Norma Jean Mattei, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE
Region 5 Director Nominee

Vision Statement

If I became Empress of the world, I envision that the status of civil engineers would be on par with doctors and lawyers, engineering would be publicly regarded as the most ethical of professions, diversity would be celebrated, and there would be peace on earth. I will never be Empress, but as Director I could work toward making my vision a reality.

First, let’s talk about the future of the profession. With pressure from state legislators to reduce the number of hours required for an engineering Bachelor’s degree to 120, coupled with additional “soft skills” courses in keeping with ABET requirements and an increasing amount of technical material an engineer should be familiar with, tomorrow’s undergraduate engineering student may lack important technical courses. The Body of Knowledge seeks to rectify this situation. Now we must work on the details of what the “Plus 30” can be and how it can be implemented. I don’t believe that a MS degree should be the only way for a future civil engineer to acquire these additional hours. This must be done thoughtfully, so that each of the licensing boards will be able to verify that an applicant has acquired the “Plus 30” hours for licensure purposes. I will be available to meet with any Branch or Section in order to bring feedback of the membership to the BOK committee members. I will also work with the BOK folks in order to promote the “BS Plus 30” requirements that is now in NCEES’ Model Law through educating members of other state boards and legislatures (I am on Louisiana’s licensure board). Additionally I will work to remove the industrial exemption in Louisiana.

As for the ethical standing of our profession, I will take the anticipated final report of President Mongan’s Task Force charged to examine ASCE's procedures for conducting nationally significant engineering investigations. I will work to ensure the Task Force’s recommendations are implemented so that ASCE will be the organization that the public turns to after a disaster with 100% trust in our ability and expertise in providing a thorough and unbiased report.

Finally, as an outspoken leader, I will be a role model promoting diversity not only of gender, but of culture, ethnicity, nationality and thinking. A competent diverse team brings more to the table that a competent team made up of similar individuals.

The above statement appears as it was submitted to ASCE by the nominee. No revisions have been made to the statement by ASCE.