November 13 – Engineering Ethics Refresher & Regulatory Board Update – Atlanta Metro Chapter

  • Monday, Nov 13, 2023
  • 6:00 PM
  • Piccadilly Cafeteria, 2000 Crescent Centre Blvd., Tucker, GA 30084 In Person
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About:

Everyone wants to trust the bridges. The bridges, roadways, buildings, water supplies, sewer systems; people depend on them without a second thought.  They assume the workplaces and public spaces to be free of ventilation and fire hazards. They want a clean and safe environment. Many in the general public are not aware of the principles and intricacies involved and must rely on those with training and skills. People expect that the technical decision makers are competent and conscientious; that they know what they’re doing and will do it right. Because of this, all of the USstates have laws regulating the practice of engineering and land surveying. Nationwide, the regulatory boards, including theGeorgia Professional Engineers and Land SurveyorsBoard, were set up not to serve the professionals, but to safeguard the welfare health and safety of the Public. Engineers, through their technical training have a moral obligation to this cause.

William Womack, PE, Board Member and Past Chair of theGeorgia Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Boardwill present on Engineering Ethics Refresher & PELS Board Update at the November 13th monthly meeting of the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers Atlanta Metro Chapter at Piccadilly Cafeteria, 2000 Crescent Centre Blvd., Tucker, GA 30084. Mr. Womack will discuss engineering ethics stemming from the moral and legal obligations of professional engineers to safeguard the public welfare, health and safety, and will give examples to guide consideration of situations that may arise. He, as a member of the board that regulates the practice of engineering and land surveying, will also present an update of the developments of PELS board transition to an independent state agency and its commitment to the PEs and PLSs to be more effective in serving the public good.

Ethics is something that is integral to engineering practice, not supplemental to it.”

Jon Schmidt, professional engineer & author

The face-to-face gathering will start at 6:00. The meeting presentation will be recorded and available for later viewing at no cost. This presentation, like the previous presentations, will qualify for a required engineering professional development hour (PDH). Currently registered professional engineers, those engineers aspiring to become PEs, and others engaged in engineering or land surveying would benefit from the presentation. Anyone in the field of engineering and members of the general public are welcome to pose questions and to learn about engineering and public welfare.         

 Both F2F and later archived viewing (www.youtube.com/GSPEng) .are FREE.          

William (Bill) B. M. Womack, PE, a southeast Louisiana native, graduated with a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering (BEE) degree from Auburn University in 1975. He became a Georgia Registered Professional Engineer in 1979. His career includes experience with Southwire in the Corporate Engineering Group and Lead Engineer for Parson Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas. In 1981 he joined three other professional engineers to form a multi-disciple consulting engineering firm, GPW&G, Inc. Bill was the sole proprietor of Womack & Associates, an electrical engineering consulting firm he started in 1988 and was closed in August of 2019 and now is semi-retired, but still in the electrical engineering field. Bill was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal to the Georgia Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors in December 2012 as the electrical engineer member of the board. Bill is also anIEEE Life Senior.

About The Meeting

The GSPE Atlanta Metro Chapter meetings are open to engineering professionals, students, and other interested members of the public. The meetings usually take place on the second Monday of each month, September through June. The meetings start with F2F networking at 6:00 pm, followed by dinner and the speaker at 7:00. The presentation will be archived for later viewing on the GSPE video channel, www.youtube.com/GSPEng. Many engineers enjoy the presentations as well as earn a required Professional Development Hour.

About The GSPE Atlanta Metro Chapter

The 200-member Atlanta Metro Chapter of the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers serves registered professional engineers and developing engineers by providing networking and continuing education opportunities. Each year GSPE hosts a continuing education event, GSPE PDH Day(This year, Friday, December 2nd) when engineers can earn a number of Professional Development Hours in a single day. 

The local chapter also serves the wider metro Atlanta community as an information resource and contact for the engineering profession. Members, locally and across the state, actively support MATHCOUNTS®, a nationwide competitive program that has promoted excellence in middle school studies of mathematics for over thirty years. The GSPE also awards college engineering scholarships each year. GSPE members are often asked to address school classes to talk about applications of science and technology.

The Georgia Society of Professional Engineers is a state affiliate of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). The National Society of Professional Engineers is the recognized voice and advocate of licensed Professional Engineers. Founded in 1934, NSPE strengthens the engineering profession by promoting engineering licensure and ethics to assure the public’s safety, enhancing the engineer image, advocating and protecting PE’s legal rights at the national and state levels, publishing news about the profession, providing continuing education opportunities, and much more. NSPE serves some 50,000 members and the public through 53 state and territorial societies and more than 500 local chapters. 

About Professional Engineer Registration

To assure public health, safety, and wellbeing, all 50 states have passed laws establishing boards to oversee the practice of engineering. These boards license engineers, enforce professional ethics, and address issues concerning unlicensed practice. The Georgia State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors is part of the Secretary of State\’s office. Georgia has 27,000 Professional Engineers and 3,190 engineering firms.

To become a registered professional engineer, the candidate must have the required education from an accredited engineering curriculum, be of good character, pass an eight-hour exam of the engineering fundamentals (usually about the time of college graduation), have four years of quality experience, make an application to the state board, and pass another eight-hour exam of their engineering knowledge. Upon being granted registration, the applicant can use the designation “PE” after their name. 

“The Professional Engineers are aware of the many needs for technical solutions for issues such as protecting the environment, addressing water and other resource shortages, facilitating transportation, promoting employment and quality of life,” said Luther Cox, past State President of GSPE. “An ultimate goal is that, in this fast-emerging technological world of ours it is required that all planning, design, build and maintenance work be supervised by Professional Engineers, so there are no more oil well disasters, falling bridges, collapsing walkways, or exploding factories.”