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Kansas Professional Engineer eNews

 May 2009, Issue 4

In this Issue:

• Summer is Time for Growth

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by Thomas Roberts, P.E.

Colleagues

 During the past 12 months, your KSPE Executive Committee and Board of Directors have been “Changing the Conversation” with a strategic focus on:

w  Increasing the impact on the Kansas Legislature and public policy,
w  Clarifying/aligning the KSPE message and more clearly communicating that message to current & potential members, the Kansas Legislature, and the general public, and,
w  Providing for the sustainable growth of KSPE membership and revenues.

Max Depree in his book Leadership is an Art states that a leader’s purpose is to “define reality & say thank you.”  Below are some realities that define KSPE:

·         The primary purpose of KSPE is to “Promote & Protect” the engineering license.

·          KSPE is an essential player helping define the economic future of our global economy.

·         “No profession unleashes the spirit of innovation like engineering.  From research to real-world applications, engineers constantly discover how to improve lives by creating bold new solutions that connect science to life ….” (NAE study, 2008).

·         Your Executive Committee and Board of Directors have worked effectively to modify the KSPE Constitution & Bylaws to expand membership opportunities and streamline operations.  (However, important work with other states and NSPE must be completed at the national meeting in St. Louis in July 2009.)

·         Your Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and Gaches-Braden staff have been fiscally responsible and maintained positive cash flow in spite of declining membership revenues.  (We need you to recruit new members:  Please go to www.kansasengineer.org, print off the forms, and invite a new member to join KSPE!!)

·         Chapter leadership across the state is involving younger members, is growing stronger, and is communicating well across the state.

·         Our annual and professional development conferences are providing significant and relevant programming and are providing important revenues.

·         Our various committees are working effectively to assure member recognition, define legislative positions and support K-12 programs (MATHCOUNTS, Future Cities, FIRST Robotics, Bridge Building, etc.).

·         Our partnership with the recently formed Engineering Foundation of Kansas (EFK) continues to mature.  (However, we must continue to expand communication and coordination of efforts with engineering deans and the Kansas Board of Regents.)

·         Our collaboration with the Kansas State Board of Technical Professions is growing through successful licensure ceremonies and PE examination luncheons.  (However, expanding our licensure base to include more faculty and those impacted by industrial exemption is a priority.)    

·         Our partnerships with KDOT, ACEC & others are solidifying our base and strengthening our voice.  (However, we must expand our membership to include professionals in ME, ChE, EE, IE & the academic community.)

·         The new KSPE PAC will strengthen our positive & effective presence in the statehouse.  (However, we must expand our “Citizen Engineer” base and educate the public about Qualification Based Services (QBS) and other issues important to our profession.)

It is clear that KSPE is a viable and important organization that serves the licensed professional engineer.  For that, I say THANK YOU:

·         Thank you Executive Committee and Board of Directors for your tireless service.

·         Thank you Ron Gaches & staff for your excellence and professionalism.

·         Thank you chapter and committee leaders for your initiative and positive spirit to make a difference in the lives of K-12 students, teachers, the general public and practicing professionals.

·         Thank you Carol Hewitt and K-State College of Engineering students, faculty & staff for your patience and understanding.

·         Thank you to my best friend Karen, for your encouragement and unending support.

·         And finally, special thanks to all of the KSPE membership for helping “Change the Conversation” and making 2008-2009 a rewarding and professional experience!

 “Engineering is essential to our health, happiness and safety.”

Tom Roberts, P.E.

KSPE State President

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

Budget Issues Focus Legislators

by Ron Gaches, J.D.

The 2009 legislative session concluded with a couple of surprises and much drama over state budget issues.  At the end of 89 days, most legislators felt they had produced a budget that shared the pain of budget cuts about as equitably as was possible while still respecting the state’s commitments to education, social services and state employees.  In the end, the legislature maximized the opportunities to draw on federal stimulus dollars, resisted efforts to force layoffs of state employees or the use of monthly furloughs, and reduced state agency budgets across the board, rather than prioritizing cuts in state programs.

For a while, the move of Governor Sebelius to the Obama Administration as the Secretary of Health and Human Services served as a major distraction for legislators, lobbyists and statehouse watchers.  Her move came at an awkward time – just before the state of the Veto Session.  As most expected, Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson stepped in and quickly established his credentials as a pragmatic problem solver.  Not only did he deal quickly and nimbly with Republican leadership to address the difficult FY 2010 budget issues, but he also brought to resolution the difficult and controversial energy policy issues that has served to put the 2008 session in gridlock and threatened the same for 2009.

