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PSPE: A Group Worth Joining?

The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) was founded in 1934, and promotes engineering licensure and ethics, among other engineering topics. NSPE serves approximately sixty thousand members and the public through 53 state and territorial societies and more than five hundred chapters. The student chapter of this organization at Purdue is called the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE). This is one of the few groups open to any discipline of engineering on campus. PSPE has much to offer in the areas of organization, social activities, and engineering activities.

PSPE is well organized as a whole. It is subdivided into various teams, each with a leader. However, the only aspect that presents a problem is that there are two distinct types of members. These include the general members, who participate in the activities, and the officers that plan them. Often, this is a dividing line for the group, causing them to feel separate, almost to the point of two completely different organizations. Because of this split, the general members are unwilling to step up and fill numerous vacancies for officers on the teams this year. To make the move to become an officer, another application must be filled out in addition to the original to become a member of PSPE and the first choice of the member may not be the team that is assigned. As the presentation mentioned, the group is having difficulty working together with the adult group equivalent to PSPE, which is a sign that it might not work well when collaborating with other groups.

The organization of PSPE is based around various teams. These teams include Programs and Meetings, Events, Social, Public Relations, Rube Goldberg, Industrial Relations, and the Executive Committee. These groups essentially organize activities during the year or do administrative duties, like run meetings. In fact, they include a wide variety of topics, which shows that the group sets very high goals. Each team has its own goals and an officer designated as the leader. Furthermore, this setup allows the numerous tasks that PSPE undertakes to be distributed efficiently. The most interesting and unique of these activities is the Rube Goldberg team. Once a year, a competition is held to make a simple task more complex. An example is pouring glass of water. The contestants find at least twenty ways of changing energy types (kinetic, electric, heat) before the water is actually poured. This is a signature event for the club.

The ability to have fun and get along with others in a social setting is also important in PSPE. This aspect of the PSPE is a high priority and is well implemented. Also, the group offers many social activities to get to know each other in an informal setting and even has a separate team dedicated to them specifically. Some of these include golfing, bowling, and an ice-cream social. This allows for everyone to get to know each other and learn about their different backgrounds and interests outside of engineering. However, the only shortcoming is that there is not enough diversity in this group. Exposure to other fields of study is limited and there are few minorities that are members.

Thirdly, the activities that the PSPE does, such as competitions and speakers, are important. Ideally, these appeal to group members and are also relevant to the club. Math Counts (a math competition for middle schools), Rube Goldberg (an engineering design contest), and various speakers and workshops are offered during the entire year, about once a month. These events are spread out well throughout the year, not too often and not too soon. In addition, the presentations are very valuable to members of PSPE. Perhaps PSPE should try to get involved in more activities that students can participate in, similar to the Rube Goldberg competition. These attract a significant amount of interest from the students and emphasize important engineering skills needed throughout college and an engineering career.

Purdue Society of Professional Engineers has much to offer for any type of engineering student through its organization, social, and engineering activities. As always, there is room for improvement, especially in how it is organized and how to diversify the members involved with them. Although it does have its faults, overall this organization is a high-quality one, not only for professional engineering, but also for meeting new friends with similar interests.

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This page was last updated on Thursday, November 8, 2007

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