Awards
The NJSPE Awards were established to honor individuals and firms for achievements in the practice and profession of engineering. It is important that we recognize those who have given the best for the advancement of the profession, and to society as a whole.
2010 Awards Winners
NJSPE Awards Guidelines
Nomination Form and Guidelines for the NSPE Fellow Membership Grade
PURPOSE
The purpose of these guidelines is to establish procedures for the uniform presentation of NJSPE awards nominations by NJSPE subordinate entities, e.g. chapters, practice divisions, et al; employers of engineers; or individual NJSPE members as well as the process by which the NJSPE Awards Committee will determine its recommendations for NJSPE Awards to the Board of Trustees, which makes the final decision.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The Awards Committee is comprised of a Chairperson, appointed by the NJSPE President, one representative from each chapter, and one representative from each practice division. These representatives are selected by their respective chapters and practice divisions. The names of the chapter and practice division representatives must be on record at the NJSPE Office prior to the first meeting of the Committee.CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence from the Awards Committee Chairperson relating to meeting notices and miscellaneous correspondence will be transmitted to Committee members at the earliest possible time.Notices regarding solicitation of nominations will be prepared and distributed no later than October 31st each year. Nominations will be accepted until a date in January to be stipulated in the call for nominations.
The committee will update annual listings of past awards recipients of the Distinguished Engineering Service Award, the Outstanding PE Award and the Outstanding Young PE/EIT Award for inclusion in the Annual NJSPE Handbook.
SUBMITTAL
Nominations for any NJSPE Award may be submitted by an NJSPE chapter, an NJSPE practice division, an individual member who has been enrolled in NJSPE for at least three consecutive years, or a New Jersey employer of at least one NJSPE member who has been enrolled for three consecutive years – all of whom shall be termed a “nominator” in this document.Although there is no limit on the number of nominees for a particular award, each nominator may submit only one candidate per award category each year. Only award nominations submitted in writing in accordance with the Criteria stipulated belowby a nominator and received at the designated address by the stipulated deadline will be eligible for consideration. There will be no automatic carry-over of past submittals. If a nominator wishes to re-submit a candidate from a prior year it must do so in writing in compliance with the deadlines prescribed in the call for nominations.
CRITERIA
The individual, written submittals shall comply with the following criteria for the respective awards.A. Distinguished Engineering Service Award
Purpose - The purpose of this award is to honor a distinguished engineer for unusual and meritorious service to the Engineering Profession. Precedent dictates that it may well be an annual award. However, if it is to be meaningful and significant, it should reflect the Society's recognition of an individual's achievements over a span of years.
Qualifications - Eligibility should be restricted to engineers, who are licensed Professional Engineers and/or members of our Society, whose sustained and unusual contributions have been to the public welfare, to the advancement of the profession of engineering, and to the benefit of mankind. Nominees should be engineers of recognized standing and citizens of the United States. They should not be officers of NJSPE. Their professional integrity should be beyond question. Their professional reputation shall be more than local in character.
Instructions for Presentations of Nominations - In submitting a nomination for the Distinguished Engineering Service Award, the nominator shall include a biography, a citation of merit (basis for award), and – when the nominator is a subordinate entity within NJSPE a statement certifying that the presentation has the approval of the officers of the nominating entity.
The biography shall adhere to the following format, using headings in the order shown:
- Name of nominee; home address, telephone number & e-mail address
- Education, including college level and continuing education of significance
- Current employment position and professional responsibilities
- Professional career background
- Publications & Patents
- Honors & Awards
- PE Society activities, offices, committees, etc.
- Other professional association memberships, offices held, and noteworthy achievements
- Other organizations, offices held, and noteworthy achievements
B. Outstanding PE (Professional Engineer) Award
Purpose - The purpose of this award is to honor an outstanding professional engineer for unusual and meritorious contributions in the field of Engineering. If it is to be meaningful and significant, it should reflect the Society's recognition of an individual's achievements over a span of years.
Qualifications - Eligibility should be restricted to Professional Engineers licensed by the State of New Jersey, whose sustained and unusual contributions have been to the public welfare, to the advancement of the profession of engineering and to the benefit of mankind. Nominees should be Professional Engineers of recognized standing and citizens of the United States. They should not be officers of NJSPE. Their professional integrity should be beyond question. Their professional reputation shall be more than local in character.
Instructions for Presentations of Nominations – Same as prior category.
C. Outstanding Young PE/EIT (Professional Engineer/Engineer-In-Training) Award
Any Professional Engineer or Engineer-In-Training, whose credential is issued by the State of New Jersey and whose 35th birthday is on or after April 1 of the year in which the Award is to be presented and who is a U.S. citizen is eligible. In presenting nominations of candidates, the instructions and format listed under Distinguished Engineering Service Award shall be used. In addition, the nominee’s date of birth must be provided for validation of age eligibility.
Professional Development Awards
NSPE’s and NJSPE’s five Professional Development Awards nominations shall be submitted in the manner described under National’s policy. The purpose of the awards is to recognize those entities with the best records of engineering employment practices, and to encourage all employers to adopt progressive policies and practices in accord with established professional practices as outlined in Guidelines to Professional Employment for Engineers and Scientists. Nominators must submit nominees using the appropriate NSPE awards forms. These forms are available on request from the NJSPE office, but may be supplemented with additional information, such as company brochures.
D. Construction Professional Development Award
The NJSPE Construction Professional Development Award is presented to the nominated construction employer of engineering personnel that has made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the engineering profession through its employment policies and practices.
E. Higher Education Professional Development Award
The NJSPE Higher Education Professional Development Award is presented tothe nominated engineering educational institution that has made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the engineering profession through its employment policies and institutional programs and practices.
F Government Professional Development Award
The NJSPE Government Professional Development Award is presented to the nominated government agency that has made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the engineering profession through its employment practices and professional development policies.
Because of the difficulty of comparing agencies of different levels of government, i.e., Federal, State, County and Municipal, the Award is rotated among three basic levels: 1) Federal; 2) State; and 3) Local, including county, city, metro, agency, or sanitary district.
G Industrial Professional Development Award
The NJSPE Industrial Professional Development Award is presented to the nominated industrial employer of engineering personnel (not including government agencies, consulting firms, education institutions, or construction contractors) that has made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the engineering profession through its employment policies and corporate practices.
H Private Practice Professional Development Award
The NJSPE Private Practice Professional Development Award is presented tothe nominated private practice firm, employing engineering personnel, that has made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the engineering profession through its policies and practices.
I Special Awards
The Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees may request that the Awards Committee solicit and recommend nominees for recognition by NJSPE in categories as may be developed in the future by NSPE or by the NJSPE Executive Committee or the Board of Trustees.
MEETINGS
The Awards Committee will meet at least one time prior to the last regular meeting of the Board of Trustees in the first quarter of the year in which the awards are to be presented. Should the number of nominations in any category warrant, the Committee Chair may call additional meetings as may be necessary to properly evaluate nominations.PRESENTATION
Each nominator is entitled to have one representative attend the meeting of the Awards Committee at which the nomination from that nominator will be considered. This representative shall be permitted up to five minutes to defend the nomination.Presentation and voting for each award category will proceed in the following order:
- Distinguished Engineering Service Award
- Outstanding PE Award
- Outstanding Young PE/EIT Award
- Construction Professional Development Award
- Government Professional Development Award
- Higher Education Professional Development Award
- Industrial Professional Development Award
- Private Practice Professional Development Award
- Other Awards as directed.
If a nominator has not submitted its candidate for a particular award by the prescribed deadline, its representative at an Awards Committee meeting may appeal for relief from the deadline. A motion, duly made and seconded, must be approved by a two-thirds majority of those Committee members in attendance at the meeting to consider a nomination that was submitted after the prescribed deadline.
The nomination(s) in each category will be presented in alphabetical order by the representative of the nominator that sponsored the nomination.
The presentation time may be extended for any nomination upon two-thirds vote of the committee members in attendance at that time. Any time extension shall be extended to all presenters for the same category. The order of presentation during the extended time allotment shall be the same.
A period of open discussion shall follow the completion of all presentations for an award category. All voting members are eligible to participate in the open discussion. The open discussion period is limited to 15 minutes. The open discussion can be closed prior to the time limit by a motion from a committee member, seconded by a committee member, and a two-thirds vote of the voting membership. The open discussion can be extended beyond the time limit by a motion from a committee member, seconded by a committee member, and a two-thirds vote of the voting membership. The extension shall be for 15 minutes. Open discussion extensions shall be limited to one per award category.
VOTING
Each committee member is a voting member, except that the Chair will vote only in the event of a tie in a ballot. Each member who is physically present for the presentation(s) in an award category is entitled to cast one vote for each ballot in that award category. Each attendee may cast only one vote per ballot in each award category for which a nomination has been submitted by the stipulated deadline or granted relief from that deadline as described above in the PRESENTATION section.Voting will be performed by secret ballot immediately following the verbal presentation(s) and open discussion for each award category. The votes will be tabulated by the Awards Committee Chairperson.
If there are more than three nominations in an award category on the first ballot, each voting member will vote for three choices. The three nominations receiving the highest number of votes will be considered in a second ballot. On the second ballot each voting member will vote for one nomination. ln the event that no nomination receives a two-thirds vote, the nomination with the least number of votes will be dropped. Each voting member will then vote between the remaining two nominations. The winner will be the nomination that receives a simple majority of the voting membership.
At any time during the voting that there is a tie, the Awards Committee Chairperson will cast the tiebreaker vote of the voting membership.
Based on its deliberation, the Committee may vote to not recommend an award in a particular award category.
PROCEDURE FOLLOWING COMMITTEE DELIBERATION
At no time may the Awards Committee Chair or any of the members or any other attendees at a meeting divulge the details of the actual voting as conducted at a Committee meeting. Only final results may be made public.The final determination of award recipients is the responsibility of the NJSPE Board of Trustees.
The identity of each nomination being recommended by the Awards Committee for each award category shall be submitted by the Awards Committee Chair to the NJSPE Secretary at the earliest possible time – but not later than March first of the year in which the awards are to be presented.
If the Awards Committee has any comments for the welfare of the selection process, these should be forwarded to the NJSPE President at the earliest convenient time.
END
This version of the Awards Guidelines was approved by the Executive Committee on September 25, 2006 and supercedes all previous versions.
