Engineering Fundamentals: An Introduction to Engineering, 4th ed.c

2.4 Getting Involved with an Engineering Organization 35

2.4 Getting Involved with an Engineering Organization

There are many good reasons to join an engineering organization. Networking, participating in plant

tours, listening to technical guest speakers, participating in design competitions, attending social

events, taking advantage of learning opportunities through short courses, seminars, and conferences,

and obtaining student loans and scholarships are a few of the common benefits of belonging to an

engineering organization. Moreover, good places to learn more about areas of specialization in engi-

neering are the Web sites of various engineering organizations. As you spend a little time reading

about these organizations, you will discover that many share common interests and provide some

overlapping services that could be used by engineers of various disciplines. You will also note that the

primary purpose of these professional engineering organizations is to offer the following benefits:

1. They conduct conferences and meetings to share new ideas and findings in research and
   development.


2. They publish technical journals, books, reports, and magazines to help engineers in partic-
   ular specialties keep up-to-date.


3. They offer short courses on current technical developments to keep practicing engineers
   abreast of the new developments in their respective fields.


4. They advise the federal and state governments on technology-related public policies.


5. They create, maintain, and distribute codes and standards that deal with correct engineer-
   ing design practices to ensure public safety.


6. They provide a networking mechanism through which you get to know people from dif-
   ferent companies and institutions. This is important for two reasons: (1) If there is a prob-
   lem that you feel requires assistance from outside your organization, you have a pool of
   colleagues whom you have met at the meetings to help you solve the problem. (2) When you
   know people in other companies who are looking for good engineers to hire and you are
   thinking about something different to do, then you may be able to find a good match.

Find out about the local student chapters of national engineering organizations on your cam-

pus. Attend the first meetings. After collecting information, choose an organization, join, and

become an active participant. As you will see for yourself, the benefits of being a member of an

engineering organization are great!

Join an engineering organization!

AlChE

Source:Courtesy of AIChE

Source:Courtesy of ASCE http://www.asce.org

Source:Courtesy of ASME http://www.asme.org

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