Mary Frecker, head of Penn State's Mechanical Engineering Department, speaks at the 2025 IDETC conference. Credit: Courtesy of Mary Frecker.
Mary Frecker receives American Society of Mechanical Engineers service award
Sept 2, 2025
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mary Frecker, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Riess Chair in Engineering at Penn State, was recognized with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Dedicated Service Award during the 2025 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC), which took place from August 17-20.
The award honors long-term, dedicated service to ASME at the national level. In a rare distinction, Frecker was nominated jointly by two ASME divisions — the Design Engineering Division and the Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems Division.
Frecker received the award during the conference's awards ceremony, where she was joined by Scarlett Miller, the Paul Morrow Professor of Engineering Design and Manufacturing at Penn State and current chair of the Design Engineering Division.
A leader in mechanical and biomedical engineering, Frecker’s research spans compliant mechanisms, smart material systems and biomedical device design. Through her service, she has helped shape technical communities and foster collaboration across engineering disciplines.
Frecker earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton and the University of Michigan, respectively.
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