First-Hand:Challenges IEEE Faced Supporting Ethical Behavior and Professionalism - Part 2 My Technical Experience

A TOTAL ENGINEER EQUALS THE SUM OF HIS/HER TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE

I developed early in my career, because of the Professional and Ethics course taught to me at the University of Florida, the philosophy and believed that to become what I coined a Total Engineer, one must excel in both his/her Technical as well as Professional work. So at first I concentrated on performing my technical work as best as I could. But as time went on, I felt something was missing and I began to focus more on adding the professional aspects of engineering into my career practice. And the more that I placed emphasis on the Professional side, the more I encountered resistance both from my employers and well as in my activities in the IEEE. Therefore, before discussing the heart of this paper, I will set out the basis for my having become and accomplished Technical Engineer. After all, at that time, the IEEE's Constitution, only permitted it to engage in "Technical Activities". What follows initially, therefore, are highlights of my Technical resume. Throughout my career, of some 40 odd years, I was responsible for the Technical Designs of Products and Systems which ranged in value from a low of $ 100 Thousand to over $1 Billion.

During My Earliest Years I Was a Systems and a Product Design Engineer

From 1958 through 1960, right out of college, I was the System Engineer with the Martin Company, in Orlando, Florida, responsible for specifying and over seeing 2 contractors develop the Telemetry Signal Conditioning equipment flown in testing the development of the US Army's new solid propellant Pershing Missile. Then from 1960 to 1965, I performed and also responsible for the design and development of Telemetry and Data Acquisition equipment for Airborne and Aerospace applications (high altitude research ballons, aircraft and missiles). I both worked independently and led design groups as a Project Engineer, with total responsibility. All of these equipment had to not only perform to performance specs but also operate while doing so in extreme environments. Initially these equipment were implemented using analog technology but later transitioned to digital through the use of discrete transistors and later integrated circuits. All of this work was done on fixed priced contracts, which we had to bid on to win the work. We created State-of-the-Art products.

Systems Engineering at The Martin Company 1958-1960

Here, below, are the first equipment I was given total system responsibility for, right out of college. They were the Telemetry Signal Conditioning equipments which were flown in the early test vehicles of the US Army's first solid rocket missile, the Pershing, which replaced the liquid fueled Redstone. Later, the Pershing missiles, tipped with Nuclear Warheads, created a defensive shield all along Eastern Europe, to hold back the Russian threat.