0:01

Engineers are

0:01

ingenious professionals.

0:04

Engineers invent, design, verify

0:04

and qualify, engineers are the

0:10

professionals who make our lives

0:10

and businesses prosperous and

0:14

safe. The Florida Engineering

0:14

Society is proud to put our

0:18

engineering professionals in the

0:18

spotlight so that they may

0:21

educate, share information and

0:21

introduce you to the world of

0:25

engineering that is thriving in

0:25

Florida. Here's your host of the

0:30

Engineering Florida podcast, Sam

0:30

Yates with today's guest.

0:35

Hello, everyone. Welcome to a

0:35

brand new podcast for the

0:39

Florida Engineering Society. The

0:39

podcast is called Engineering

0:43

Florida. And I have the

0:43

president of the Florida

0:46

Engineering Society here with

0:46

me, Kelly Cranford. Kelly,

0:50

welcome to the program.

0:51

Good morning, Sam.

0:53

Now, I think everyone

0:53

wants to know, what is this

0:56

program? How does it work? And

0:56

what is it going to do for the

1:00

Florida Engineering Society?

1:02

Well, we have

1:02

over 3000 members within our

1:05

society. And we thought the

1:05

podcast forum would be a great

1:09

way to help keep our members up

1:09

to date and show other people

1:13

who are not members what what

1:13

we're doing, why you should join

1:15

and become one of us.

1:17

And I want to take a

1:17

little credit there because when

1:20

I met you as the the president

1:20

of the Florida Engineering

1:23

Society, I have to step aside

1:23

and say I've known you for a

1:26

while Culpeper interpreting, I

1:26

know that engineers many sorts

1:31

do many different things here in

1:31

Florida. And it's always been

1:35

something that fascinates me

1:35

that you do so many things as

1:39

engineers that people don't know

1:39

about. So I think this is a

1:42

great avenue for putting people

1:42

in the spotlight. But it's not

1:46

just people, it's also topics

1:46

and issues.

1:49

It's topic, it's

1:49

an issues and how we come

1:51

together to solve different

1:51

problems and challenges that are

1:54

facing society, we are problem

1:54

solvers by trade. That's what we

1:58

have in common. And we do, we've

1:58

got private practice, which is

2:02

all your consulting engineers,

2:02

we have engineers in government,

2:06

that's another one of our

2:06

practice sections. We have those

2:09

in education. So your

2:09

professors, your teachers,

2:12

they're part of our group, and

2:12

we get to bounce ideas off of

2:15

each other. So that we have not

2:15

only those that are in the

2:18

consulting field, but we have

2:18

those that are doing the

2:20

research, and we can talk back

2:20

and forth and incorporate the

2:24

new research that they're doing

2:24

into what's actually being built

2:27

in the field brings me to the

2:27

engineers that work in

2:30

construction. So once the

2:30

project is designed, we have

2:33

engineers out there watching it

2:33

and making sure that it's built

2:35

correctly,

2:36

when we take a look

2:36

at construction, you know, I

2:39

will put on my partial

2:39

construction hat and say that

2:42

I'm a member of the Gold Coast

2:42

Builders Association Board of

2:46

Directors. And looking at the

2:46

construction industry, they're

2:50

always raising questions of how

2:50

to interface with the

2:53

engineering side of business,

2:53

this could be one of those

2:57

vehicles that helps to bring the

2:57

two parts together, they

3:00

could and we're

3:00

hoping and when we've talked and

3:03

we will do that. So I am a civil

3:03

engineer, and the majority of

3:06

our members, but definitely not

3:06

all of them are civil engineers,

3:09

as well. So we do the things

3:09

that don't move the things below

3:13

the ground and the skyscrapers,

3:13

making sure when you flush the

3:17

toilet that it goes to the

3:17

treatment plant and gets

3:19

treated, making sure that the

3:19

water you turn on the tap that

3:23

you get water at the right

3:23

pressure and the roads that you

3:25

drive on make, we do our best to

3:25

make sure they last there is an

3:29

issue we go in and we fix it.

3:29

And we alter the design if we're

3:32

seeing that there is a

3:32

reoccurring problem. But we also

3:35

have members that serve in

3:35

industry. So we have some

3:39

members that work for a bottom

3:39

lawn that actually made the

3:42

contact lenses. We have a wide

3:42

variety of members. And we're

3:46

excited to bring them to the

3:46

public through this podcast.

3:50

Awesome. And one of

3:50

the things I want to take on as

3:53

as a goal is to help increase

3:53

your membership 3000 members,

3:57

that's a lot. How many members

3:57

can we have

4:00

before our last

4:00

recession in 2009, we were at

4:02

4600 members so we know they're

4:02

out there that we can get back

4:06

up to there. And thanks to

4:06

technology, we can have meetings

4:10

virtually. We can bring you

4:10

these podcasts. We have our

4:13

newsletters, we have our

4:13

professional development,

4:16

virtual and in person webinars

4:16

that our members are welcome to.

