Elevating the status of the Engineering Profession 4

[josephv]

Our world is faced with environmental problems, a looming energy crisis, famine and poverty.

These are problems that can be ameliorated by some technological fixes. It is engineers who should lead us towards our better future.

But instead of leading, our profession is battling to survive.

Our noble profession is besieged with layoffs, underemployment, salary reductions, and diminishing job prospects.

Amid these predicaments, concrete actions are being undertaken in Ontario, Canada to elevate the status of the Engineering Profession, and make us leaders.

1) The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers was created in order to help educate the government and the public on the importance of the engineering profession.

2) The Engineer in Residence Program was launched so that, volunteer engineers would visit public schools and help teach youngsters on how math and science are applied in the real world.

3) “Engineers without Borders” is a charity that is helping developing countries.

4) Universities are revamping their curriculum to include design courses and applied engineering in the first year of studies. In addition to this, more emphasis is being placed on communication skills.


What actions have been taken in your corner of the world to elevate the status of our profession? What additional actions should we take?

 

[TheTick]

OK, all you fans of "looking things up":

The Einstein phone number story lacks credibility. No one ever comes up with a name for the alleged journalist, the date of the interview, or the publication for which the interviewer worked. Sounds like an urban myth to me.

Somebody hit the books and find some sort of actual firsthand documentation that elevates the Einstein phone number story beyond the status of urban myth. If it's true, I'm sure any can find it.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

 

[leanne]

If urban myth, it has yet to make it to snopes.com - although, there are a few Einstein references there.

I did a few searches but WOW!!! There are tons of references to Albert Einstein online. Schools named after him, hospitals named for him, a phone system programs,...too cumbersome...maybe later when I've got time...

from a sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton:

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

 

[miner00]

Leanne - That is a great quote.

I think that that is something that is too often overlooked in the engineering profession. It sometimes seems like it doesn't matter what data you collect or how well you design something as long as you can create a graph of how well it will work (or think it will work.)

miner

 

[PSE]

"Laws" of Research,

"Enough research will tend to support your theory."

"If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed of."

It's what management lives by

 

[peglor]

When I see some people say the PE exam is very difficult while others say it just tests for basic competence I have to say I'm very curious as to the contents of the exam.

Are there sample PE exams available somewhere? In Ireland where I live, the equivalent to the PE is to become a Chartered Engineer. If memory serves me correctly, the process of becoming chartered is as follows:

First you need 8 years of experience in engineering, though 4 of those years can be those spent studying for an accredited BEng. degree.

You then need to be a member of the Institute of engineers of Ireland (There's an annual fee for membership) and have references from two chartered engineers, at least one of whom can vouch directly for your work. You then write an essay on an area of engineering in which you consider yourself to have a lot of experience and submit it to the IEI. They read and rate your essay and decide from this whether to make you a chartered engineer.

 

[sayee1]

-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Other quotes:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious; It is the source of all true art and science
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Generations to come will find it difficult to believe that a man such as Gandhi ever walked the face of this earth
Not until we dare to regard ourselves as a nation, not until we respect ourselves, can we gain the esteem of others, or rather only then will it come of its own accord
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to enhance all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty
I never think of the future - it comes soon enough
The important thing is not to stop questioning
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited while imagination embraces the entire world.
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.
If I had only known. I would have become a locksmith.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.
Reality is the real business of physics.
The creative scientist studies nature with the rapt gaze of the lover, and is guided as often by aesthetics as by rational considerations in guessing how nature works.
Here arises a puzzle that has disturbed scientists of all periods. How is it possible that mathematics, a product of human thought that is independent of experience, fits so excellently the objects of physical reality? Can human reason without experience discover by pure thinking properties of real things?
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made [in science] is moved by the profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in science.
That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.
The only way to escape the personal corruption of praise is to go on working. One is tempted to stop and listen to it. The only thing is to turn away and go on working. Work. There is nothing else.
One ought to be ashamed to make use of the wonders of science embodied in a radio set, while appreciating them as little as a cow appreciates the botanical marvels in the plant she munches.
We believe in the possibility of a theory which is able to give a complete description of reality, the laws of which establish relations between the things themselves and not merely between their probabilities ... God does not play dice.
Insofar as mathematics is about reality, it is not certain, and insofar as it is certain, it is not about reality.
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.
Have holy curiosity.
Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.
Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science.
Watch the stars, and from them learn. To the Master's honor all must turn, each in its track, without a sound, forever tracing Newton's ground.
Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.
Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
Common sense is a collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.
Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my dreams in music. I see my life in terms of music... I get most joy in life out of music.
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one ... I do not believe that civilization will be wiled out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two thirds of the people of the Earth will be killed.
Perfection of means and confusion of ends seems to characterize our age.
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.
If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German ... should my theory prove untrue ... Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
No amount of experimentation can prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.
The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me.
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
When the solution is simple, God is answering.
In long intervals I have expressed an opinion on public issues whenever they appeared to be so bad and unfortunate that silence would have made me feel guilty of complicity.
Armament is no protection against the war but leads to war. Striving for peace and preparing for war are incompatible with each other
Study and, in general, the pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all of our lives.
He who finds a thought that lets us even a little deeper into the eternal mystery of nature has been granted great peace.
The big political doings of our time are so disheartening that in our generation one feels quite alone. It is as if people had lost the passion for justice and dignity and no longer treasure what better generations have won by extraordinary sacrifices.
There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idealized.
All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.
Anybody who really wants to abolish war must resolutely declare himself in favor of his own country's committing a portion of its sovereignty in favor of international institutions.
Cosmic religiousness is the strongest and most noble driving force of scientific research.
When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me that my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.


