Growing Industry by Serving our Community
Last modified on 2012-08-16 19:51:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Another ASHRAE year is upon us! In early August, your chapter representatives attended the Region XII CRC in Miami to report on last year’s activities, present motions that help evolve our Society, nominate members for Regional & Society volunteer positions and attend training workshops. You’ll hear more about these activities, and their results, from all of your chapter volunteers in our September newsletter.
In the years that I’ve been involved with this chapter, we’ve experienced astounding success and it’s been amazing to watch. We’ve renewed commitments to Student Activities, Chapter Technology Transfer, Young Engineers, Honors & Awards, History and many other efforts. Your current officers – Anik Patel, Amy Weaver, Nate Boyd, Burns Bradford and myself – are all UCF alumni (Go Knights!). We were given opportunities in this industry as students, be it an internship with a local company, guidance as we competed in the Student Design Competition, a chance to volunteer with the student branch, or simply a free meal at a local chapter meeting so we could expand our knowledge and meet future colleagues. They were investments this chapter made in us, and in our local university, and we are just a few of many that now serve in this industry and volunteer within this chapter as a result. That’s why as we work this year to provide value to you, our chapter, we hope to be “Growing Industry by Serving our Community”.
Our commitment as a chapter to UCF will continue, as strong as ever. You’ll soon be hearing more about the Student Design Competition, and some of the big changes it will see this year. Take time to meet some of our students at the monthly dinner meetings – they’ll be there like always! In addition to feeding them, the Student Activities committee will be teaching them HVAC fundamentals and helping them plan for Dallas in January. Our efforts with local schools don’t end with UCF, though. Teach-In events, the Seminole County Science Fair and outreach to Seminole State, Valencia & DeVry are all on the calendar for this year as well.
Serving our community doesn’t just apply to students. If you are a regular reader of the Dewpoint, you’ve seen our chapter involvement in Government Affairs increase over the past few years. Tracey Whaley has done a fantastic job in this role and we’re excited to have her on board again this year. Expect to hear more about the Masters-or-Equivalent / Bachelors + 30 hours (MOE/B+30) debate. Our chapter will be working with other chapters in Florida and sister engineering societies to keep communication on this issue open with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. This civic involvement aims to prevent a potential decrease in engineers entering the field resulting from stricter licensing requirements.
Another facet of community involvement that’s grown in recent years has been our participation in the Central Florida Energy Efficiency Alliance (CFEEA). As a founding member, we continue to participate in CFEEA and support their efforts. This year, we hope to take on a leading role within the organization and potentially facilitate a program to train more energy specialists within our industry.
The 2012-2013 ASHRAE year will bring dinner meetings, a lunch meeting, golf tournaments (in light and at night), a refrigeration tour, dodgeball tournament, and of course, the shrimp boil! I’m excited for everything your chapter volunteers are working on and I hope to see you at many of these fun events. As we continue to provide value to your ASHRAE membership, I hope you’ll join us in “Growing Industry by Serving our Community”.
Megan Tosh, PE
Chapter President 2012-2013
