Foundation Board of Directors.

Barton is a Fulbright IEA HBCU Scholar-France & Senegal and Fulbright Specialist – France. Until recently, he served as a member on the Board of Trustees for Missouri University S & T, a member of the Army Education Advisory Committee, and Academic Advisory Council for ABET, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, ASEE Public Policy Committee, and the Global Engineering Deans Council. He is vice chair for the Council of HBCU Engineering Deans. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Tuskegee (Institute) University, and a M.S. in mechanical engineering and Ph.D. in applied mechanics from Howard University.



Amy Betz, Ph.D., an ASME Fellow, is currently an associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering and assistant dean for academic success at Kansas State University. In this role, she oversees multiple scholarships, student success programming, and the general engineering program, which includes the first-year introductory courses. Betz has been at Kansas State University for 15 years, starting as an assistant professor and serving as the assistant dean for retention, diversity, and inclusion.

Betz currently serves as chair of the ASME Inclusion Strategy Committee and has been a member since 2020. On this committee, she helped create and disseminate the Inclusion Toolkit. She is also the student section advisor for Kansas State University. She was previously the conference chair for the International Conference on Nano, Micro, and Minichannels.

She received her Ph.D. and Master of Science in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from The George Washington University.



Cameron C. Martin is the director of component safety and quality improvement at Westinghouse Electric Company, where he is responsible for developing and implementing multi-year strategies that improve first-pass quality and embed safety into both design and manufacturing processes. He works across engineering and factory organizations to modernize production environments, deploy advanced manufacturing capabilities, and drive behavioral and cultural improvements across a workforce of more than 1,000 personnel.

Previously, Martin led global product development and innovation portfolios for Westinghouse, overseeing large teams of engineers and researchers and advancing clean energy initiatives in areas such as hydrogen, energy storage, and next-generation reactor technologies.

With more than 25 years of experience in commercial nuclear power, advanced manufacturing, and robotics, Martin has held leadership roles across engineering, manufacturing, licensing, and global product management. He has led large, multidisciplinary teams and complex operations supporting critical nuclear infrastructure, with a consistent focus on improving operational performance, strengthening safety culture, and delivering high-quality, first-of-a-kind solutions.

An active member of the engineering community, Martin serves on the ASME Industry Advisory Board and contributes to industry initiatives focused on workforce development, energy innovation, and regulatory advancement. He has also collaborated with organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and U.S. National Laboratories to support global energy and technology initiatives.

Martin holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.



Brian Y. Webster, CRE is site operations manager at Shell's Technology Center Houston, where he leads safe, reliable, and efficient operations for the company's largest global research facility. He brings more than 30 years of experience in engineering, operations leadership, and high-hazard industrial environments, with a focus on reliability, asset performance, and disciplined execution. Most recently, he led operations readiness for major capital projects, ensuring the disciplined transition of multi-billion-dollar investments into operational assets aligned with safety, performance, and lifecycle value objectives. Previously, he served as reliability manager at Shell's Puget Sound Refinery, where he reduced unplanned downtime from 5.5% to 1.1%, achieving top-quartile performance. He also held maintenance and reliability leadership roles at Shell's Deer Park Refinery and Chemical Plant, and earlier technical roles with Dresser-Rand and Stoner Associates. He served as an ordnance officer and company commander in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Webster is an active ASME volunteer and past chair of the Petroleum Division, where he restored fiscal sustainability by realigning expenditures with revenue and improving budget transparency. He has served on the Division's Executive Committee since 2019, with contributions across the Big Data for Oil & Gas, Digital Transformation in Oil & Gas, and Robotics Technology committees, conference leadership, scholarship review, and collegiate engagement. He contributed to ASME's STB 1-2020 Digital Transformation Guideline and has held leadership roles in the South Texas Section and Apollo Subsection.

Webster is a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and has served in nonprofit governance as senior vice president and officer of the Mount Baker Council Board (BSA).

Webster earned an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, an M.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Houston, and a B.S. in engineering science (mechanical) from Trinity University.



For more information on the ASME Board of Governors, visit https://www.asme.org/about-asme/governance.


About ASME
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real-world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education, and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. In 2020, ASME formed the International Society of Interdisciplinary Engineers (ISIE) II & III LLC, a new for-profit subsidiary to house business ventures that will bring new and innovative products, services, and technologies to the engineering community. For more information, visit www.asme.org.