4:20

So yeah, I think it's a great

4:20

time and we're gonna keep on

4:23

keep on rolling.

4:25

Right here at the top

4:25

of the program before we get too

4:28

far into the program. How may

4:28

someone if they are interested

4:32

in becoming a member of the

4:32

Florida Engineering Society? How

4:36

can they go about that

4:37

they can go to

4:37

fleng.org.

4:42

Now I know you also

4:42

have students who are members of

4:46

the organization.

4:47

We do and

4:47

Student Membership is free. We

4:50

have I believe it's 18 chapters

4:50

throughout the state of Florida

4:54

at different universities. So

4:54

the membership is free as long

4:57

as you are a college student and

4:57

you can sign up at this same

5:00

website flng.org. So they have

5:00

meetings, they have student

5:04

meetings, they elect the

5:04

presidents and all the officers.

5:08

And they're also welcome to

5:08

attend the local chapter. So we

5:11

have 19 chapters throughout the

5:11

state of Florida. So student

5:14

members can attend their student

5:14

meetings, but they are also

5:17

welcome to attend the chapter

5:17

meeting in their region, as well

5:21

as our annual conference, which

5:21

will be in Marco Island in 2023.

5:24

Now, I know that the

5:24

organization also has special

5:28

committees and special groups

5:28

that look at very specific

5:31

things. And one of the items

5:31

that continues to come to the

5:36

forefront is the Serb side

5:36

collapse. Yeah, what's happening

5:39

there,

5:40

we had formed a

5:40

working group, with not just

5:43

members of the Florida

5:43

engineering society, but also

5:46

some members of the Concrete

5:46

Institute that, you know,

5:50

concrete apparently failed. So

5:50

they were as part of the group,

5:53

we have structural engineers, I

5:53

believe we also had the building

5:56

officials association that we

5:56

brought together a group of

6:00

about 12 people representing

6:00

different organizations who have

6:04

looked into what rules and

6:04

regulations could have been in

6:09

place to help prevent this from

6:09

ever happening again. And that

6:12

group in the next couple of

6:12

months, we'll reconvene and tie

6:15

up some loose ends with a lot of

6:15

legislation that's new. And that

6:19

was put together fairly quickly.

6:19

There were some questions. So

6:22

they're going to hope to

6:22

alleviate some of those

6:25

unintended requests and an

6:25

unintended consequences of some

6:29

things that were put into that legislation.

6:31

So in reality, the

6:31

Florida Engineering Society does

6:35

play a very critical and key

6:35

role in getting legislation back

6:40

to our local communities back to

6:40

the state that keeps us safe.

6:43

We have we have

6:43

several lobbyist, and we also,

6:47

every year we go, and we have

6:47

professional engineering days at

6:50

the State Capitol, where we go

6:50

and meet with each and every one

6:54

of the legislators and tell them

6:54

not only what our concerns are

6:57

for any legislation that's been

6:57

introduced, but also what our

7:00

members do and how we can help

7:00

them. So they have a constituent

7:03

that's all upset about this

7:03

intersection, or bridge failure

7:07

or this, we have members that

7:07

will they can contact and we'll

7:10

reach out and help the

7:10

legislator and his staff or her

7:13

staff understand what's really

7:13

going on and help them find

7:16

solutions.

7:17

Now, I know by being

7:17

affiliated with you, and

7:20

Culpeper terpening. In

7:20

particular, I have seen problems

7:24

that exists. And engineers, they

7:24

have a knack for solving

7:29

problems. Without going into

7:29

specifics. Hurricane Ian just

7:34

really wreaked havoc across

7:34

Florida. Any problem areas that

7:39

surfaced that engineers are in

7:39

particular, taking a look at

7:43

right now as we are into 2023.

7:45

There are I

7:45

mean, there, there is still a

7:47

lot of damage over there. And so

7:47

there are a couple of things.

