June 14, 2006

NCEES to Add Construction Module to Civil PE Exam

- from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)

[Editor's Note: Quoted in this news release from NCEES is Dr. David W. Johnston, professor, associate head, and director of Graduate Programs in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State University.]

The Board of Directors of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) recently approved new specifications for the Civil Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. The specifications include new content areas focused on construction engineering.

The Civil PE exam is a breadth and depth examination. All examinees work the same breadth portion in the morning and then choose one depth module to work in the afternoon. The topic areas of the current depth modules are environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation, and water resources. Beginning with the spring 2008 exam administration, the exam will include a construction engineering depth module.

The Council has been discussing and researching the possibility of a construction depth module in the Civil PE exam for more than five years. The discussion began when the Construction Engineering Education Committee within the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Construction Institute approached NCEES about the growing need to recognize construction engineering in the professional engineering licensure process.

In 2001, the Council voted to include construction issues in its study to update Civil PE exam content. As a part of this study, NCEES surveyed more than 10,000 licensed civil engineers to determine the knowledge areas needed to practice. The survey group represented various fields and geographic locations and included more than 1,600 construction engineers. Survey responses confirmed the need for a construction module.

"The field of construction engineering is large enough to justify the new exam module," says David Johnston, Ph.D., P.E., chair of the Construction Engineering Education Committee and a professor at North Carolina State University. "And it's appropriate for it to be one of the choices in the Civil PE exam because at least a quarter of graduating civil engineering students choose careers in construction. In addition, there is a growing number of ABET-accredited construction engineering degree programs producing construction engineers."

Many codes, specifications, and regulations now require a licensed professional engineer to design various production and safety systems used to execute the construction process, and it is becoming more common for construction engineers to coordinate other licensed design professionals in design-build projects. NCEES has responded to issues related to the design-build construction process by creating a position statement to recognize the need for licensed professional engineers to be in responsible charge of all engineering services included in design-build projects.

The NCEES Construction Engineering Exam Subcommittee is currently creating questions for the new depth module based on the new specifications. The subcommittee, also chaired by Johnston, is made up of 27 licensed construction engineers working with the Civil PE exam committee. More detailed information about the specifications and content areas of the exam will be published after the fall 2007 exam administration.

The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying develops licensing examinations for the engineering and surveying professions. These examinations are used by engineering and surveying licensing boards across the United States as part of their candidate assessment process. NCEES also provides examination scoring and administration services to licensing boards, as well as a variety of other products and services to engineering and surveying professionals. NCEES headquarters is located in Clemson, S.C.

— wallace —

Media Contact:
Chuck Wallace, cwallace@ncees.org

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