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11.09

Q&A with NCEES Director of Examinations Tim Miller
By Abby Vogel

Today’s Engineer sat down for a Q&A with the NCEES Director of Examination Services Tim Miller, P.E. Mr. Miller is responsible for preparing and scoring the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Principles and Practice (PE) examinations used by U.S. licensing boards to license professional engineers. NCEES members include all of the U.S. licensing boards.

Q: When did you join NCEES and what are your responsibilities as Director of Exam Services?

I’ve been with NCEES for more than four years, first as an Exam Development Engineer, and the last two-plus years as the Director of Exam Services. I’m responsible for the development, printing and scoring of two surveying exams and 20 engineering exams. I also oversee the development and printing of our sample questions and solutions study materials.

My favorite part about my job is working with the dedicated licensed engineers and surveyors from all over the country who help develop our exams. They’re all volunteers. They all want to help. We all speak the same language. They’re all interested in giving back to the profession. I have the best job in the world!

Q: What did you do before joining NCEES?

After earning my B.S. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, I worked in the nuclear division at Bechtel for three years. I worked in several nuclear plants, both operating plans and those under construction. The remainder of my career prior to NCEES was spent in consulting, beginning with site development design—grading, pavement, layout, sewer and storm drainage, and lift station design. I eventually moved into project management for industrial projects—plant expansions and grassroots plants. Industries included tire fabrication, purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production and nylon biaxially oriented film.

Q: Why did you become licensed?

As I started interviewing with companies during my senior year in college, I found my interests leaning more toward consulting than industry. My father (a licensed HVAC engineer) suggested that I keep licensure in mind as I was making decisions about where to work. Therefore, I decided to take the EIT exam (now known as the FE exam) my senior year. Being a civil engineer, I was concerned about the electrical portion of the exam. I knew I had enough credits to graduate, so I took an “Introduction to Electrical Engineering” class (pass/fail). It didn’t help. When I got to the electrical portion of the exam, I guessed for the most part alternating my answers with ACDCACDC, hoping the exam writers had a sense of humor. Little did I know that I would end up leading the group that creates the exams.

Q: This year brought a new structure to the PE exam for electrical and computer engineers. What were the changes and how did the first round of testing go in April 2009?

In the past few years, we went through a process to determine if we were still testing the relevant knowledge areas necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. This is a process that we perform every five to seven years on each of our exams to ensure they stay up to date. For the Electrical and Computer PE exam, the results showed us that the body of knowledge for electrical engineers is becoming broader and broader, and therefore electrical engineers are becoming more specialized. The results showed us that the breadth-and-depth exam format was no longer applicable. In this format, all examinees answered the same 40 questions in the morning part of the exam (breadth) and answered 40 questions from a chosen specialty module in the afternoon (depth). Based on the results of this process, NCEES decided to change the Electrical and Computer PE exam format by splitting the exam into three depth exams. With the new format, an electrical examinee choosing the Power exam, for example, answers 80 questions in that area.

 The first exam administration with the new format was this past April. This required electrical PE examinees to choose their depth exam when they registered with their state licensing board. This was a significant change because examinees could previously decide at the exam site which afternoon module they wanted to work. It went very smoothly. We saw a slight increase in the number of candidates; however, it’s too early to draw any conclusions with only one administration—especially with the current condition of the economy.

 The future is bright for these three exams. We have a very diverse and dedicated group of volunteers on this exam committee, and they’ve done an excellent job during the transition of this exam to its new format.

Q: While the Power and Computer PE Exams seem to have a simple and self evident title and associated knowledge, what exactly is the Electrical/Electronics PE Exam and some of its major knowledge areas?

Fifty percent of the exam covers “General Electrical Engineering Knowledge” including circuit analysis, measurement and instrumentation, safety and design limits, and signal processing. The remaining fifty percent of the exam covers the following areas: digital systems, electrical and magnetic field theory and applications, electronics, control system fundamentals, and communications. A more descriptive list of topics can be found at: http://www.ncees.org/exams/professional/Electrical_Electronics Specifications.pdf.

 Q: How will the newly approved software engineering PE examination affect the current electrical and computer engineering examinations and when will it be available?

Once the new Software Engineering PE exam comes to fruition, candidates can choose to take it (assuming it’s offered in their state). The main difference will be that because it will be designated as a Group II exam, it will offered once a year, whereas the existing Electrical and Computer Engineering exams (Group I exams) are offered twice a year.

