ASME CATALYZE Announces Featured Speakers, Program Tracks for Inaugural 2026 Summit
ASME CATALYZE Announces Featured Speakers, Program Tracks for Inaugural 2026 Summit
NEW YORK (February 24, 2026) — The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) today announced a first slate of featured speakers and program tracks for ASME CATALYZE, its new summit focused on accelerating sustainable industrial transformation, taking place June 17–18, 2026, in Detroit. Designed as an execution focused convening, ASME CATALYZE will bring together leaders from engineering, industry, investment and government to address how energy systems, manufacturing and infrastructure can be built, funded and scaled at the pace demanded by global economic and climate pressures.
Featured speakers include senior leaders and technical experts from across the industrial ecosystem, including:
“CATALYZE is designed to move beyond talk and into execution,” said ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile. “By bringing engineers together with the organizations that deploy capital, set standards and shape markets, we’re creating a platform to accelerate real world industrial transformation.”
The ASME CATALYZE program is organized around three focus areas, supported by cross cutting themes that span the full industrial value chain:
Program sessions will feature interactive formats such as roundtables, workshops and technical discussions that tackle practical questions around affordability, risk, standardization and speed of deployment. Early session topics include engineering challenges tied to AI driven power demand, pathways for deploying new nuclear technologies, and strategies for scaling next generation clean manufacturing.
Co produced by ASME with Constructive, ASME CATALYZE will be held at Newlab Detroit and Michigan Central, placing the summit at the center of Detroit’s ongoing manufacturing and innovation renaissance.
For the full and most up to date list of speakers and program details, visit catalyze.asme.org.
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.
About Constructive
Constructive is an independent nonprofit reengineering how we collaborate to advance energy abundance and a thriving planet. Rooted in proven models developed at Bloomberg, CERAWeek, and the U.S. Department of Energy, Constructive creates cross-sector platforms that extend the impact of existing work — linking events, dialogues, coalitions, and strategies into sustained efforts that move markets. We design and lead transformative convenings and long-term dialogues around priority challenges where alignment is critical. As a nonpartisan broker, Constructive combines expert facilitation, human-centered design, and world-class production to build trust and drive joint execution. Our collaboration-first approach ensures analytical rigor, durable partnerships, and collective follow-through. For more information, visit constructive.org.
About Michigan Central
Michigan Central is a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit, where leaders, thinkers, communities and creators come together to accelerate bold ideas and technologies that shape our collective future. By providing access to world-class infrastructure, tools, and resources, Michigan Central inspires innovators and community members to collaborate on real, ground-breaking solutions to global problems. Since opening in April 2023, Michigan Central has grown into a diverse ecosystem of nearly 250 companies and startups working at the intersection of mobility, technology and society. Learn more at michigancentral.com.
Monica Shovlin
MCShovlin Communications LLC (for ASME)
monica@mcshovlin.com
+1.541.554.3796
Featured speakers include senior leaders and technical experts from across the industrial ecosystem, including:
- Daniel Abbate, technical director, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
- Sean Bradshaw, senior fellow, sustainable propulsion, Pratt & Whitney
- Steve Chengelis, vice president, energy supply, nuclear development and fusion, EPRI
- Marcius Extavour, senior partner, Ode
- Lisa Hansmann, director, Foundry-Logic
- Tim Latimer, CEO, Fervo Energy
- Alain Lefevre, sustainability strategy director, Schneider Electric
- Carolina Pluszczynski, chief operating officer, Michigan Central
- Deepa Poduval, senior vice president and global sustainability leader, Black & Veatch
- Jigar Shah, co managing partner, Multiplier
- Ishan Sharma, founder and director, Chimaera Fund, Renaissance Philanthropy
- Daan Walter, principal, Ember
- Michael Webber, Sid Richardson Chair in Public Affairs and John J. McKetta Centennial Energy Chair in Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
- Kent Welter, chief engineer, testing and analysis, NuScale Power
- Milo Werner, general partner, DCVC
“CATALYZE is designed to move beyond talk and into execution,” said ASME Executive Director/CEO Tom Costabile. “By bringing engineers together with the organizations that deploy capital, set standards and shape markets, we’re creating a platform to accelerate real world industrial transformation.”
The ASME CATALYZE program is organized around three focus areas, supported by cross cutting themes that span the full industrial value chain:
- Engineering to Meet Energy Demand — Examining how affordable, resilient, low carbon energy systems can be engineered and scaled to meet rising load from manufacturing, electrification and artificial intelligence (AI).
- Paths for Industrial Transformation — Exploring how efficiency, electrification and clean energy integration can be deployed across industrial operations, from legacy assets to next generation facilities.
- Unleashing Advanced Manufacturing — Focusing on digital, AI enabled and next generation design and manufacturing technologies that can accelerate modernization while improving speed, cost and performance.
Program sessions will feature interactive formats such as roundtables, workshops and technical discussions that tackle practical questions around affordability, risk, standardization and speed of deployment. Early session topics include engineering challenges tied to AI driven power demand, pathways for deploying new nuclear technologies, and strategies for scaling next generation clean manufacturing.
Co produced by ASME with Constructive, ASME CATALYZE will be held at Newlab Detroit and Michigan Central, placing the summit at the center of Detroit’s ongoing manufacturing and innovation renaissance.
For the full and most up to date list of speakers and program details, visit catalyze.asme.org.
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.
About Constructive
Constructive is an independent nonprofit reengineering how we collaborate to advance energy abundance and a thriving planet. Rooted in proven models developed at Bloomberg, CERAWeek, and the U.S. Department of Energy, Constructive creates cross-sector platforms that extend the impact of existing work — linking events, dialogues, coalitions, and strategies into sustained efforts that move markets. We design and lead transformative convenings and long-term dialogues around priority challenges where alignment is critical. As a nonpartisan broker, Constructive combines expert facilitation, human-centered design, and world-class production to build trust and drive joint execution. Our collaboration-first approach ensures analytical rigor, durable partnerships, and collective follow-through. For more information, visit constructive.org.
About Michigan Central
Michigan Central is a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit, where leaders, thinkers, communities and creators come together to accelerate bold ideas and technologies that shape our collective future. By providing access to world-class infrastructure, tools, and resources, Michigan Central inspires innovators and community members to collaborate on real, ground-breaking solutions to global problems. Since opening in April 2023, Michigan Central has grown into a diverse ecosystem of nearly 250 companies and startups working at the intersection of mobility, technology and society. Learn more at michigancentral.com.
# # #
Media Contact:Monica Shovlin
MCShovlin Communications LLC (for ASME)
monica@mcshovlin.com
+1.541.554.3796
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