A major disappointment to KSPE and ACEC – Kansas was the inability to pass a new comprehensive state transportation plan.  Several issues were stumbling blocks: legislators were not inclined to support any tax increases (including transportation user fees) as the state entered a recession; rural and urban interests were unable to resolve basic issues involving distribution of transportation dollars; and, ultimately, the availability of federal stimulus dollars to fund a few high priority transportation projects served as a convenient option to assembling a new transportation plan.

On a more positive note, KSPE was instrumental in passage of Senate Bill 29, the Kansas State Board of Technical Professions proposal that updated several important state licensure laws.  The Legislature also approved a Graduated Drivers License program supported by KSPE and again was asked to reimburse Eldon Ray for his legal expenses before the State Board of Technical Professions.  Although the Legislature did not approve the Ray reimbursement, it also fell short in approving a Primary Seat Belt law supported by KSPE.

The 2010 Legislature will again be confronted with critical state budget issues.  The State General Fund ending balance projected for the FY 2010 budget is only $17,000, less than a rounding error for most budget cycles and almost certain to result in Governor Parkinson uses his statutory authority to cut state agency spending during the fiscal year.   Most of the easy budget tricks have already been used.  The state has accelerated tax payments and deferred funding for various programs just about everywhere they can.  Tax increases, never an easy sell under any circumstances, will be particularly unattractive to House members because they will all be up for reelection in the fall.  If the economy doesn’t significantly rebound within the next few months, policy makers will have to cut deeper into current budgets to balance the fiscal year 2011 budget and a new comprehensive transportation plan will be a difficult sale.

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Election Results for KSPE Officers
The votes are in! Congratulations to our newly elected Officers! The following slate of Officers will be installed on the Board at the KSPE Annual Conference in Overland Park, June 10-12, 2009.

Newly Elected KSPE Officers 2009-2010

President – Douglas Danaher, P.E. (Eastern, PEPP)

President Elect – Brian Armstrong, P.E. (Topeka, PEPP)

1st Vice President – Glenn Knak, P.E. (Smoky Valley, PEPP)

2nd Vice President – Edward Sexe, P.E. (Topeka, PEC)
Secretary – Keith D. Beatty, P.E. (Tri-Valley, PEPP)

Treasurer – Mark Williams, P.E. (Eastern)

Past President – Tom Roberts, P.E., CMC (Tri-Valley, PEHE)

The official 2009-2010 KSPE officer ballot was sent electronically to all members earlier this month. A big "Thank You" is owed to those members who completed and returned their ballots promptly! KSPE was able to obtain one-hundred and fifty-four votes; a total of twenty-six percent of the membership participated in this election.

Come support our newly elected Officers at their installation ceremony, Thursday, June 11th at the Marriott Hotel in Overland Park. More information on KSPE's Annual Conference may be found on the KSPE website: www.kansasengineer.org, or in a following article in this newsletter.

Thank you to our current and newly elected Officers! We appreciate your dedication and hard work to promote the engineering profession.

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2009 KSPE Annual conference

Plan to attend the KSPE Annual Conference, June 10-12, 2009 in Overland Park. CLICK HERE for a full schedule and registration information. You may also register online at www.kansasengineer.org.

The KSPE Annual Golf Tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, June 10th at Deer Creek Golf Club in Overland Park. If you have not registered yet, now is the time! Golf Registrations must be received by KSPE by Thursday, June 4th. Please fax your registration form to 785.233.2206. You can provide credit card information on the form or follow up with a check later.
 

Golf Registration is $125 per person or $100 if you are registered for the Annual Conference. A box lunch will be provided and the Annual Conference Ice Breaker Reception will be held at the conclusion of play.

The KSPE Annual Conference officially kicks off with the Ice Breaker Reception to be held at Deer Creek. All conference registrants are invited to attend.

If you have not already done so, please make your hotel reservations at the Marriott Hotel at 913.451.8000. State that you are attending the KSPE Annual Conference to receive a special room rate of $129.00 single/double. Rooms must be reserved by June 3rd to obtain the special rate.

For more details on the KSPE Annual Conference or to register online, please visit our website: www.kansasengineer.org.

We hope to see you in Overland Park!

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2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition a Success

The culmination of the 2008-2009 MATHCOUNTS season was the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition held at the Swan Hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.  The Kansas team was made up of: Wei Chen, coach, and team members Kevin Cao, Jack Chen, Shyam Narayanan, and Michael Zhou.  Kansas finished 13th overall as a team and Shyam Narayanan finished 19th overall in the written competition.  All competitors were treated to a 2-day park-hopper pass to visit the Walt Disney World theme parks.  Friday night, EPCOT's hours were extended to midnight. 

