Spring 2022

NSPE Today: Outlook
Making NSPE and the Engineering Profession Better

BY RICK GUERRA, P.E., F.NSPE, PRESIDENT 2021–22

On September 3, 1934, the day NSPE was formed, our founder and first president David Steinman, Ph.D., P.E., said, “Through membership and active participation in NSPE, the individual engineer renders his contribution toward making engineering a better and more satisfying profession than he found it.” As an engineer, Steinman understood our innate desire to make things better and give back to the profession we hold dear. As members of this great organization, many of us volunteer our time and talents in selfless service to others, hoping that our efforts will make a difference. All too often, we rely on blind faith for assurance that our work is not in vain. As your president, I have seen firsthand how the work that you do is making our organization and our profession better.

The last two years have been difficult to say the least. The pandemic challenged us all personally and professionally. As an organization, NSPE also experienced unprecedented challenges. It was those very challenges that served as a rallying cry for members, volunteer leaders, and staff to rise to the occasion and do what we do best – solve problems. Working with so many wonderful and talented volunteers across the country for the past nine months, has filled me with hope of a brighter future for NSPE and our noble profession. Throughout our pandemic experience we have learned from and responded to every challenge. In an extraordinary show of resiliency, we have continued to develop engineering leaders while simultaneously finding new and creative ways to engage our members, provide greater member value, and communicate the critical importance of engineering licensure.

Developing engineering leaders has always been at the core of NSPE’s mission. Throughout the pandemic, our commitment to this activity has remained firm and unshaken. Although Covid restrictions required adaptation of curriculum and a pivot to virtual delivery, our leadership programs remained strong across the country. At the national level, 16 exceptional young engineering leaders graduated in February from the third edition of our Emerging Leaders Program. A growing list of our state society partners, including but not limited to, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas are developing engineering leaders through similar leadership programs, strengthening our organization and profession. Year after year, we continue to develop the talent that will lead NSPE and the engineering profession into the future.

The pandemic also forced us to find new and exciting ways to engage our members. The pivot to virtual member gatherings eliminated artificial geographical boundaries and created networking and educational opportunities for members across chapter and state lines. As we emerge from the grips of the pandemic, we find our members learning, networking, and building lasting relationships through virtual and in-person activities that are new, exciting, and different. Whether it be through multi-chapter gatherings in Alaska and Kansas, Beers with Engineers in South Carolina, or Young Member Virtual Trivia Happy Hours in Texas, our members are engaging like never before.

Entering the year, it was important to understand how the pandemic changed the personal and professional needs and value expectations of members and non-members alike. NSPE invested in a research project to explore the subject. A member needs survey, coupled with key stakeholder interviews and non-member focus groups revealed fresh and exciting insights and opportunities to provide greater value to our existing members and attract new ones. In the coming year, NSPE leadership and staff will work collaboratively with our state society partners to convert this valuable new information to added value for members.

For NSPE to realize its vision, we must educate the public, and most importantly our legislators, on the meaning and essential purpose of the engineering license. To that end, we continue to collaborate with the Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing (with whom NSPE is a founding member) to counter the anti-licensure rhetoric being spread around the country. The addition of our #ProudPE, and #IamNSPE campaigns this year shed more light on the importance of engineering licensure and the role it plays in the protection of public health, safety, and welfare.

As we continue to advance our mission of “Fostering Licensed Professional Engineers in Service to Society” we together are building a legacy that will inspire future generations of engineering leaders and attract the best and brightest to our profession. There is still much work to be done if we are to realize our vision of “a world where the public can be confident that the engineering decisions affecting their lives are made by qualified and ethically accountable professionals.” However, after traveling this special journey with you, I have no doubt that the leadership and membership of this organization will take us there.

Words cannot express my gratitude for your membership and commitment to NSPE. Our organization and our noble profession are better because of you.