7:51

Our sister publication, the very

7:51

first issue is going to come out

7:56

in March, the engineering

7:56

Florida publication, which will

7:59

be available on the website as

7:59

well. One of the things that was

8:02

amazing following Hurricane Ian

8:02

was how Flass the Florida

8:05

Department of Transportation was

8:05

able to get those bridges

8:08

reopened. It was I mean, after

8:08

Hurricane Michael, it took

8:11

months, but they were able to do

8:11

it in a matter of weeks and

8:16

days. So they did that by a

8:16

series of a new procurement

8:20

method, and working together

8:20

with the contractors to make

8:23

sure everything was done

8:23

quickly. So that will be one of

8:25

the features of our very first

8:25

publication. So we'll look

8:28

forward to the details there. We

8:28

have seen some homes are needing

8:32

to be right elevated for the

8:32

tide for the surge, and the new

8:37

construction standards. They've

8:37

looked at what what really

8:41

happened, what survived what

8:41

didn't survive. And there is a

8:44

local high school who's got a

8:44

pro who is looking at different

8:47

alternatives as a high school

8:47

project to see how they can help

8:51

their own community. We're also

8:51

helping the Florida Gulf Coast

8:54

College, which was hit very

8:54

badly by hurricane Ian, we had

8:58

engineering students who had a

8:58

place to live. And then their

9:01

classes were canceled for about

9:01

a month because they had no

9:05

facilities. So what they're

9:05

doing is going back and taking

9:09

classes on Saturdays, well, if

9:09

you had a part time job, that

9:12

means you can't do the part time

9:12

job and get your degree. So we

9:16

have some donors who are

9:16

offering to help those students.

9:20

And that brings that

9:20

brings to the forefront two

9:22

items that I think a lot of

9:22

people may not realize is that

9:27

the the Florida Engineering

9:27

Society and engineers in

9:30

general, are very, very

9:30

community related in every

9:35

community. They're involved in

9:35

doing something for the

9:38

betterment of their communities,

9:38

and that's something the

9:40

organization takes on as well.

9:42

Yes, we're known

9:42

for being introverts, which fine

9:46

you might not find us on the

9:46

front page of the newspaper or

9:49

are taking the lead on as an

9:49

anchor man or something but some

9:53

of us are, but we do like to get

9:53

involved. And sometimes a lot

9:57

often will be behind the scenes.

9:57

But when we see there's a need,

10:01

we will develop an way to solve

10:01

that need.

10:06

Something that flows

10:06

along with that if someone wants

10:09

to get involved from our

10:09

communities, and they're not

10:13

necessarily engineers, but they

10:13

want to take a role of some

10:17

sort, and helping to educate our

10:17

youth into the many different

10:22

aspects of engineering, how

10:22

would they go about? And can

10:25

they do that?

10:25

They certainly

10:25

can. The Florida engineering

10:28

society. In Florida, we have

10:28

been the sponsor of Mathcounts,

10:32

which is a middle school

10:32

competition, promoting math.

10:37

Within Florida, I believe it was

10:37

since 1993, whenever the program

10:41

first started. So our 18

10:41

chapters actually hold regional

10:45

competitions. And then the

10:45

Florida Engineering Society

10:47

sponsors, the state competition

10:47

winners of their of course go on

10:51

to the international

10:51

competition. And if you're

10:54

interested in sponsoring, that

10:54

are volunteering to help with

10:57

that competition, you can go to

10:57

flng.org, as well. And there's a

11:02

link. We also are involved in

11:02

the science fairs within the

11:06

state of Florida. But if you go

11:06

to the flng.org, and call our

11:10

main office, they will get you

11:10

coordinated with whoever is in

11:15

need of needing volunteers and

11:15

donations. We are also

11:19

affiliated with the Florida

11:19

engineering Foundation, which

11:22

their sole mission is education

11:22

of engineering students. So

11:27

starting in kindergarten and

11:27

going all the way through

11:29

college. So that's a great

11:29

organization. And it's my

11:32

fvf.org is their website,

11:35

as we look at the

11:35

things that go on from the

11:38

Florida Engineering Society to

11:38

its constituents, you also do

11:44

things abroad.

11:45

We do we are in

11:45

the process of signing a

11:48

memorandum of understanding with

11:48

our counterpart in Puerto Rico,

11:53

they are close by they are US

11:53

citizens, they have similar

11:57

interest in issues to we do to

11:57

what we have in Florida, similar

12:01

climate, they have a real need

12:01

for engineers. So right now, you

12:05

have to sign up and be

12:05

registered in Puerto Rico. So

12:10

we're working on different ways,

12:10

kind of behind the scenes. And

12:12

that might be two or three years

12:12

to get done. But we have

12:16

interest in taking trips. So

12:16

that's something else we're

12:21

looking at engineering related

12:21

trips, whether it's to tour and

12:24

Machu Picchu, led by an FIU

12:24

professor who is very familiar

12:29

with Machu Picchu, but he it's

12:29

the trip will focus on

12:33

engineering related aspects.

12:33

We've also been invited into

12:37

Spain to go visit the Aqua

12:37

ducks. And once again, a tour by

12:41

by engineers for engineers. So

12:41

they're things like that that

12:44

are going on

12:46

aerospace

12:46

engineering, aerospace, it also

12:49

is something that we see growing

12:49

significantly in Florida, would

12:54

that be an area that we say,

12:54

hey, aerospace engineers, here

12:58

we are?

12:59

Yes, definitely.

