On the History of ESDA: 1992 to Present

The Engineering Systems Design and Analysis (ESDA) conference was started by the then Petroleum Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Petroleum Division was, and still is under the umbrella organization International Petroleum Technology Institute of ASME International, one of the very active, forward looking, and entrepreneurial group of engineers whose sole purpose is to serve their membership through technical activities that will benefit society at large. Their leaders have always been very creative, open minded, and helpful to the engineers they served as well as all who needed their expertise. It was under this type of leadership that ESDA was born in 1992. In 2000, after the 5th Biennial Conference in Montreux, Switzerland, a meeting was held by the Petroleum Division Chairman, the General and Technical Program Chairmen of ESDA 2000, two staff members from the Petroleum Division, the Chair of the Swiss Section, and the ASME Region XIII Vice President where it was decided to turn over the responsibilities for future conferences of ESDA to the international region of ASME, Region XIII. Thus, this, the third conference since then, has become the premier conference for this region of ASME and is still thriving at this the 8th Biennial Conference in Torino.