Italian Trade Agency announces call for papers, scholarship support from SME Education Foundation

In support of the Italian Trade Agency’s call for papers for the 2014 Italian Machine Tool Technology Awards, the SME Education Foundation will award scholarships to the top winners.

The IMTTA program is a competition asking upper-level students attending premier North American universities to write a thesis on the relative innovation taking place in mechanical engineering-related industries and the issues they face. Winners will be awarded a two-week trip to Italy with activities scheduled June 29 to July 12, 2014, as well as the Foundation scholarship.

Papers must be relevant to the disciplines surrounding mechanical engineering, based on actual case histories, and developed according to the following suggested topics:

• Mechatronics and the role of mechanical engineers
• The use of GD&T to lower manufacturing costs
• Robotics R&D, focusing on autonomy, automation, and dynamic/kinematic programming
• Additive technologies in high-precision metallic parts manufacturing

Submitted papers should be 10 to 12 pages long, typed and double-spaced. Attachments such as footnotes and images are allowed. Papers should be submitted in electronic format by May 9 to Rodney Grover of the SME Education Foundation at rgrover@sme.org.