I’m a big fan of Jen Dziura’s “Design your year” packages, and diligently completed my “Design your 2019” this year.
I’m also entering the final semester of my master’s degree, and am ready to start planning ahead for the next 5 years as I recoup time currently devoted to school to focus on my growth as a designer, writer, and speaker.
Weeks or even months are really too granular at that kind of time scale (for me at least) so inspired by another Dziura suggestion I decided to consider my plans for each season of the next 5 years.
I put together two versions of the 5-year seasonal calendar, one 8.5x11 and one 11x17.
If you’d like to take a shot at planning your next 5 years - or next 20 seasons - feel free to download and try them out.
Written in response to the prompt "should the Engineer of Record be held responsible, to any degree, for injury or death to builders or bystanders that occurs during the construction of his/her design?"
I argue that as engineers we should consider ourselves ethically responsible for the safety of builders and bystanders, even (or especially) when we are not legally culpable. I outline a theoretical non-profit certification agency that could monitor labor practices domestically and abroad and would allow engineers to refuse services to clients not in compliance with basic safety practices.
Written in response to the prompt "is it ethical to associate credentials with competency?", this paper examines the ethical implications of requiring achieving additional credentials to be awarded an engineering license.
In this essay I argue that while academic study is important, practical experience is more significant in engineering than in other professional practices. Unlike doctors or lawyers, engineering students are expected to graduate with professional experience, and are often in baccalaureate programs of 5 years or more in length.
I further argue that adding additional educational requirements does not better protect the public, serve the needs of the industry, or increase the prestige of engineers, and places an undue financial burden on students. Increasing this barrier to professional practice will keep more people from pursuing civil engineering not because they are unintelligent, but because they lack the financial means to support themselves through their prolonged education.
A research report examining the deleterious effects of elevated blood lead levels endemic in urban areas. This report explores the connection between leaded gasoline, elevated soil lead levels in cities, and commensurately elevated blood lead levels amongst city dwellers. Any measurable amount of blood lead is associated with neurological damage, behavioral issues, and worsened educational outcomes - an epidemic of brain damage that must be considered as we seek justice for the urban poor.
