engineering

National Society of Professional Engineers

National Society of Professional Engineers is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Society of Professional Engineers rather than just read about it. In short: The National Society of Professional Engineers (abbreviate as NSPE) is a professional association representing licensed professional engineers in the United States. NSPE is the recognized voice and advocate of licensed Professional Engineers represented in 53 state and territorial societies and over 500 local chapters.

Key takeaways

National Society of Professional Engineers belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Society of Professional Engineers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Society of Professional Engineers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Society of Professional Engineers (abbreviate as NSPE) is a professional association representing licensed professional engineers in the United States. NSPE is the recognized voice and advocate of licensed Professional Engineers represented in 53 state and territorial societies and over 500 local chapters. The society is based in Alexandria, Virginia.

History The society was founded in 1934 as a nontechnical organization for licensed professional engineers. The bridge engineer David B. Steinman was its first president and one of the group of professional engineers that established it. NSPE published Canons of Ethics for Engineers and Rules of Professional Conduct in 1946, which evolved to the current Code of Ethics adopted in 1964. The first fundamental canon is "Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public." In 1973, NSPE entered into an agreement with the Society of Women Engineers to support efforts to increase the number of women professional engineers. In 1976, NSPE was the petitioner in National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States, 435 U.S. 679 antitrust case. The United States government brought this antitrust suit against NSPE, claiming that NSPE's ethical canon prohibiting its members from submitting competitive bids for engineering services suppressed competition which was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. NSPE countered with argument for exception under the Rule of Reason. The United States Supreme Court decided against NSPE, allowing the submittal of competitive bids by members thereafter.

Partners NSPE has founded and works closely with a number of nonprofit organizations and outreach-based activities.

National Engineers Week was founded in 1951 by NSPE to encourage diversity within engineering and ensure that there would be enough engineers in the future. Different aspects of this event include "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day", which is designed to overcome the gaps that appear between genders in engineering employment. NSPE cofounded the middle school mathematics competition MATHCOUNTS in 1983. More than 350,000 middle school students from across the United States take part in the math-based competition each year. NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies) is a division of NSPE. NAFE (National Academy of Forensic Engineers) is a chartered affiliate of the NSPE. To qualify to apply as a full member of NAFE, one must be a Professional Engineer as well as a member of NSPE. Becoming a full member also qualifies one as a Board-Certified Forensic Engineer through the Council on Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB). NSPE awards include the NSPE Award, NSPE Distinguished Service Award, NSPE Young Engineering of the Year Award, QBS Award, Engineering Education Excellence Award, PEGASUS Award, PEPP Award, and the Federal Engineer of the Year Award. In partnership with several other organizations, NSPE sponsors the Washington Award. NSPE formerly published the Professional Engineers' Income and Salary Survey but no longer does so.

See also Engineering Glossary of engineering California Society of Professional Engineers Engineering ethics

References

External links NSPE official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Society of Professional Engineers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Society of Professional Engineers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Society of Professional Engineers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Society of Professional Engineers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Society of Professional Engineers

In research: National Society of Professional Engineers appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Society of Professional Engineers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Society of Professional Engineers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American engineering organizations, American organizations established in 1934, Engineering societies based in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Society of Professional Engineers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Society of Professional Engineers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Society of Professional Engineers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Society of Professional Engineers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Society of Professional Engineers in simple terms?

Why does National Society of Professional Engineers matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Society of Professional Engineers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Society of Professional Engineers.