 
The Kansas MATHCOUNTS team and Don Taylor at the awards banquet at the EPCOT International Pavilion

So why Walt Disney World?  This fall a new attraction opens at EPCOT sponsored by Raytheon!  Talk about cool... people can design their own virtual ride on a console which shows how the mathematics of rides interact in the design then get into a computer controlled robotic arm with six degrees of freedom and "ride" what they just designed.

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170 Turnout for PE Exam Lunch Sponsored by KSPE
by Stacey Lamer

KSPE sponsored the PE Exam Luncheon for the fourth year in a row on April 24, 2009 in Topeka. Click Here for more additional details on the event.

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Eastern Chapter Visits Statehouse

KSPE Eastern Chapter members hosted lunch for all Johnson County legislators at the Statehouse on Wednesday, March 25th. State Senators Jeff Colyer (Overland Park), and Julia Lynn (Olathe) joined the group for lunch and legislative discussion.

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Kansas Professional Engineers & Surveyors Licensure Recognition Ceremony

Mark your calendar! All KSPE members are invited to attend the Kansas Professional Engineers and Surveyors Licensure Recognition Ceremony on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. in the 2nd floor Rotunda of the Kansas Statehouse.

In conjunction with the Kansas State Board of Technical Professions, KSPE will congratulate the Professional Engineers as they receive their Kansas Certificate of Licensure.

We want to make this a very special event for the newly licensed engineers and hope you will be able to attend!

Please RSVP your attendance to Judy Swanson at 785.233.2121 or judy@kansasengineer.org.

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Project Lead The Way sparks ingenuity in a new generation

by Ken Lee, P.E.

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a national program to create a new generation of students prepared to pursue engineering and technology careers. Project Lead the Way is offered by over 2,000 schools across the country. The program was developed approximately ten years ago to bolster the dwindling enrollment and graduation of students in the engineering field.

Industry professionals review classes that are taught in order to ensure teachers are teaching real world/real experience engineering in the classroom. High school students design bridges, create robots, and invent ingenious new gadgets. In the PLTW program, students obtain hands-on experience in engineering. PLTW gives volunteers the opportunity to inspire youth with interesting and fun projects.

Project Lead the Way held a Board Meeting at Wichita State University. The first discussion was a final outline for the distribution of grant money. A total of $388,623 was distributed to fourteen different schools from grants provided by the Knight Foundation and the WIRED grant program. Five high schools and nine middle schools will start new PLTW programs with the money provided. The cities represented in this group were: Derby, Wichita, Arkansas City, Hutchinson and Newton. At this point in time, there are seven schools in Kansas that are certified by PLTW. DeSoto and Blue Valley have four high schools, Shawnee Mission South has one, and Wichita has two certified high schools.

Jim Means from USD 259 (Wichita) gave a presentation outlining what would be done with the money provided. A new program is being started at Wichita Southeast High School. Ten “Gateway to Technology” Labs are being set up at Wichita middle schools. Wichita received grants from Knight and WIRED funds and received additional funding from the Kansas Department of Education to help kick start their programs. USD 259 intends on having PLTW implemented at fifteen area middle schools and eight Wichita high schools as soon as money allows them to do so. Wichita will have four high schools running PLTW programs in the 2009-10 school year. Approximately 25% of the students at each middle school will participate in the PLTW program.
 

Gaylord Perry from USD 260 (Derby) also gave a presentation  They are on track to start PLTW programs at their high school, middle school and 6^th grade center in August 2009. Over one thousand students attend the middle school and three hundred of them will take PLTW classes. The program is definitely sparking an interest in students, of the five hundred students in the 6^th grade center, three-hundred and fifty applied for admittance into the “Design & Modeling” class. The program is not only popular in the 6th grade and middle school classrooms, the high school boasts that one hundred and forty-two students applied for the one-hundred and twenty-five spots in the introductory program. The Derby school district can be very proud of the efforts they have made in promoting Project Lead the Way. Teachers and administrators have been very aggressive in their promotion of the program. Like Wichita, Derby also received funding from Knight and WIRED funds. Both representatives from USD 259 and 260 said that Project Lead the Way had particular appeal to them because it was a structured curriculum that would be easy to transfer to new teachers in the future as necessary.

Wichita State University is hosting seven engineering summer camps between June 15^th and August 7^th for various age groups.  More information is available at www.wichita.edu/engineeringcamps.  These are all day camps that run 4-5 days for kids as young as 4^th grade up through 12^th grade.

