County high school first to offer college engineering credits
Beaufort Gazette-December 8, 2008
Students enrolled in engineering courses at Battery Creek High School can earn up to 12 college credit hours after the school last week became the first in the Beaufort County School District to earn a special accreditation. Read More<<

DHEC professionals protect health, environment
The State News Paper by Joe S. Jones - December 15, 2008
The Department of Health and Environmental Control is many things to many people, from the repository of birth certificates to county health departments to regulator of the water we drink, the air we breathe and the disposal of our waste. Read More<<

NSPE Million Hours Initiative
National Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, launches the “One Million Hours Initiative” to quantify its global outreach efforts supporting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Read More<<

House Unanimously Re-Elects Harrell Speaker
Today, the South Carolina House of Representatives concluded the first of its two-day Organizational Session.  Members took the Oath of Office, elected Officers and adopted rules governing the actions of the House.  Tomorrow, the Speaker of the House will assign each member to serve on one of the House’s six standing committees and those committees will meet afterward to elect a chairman.
Read More<<

Registration Board Awards 13 Technologists PE License Since March, 2008
Under the new engineer and surveyor law passed in 2006, 13 engineering technologists have taken advantage of the opportunity, extended in the law, to present themselves, their portfolios and their experience for licensure as professional engineers.

Ms. Jan Simpson, SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors Administrator, said “We have about 42 individuals "in the pipeline" for licensure as a PE through the technology degree/portfolio process.”

The 13 that have already gone through the review of their professional work and the interview with professionals engineers are as follows: Mr. Kaizer Alimohamed, PE, Mr. Fred Weir Castles, PE, Mr. William Thomas Dunaway, PE, Mr. Mark Elrod, PE, Mr. Thomas E. Gasparich, PE, Mr. Bruce E. Houser, PE, Mr. Jeffery T. Mize, PE, Mr. Richard W. Tarbet, PE, Mr. John B. Walsh, PE, Mr. Edmund Weaver, PE, Mr. Benjamin S. Whaley, PE Mr. Charles W. Wilson, Jr. PE and Mr. Perry Sherman Windsor, PE. Four of the new engineers are civil; six are electrical; and three are mechanical.

Thus far, Ms. Simpson says only two applicants have been denied licensure.

Mr. Chuck Joye, a member of the Registration Board, commended the board for working with the legislature to make the program possible.

Former USC College of Engineering & Computing Civil & Environmental Department Chair Receives Award
Dr. M. Hanif Chaudhry, PhD was presented the American Society of Civil Engineers, Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award in May this year.

Dr. Chaudhry continues to hold the Mr. & Mrs. Irwin B. Kahn Professor and is now
Associate Dean (International Programs and Continuing Education) of the College of Engineering and Computing.

USC College of Engineering & Computing’s Civil & Environmental Department Gets Three New Faculty Members
The three Civil and Environmental Department faculty members are coming as a group. They were interviewed and will be collaborating on work when then arrive Jan.1, 2009.

Ms. Nicole Berg, a USC graduate, is returning to the University from Tufts University where she is a post-doctoral research associate in civil and environmental engineering. She completed her PhD in civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Central Florida in 2006.

Mr. Navid Saleh is currently a post-doctoral research associate at Yale University, where he has been since July 2007.  He finished his PhD in environmental Engineering and Science at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007.

Mr. Yeomin Yoon is currently a senior project engineer at Ch2M Hill in South Korea, where he has been since 2005. He was an instructor at Chung-Aug University during the fall semesters of 2006 and 2007.   He is a South Korean native. Prior to joining Ch2M Hill, he was a post-doctoral research associate in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Yoon was a faculty research associate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State in 2002 and 2003. Mr. Yoon completed his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado in 2001.

The College of Engineering and Computing is looking for a senior and junior faculty member for its Transportation area.

Lobbyist Report
Joe S. Jones
Earlier this fall, the engineering and surveying communities were concerned about a massive change in the regulation of the land surveying and engineering professions when a SC Senate Staffer contacted us about a possible hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Labor Commerce and Industry Committee.

The hearing was postponed indefinitely, and when ACEC-SC PAC checks were delivered to a number of senators, the PAC Board talked to senators about possible changes on the regulation and licensing of engineers and surveyors.  The consensus of the engineers reporting back on the conversations was that any possible changes are going to be directed more to the registration and regulation of licensees, which are not as technical or professional as land surveying, engineering, architecture, accounting, etc. 

Also, the House Labor Commerce and Industry Committee is expecting a new Chair.  Current Chair Rep. Harry Cato (R-Greenville) is expected to be elected to House Speaker Pro Tem. Rep. Bill Sandifer (R-Oconee) may become the next Chair.

From the SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors, Surveyor Representative, Mr. Gene Dinkins, was elected Registration Board Chair. Mr. Andy Kinghorn was elected Vice Chair, and Ms. Theresa Hodge was elected Board Secretary.

More important, Mr. Dinkins introduced a curriculum from Clemson University College of Forestry that offers a degree in Forestry with an emphasis area of Land Surveying. Those students following the curricula outlined to meet the Land Surveying emphasis meet the SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors requirements for the four-year surveying degree. 

Mr. Dinkins said students had already shown an interest in pursuing the degree.  The Registration Board officially endorsed the curricula and the degree at its Nov. 18, 2008 meeting.

Ms. Jan Simpson, Board Administrator, announced all registration board members have submitted the professional development hours for review as if audited by the registration board and all board members met the PDH requirements for the registration period.

Ms. Simpson reported a suggested change to the Regulations had been submitted by a professional engineer representing SCANA, had been reviewed, the LLR legal department agreed and the board accepted the change. The change has been incorporated into the Regulations to be filed with the SC General Assembly prior to its opening day.

Ms. Theresa Hodge introduced a flow chart explaining how the Registration Board deals with complaints. The LLR legal department praised it and said Ms. Hodge had captured the process and portrayed in such a manner that all can understand.

The Registration Board also discussed appropriating funds for surveying and engineering educational programs. Discussions were positive for upcoming programs.

The General Assembly convenes December 2 to elect House and Senate officers, assign committees, offices and other housekeeping duties. Following that meeting, we will know the names of committee chairs and committee assignments. As legislators move up in seniority, they often have the opportunity to move to other committees; therefore, we may see some movement into and out of Labor Commerce and Industry as well as other committees.

Engineers Without Borders
You’ve probably heard of Doctors without borders. That’s where doctors and other medical professions go to natural disasters to give aid. Dr. Charlie Pierce in the USC College of Engineering & Computing Civil and Environmental Department is working on setting up Engineers without Borders student Chapter on the USC campus.

Actually, the program is about 10 years old in the United States, but has not attracted a lot of local interest, but there the organization is seeing rapid growth of student chapters throughout the country.

The chapters are extracurricular activities on the campuses, but when chapters are accepted to undertake a real world project in another country, the members get to put their academic learning to work. Projects are typically those which bring basic necessities, such as clean drinking water, small schools or even bridges between two villages that may cut off miles between them. Challenges include using local materials to make the projects work and continue for years.

Dr. Pierce says such a project might be integrated into students’ curricula.  Financing such a project can be quite expensive. Travel for the team is one of the major expenses. 
The USC program is growing, and Dr. Pierce said students other than engineers are interested in working on these kinds of project.