12:59

So in our industry practice

13:03

section, they would definitely

13:03

fit in there. To be an aerospace

13:06

engineer, you don't necessarily

13:06

need to be licensed in the state

13:10

of Florida to practice

13:10

engineering, we encourage it,

13:13

but you don't need to

13:13

necessarily, but we still look

13:15

after the education abilities.

13:15

So to be an aerospace engineer,

13:20

you still need the stem. So

13:20

while you might not enjoy, are

13:25

protecting your licensure

13:25

because you don't have one, go

13:28

ahead and invest in the future

13:28

of engineering, join our society

13:31

and make sure we have students

13:31

who are trained in the basics of

13:35

STEM, so they can become an

13:35

engineer in the future.

13:38

Our members of the

13:38

Florida Engineering Society,

13:42

know what STEM means and some of

13:42

our audience, but not all of our

13:45

audience, tell us what that is.

13:47

So STEM is science, technology, engineering, and math. And those

13:49

are the core curriculums that

13:52

you need to be any sort of

13:52

engineer. You could also be a

13:55

physicist and a bunch of other

13:55

things. But those are the core

13:58

curriculums to help you

13:58

understand how to design or fix

14:02

a lot of things.

14:04

Now, I know the

14:04

answer to this, but it's sort of

14:06

my practice to do it every time

14:06

I interview someone and that is,

14:11

will you be able to come back

14:11

for another episode? Of course,

14:14

Sam,

14:14

I'd be glad to.

14:16

So, you know, as we

14:16

were planning and pulling all of

14:20

this together to launch our very

14:20

first engineering Florida

14:24

podcast, we wanted to make sure

14:24

that we covered all the bases.

14:28

Is there anything that we have

14:28

not touched upon, that we should

14:32

mention at this point?

14:33

There is one

14:33

interesting story. The president

14:36

of the Florida Engineering

14:36

Society before me will be on the

14:39

next episode. So I don't want to

14:39

tell you too much about him. But

14:43

we were in Tallahassee meeting

14:43

with legislators and he and I

14:46

and a couple of other of our

14:46

colleagues were standing around

14:50

in Tampa, Tampa Bay, the their

14:50

chamber of commerce had a big

14:54

thing going on where they were

14:54

giving out Cuban sandwiches

14:57

there are pirates roaming around

14:57

sharing If this pirate comes up

15:01

to us, and he says, ah,

15:01

remember, don't leave fish to

15:05

find fish. And I'm like, What?

15:05

What on earth does that mean?

15:10

Turns out it was a fraternity

15:10

brother from my colleague who

15:14

they hadn't seen each other in

15:14

like 20 years. Oh, my goodness.

15:18

But so if you're happy where you

15:18

are, we're not, we're not a

15:22

headhunting organization. So

15:22

yes, you will be exposed to

15:25

opportunities to change

15:25

employers. But if you're with a

15:28

good employer, we wholeheartedly

15:28

encourage you to stay there

15:33

that the Florida

15:33

Engineering Society does have a

15:38

database for people both looking

15:38

to change or looking to hire.

15:43

Right. So if

15:43

your employer is not allowing

15:46

you time to do your professional

15:46

organizations, then maybe you do

15:50

need to consider to pick up your

15:50

your boat and your fishing line

15:54

and go try and see what else is

15:54

out there. But if things are

15:58

going great for you, by all

15:58

means, stay put stay involved in

16:01

the society. And let's make more

16:01

great engineers.

16:06

One more time, how

16:06

may someone reach the

16:08

organization to join the Florida

16:08

Engineering Society

16:11

go to fleng.org.

16:16

Great. Kelly

16:16

Cranford, it has been my

16:20

pleasure to have you on the very

16:20

first the inaugural episode of

16:24

the Florida Engineering Society

16:24

engineering Florida podcast and

16:29

we look forward to spreading the

16:29

word about all things

16:33

engineering in Florida.

16:35

Thank you, Sam. We're excited.

16:37

So ladies and

16:37

gentlemen, that wraps up the

16:40

very first ever Florida

16:40

Engineering Society Engineering

16:46

Florida podcast. And today is a

16:46

momentous occasion because we're

16:50

going to have many other guests

16:50

and we're going to be talking

16:52

many other topics. And it's all

16:52

about engineering in Florida.

16:59

I'm Sam Yates and I'm happy to

16:59

be here today and so happy to

17:02

have all of you on board for

17:02

this podcast. Thanks for

17:11

listening to another informative

17:11

episode of the Engineering

17:14

Florida podcast. Our goal is to

17:14

help educate and inform everyone

17:19

who listens to our podcast about

17:19

our members and topics of

17:23

interest to the Florida

17:23

Engineering Society. On behalf

17:29

of the Florida Engineering

17:29

Society, and the Engineering

17:32

Florida podcast, have a great

17:32

day everybody