Two members from WSPE participated in the judging of four projects from the “Engineering Design and Development” senior design class at Wichita Northeast Magnet. Each project was to modify an existing product to improve safety. Students had to prepare working examples of their designs and prepare a display board and give a brief presentation of the need and value of their product. The projects varied extensively from group to group. The projects included: a friction brake modification of a retractable leash to reduce injuries to owners and their pets; the inclusion of integrated child restraint seats in cars; adding levers on wheelchairs to reduce strain on users; and an addition of a portable reel that would automatically release and retract plastic tubing for oxygen tank users. All of the projects were very interesting, and all four groups did a fine job overall.

 
James Criss, Senior at Northeast Magnet, displays his retractable dog leash with a braking system.

Northeast Magnet Seniors Rana Zayed, Barbara McCulley and Nozaiana Khawar present their car seat that quickly converts into a toddler/child safety seat.

Sameed Syed, Nathan Wherritt, and Long Huynh designed a wheelchair with a ratchet-and-gear device that allows the user to move at faster speeds using his/her own power.

Seham Alyan, Joshua Palacios and Mackenna VanScyoc designed “A Breath of Fresh Air,” a retractable device that allows oxygen users greater mobility without having to carry an oxygen tank.

Project Lead the Way relies on volunteers like you. The success of the program is held in the partnerships with the corporate sector and post secondary institutions. Volunteers help assure that students and teachers learn about the practical applications of engineering.

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NSPE Offers Unique Opportunities in St. Louis

KSPE members looking for unique professional development opportunities should consider attending the NSPE Annual Meeting in St. Louis, July 15-20.  Special emphasis is being given to Professionalism in Practice and development programs for state society leaders.  Recent years have seen dramatic improvements in the NSPE Annual Conference, and this year’s meeting looks to be an outstanding opportunity to continue your personal and professional development, and to network with Professional Engineering leaders from across the nation.  Come and celebrate NSPE's 75th anniversary with your peers. For more information on NSPE's Annual Conference, please visit: http://www.nspe.org/AnnualMeeting/index.html.

You'll find countless opportunities to network with engineering leaders, make important business connections, earn professional development hours, and be brought up-to-date on issues impacting our profession and our Society.
 
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NSPE Young Engineer Professional Development Web Seminar

A Guide to Enhancing Professional Development:
From College Student to Company Principal

Join us for this free Web seminar for some tips on what it takes to be successful in today's engineering world. Topics include:

This Web Seminar is based on the NSPE PEPP-YEAC guide that can be downloaded (free to members) here.

Webinar details are as follows:

WHO: Students and NSPE young engineers (35 and under)

WHEN: Thursday June 18, 12:30–1:30pm EST, 9:30–10:30 am PST

WHERE: Click here to download registration information

COST: FREE

Presented by: Professional Engineers in Private Practice -Young Engineers Advisory Council.  (interested in getting involved?  contact Kim Granados at kgranados@nspe.org)

Develop and hone your professional skills without leaving your workstation by participating in NSPE's upcoming and archived Web seminars. Or get a group of peers together and take over a conference room!  Set aside just 60 minutes in your workday. 

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NSPE Workshop: Professionalism in Practice

Register today to attend NSPE's workshop: Professionalism in Practice. This workshop will be held at the 2009 NSPE Annual Meeting in St. Louis, July 19th. The workshop will feature great topics to help you gain the professional development credits you need. The workshop is value priced at only $99! This registration fee covers a networking lunch and 7.0 PDHs! Click Here for more information.

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2009 Professional Development seminar

Plan to attend the 2009 Professional Development Seminar for Architects and Engineers on June 23rd [Morning or Afternoon] at the Overland Park Convention Center or June 24th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita. Depending on which session you attend a complimentary breakfast or lunch will be provided.
 

Topics and speakers include:

The Stimulus Package And You
                 Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City [Overland Park Convention Center Only]
                 Allison Felix, Economist

Obtaining Commercial Real Estate Loans From A Commercial Bank
                 Enterprise Bank, Overland Park, Kansas
                 Paul S. Baker, Senior Vice President

How to Keep The Economic Slowdown From Taking Your Project
                 Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP
                 Susan L. McGreevy, Chair, Construction Law

 The Impact Of The Stimulus On Business & Community Development [Wichita Hyatt Regency Hotel Only]
                 United States Department Of Agriculture
                 Gary L. Smith, Director

RSVP Today!!
                 1-888-545-5427 [Press 6]
                 bdevelopment@kansasgasservice.com

Pre-registered attendees will receive a certificate documenting attendance at this seminar that can be used to self-report 3.0 professional development hours. This professional development seminar is being sponsored by Atmos Energy, Kansas Gas Service and MGE.

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Welcome new members!

KSPE would like to welcome the following new members who have joined since our last issue.

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Mark your calendar!

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