Thanks and regards
Sayee Prasad R
Ph: 0097143968906
Mob: 00971507682668
email: sayee_prasad@yahoo.com
The black holes of nature are the most perfect macroscopic objects there are in the universe: the only elements in their construction are our concepts of space and time.

 

[TheTick]

Thank you, Sayee Prasad.

I believe it is very important, when a figure such as Einstein or Gahndi, Hitler or Stalin, Jesus or Bhodisatva has such a huge impact on the world, that we endeavor to know the solid truth about them. This to prevent charlatans and mediocrities from destroying that truth with heresay and robbing us of the valuable lessons learned at great expense.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

 

[Maui]

I do not intend to make light of the content of this thread, but it seems to me that if a general rule can apply across various professions, it is the "rule of thirds". Keep in mind that this sweeping generalization is just that: it is not intended as a hard and fast rule, but a rule of thumb. Select any professional position, whether it is a an accountant, engineer, teacher, etc. and you will find in general that: 1/3 of those so employed excel at their chosen profession, 1/3 are competent and at least perform adequately, and the remaining 1/3 are less than competent. I currently work with people from all 3 groups. And the most frustrating days seem to be the ones where I am forced to interact mainly with the members from the last group.

I'm sure that each one of you can think of at least one professional that you've met who is less skilled at their job than you would have thought someone should be. If you take an idiot and educate him, you will have an educated idiot. Intelligence is not the sum content of what we have learned, but lies our ability to logically reason our way through the facts so that we can draw a sound conclusion from them. An appropriately constructed exam should be able to filter out the less than competent individuals from the skilled ones. Hence, RDK's proposal for mandatory licensure. If properly constructed, such an exam would act as an effective barrier to those not adequately skilled in the profession.

 

[sayee1]

The Tick
I guess you meant Gandhi but misspelt him Gahndi It makes a hell lot of difference to the meaning if you pronounce the name that way.......
To Leanne
I could not find anything on the net that corroborates what you said about Einstein, but read the following exerpt from a Sherlock Holmes story(in the A Study In Scarlet)..agreed that he was fiction but the concepts should be usable in real life!!!
He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed Stamford's opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.

"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."

"To forget it!"

"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

"But the Solar System!" I protested.

"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."

I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but something in his manner showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. I pondered over our short conversation, however, and endeavoured to draw my deductions from it. He said that he would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way—

Sherlock Holmes—his limits.

1. Knowledge of Literature.—Nil.

2. „ „ Philosophy.—Nil.

3. „ „ Astronomy.—Nil.

4. „ „ Politics.—Feeble.

5. „ „ Botany.—Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.

6. „ „ Geology.—Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.

7. „ „ Chemistry.—Profound.

8. „ „ Anatomy.—Accurate, but unsystematic.

9. „ „ Sensational Literature.—Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.

10. Plays the violin well.

11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.

12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.[/color blue]



Thanks and regards
Sayee Prasad R
Ph: 0097143968906
Mob: 00971507682668
email: sayee_prasad@yahoo.com
The black holes of nature are the most perfect macroscopic objects there are in the universe: the only elements in their construction are our concepts of space and time.

 

[SErgini0]

Guys one advice I have to offer to all of you: Follow the MEME concept.
MEME= Maximum Efficiency, Minimum Effort.
Works for me, works for everybody.