Roles of Engineers in Society
Marc A. Rosen
• An Introduction to Engineering (Ch. 1, text)
• The Licensed Professional Engineer (Ch. 2,
text)
Chapter 1
An Introduction to Engineering
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Outline
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A definition of engineering
The role of engineers
Characteristics of engineering disciplines
Engineering in Canada
– Distribution of engineers by province
– Canadian engineering accomplishments
• Skills needed to become an engineer
• Engineering challenges faced by society
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What is an Engineer?
• Ingenium (Latin)
– Talent, genius, cleverness, or native ability
– First used to describe those who had ability to
invent / operate weapons of war
– The word became associated with design /
construction of works
• Ships, roads, canals, and bridges
– People skilled in these fields were non-military
or civil engineers
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Meaning of Engineering
• Engineering means different things:
– England: People with practical skills
– North America: Person who has received
formal training to be an Engineer
– Early American programs based on French
engineering schools
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Professional Engineer
• In Canada, the title “professional engineer”
is restricted by law.
– Only those persons who
• Have demonstrated competence
• Are licensed by professional licensing association
(e.g., PEO, APEGS, etc.)
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Definition of an Engineer
•An engineer is
– A person who uses science, mathematics,
experience, and judgement to create, operate,
manage, control, or maintain devices,
mechanisms, processes, structures, or complex
systems.
• He/she does this in a rational and economic way
with human, societal, and natural resources and
environmental constraints.
Samuel Florman: “To be human is to
engineer.”
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The Role of Engineers
• Engineering is a team activity.
– Engineering teams involve individuals with
widely different abilities, interests, and
education who cooperate to advance a project.
– A typical technical team might consist of
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scientists
engineers
technologists
technicians
skilled workers
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Research Scientist
•Research scientist works on problems
– That expand the frontiers of knowledge in a
particular field (e.g., smart constructions, smart
grid, IT, apps, etc.)
– That may not have immediate results or
applications until later (e.g., CD)
Education
– Master’s or PhD degree is usually required
(continued)
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Research Scientist (continued)
• Usually supervises research assistants
• Usually not a member of a self-regulating
profession
• Not subject to the same constraints or
responsibilities in law as practicing engineers
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Engineer
• Provides the key link between theory and
practical applications
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Has the needed theoretical background knowledge
Able to think creatively
Has a knack for obtaining practical results
Able to lead a team of multiple disciplines towards
a common goal
(continued)
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Engineer (continued)
• Education
– Basic requirement is a bachelor’s
degree from an accredited
program
– Master’s or PhD is beneficial,
often preferred
• In Canada, all work that is
legally defined as engineering
must be performed or
supervised by a licensed
professional engineer.
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Technologist
• Works under the direction of engineers
– Applies engineering principles and methods to
complex technical problems
• Education
– Completion of three-year technology program
from a community college
• Often supervises work of others and is
encouraged to attain qualifications that are
recognized by technical societies
(continued)
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Technologist (continued)
• Difference between engineering and
technologist education
– Engineering education typically provides
greater theoretical depth.
– Technology diploma usually provides more
hands-on experience.
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Technician
• Works under the supervision of an engineer
or technologist in the practical aspects of
engineering
– e.g. Making a dye; performing tests and
maintaining equipment
• Education
– Completion of two-year diploma in a program
offered by a community college
• Association confers title of Certified
Engineering Technician; if qualifies
(continued)
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Skilled Worker
• Skilled in a trade such as electrician,
welder, plumber, carpenter, machinist, etc.
– Typically carries out the designs and plans
• Has great expertise acquired through
formal apprenticeships and/or years of
experience.
• Most trades have a trade organization and
certification procedure
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Engineering Disciplines
• As of 2013, there are 74 different
engineering specializations offered in
universities across Canada.
• Most common disciplines are: Electrical,
Mechanical, Civil, Computer, Chemical,
and Industrial Engineering
• Top five disciplines make up more than
50%
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Work Typically Performed in
Engineering Specialties
• Chemical Engineers
– Use knowledge of chemistry, physics,
biology, and mathematics to:
• Design equipment and processes for manufacture
of chemicals / chemical products
• Design equipment for extraction of minerals,
petroleum / other natural resources
• Design processes for sustaining / reclaiming
natural environment
(continued)
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Work Typically Performed in
Engineering Specialties (continued)
• Civil Engineers
– Design / supervise construction
• Roads, highways, bridges, dams, airports, railways,
harbours, buildings, water supply systems, and
sewage systems
• Make up the largest number of licensed engineers
in private practice
(continued)
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Work Typically Performed in
Engineering Specialties (continued)
• Computer Engineering
– Computer engineers use a combination of
electrical engineering and computer science to
design, develop, and deploy computer systems.
• Requires understanding of electronic circuits,
computer hardware, computer interfaces and
interconnection, software development and writing
algorithms, etc.
