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Awesome Engineers
February 12, 2013Chairperson’s message for February 2013
Dear Fellow SPE Members,
There are many special days this month to celebrate: Groundhog Day on the 2nd, Super-Bowl on the 3rd, Chinese New Year on the 10th, Mardi Gras on the 12th, Valentine’s Day on the 14th, and President’s Day on the 18th. Which of these days will you celebrate? Personally I will definitely celebrate Chinese New Year, and I better remember Valentine’s Day because that is my wife’s birthday. While these dates are important, February is special because Engineer’s Week is from February 17th to 23rd this year.
Dale Jans, the 2013 Engineer’s Week chair, wrote on the chair’s message that “The theme this year is Celebrate Awesome. It is a call to celebrate the people in the profession and all they do. …… Go tell the world how awesome it is what engineers do and how an engineering career can help shape the world in a truly meaningful way. …… Engineers innovate. They create. They solve problems. They work together to make the world better. Engineers are keys to our health, safety, and happiness.” I cannot agree more. Now let us all pat ourselves on our back, and shout at the top of our lungs, “We are awesome!”
We also need to remember to tell our fellow members who are geoscientists, chemists, biologists, business majors, mathematicians, and so on, that they are awesome too. From the Engineer’s Week web-site: “Engineers use their imagination and analytical skills to invent, design, and build things that matter. They are team players with independent minds who turn ideas into reality. By dreaming up creative and practical solutions, engineers are changing the world all the time.” You see, these fellow members are part of our awesome team. Next time you see them, pat them on their back and say: “You are awesome!”
My family is full of engineers. I am a Petroleum Engineer;; my wife, May, is a chemical engineer;; our oldest son, Tak, has a mechanical engineering degree;; our daughter, Eva, got her civil engineering degree;; and our youngest son, Ken, is a software engineer. Now you know why we are known as the “Engineer” family, the “Awesome” family, as well as being the “Cheung” family.
Talking about important dates, please mark your calendars to attend Phil Rae’s talk on February12th. He is an awesome speaker. Do not forget the February 15th deadline for both the SPEI International Award and the Regional Award applications. We need to recognize our awesome friends who have done exceptional work for the profession and for SPE. Please go the short-cut link for the list, criteria and on-line applications for these Awards. http://www.spe.org/awards/
Another important day is the OCEC (Orange County Engineering Council) Award Banquet on the 22nd. Several of our members are award winners:
The CiSoft program, managed by USC’s Professor
Ershaghi and Chevron’s Mike Hauser, won the “Project of
the Year Award”. That is the top honor!
Ted Frankiewicz (LASPE Board member) won the
“Outstanding Engineering Merit Award”
Devon Shay (LASPE Student Chapter Liaison) won the
“Outstanding Service Award”.
Both Mark Ojo (USC Student Chapter President) and
Robert Cannon (USC Student Chapter Event Coordinator)
won the Outstanding Engineering Student Award”.
Please congratulate these awesome fellow members, and better yet, go and attend the OCEC award dinner and celebrate with them in person. (See related article for dinner details).
Finally, we have put together two very exciting and awesome events: the Cross-generational Softskill Workshop on March 6th, and the Technology Happy Hour event on May 2nd (See related articles for details). Please reserve those days to attend. We also need you to ask your company to sponsor some of the events. Your generous sponsorship will help us keep the registration cost down, and it can be a great opportunity for your company to be recognized as a supporter of these events and to encourageus to hold similar events in the future. In addition, some of the funds will be used to provide scholarships for the students! Hope you will consider!
You all are awesome to me!
Steve Cheung
Chairperson 2012-2013
SteveIOR@yahoo.com