Madiha El Mehelmy Kotb, a resident of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and head of the Pressure Vessels Technical Services Division for Regie du batiment du Quebec, has been elected president of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) for a one-year term beginning July 2013. ASME issued the announcement at the Society’s Annual Meeting, which concludes this week in Indianapolis, Ind.  Kotb becomes the 132nd president of ASME, and the fourth woman, to lead the engineering organization, which has more than 130,000 members worldwide.

An ASME Fellow and active member of the Society for 18 years, Kotb has held numerous leadership positions within the organization, serving on the ASME Board of Governors from 2008-2011 and as vice president of Conformity Assessment from 2003-2006.  She has served as chair of the ASME Presidential Task Force on Uniform (Financial) Reporting.

Kotb has also served in the Society as a member of the ASME Committee on Governance and Strategy, the Council on Codes and Standards, and the Committee on Ethical Standards and Review.

Kotb is a licensed engineer in the Province of Québec and heads the Pressure Vessels Technical Services Division for Régie du bâtiment du Québec, a Board established by the Québec Government to ensure the quality and safety of buildings and systems, including safety programs within the field of pressure vessels. She is also a member of the National Board of Boiler Inspectors representing the Province of Québec.

In addition to her term as chair of the ASME Québec Section (2000-2003), Kotb has served as a member of the Society’s Engineering for Global Development committee and was the lead volunteer member for Engineering For Change (E4C), a dynamic and growing community of engineers, technologists, social scientists, NGOs, local governments and community advocates whose mission is to improve quality of life in communities around the world. She has also served as a member of the E4C, LLC management committee.

Beginning her engineering education in materials engineering at the American University in Cairo, Kotb is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal where she received her bachelor and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.  A recognized leader among her peers, she is a recipient of the ASME Dedicated Service Award and the Canadian Standards Association Award of Merit for her contribution to the development of Canadian nuclear standards.