• Must be able to select optimal combination of
hardware / software components required to satisfy
specified performance criteria
(continued)
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Work Typically Performed in
Engineering Specialties (continued)
• Electrical Engineers
– Design and supervise the construction of
systems to generate, transmit, control, and use
electrical energy
• Design /develop generators and motors, and
transmission lines / distribution systems
• Design / develop devices and systems for
transmitting data, solid-state switching, microwave
relays, computer logic circuits, and computer
hardware
(continued)
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Work Typically Performed in
Engineering Specialties (continued)
• Mechanical Engineers
– Typically engaged in a variety of tasks
including design, development, manufacture,
and maintenance of machinery
– Specialize in
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Machine design
Heating, ventilating, and refrigeration
Thermal and nuclear power generation
Manufacturing
Quality control
Production scheduling
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(continued)
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Work Typically Performed in
Engineering Specialties (continued)
• Software Engineering
– Combines classical engineering project
management skills with tools and knowledge
required to design, build, analyze, and maintain
complex computer software
• The software engineer requires:
– Broad understanding of natural sciences
• To work with specialists in other disciplines
• To design correct software to be embedded in
machines
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Other Careers
• Engineering degree is excellent preparation
for career in other disciplines such as:
– Law
– Medicine
– Business
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Distribution of Engineers
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Major Canadian Engineering
Accomplishments
• Transcontinental Railway
– Canadian Pacific Railway linked Canada from
coast to coast in 1885
• St. Lawrence Seaway
– Series of canals / waterways that opened the Great
Lakes to oceangoing ships in 1959
• Athabasca Oil Sands
– Commercial oil sands development showed the
feasibility of recovering oil from the oil sands
(continued)
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Major Accomplishments (cont’d)
• Nuclear power
– CANDU nuclear power system produces electric
power using natural uranium fuel and heavy-water
cooling system
– Eliminated the need for expensive fuel enrichment
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Major Accomplishments (continued)
• Very-High-Voltage Transmission
– Hydro-Québec was first electrical utility to
develop transmission lines at high voltage
(735 KV) for long-distance power transmission
• Trans-Canada Telephone Network
– Completed in 1958 as world’s longest
microwave network
• IMAX
• Pacemaker: Developed by John A. Hopps in
1949
(continued)
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Major Canadian Engineering
Accomplishments (continued)
• Confederation Bridge
– Longest bridge in the world crossing salt water
subject to winter ice hazards
– It links Prince Edward Island with
mainland New Brunswick, Canada.
Construction took place from October 1993 to
May 1997 and cost C$1.3 billion. The 12.9kilometre (8 mi) bridge opened on 31 May
1997.
(continued)
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Major Canadian Engineering
Accomplishments (continued)
• CN Tower
– Built in 1976 as world’s tallest free-standing
structure (553 m)
• The Blackberry
– Mike Lazaridis was an Engineering student
when he started RIM (later Blackberry)
– Took advantage of cellular wireless and
digital technology trends
– Leader in development of Smart Phones, as
we know them today
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Challenges for Engineering
• Climate Change
– Climate change will cause intense weather,
floods, droughts, crop failures, drinking-water
shortages, mass migration
– Challenge for engineers to reduce our
greenhouse gas emissions
– Requires new methods to conserve energy and
avoid waste
(continued)
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Challenges for Engineering
(continued)
• Role in society
– Engineers must take greater role in political
and social debate
– Engineers rarely in the upper levels of our
government
– Seldom involved in policymaking even about
engineering issues
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Chapter 2
The Licensed Professional
Engineer
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Introduction
• Engineering: Challenging and Respected
Profession with
– High admission standards
– Professional Regulations
– Code of Ethics
• Tragic accidents influenced regulation of
engineering in Canada
– Collapse of Quebec Bridge
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Outline
• Engineering is a Profession
• Regulation of Engineering Profession
– Case Study: Quebec Bridge Tragedy
– Laws Regulating Engineering
– Legal Definition of Engineering
• Admission to Engineering Profession
– Academic and Experience Requirements
– Professional Practice Exam
– Certificate of Authorization
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Engineering is a Profession
• A profession is a group of individuals who
– Possess special skills derived from education
and experience
– Exercise that skill in the interests of others
• Engineering, medicine, law are professions
• Most people may never have an acute need
for an Engineer as for lawyer or a doctor
• Engineers have:
– High level of skill and knowledge obtained
through education and experience
– Creative vocation with positive purpose
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Regulation of Engineering
• Purpose of Regulation:
– Prevent unqualified persons from practicing
– Set standards of practice that protect public
– Discipline unscrupulous practitioners
• History of Regulation
– U.S. is first country to regulate Engineering
• Law enacted in Wyoming in 1907
– Following Quebec Bridge collapses in 1907
and 1916, Canadian provinces enacted
regulation
(continued)
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Regulation of Engineering
(continued)
• Engineering is self-regulated in Canada.
• Provincial and territorial associations
(“ordre” in Quebec) regulate engineering.
• In U.S., agencies are appointed by state
governments regulate and license engineers.
