MILWAUKEE, March 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announced two members of the panel of expert judges participating in its Infrastructure Vision 2050 Challenge Finale event at CONEXPO-CON/AGG on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada at 9:30 am.
The judges are recognized experts in the fields of infrastructure, technology and entrepreneurship, and will be responsible for assessing the proposals of the five Challenge finalists and awarding up to $100,000 in cash prizes.
"We have recruited several infrastructure leaders to bring the Infrastructure Vision 2050 Challenge to an exciting conclusion at CONEXPO-CON/AGG next week," said AEM President Dennis Slater. "The Challenge finalists are bringing breakthrough solutions to the show and AEM is pleased to host this exciting exchange of ideas with such a respected and well-rounded panel of judges."
The judging panel will include:
Adie Tomer – Adie is a fellow at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program and a respected voice in the infrastructure conversation in Washington, DC and across the country. He is a leading contributor to Newsweek, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and MSNBC on metropolitan infrastructure usage patterns and the intersections between infrastructure and technological development.
Elle Shelley – Elle is Chief Marketing Officer at Local Motors, the car manufacturing company responsible for the world's first 3-D printed electric car. She is also Executive Vice President at Launch Forth, Local Motors' newest division that aims to help big name manufacturers like GE and Airbus innovate faster.
Renowned technology entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa will host the event. Vivek is a Distinguished Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering and a Director of Research at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering. He is a globally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and author of The Immigrant Nexus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent.
The finalists will pitch their infrastructure transportation concepts in front of a live audience at the Tech Experience, a 75,000 square foot immersive, future-forward pavilion that showcases the future of the construction industry.
The Infrastructure Vision 2050 Challenge is part of a larger policy-focused thought-leadership initiative launched by AEM in 2015 to develop a long-term national vision for United States infrastructure.
About the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) - www.aem.org
AEM is the North American-based international trade group providing innovative business development resources to advance the off-road equipment manufacturing industry in the global marketplace. AEM membership comprises more than 950 companies and more than 200 product lines in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors worldwide. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the world capitals of Washington, D.C.; Ottawa, Canada; and Beijing, China.
SOURCE Association of Equipment Manufacturers
