I have experienced the best of what many NSPE members know and value about this organization—inclusion, community, and an unwavering commitment to professional ethics. I am also a young female engineer whose professional path was directly shaped by those values. That is why I volunteered to help introduce the Engineering Access and Growth Committee and its goals for 2025–2026. Please join me in extending a warm welcome and a commitment to the conversations our NSPE community needs to have to move forward as a profession—to learn, to lead, and to help shape the future of engineering through the Engineering Access and Growth Committee.

Why Access and Growth Matter

My story is, in many ways, a success story in why access and growth matter, how that work has evolved, and why there is still so much work left to do.

My first NSPE experience involved a breakfast meeting at the local diner just off I-85 in Rockland County, New York. One of the leaders in my firm invited me to the monthly New York State Society of Professional Engineers’ Construction Interest Group meeting where local practicing engineers shared experiences and planned events over coffee and eggs. As a fresh graduate in a new city and on my first job, this was my introduction to the professional experience of inclusion.

Another year or two later, I’m working at the sign-in table for monthly PDH sessions hosted by the NYSSPE Rockland County Chapter. I’m setting up activities for the local Engineering Expo and talking to high school students about engineering programs and career paths. I began to see something powerful—firms that competed every day were coming together to earn PDHs, mentor students, support robotics teams, and cheer on MATHCOUNTS participants. This was community in action.

NYSSPE provided me a connection to both my career and exactly why I wanted to get into the industry in the first place by creating places and infrastructure for people to come together. NSPE’s explicit focus on ethics, the responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, sealed that connection for me. Here was a community that believed doing the right thing mattered, and that we were stronger when we worked together. I was all in.

I have been a part of NSPE for all 12 years of my professional career. Along the way, I proudly shared my experiences back home and even bragged, shamelessly, about being named Rockland County Young Engineer of the Year in 2011. When I later moved to Charlotte to join the LandDesign firm, NSPE once again became a bridge, offering opportunities to serve at the national interest group level and to stay grounded in a professional community during a major life transition. Three key words come to mind when I reflect on these experiences: inclusion, community and ethics.

How Community Shapes Leaders

I am a proud NSPE poster child. That one step into the NSPE interest groups lead to an invaluable chance to serve on the board of directors as an interest group chair, where I was inspired by leaders carrying our organization through strategic planning, COVID, and membership restructuring. I was in the first class of the NSPE Emerging Leaders Program and in the second class of the Women’s Leadership Conference at NSPECon (both in Kansas City) five years apart. These experiences have been invaluable, and the connections I have made to engineers all around the country will continue to teach me new things throughout the future.

I’m especially grateful because it’s important (and a bit embarrassing) to note that I stumbled through some of these experiences. NSPE gave me a safe space to work out what being a young professional in the industry is all about. That included moments like speaking directly to a client at a chapter meeting without realizing who they were—or remembering their name too late. It also included some of my best and most of my worst public speaking practice at committee meetings, board meetings, and even in state conference speaking opportunities. These opportunities, imperfections included, were some of the most beneficial to my growth and development, personally and professionally.

Advancing What Matters

I’m the most proud about my involvement in the NSPE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee since its inception in 2019. This work has been the most challenging and rewarding experience of my professional career so far.

Many of us can point to a moment when someone else opened a door, extended an invitation, or took the time to teach us something we didn’t yet know. Those moments shape careers. They shape confidence. They shape who stays, who advances, and who leads. Creating more of those moments—deliberately and consistently—is the work before us.

I’ve been asked to introduce a new committee name and invigorated focus to the career initiative within an organization that greatly influenced who I am as a professional. One of my favorite NSPE memories came when I was invited to an NYSSPE Annual Meeting to speak on behalf of the DEI Committee. The keynote speaker was the head of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. He spoke about access in public spaces and how parks should be places that are safe and accessible to everyone. Everyone deserves to sit on a park bench in their neighborhood and appreciate the breeze, the sun, and the moment. He spoke about the importance of an equitable mission statement, then pulled up the current NSPE Engineer’s Creed and read it slowly and deliberately to the room. Every word. He said he had never heard a more thoughtful and intentional creed. I will never forget that feeling of pride and validation.

The Engineer’s Creed, as it reads today, was revised through the work of a resilient and passionate group of NSPE members. They wanted to ensure our guiding mission spoke to inclusion, community, and ethics. It was one of many difficult journeys, built on the foundation of diversity of opinions all thoughtfully reviewed and considered. But the focus remained on bringing others into the opportunities this organization offers.

As we move into 2025–2026, NSPE has sharpened its focus through the Engineering Access and Growth Committee. This evolution reflects our commitment to strengthening the engineering pipeline and ensuring that every licensed professional has a clear pathway to contribute to the public’s health, safety, and welfare. I am proud to continue working alongside passionate NSPE members and staff to advance opportunities this organization offers to as many people in the engineering industry as possible.

The Engineering Access and Growth Committee builds on the same foundation— expanding opportunity, strengthening the profession, and ensuring that the engineering community reflects and serves the public it is sworn to protect, through promoting professional growth and accessibility, regardless of a person’s background or identity.

The Mission of the Engineering Access and Growth Committee

We commit to:

• Offer resources addressing the need to recruit and grow the next generations of engineers who will continue legacies and establish new ones
• We will showcase our work through the lens of access, opportunity, and inclusive advancement.
• Talk about how firms and teams of all sizes can expand entry into the profession, not just getting through the door, but providing meaningful career development and visible pathways to success. For quality to improve, this requires meaningful transfer of knowledge and experience.
• Have serious discussions about how critically and urgently we need to communicate better. The sharing of knowledge and experience between generations will be key to innovation in a changing and dynamic world. We can’t afford to fall further behind in recruiting and advancing our industry.
• Delivering practical resources through webinars, articles, and new web-based initiatives to help NSPE members build and sustain inclusive professional teams.

Our goal, simple to the common eye but complex in reality, is to engage and strengthen the future of the engineering industry.

Advancing the Profession Together

My passion for this work remains unwavering We may not get this perfect every step of the way, just as my own career journey has had its bumps and turns I don’t think I’m alone in that, just as I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to advance the value NSPE can bring to anyone’s career. I wholeheartedly believe that if you followed my story through this lengthy article, you also identify with the experience of being invited, welcomed, and supported throughout your career as I was We share similar goals.

These professional pathways are not yet accessible to all talented young people in our communities As technology reshapes how we design, communicate, and build, our responsibility as licensed professionals—to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public—has never been more critical Our professional licenses, and our responsibility to protect the public, are needed now more than ever.

Let’s continue forward together, offering invitations and a warm welcome to all to the conversations and actions NSPE needs to have to move our profession ahead.