NCEES is working with IEEE-USA to produce the Software Engineering exam, and will be sharing the costs. Once we start the job analysis part of the process (determining what needs to be tested), it will take approximately two-and-a-half to three years before the exam will be made available to the licensing boards. It will be up to each licensing board to determine if it will offer the exam and license software engineers.

 Q: Are there any other new PE examinations under consideration that may be of interest to IEEE members?

There is currently a consortium of technical societies (including IEEE-USA) exploring the need and feasibility of developing a Bioengineering PE exam. The respective “bio” societies of IEEE, ASME, and AIChE along with ASABE and BMES are working together in this effort. They are being advised by NCEES with regard to the process of requesting a new exam.

 Q: What other exam-related changes have been made recently?

 There will be a lot of changes starting with the October 2010 exam administration. NCEES will begin using an examinee management system in conjunction with the state licensing boards. Candidates will have to log onto the NCEES Web site once approved by their state licensing board. Once logged in, they will sign up for their appropriate exam and answer questions about which site they are taking the exam and provide some background information. Starting in October 2010, the afternoon depth modules for FE, Civil PE, and Mechanical PE exams will be split into individual exam books. Candidates for those exams will be required to choose their module when they register.

 Also, starting with the October 2010 administration, out-of-state proctoring of exams will no longer be offered, with the exception of active military personnel.

In April 2011, a new 16-hour Structural exam will be offered for the first time, replacing the existing Structural I and II exams.

Q: A serious PE exam cheating issue that occurred several years ago was recently resolved. What were the details and outcome in that case and how does NCEES ensure that the exams are not compromised by cheaters?

A candidate in Puerto Rico during the October 2006 exam administration was observed acting unusually and when searched was found with scanning and transmitting equipment. It was discovered that not only had she recorded the Civil PE exam, but also the 2005 FE exam. The candidate pled guilty to two counts of fourth-degree aggravated fraud and was sentenced to six months probation. NCEES was also able to obtain a civil judgment against her of over $1,000,000. A press release with additional details about the case is available under the News portion of ncees.org

NCEES has policies and procedures that have been put in place not only to ensure that copying and collusion are minimized, but also to ensure that candidates are treated fairly and consistently at the hundreds of exam sites on exam day. It may seem that many of the rules are picayune and harsh; however, with all of the exam sites and hundreds of proctors, the rules must be black and white and not subject to interpretation. That ensures that a candidate in Nebraska is treated the same way and to the same set of rules as a candidate in Virginia.

 Once all of the answer sheets are scanned, a copying and collusion analysis is run on the tens of thousands of answer strings looking for pairs of candidates whose response patterns demonstrate unusual similarities, typically focusing on the common incorrect responses. Seating charts are then reviewed to see if the matching pair were seated in close proximity to each other. If so, all of the data is forwarded to the appropriate licensing board for further investigation. To minimize this, we require assigned seating along with having candidates taking the same exam not sitting next to each other when possible. We also use scrambled forms of the same exams so the order of the questions doesn’t match the adjacent candidate.

 Q: What is the status of the Engineering Education Task Force (formerly known as B+30) model law changes?

At this year’s NCEES Annual Meeting, delegates passed a resolution calling for the Engineering Education Task Force to study alternatives to the master’s or equivalent requirement, including an alternative to “reform the bachelor’s degree program” to incorporate into undergraduate engineering degrees “the appropriate education requirements to practice at a professional level.” The update from the recent NCEES Annual Meeting in Louisville can be found under the News section on ncees.org

 Q: What NCEES issues do you think will be most impactful in the next few years?

There are two major issues being studied at this time. First, the Engineering Education Task Force continues to study the master’s or equivalent requirement for initial engineering licensure. Another task force is investigating computer-based testing and whether it makes sense for NCEES to convert from a paper and pencil exam to a computer-based exam. Other high-stakes tests that have been converted have been able to do so with minor to somewhat major issues. The biggest difference is that most other groups only have one or two different exams, whereas NCEES now offers 22 different exams.

 Q: We understand that the NCEES is looking for problem item writers for the Electrical & Computer PE exam and the new Software Engineering PE exam. What is the process for applying to be considered for this work?

For information about becoming an exam volunteer, visit the volunteer portal on ncees.org. On that page is a link for a volunteer interest form. Fill out the form and submit it. Someone from NCEES will then contact you.

Abby Vogel, Ph.D., is a communications officer in the Research News and Publications office at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In this position, she writes about Georgia Tech research discoveries and developments, and assists reporters in their coverage of Georgia Tech research. Vogel also serves as chair of the IEEE-USA Communications Committee and as an editor for IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.