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I hope everyone had a good summer. I would like to share with you some thoughts on enhancing the image of professional engineers and also raising the bar to enter the profession.

Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in the United States to improve the public understanding of engineering. Despite these efforts, educational research shows that K–12 teachers and students generally have a poor understanding of what engineers do. Polling data show that the public believes engineers are not as engaged with societal and community concerns as scientists or as likely to play a role in saving lives. And when asked to judge the relative prestige of professions, people tend to place engineering in the middle of the pack, well below medicine, nursing, science, and teaching (Harris Interactive, 2006). Engineers and the NYSSPE want people to have an accurate, more positive impression of engineering.

The Professional Engineering profession has been undergoing an identity search. With the advent of information technology and the global market, competition from engineering offices overseas and from other local professions is unprecedented. Technical engineering knowledge is no longer a guarantee for career success; rather a combination of numerous professional skills is required. The growing unease of civil engineers about their undefined role in the knowledge economy has led many to question the value of engineering education. Although there is a push to enhance the humanistic and business aspects of the curriculum, there is a push in the opposite direction to strengthen the technical content and keep abreast of technical change.

At the July NSPE convention I attended in Portland, OR, there was a lot of discussion about raising the bar for our profession and supporting the B+30 proposal.

In January, state Senator Joel Johnson of Kearney, NB introduced Legislative Bill 742 to enact the “Bachelor’s + 30” requirement. If the bill passes, engineering licensure candidates would have to complete 30 additional hours of board-approved coursework credits beyond the bachelor’s degree before sitting for the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in Nebraska. LB 742 would also allow candidates with master’s degrees in engineering to sit for the PE exam.

In 2006, the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) adopted a change to the Model Law for professional engineers to require, after the year 2015, a bachelor’s degree plus either 30 additional credits or a master’s degree in engineering as a prerequisite for licensure as a professional engineer (B+30). These Model Law provisions will become effective only after adoption in each of the 56 engineering licensure jurisdictions. This initiative has been advocated by engineering societies including the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers.

There will be many positive impacts including a long term improvement in the image and role of engineers; a potential decrease in the “commoditization” of the services in the engineering profession; improvement in the breadth and depth of technical knowledge and in written and verbal communication skills of newly registered engineers, and a potential increase in private practice profitability as engineering compensation increases in general. Potential negative impacts that are often brought up include concern over a shortage of engineering graduates in some disciplines and some markets, and the cost of providing additional engineering education for engineers who enter the job market with bachelor’s degrees and obtain additional engineering education while working, perhaps partially at company expense.

The NCEES has set up a Bachelor’s Plus 30 Task Force to address implementation issues relative to the future additional education requirement for engineering licensure. Its charges include defining approved course credits and course providers. Ultimately, the work of the task force will result in the development of procedures that will make the B+30 requirement easy to implement by NCEES Member Boards.

Another topic I would like to touch upon is more local - NYC Mayor Bloomberg has formally appointed Robert LiMandri as the NYC Department of Buildings Commissioner after signing into law Introduction 755-A, which was approved by the City Council. This legislation requires that either the Commissioner or the First Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Buildings be a licensed Architect or Engineer, giving the Mayor flexibility in choosing the person to run the Department of Buildings, while ensuring that an individual with the technical expertise of a licensed architect or professional engineer is in the department's highest leadership levels. Eliminating the requirement that the Commissioner be a licensed professional was a clear message from the Mayor and the City Council that they do not have a positive image of our profession. Although our Society was against this legislation and voiced our position at every possible opportunity, we were successful in amending the initial proposal so a licensure requirement remains on the books..

I would like to congratulate everyone who participated in our efforts to try to have a professional engineer as the NYC Building Commissioner. My thanks to the state staff, in particular Kelly Norris, who really coordinated the efforts among the various chapters, and to Mark Kriss, Esq., our legal counsel, who guided us through the process.

Please join me at our meeting on September 17th to continue this discussion on how to improve the image of our profession, and on the B+30 program.