ASME and the ASME Foundation's philanthropic work and programs over the years have helped build a more qualified and diverse engineering workforce, John Falcioni writes. Falcioni shares how ASME Foundation scholarships have benefited the careers of Danielle Jacobson, a project engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Operations, and new Ph.D. recipient Eurydice Kanimba.

The common biomechanics of bird flight are still poorly understood, but Stanford University researchers have made significant progress with their flying PigeonBot, which features 40 actual feathers and a lightweight frame. Key to the development of the robot is the realization that a pigeon's wing is essentially a massive, underactuated system that allows it to soar without actuating each feather individually, said mechanical engineering professor David Lentink.

Freshman mechanical engineering major Jovani Esparza, a Dean's Scholarship recipient at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, hasn't had an easy path, having worked since the age of 10. Esparza credits the examples of his immigrant parents and older brother to inspire him to new heights and hopes to use his engineering degree to help build the kind of water infrastructure that his parents lacked in their village in Mexico.

Congress will allow the Navy to purchase two large unmanned surface vessels, or LUSVs, as part of a $2.7 billion program to develop and field unmanned platforms over the next five years, but for now the service will not be allowed to include vertical launch tubes. David Larter offers an overview of the Navy's vision for the LUSV program and how it plans to achieve it.

The amphibious assault ship USS America recently exercised with Japan's transport dock ship JS Kunisaki in the East China Sea. The exercise included personnel exchanges, communication drills and flight demonstrations.

The Navy plans to install a laser weapon system on the Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Little Rock, which will deploy within a year. No further information on the type of system was provided.

The Navy has begun what it is calling an "all hands on deck" effort to remedy the many kinks delaying deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. The Make Ford Ready program will address the carrier's Advanced Weapons Elevators, faulty aircraft launch system and other technical problems.

The Navy is signaling great interest in electric propulsion for a variety of its future vessels, according to Jamie McMullin, senior director of business development for Leonardo DRS Naval Power Systems. Meanwhile, Leonardo's focus "is to get solutions embedded into [the] Navy so the fuel savings and stealth benefits can be realized by the operators," McMullin said.

Last week's keel laying marked the start of construction on the 39th Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer built by Bath Iron Works. The ship will be named after John Basilone, a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who earned the Medal of Honor for leading a tank safely through a minefield under fire at Iwo Jima.

The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Pittsburgh reached the rare milestone of 1,000 dives three years ago and now, after 35 years of service, will be decommissioned. "The USS Pittsburgh forged of iron and steel just like her namesake -- has always been a source of pride for our town," said Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa.