The purpose of this article is to satisfy the requirements of a course that I could have failed. The situation arose when our group designed, but did not build and test our Timber bridge for a contest. Our oversight and action of not completing the assignment was brought to the attention of our instructor, Dr. Descoteaux. He wrote each of us a memo stating that we were incomplete on our project and that we would each have a half letter deduction in our quarter grades. This seemed a reasonable punishment, however, my letter grade for the course was a D. Therefore, I would fail the course that would delay my pending graduation. So here I am writing my opinion on taking responsibility for my actions.

As I sit here pondering the definition of responsibility, I remember my high school experiences. I realize now that back then you could easily walk through those halls and pass your classes with only a hint of effort. Breezing through high school was a way of life. It didn’t require much more than showing up to class and passing the tests. Although I did put effort into my classes I noticed that many of my classmates made it through with this lackadaisical method. When I encountered Rose-Hulman though, the reality of hard work and responsibility hit me like a hurricane, a constant and powerful force with small peaceful periods of time. Unless I was willing to leave this school after a short period of time and a loss of a substantial amount of money, I had to get my act together. I regarded my classes as obstacles to hurdle with the ultimate goals of graduation and obtaining a job. I took my classes seriously and accepted the grade I earned from my efforts. Granted, there are times I look back and realize that I could have studied more or tried harder, rather than hanging out with friends. Which brings me back to this article on responsibility. What if I had done better on the tests? What if I had studied harder? What if I had made it to all of the classes? What if I had asked questions? They all lead to the same answer: I wouldn’t have to be writing this article.

In hindsight, I could have done better and earned a better grade. But I was not responsible enough to keep my head focused on the class. Maybe I didn’t understand all of the material or maybe I didn’t feel I needed to do well, but those are not acceptable. They are excuses I tried to come up with for why I did so poorly. In the end I just didn’t make the necessary sacrifices to earn higher than a D. I really don’t look at this as a punishment, but as a lesson from which to learn. In the next couple of weeks I will be graduating and beginning a long and hopefully interesting career. If I do not take my job seriously and with the responsibility of a professional, I’ll be out on the streets looking for another place to work. I also realize that when I am responsible and achieve my goals in my career, all of the sacrifices and hard work will be rewarded. Not only will I have money in my pockets, I will have the satisfaction of knowing I have performed to the best of my abilities.

I know that I have slacked off on occasions, but I have also performed to my abilities. In the end it all comes down to working hard and taking responsibility for my actions. I will not go through life being a victim of circumstances and blaming everything on others, but will rise to the occasion and work my hardest on whatever I am doing. My advice to all of you is realize what you are doing and to regard all the consequences of your actions. Don’t slack off or waste your energies on fruitless endeavors, but work hard and keep your nose to the grindstone. There is plenty of time to have fun, but you must work hard to play hard. Believe me, all of this hard work will pay off.

Responsibility is something that affects our everyday life. It affects our actions, our thoughts, and our values. However, if you’re like me, responsibility is something that I generally don’t spend much time pondering. It always gets replaced by thoughts of hunting, fishing, when is the next available time that I can have a party. However, certain situations have caused me to stop and take a brief look at what responsibility means to me.

As I sit hear thinking about responsibility, I find myself thinking back to the days that I attended high school. Responsibility was something that did not play very much of a role in everyday life. Small amounts of responsibility mentioned with phrases like, "I can’t, I’ve got to go to work on Saturday," or "Not today, dad wants me to do this." However, the amount of responsibility you were in charge of was small. But it was all right because you were not expected to have much responsibility. When high school was over and it was time to go to college, however, the amount of responsibility that you had took a sharp curve upward. Now all of a sudden, you were largely in charge of your own life. It was completely up to you what you did with your time or how you spent your days. The biggest responsibility that you now had was obviously making yourself get up in the morning and dragging your half-conscious body to class. This really doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it really isn’t as easy as it sounds. It was still your responsibility to make yourself do it, and I know that sometimes I would have rather cut off my own leg with a butter knife. The other big responsibility that college life gives to you is homework. Homework in high school was a joke. The entire amount of homework that you had was completed 7^th hour study hall at the end of the school day. Things are different in college. Now, somehow you’ve got to force yourself to dig into the five or six hours of homework that you know is due the following day. Personally, the thought of sitting down to a plethora of homework isn’t very motivational. If that isn’t enough, you know that all the hard work you do today will soon be forgotten as you start the same process the following day. However, you force yourself to do it because in reality, there are greater responsibilities that you have. You have a certain amount of responsibility to school, namely Rose-Hulman, but more importantly you have a great deal of responsibility to your parents. Each year, they put up a great deal of money to send you to what is considered one of the finest colleges in the nation, because they want to receive the finest education money can buy. It is generally easy for all of us to forget this, we’re here, and your parents are back home somewhere. I am as guilty as anyone about doing this. These are supposed to be the best days of our lives. I think, "How can I make these the best days of my life when I’m spending the majority of my time doing some homework assignment." However, I am failing to look ahead to the day that I finally graduate from college and take my place in the work force. This is where the amount of responsibility that you have takes a massive turn. No more can you say, "I stayed up too late last night and drank way too much beer, I think that I’ll sleep in today." That type of thinking doesn’t fly in the real world. You might get away with it once or maybe even twice, but it won’t be long before you’ll be looking for yourself a new job.

In conclusion, I do believe that these are some of the best days of our lives. Nobody’s standing over your shoulder telling you what to do or saying that you have to do something. You’re in college, you have a college ID, it’s like a license to be an idiot. Sometimes, however, it isn’t a bad idea to sit down and think about responsibility every once in a while. It makes you realize just how good you’ve got it right now and that each day should be lived to its fullest. More than likely, the days that are in front of you are not going to be filled with kegs of beer, but with long hard days of work at a job you may or may not like. So have fun while you can, but don’t forget that you do have certain amount of responsibility and sometimes you must act like it.

Integrity is defined as rigid adherence to a code or standard of values. As a professional we must find it within ourselves to act with not just integrity, but with personal integrity.

Personal integrity is knowing what you know–

What you know is what you know–

And to have the courage to know and say what you have observed.

And that is integrity.

And there is no other integrity.

L. Ron Hubbard

Above all, as engineers we all must abide by the NSPE Code of Ethics Fundamental Canons.

Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.
2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.
3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.
4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
5. Avoid deceptive acts.
6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.

If as a professional you do not buy into the integrity or personal integrity ideals, you should as a responsible engineer live by the fundamental canons provided within the oath of becoming a professional engineer. Not because you must utter the fundamental canons in order to receive your certification. Rather, because you as a responsible member of society believe that the canons are a necessary guide upon which you will build your career.

Integrity is an issue that has transcended generations. It is not an issue that is only present in my generation, but an issue that is present in all of our lives.

We must all learn to live our lives by simple virtues that are found in many teachings. When we are young children, parents teach us not to lie, and to clean up after ourselves.

As we get a little older we are taught to do our own work and read the instructions before you begin a project. All are still fairly simple concepts.

As we become adults, the advertising community, in cooperation with the brewing industry teach us to "Think when you Drink." This too seems like a fairly simple instruction, yet all of these simple teachings seem to get forgotten or more likely, just overlooked. As a result something is usually hurt or lost.

As young engineers entering into the professional realm of engineering, we will be given tasks that have the potential of affecting lives. There simply is not room for oversight of issues involving integrity.

As a young engineer prepares for graduation from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology he takes the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam (formerly the EIT). This test is the first step in becoming a licensed professional engineer. The next step for a new EIT is a four year training period. At the end of this four year period an EIT qualifies to take the professional engineers exam (PE). The successful completion of this exam then means you are a registered professional engineer and may:

Part of becoming a newly registered professional engineer is taking an oath known as the engineer’s creed.

Adopted by National Society of Professional Engineers, June 1954

 It is this creed that is the engineers guide. It demands that a PE possess integrity and live by a code of professionalism. It also contains some very bold statements and ideals, and these ideals are what set the engineering profession aside from other professions.

The oath states that the profession and human welfare come above all else. It also states that a professional engineer in time of need look for Divine Guidance. Last the creed demands that the profession always be placed above everything else.

The professional code and creed are both direct products of societies view of integrity. When a professional engineer lives his or her life by the ideals of the profession they are naturally people who possess great amounts of personal integrity. It is this integrity that has allowed engineering to continue to be a very respected profession.

It is the responsibility of every generation of new engineer to carry on these ideals that have stood the test of time. In every thing an engineer does from personally and professionally he or she must remember that their actions influence the reputation of others. It not enough to live by a code of ethics and integrity only while at work. The same code must be lived by whether at or away from the job.

It is customary at the end of each spring quarter to take stock of the events of the previous academic year, identifying accomplishments, assessing failures, planning for the school year ahead. As Coordinator of Technical Communication, I evaluate the successes of the Program in Technical Communication. Among those, I count the increasing number of departments that now require HU 330, Technical Communication, of their students. I also consider an accomplishment the heightened awareness of students and faculty to the importance of written and oral communication. Across the Institute, faculty and students alike are recognizing the fact that writing reports, making presentations, and designing information for a variety of audiences is already a significant component of the professional lives of engineers. As we prepare students to enter the workforce, giving them training in technical information, team skills, and the like, we are also preparing them to use effective communication skills to convey information.

Currently the Humanities and Social Sciences Department has adequate staff to accommodate the mechanical, electrical, applied optics, and consulting engineer students who wish to enroll. Previous to that staffing increase, only civil engineering students were required to take Tech Comm. Some may wonder why civils were on board with Tech Comm earlier than other departments. I believe a large part of the credit goes to the faculty of the Civil Engineering department, who realized that civil engineers were compelled to make use of their communication skills more so than engineers in other fields. The engineering profession is changing; technical people are being asked to do more diverse tasks on the job. HU 330 prepares students for meeting these new demands. In some respects, however, civil engineers have always acknowledged the role of human communities in the work that they do. When a city decides to build a new bridge, when concerned residents of a rural community question the impact of a surface mining operation, when homeowners evaluate and select construction materials, a civil engineer often contributes information and assists these individuals with expert advice. In this function, the civil engineer represents a bridge between technical information and the community that needs to know it.

Civil engineering juniors who attend the orientation session for HU 330 in December often dread the beginning of the course in the spring quarter. But I believe some of those same students are the course’s most vocal advocates when the end of spring quarter arrives. Those who remain unconvinced while they are still at Rose, however, often feel differently when they enter Senior Design, where communication skills prove invaluable when dealing with a real customer and real projects. For the minority who still don’t recognize the importance of communication when they enter the engineering profession, their experiences on the job frequently hammer my point home.

When got a job in south Florida, I was elated. I fell in love with the company logo. I thought about ordering a customized license plate with company's initials. In short, I loved my job. I decided to become involved in the local ASCE Branch. This was the best thing that I could have done.

I became Treasurer of the Broward Branch of ASCE. The position took some time, however, it paid back big dividends. I learned everyone's name who regularly attended meetings. I also worked closely with my fellow ASCE officers. Typically, the ASCE officers will be composed of people in senior positions at their firms or governmental agencies. Firms often encourage the "chosen few" to who will be the new partners to be involved in professional organizations. This is partially for advertising and partially to groom their people into positions of authority.

My position of Treasurer kept me in contact with top people at a number of firms. It is very nice to be on a first name basis with vice-presidents and presidents of large engineering firms. It is also nice to be able to call up a permitting agency and know the head people.

After a year and three months at my employer, the firm did not do my six-month or yearly employment review. This is bad because usually during reviews one gets raises. Through ASCE I had a network of people from who I could get advice. The advice that I got said that it was unusual some even said that it was "unprofessional." I decided that I could not advance my career very fast without reviews. This prompted me to look for other employment opportunities.

It happened that one of my fellow ASCE officer's firm had an opening. I interviewed for the job and got the job. My fellow officer was one of the two interviewers. It is really comfortable to interview with someone that you know and have worked with in the past. That was the easiest interview that I ever had. Needless to say, I got the job.

In conclusion, once you enter the work world, get involved with ASCE or some other professional organization. It will pay off in the long run.

Have you ever considered a career in bridge engineering? Have you thought about what might be involved? Inspecting and evaluating existing bridges, designing rehabilitation’s, upgrades, and new bridges. What about other infrastructure? Have you ever considered being a tank engineer?

Most people take the water they drink for granted, never giving much thought to the process of water treatment and water distribution that supplies water to most of the homes in an urban area. Included in this infrastructure for delivering water, are water tanks, hundreds and thousands of them, all across the country. If you do not believe me, or you have never noticed, look around the next time you drive across the state. Practically every little town will have at least one water tank. Larger cities have dozens. Somebody has to inspect, evaluate, and design rehabiltations, upgrades, and new tanks, just like somebody has to do for bridges and most of the rest of the infrastructure around the world. That is what I do, I am a tank engineer and the following article describes some of the jobs responsibilities that I have. I hope this will demonstrate that there are a lot of different careers and opportunities in the world.

People often ask me, "How in the world did you get into the business of water tanks?" Believe me, when I was taking civil engineering courses at Rose-Hulman I never thought about water tanks as a career, I did not even know why that old ugly water tower stood outside of Moench Hall. But near the end of my sophomore year I started looking for a summer job and I contacted a Rose alumni, Bill Daugherty, who worked for a small consulting firm in Indianapolis. I told him I was looking for summer work and that I was really good with AutoCAD and I was willing to do anything for summer work. Bill got me an interview with Steve Roetter, another Rose alumni. I went in for an interview and found out that all this company did was provide water tank engineering services. Called Tank Industry Consultants, all they did was water tank evaluations, design water tank rehabilitations, design new tanks, and evaluate all of the construction work. As I left the interview I thought, "Just water tank engineering? This company won’t be in business long!" As I drove back to Terre Haute that afternoon I noticed that water tanks were all over the place, in every town I drove through. I changed my mind and thought maybe there’s something to this business. Later that month Steve Roetter called me and offered me a summer job.

A side note: With all of the Rose alumni working for TIC, I have been asked on several occasions if Rose-Hulman is a school for water tank engineers!

I started the week after finals and they asked me to show up at 5:30 a.m. Steve told me to wear blue jeans, a tee shirt, and old shoes. I had no idea what I was in for. I showed up for work and met with Todd Moore and Mike Doolittle. The three of us drove to Decatur, Illinois to do a tank evaluation. I had never climbed a water tank, and I told Mike this. He asked if I was afraid of heights and I replied "no." So we climbed the tank, over 100 feet high, and did the evaluation. The evaluation consisted of washing out the interior of the tank, and measuring everything on the tank from the thickness of the paint to the size of the columns.

All summer I assisted with tank evaluations when needed and prepared AutoCAD drawings for the engineers in the office. That summer I climbed over thirty tanks and produced a few hundred drawings. At the end of the summer I stayed on and worked part-time while going to school. I worked weekends and some Wednesdays doing AutoCAD drawings and miscellaneous work. The next summer I continued doing field evaluations, preparing AutoCAD drawings, and I also started writing tank evaluation reports.

Near the end of my senior year (1991), Tank Industry Consultants offered me a full-time position as a project engineer. After graduation I continued assisting with field evaluations. I also wrote dozens of tank evaluation reports and prepared detailed technical specifications for the rehabilitation of water tanks. One of the first things I realized after graduating, was that we never discussed water tanks, or corrosion, or coating systems in any of the classes I had at Rose. The first few months were a period of learning, and I assume this will be the case for most new graduates. The material taught at Rose provides graduates with a great foundation of engineering principles, but it is impossible to teach everything in four years. (or five for some?) During the first year of working full-time I had to learn about industrial coating systems, abrasive blasting procedures and surface cleanliness, the corrosion process, and the structural intricacies of water tanks. A lot of OTJT!

During a few projects, while doing some structural analysis, I realized that my technical skills could use some outside help. So I decided to go to graduate school. I enrolled at Purdue University and traveled to West Lafayette for structural engineering classes and worked full-time in Indianapolis writing tank evaluation reports. TIC was kind enough to allow me a flexible work schedule so that I could attend classes and work whenever it fit my schedule, as long as I got my work done.

Near the end of my first year at Purdue, a Regional Manager for TIC’s East Coast office quit. It was without warning and left TIC with nobody to take his place. I volunteered to move to the East Coast for one year and cover the office duties while TIC hired and trained a new Regional Manager. I did this because I saw an opportunity for me to learn something new about business, dealing with clients, sales, and project management. These were all things that I really knew nothing about, and I thought this opportunity would be a great way to advance my career, besides I knew a lot about the technical side of the business by this time and I thought, "how hard can it be?"

My eyes were opened in a hurry! Dealing with customers and trying to develop new business had nothing to do with my technical skills; it was all people skills. How much I knew about tanks did not matter unless I could communicate effectively with old, new, and prospective clients, both verbally and with the written word. I found that dogged determination and tenacity were as important as any skill I possessed. Being a "new kid" on the block placed two strikes against me with most of the "old timers" that I had to deal with. In order to succeed I had to prove that I was competent and to do this I had to communicate with them. It usually takes several tries before someone will start to listen to you and eventually trust you. That is where the determination and tenacity are most helpful. Simply following through with customers and making sure that projects get completed properly are the most important things I do. Never give up on anything and good things will happen.

After nearly one year on the east coast I had developed several new clients and successfully completed several projects, so the company asked me to consider staying on the east coast and running the office. After some consideration, I decided to stay on the East Coast and to transfer my graduate studies to the University of Maryland. (At the time of writing this article I have completed all of my requirements for the Master of Engineering, Structural Engineering and I am waiting to graduate in May, 1997.)

As Regional Manager of TIC’s east coast office my duties include developing new clients, managing projects, dealing with contractors, assisting with field evaluations, and filling in for field technicians. Most of my time is spent working with clients. Meeting to discuss scheduling upcoming projects, outlining scopes of work for projects, negotiating contracts, discussing problems on existing projects and so on. The clients I deal with range in size from one-tank customers to one client that has over 200 tanks!

In 1994 I had the pleasure of going to California, all expenses paid! The day after the Northridge Earthquake, in January of 1994, Steve Roetter called me at my office in Maryland and asked me if I was interested in going some place much warmer than the 15 degree Maryland climate. Jokingly I said, "Sure, what do you want me to do, go to California." Steve responded by asking how soon I could be there. I was on a plane the next morning. Myself and three other employees and the owner of the company evaluated forty tanks during the next two weeks. Our evaluations were conducted to determine if the tanks had moved considerably or otherwise been damaged by the earthquake. Fortunately for our client, none of the tanks had sustained any damage. However, we found out that one of the neighboring water utilities had lost one tank in a catastrophic failure due to the earthquake. Since the earthquake, TIC has received numerous projects and inquiries about seismic upgrades for water tanks.

In the Fall of 1995 I passed the professional engineer’s examination. I am currently registered in the seven Mid-Atlantic states that I work in. I recommend that everybody take the fundamentals of engineering exam at the end of your senior year. There is very little chance I could have passed it after four or five years of being out of school without some extremely long hours of studying.

In addition to working with clients I am actively involved with several of the waterworks organizations in the Mid-Atlantic area. I present one day tank maintenance seminars for several of the rural water associations in the Mid-Atlantic region and I have presented technical papers at numerous conferences around the Mid-Atlantic areas as well as nationally. My involvement in technical associations, such as the American Water Works Association, has been extremely beneficial for my career from both a technical standpoint as well as the networking contacts and friends that I have made through attending meetings and serving on committees.

Water tank engineering is a very specialized field and prior to working at TIC I did not realize just how much work and effort went into maintaining water storage tanks and how much I had to learn about the business of engineering. It all started with one phone call, over eight years ago. Little did I know what adventure I would travel; climbing tanks, relocating across the country, completing my Masters Degree, and traveling all over the country to help owners maintain their water tanks. Looking back at the past eight years I am glad that I made that one phone call. I have had a very interesting and rewarding experience.