Keep it up!

Thanks to Rich Wiengardt, P.E., for his article in the September 2005 Structural Engineer magazine on the Royal Gorge Bridge. My family and I just returned from a mid-August vacation visit to Colorado Springs, and we also drove down to Cañon City, Colo., to see the bridge. It is, as Rich said, “a magnificent structure” and worth the trip if you're in the area.

The views are breathtaking. I was particularly thrilled to see the bridge featured in your magazine immediately when we returned.

Thanks again, and please feature more famous structures in your articles.

Dennis G. Goodno, P.E.
White Bear Lake, Minn.

Requirements of a “profession”

I am the chairman of the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) Uniform Procedures and Legislative Guideline (UPLG) Committee for 2005-2006. One of our primary charges for this next year is to write, and present to the Council, Model Law legislation which would add additional required education prior to licensing for all engineering licensure candidates.

There are obviously many questions the committee must answer, such as: How much education is required (suggested 30 hours)? Is a graduate degree required? Is distant learning acceptable? When should the requirements be enacted? How does it affect comity? As a starting point we are using the studies by Dr. Monte Phillips and his report to the NCEES in August. Much research toward more required education has been done by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in their Body of Knowledge (BOK) studies (visit www.asce.org/raisethebar). This should be required reading by all engineers.

The Department of Labor has minimum educational standards it uses to determine if a person qualifies as a professional. The four years now required for licensing does not qualify, so the question “What profession?” is valid. This - additional education - is the most important step the profession has taken since the original licensing efforts to strengthen our profession.

A second charge is to study the effect of changing technology on engineering practice; your projected roundtable is an example of the changing technology.

One of the greatest challenges to the new legislation and the changing of long-held educational standards will be the lack of understanding on the part of many engineers of the necessity to keep up with the changing technology. The average number of credits required for graduation from an ABET-accredited degree program has dropped from 150-145 in the 1960s to 125-130 today.We have lost both technical and liberal arts requirements. It must be reversed.

Anything you and similar engineering publications can do to push the concept would be very helpful. Keep up your fine publication and your efforts to expand our horizons.

Claude Baker, P.E., S.E.
via e-mail

Profession versus Professional?

Regarding Jennifer Goupil's editorial in the September 2005 issue, the proper question to ask is, “What is a professional?” Much more enlightening is one of the definitions of “professional” in my dictionary, [which] reads, “… a person who engages in some art, sport, etc. for money, especially as a means of livelihood rather than as a hobby …” Is it any wonder “professional engineer” gets little respect? Perhaps when practicing structural engineers become Board Certified by the national Structural Engineering Certification Board (www.secertboard .org), our “profession” will attain true “professional” status. A need for the article “Licensed Not To Kill,” by Gary C.

Hart, Ph.D., C.E. (within the same issue of Structural Engineer) is strong evidence that many structural engineers still do not understand the duty that the engineering professional owes to clients and the public. Our duty is unique; no other “profession” compares.

Emile W.J. Troup, P.E., SECB
Canton, Mass.