March 2022
In this issue…
Congratulations to Catie Cox on Her New Position with PENC
Lunch and Learn Events = Big Success
Next Steps for VSPE’s Member Engagement
Life Members and Eligible Retired Members Qualify for Free/Reduced Membership Dues
Meet the 2022 Federal Engineer of the Year
Mark Your Calendars: 2022 Professional Engineers Conference
2022 NSPE Student Scholarships Available
Congratulations to Catie Cox on Her New Position with PENC
The Virginia Society of Professional Engineers wants to congratulate and thank Catie Cox, our former Membership Director, on her new full-time position with the Professional Engineers of North Carolina!
Catie helped VSPE to raise the bar in member engagement and benefits, taking our work on part-time last July. We had a scope of work for her that changed after she initiated a member benefit survey. We listened to you and held Lunch and Learn sessions (about one per month) since Catie started working for us. We wish her the very best and will strive to keep that bar going up for you.
Lunch and Learn Events = Big Success
Many of you participated in our monthly Lunch and Learn events-making them a great success. These events are conducted at no additional cost for VSPE members and nonmembers can attend for $30. While we are searching for a new Membership Director, we’re taking a pause on these events. Thank all of you for your kind comments of support and your input to help us serve you better.
Next Steps for VSPE’s Member Engagement
VSPE receives a modest amount of annual dues revenue from NSPE. The following are programs we are able to afford for our new Membership Director.
- Quarterly Lunch and Learn events, scheduled 6-12 months in advance. Topics include:
- Structural disaster case study (transportation)
- Structural disaster case study (building)
- Public private partnership: success story case study
- The engineer’s role in mitigating supply chain challenges
- Post card mailings to licensed PEs in Virginia twice a year-advertising six months of Lunch and Learn events and promoting VSPE. There are about 12,000 PEs who call Virginia home!
- Improve outreach efforts to engineering colleges and universities to increase student membership and advertise Lunch and Learn events.
- Manage two (2) Nationals baseball game outings for members and their families.
- Continue outreach efforts to welcome new and rejoining members.
- Outreach efforts to members who are delinquent on dues renewal, and those who decided to drop their membership.
- Manage retired and lifetime status memberships for renewal cost savings to eligible members:
- A waiver of dues if the individual has been a continuous member of NSPE for a period of 40 years.
- Half-price dues if the individual has been a continuous member of NSPE for a period of 25 years and provides engineering consultation totaling 300 hours or less in a given calendar year.
Life Members and Eligible Retired Members Qualify for Free/Reduced Membership Dues
As they say on NBC Nightly News, “There is good news tonight.” We have checked your years of membership to NSPE and have found many good friends and volunteers who are eligible for Life Membership status. With 40 years continuous membership, you are eligible for free dues renewal. VSPE is validating the Life Member list with NSPE and will reach out to each of you with the necessary forms for you to enjoy this elite status!
Once we get a new Membership Director on board, we’ll use their resources to reach out to those who have 25 years of continuous membership with the necessary forms to evaluate if your workload meets the 300 hours or less each year requirement. If so, you will enjoy half the cost to renew each year.
We want to thank Peter Skaredoff, P.E., who suggested we initiate this project. Peter is our House of Delegates representative, a Tidewater Chapter Treasurer, and a Director on our VSPE Board.
Stay up to date on legislative issues through the NSPE Advocacy Center.
Meet the 2022 Federal Engineer of the Year
Robert Zueck, Ph.D., P.E., was named NSPE’s Federal Engineer of the Year during a virtual awards event on February 24 for his discoveries and contributions in the engineering field. The Federal Engineer of the Year Award, sponsored by the Professional Engineers in Government, honors engineers employed by a federal agency that employs at least 50 engineers worldwide.
Zueck works in the US Department of the Navy’s Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), Expeditionary Warfare Center at Port Hueneme, California. He is heralded for applying his vibration research to military defense projects for which engineers can now design beyond the speed, agility, and stealth limitations of many military sensors, weapons, and platforms.
“Every success for me has come out of the hard teamwork of many fellow engineers and scientists,” Zueck stated. “I thank them all—particularly those who provided valuable constructive criticism of my rather unique research results.”
In a basic research project conducted several years ago, Zueck discovered how geometrically complex vibrations initiate, grow, and sustain themselves, often limiting higher performance for many combat systems. He used this new vibration knowledge to improve the Expeditionary Warfare Center’s modeling capability for designing, analyzing, and deploying towed sensors, ship moorings, sub-sea arrays, and other slender naval structures.
“This basic science discovery could be very useful for modeling, simulating, and testing in many other fields of engineering and science,” he said. Read more.
Mark Your Calendars: 2022 Professional Engineers Conference
The 2022 NSPE Professional Engineers Conference will bring together professional engineers across disciplines from August 1–3, in Philadelphia at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown. Registration for the conference opens in April.
PECON attendees can access specialized content from experts as they discuss issues and trends impacting the profession, develop power skills and life skills not taught in school, and advance their careers by expanding their expertise and preparing for future developments in the industry.
The seventh annual PE Day will coincide with the conference’s culmination on August 3. These two events allow PEs to join their peers in celebration of the profession and advocacy for licensure.
NSPE will continue to monitor health and safety guidelines while we proceed toward hosting this in-person event.
2022 NSPE Student Scholarships Available
Students can apply for the 2022 NSPE Education Foundation scholarships through a new online submission platform. The following scholarships have an April 1application deadline:
The Maureen L. and Howard N. Blitman, P.E., Scholarship to Promote Diversity in Engineering is awarded annually to a high school senior from an ethnic minority who has been accepted into an ABET-accredited engineering program at a four-year college or university.
The Auxiliary Legacy Scholarship is awarded annually to a female undergraduate entering or continuing their junior year of a four-year ABET-accredited engineering program.
The Steinman Scholarship is awarded annually to undergraduates entering or continuing their junior year in a four-year ABET-accredited engineering program.
The George B. Hightower, P.E. Fellowship is awarded annually to a current engineering undergraduate or graduate student who is enrolled in, or graduated from, an ABET-accredited engineering program.
Coming soon! The Swadesh and Om P. Popli, P.E., P.L.S. Scholarship will be a multi-year scholarship, providing $5,000 each year for the recipient’s four-year education. Applicants must be a female high school senior from an ethnic minority pursuing a degree in engineering at an ABET-accredited program.