Advances in transportation and telecommunications infrastructure have been major factors in the development of our increasingly globalized world. The international interdependence of our economic, cultural and technological activities are matched by increasingly universal challenges that require the collective efforts and knowledge of experts from around the world working towards common solutions.
Fortunately, problem-solving is the mantra of the engineering profession, regardless of where one is studying or practicing engineering. Recognizing the benefits of cross-border collaboration, the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) hosts an annual conference that invites engineers and industry leaders from across the United States and internationally for a two days of informative presentations/workshop sessions, professional development activities and networking.
For anyone unfamiliar with NSPE, the organization can be considered as the American equivalent of OSPE — the voice and advocate for engineers. In the US, every state has its own regulatory body, but similar to many Canadian provinces, not all states have a separate advocacy organization dedicated to the professional well-being and growth of its engineers. This is part of what makes Ontario’s engineering community so unique.
NSPE’s 2017 Professional Engineers Conference, themed “Focusing the Future”, will be hosted in Atlanta from July 19-23, 2017. NSPE is now accepting presentation submissions from engineers interested in presenting sessions on engineering ethics, innovation in engineering, technical topics of interest to engineers, or leadership development.
OSPE encourages interested members to consider participating in the 2017 Conference or to submit a presentation for consideration, to highlight some of the challenges that engineers are facing on this side of the border, as well as the solutions that are being developed to address these needs. The Professional Engineers Conference is an ideal forum for sharing professional experiences, skills and methods of approach to promote lifelong learning. It is a means for challenging one another and investing in the profession as a whole to drive impactful change.
“One of the true highlights of the Professional Engineers Conference is networking and learning from other professional engineers across the country, and even across borders,” said Chris Butler, P.E., chair of the Professional Engineers Conference Planning Task Force and a member of the NSPE Board of Directors. “We especially enjoy the interaction and engagement with OSPE and Canadian engineers because there is such a similarity between the challenges and opportunities we all face, and the chance to collaborate and learn from each other is very rewarding.”
Engineering is all about finding the best answers to problems given the resources at hand. Most real world situations are complex, multi-faceted, approximated and feature constraining factors or incomplete information. There is strength in numbers, so there is no telling what can happen when engineers with diverse perspectives and experiences come together to learn from and support one another.
If you are interested in submitting a presentation for the 2017 Professional Engineers Conference, complete this form by January 17, 2017, for full consideration.