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Case Study: Quebec Bridge
Tragedy
• Quebec Bridge is the
longest cantilevered
span in the world.
• Structure collapsed
during construction in
1907 and again in
1916.
• 75 workmen were
killed in the first
wreckage.
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Quebec Bridge Tragedy:
Description
• Project: Build cantilevered span of 550 m
between supporting bedrocks
– Location of supporting bedrock determined
length
– Would be longest cantilevered span in the
world
• Theodore Cooper (New York) was hired
as consulting engineer
– Responsible for design and guaranteeing
bridge strength
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Quebec Bridge Tragedy:
Construction Scheme
• Cooper and assistant, Peter Szlapka,
worked from their office in New York
• Beams, columns, other parts were
fabricated in Pennsylvania and shipped to
site
• Workmen assembled bridge under
supervision of site engineers and inspectors
• Two sections of the bridge were built out
from each shore to meet in the middle
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Quebec Bridge Tragedy:
The Accident
• Construction of south side reached 200 m
when warning signs observed
– Some compression members were bending
• Cooper is notified by telegram
– Exchange of telegrams lasted 3 weeks
• August 27, 1907, situation described as
“serious” by senior site engineer McLure
– Construction suspended while McLure
travelled to New York to meet with Cooper
(continued)
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Quebec Bridge Tragedy:
The Accident (continued)
• McLure convinces Cooper of the gravity of
the situation
– Telegram is sent to site: “Add no more load to
bridge till after due consideration of facts.”
• Unfortunately, chief site engineer, Hoare,
mistakenly ordered work to resume
• 75 men were killed when the bridge
collapsed August 29, 1907
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Quebec Bridge Tragedy:
The Investigation
• A royal commission determined
– Serious errors in Cooper’s design
• Initial estimates of dead-loads not recalculated as
design progressed
• Actual stresses well above limits for safe design
– Cooper rarely visited the site or the fabrication
workshop
– Hoare “not technically competent” to supervise
– Communication problems was also a key
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Quebec Bridge Tragedy:
Lessons Learned
• Realization that only competent, ethical
people should practise engineering
• Laws were passed to license professional
engineers
• “Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer”
created to encourage ethical practice
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Happy ending….Opened in 1919
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Laws Regulating Engineering
• Licence needed to practise engineering in
Canada
• An Association or Ordre regulates the
profession and issues licences
– Under authority of licensing Act
• Purpose for these laws: Protect the public
• Goal of Associations: Safeguard life,
health, property and public welfare
(continued)
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Laws Regulating
Engineering (continued)
• Associations are empowered to:
– Monitor standards of professional practice
– Discipline practitioners
• In 1937, provincial associations created
Canadian Council of Professional
Engineers (CCPE)
– Renamed Engineers Canada in 2007
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Role of Engineers Canada
• Engineers Canada develops policies,
guidelines, and position statements.
– Engineers Canada then encourages the
Associations to adopt.
• Result: Laws across Canada are similar.
• Consistent laws enable engineers to move
and practise across Canada.
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Provincial Associations
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Legislative Act
• The legislative act is the basic document
that regulates engineering.
– All regulations, by-laws, and codes of ethics
are created under the Act.
• Therefore they have the force of law.
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Regulations and By-Laws
• Regulations
– Provide specific rules for engineers
• Provides interpretation of clauses in the Act
• e.g. Act states that academic and experience
requirements are needed for licensing
– Association sets these requirements in detail
• By-Laws
– Rules for running the Association
– e.g. Meetings of the council, financial
statements, committees, etc.
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Code of Ethics
• Code of Ethics is
– Rules of personal conduct to guide the
engineer
– May be part of the regulations or by-laws
depending on the province
• Engineering profession is self-regulating
– Engineers themselves regulate the profession
– Confirm the by-laws established by council
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Legal Definition of Engineering
• Proposed by Engineers Canada:
– “any act of planning, designing, composing,
evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or
supervising, or managing any of the
foregoing, that requires the application of
engineering principles and that concerns the
safeguarding of life, health, property,
economic interests, the public welfare or the
environment.”
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Admission to Engineering Profession
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Offering Engineering Services
to Public
• Requires a certificate of authorization or
permit to practise
• Purpose:
– To identify the licensed engineers who assume
responsibility for the corporation’s
engineering work
• Additional licensing requirements to obtain
certificate of authorization
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Certificate of Authorization
• A Certificate of Authorization is a licence issued by PEO to
allow individuals and business entities to offer and provide
professional engineering services to the public, as distinct from
a Licence issued to individuals to practise professional
engineering. Section 12(2) of the Professional Engineers Act
states: "No person shall offer to the public or engage in the
business of providing to the public services that are within the
practice of professional engineering except under and in
accordance with a certificate of authorization."
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Conclusion
• Provincial Associations
– Protect the public
• They do not advocate on behalf of engineers.
– Their structure makes engineering a wellorganized profession
– Instill public confidence in the profession
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