Tim Austin, PE, NSPE National President, presented a year end summary at the NSPE June conference on June 23rd, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. 10 NYSSPE members including Executive Director Anthony Fasano, PE (seen in the photo above with Tim Austin) attended the conference to bring NYSSPE these updates. In a year of increased activism and impact, here are 17 specific ways NSPE delivered for professional engineers, based on Austin’s update and documentation handed out at the meeting.
1. Protecting the License
Across the country, NSPE addressed the growing number of challenges that would weaken or eliminate licensure. The most serious of these came in August, where extensive advocacy efforts by the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers and NSPE resulted in the Indiana Job Creation Commission rescinding its recommendation to eliminate licensure of the professional engineer in the state. Similar efforts at “occupational reform,” while often not specifically targeting the PE, presented serious threats to engineering licensure in Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
More: https://www.nspe.org/threatstope
2. Ethical Innovation: Autonomous Vehicles
NSPE took a leadership role in the field of autonomous vehicles, ensuring the involvement of PEs and their dedication to protecting the public health, safety, and welfare. NSPE contributed to the regulatory discussion about autonomous vehicles at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the California Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles to ensure ethical innovation and safety in this developing technology. NSPE’s message resonated with the media. It was covered and distributed widely by AP, highlighted on the PBS NewsHour, and covered internationally, for example, by the UK’s
Daily Mail. More: www.nspe.org/autonomous