December 22, 2022 • 17 mins
Text us with feedback, questions, and guest suggestions.
Welcome to the premier edition of the Florida Engineering Society's Engineering Florida Podcast!
In our very first episode, Florida Engineering Society President Kelly Cranford talks with host Sam Yates about the role this innovative podcast will play in helping to educate the public and Members about the various aspects of Engineering in Florida. And Cranford describes some of the key topics and issues to be addressed in the upcoming year on Engineering Florida.
Please make it a point to subscribe to Engineering Florida wherever you get your podcasts and share with a friend.
The Florida Engineering Society, Engineering Florida podcast, is produced by Yates & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing. Contact Sam Yates, Sam@Yatespro.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sam Yates (00:01):
Engineers are ingenious professionals.
Engineers invent, design, verifyand qualify, engineers are the
professionals who make our livesand businesses prosperous and
safe. The Florida EngineeringSociety is proud to put our
engineering professionals in thespotlight so that they may
(00:21):
educate, share information andintroduce you to the world of
engineering that is thriving inFlorida. Here's your host of the
Engineering Florida podcast, SamYates with today's guest.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to abrand new podcast for the
Florida Engineering Society. Thepodcast is called Engineering
(00:43):
Florida. And I have thepresident of the Florida
Engineering Society here withme, Kelly Cranford. Kelly,
welcome to the program.
Kelly Cranford (00:51):
Good morning, Sam.
Sam Yates (00:53):
Now, I think everyone wants to know, what is this
program? How does it work? Andwhat is it going to do for the
Florida Engineering Society?
Kelly Cranford (01:02):
Well, we have over 3000 members within our
society. And we thought thepodcast forum would be a great
way to help keep our members upto date and show other people
who are not members what whatwe're doing, why you should join
and become one of us.
Sam Yates (01:17):
And I want to take a little credit there because when
I met you as the the presidentof the Florida Engineering
Society, I have to step asideand say I've known you for a
while Culpeper interpreting, Iknow that engineers many sorts
do many different things here inFlorida. And it's always been
something that fascinates methat you do so many things as
(01:39):
engineers that people don't knowabout. So I think this is a
great avenue for putting peoplein the spotlight. But it's not
just people, it's also topicsand issues.
Kelly Cranford (01:49):
It's topic, it's an issues and how we come
together to solve differentproblems and challenges that are
facing society, we are problemsolvers by trade. That's what we
have in common. And we do, we'vegot private practice, which is
all your consulting engineers,we have engineers in government,
that's another one of ourpractice sections. We have those
(02:09):
in education. So yourprofessors, your teachers,
they're part of our group, andwe get to bounce ideas off of
each other. So that we have notonly those that are in the
consulting field, but we havethose that are doing the
research, and we can talk backand forth and incorporate the
new research that they're doinginto what's actually being built
in the field brings me to theengineers that work in
(02:30):
construction. So once theproject is designed, we have
engineers out there watching itand making sure that it's built
correctly,
Sam Yates (02:36):
when we take a look at construction, you know, I
will put on my partialconstruction hat and say that
I'm a member of the Gold CoastBuilders Association Board of
Directors. And looking at theconstruction industry, they're
always raising questions of howto interface with the
engineering side of business,this could be one of those
(02:57):
vehicles that helps to bring thetwo parts together, they
Kelly Cranford (03:00):
could and we're hoping and when we've talked and
we will do that. So I am a civilengineer, and the majority of
our members, but definitely notall of them are civil engineers,
as well. So we do the thingsthat don't move the things below
the ground and the skyscrapers,making sure when you flush the
toilet that it goes to thetreatment plant and gets
treated, making sure that thewater you turn on the tap that
(03:23):
you get water at the rightpressure and the roads that you
drive on make, we do our best tomake sure they last there is an
issue we go in and we fix it.
And we alter the design if we'reseeing that there is a
reoccurring problem. But we alsohave members that serve in
industry. So we have somemembers that work for a bottom
lawn that actually made thecontact lenses. We have a wide
variety of members. And we'reexcited to bring them to the
(03:46):
public through this podcast.
Sam Yates (03:50):
Awesome. And one of the things I want to take on as
as a goal is to help increaseyour membership 3000 members,
that's a lot. How many memberscan we have
Kelly Cranford (04:00):
before our last recession in 2009, we were at
4600 members so we know they'reout there that we can get back
up to there. And thanks totechnology, we can have meetings
virtually. We can bring youthese podcasts. We have our
newsletters, we have ourprofessional development,
virtual and in person webinarsthat our members are welcome to.
(04:20):
So yeah, I think it's a greattime and we're gonna keep on
keep on rolling.
Sam Yates (04:25):
Right here at the top of the program before we get too
far into the program. How maysomeone if they are interested
in becoming a member of theFlorida Engineering Society? How
can they go about that
Kelly Cranford (04:37):
they can go to fleng.org.
Sam Yates (04:42):
Now I know you also have students who are members of
the organization.
Kelly Cranford (04:47):
We do and Student Membership is free. We
have I believe it's 18 chaptersthroughout the state of Florida
at different universities. Sothe membership is free as long
as you are a college student andyou can sign up at this same
website flng.org. So they havemeetings, they have student
meetings, they elect thepresidents and all the officers.
(05:08):
And they're also welcome toattend the local chapter. So we
have 19 chapters throughout thestate of Florida. So student
members can attend their studentmeetings, but they are also
welcome to attend the chaptermeeting in their region, as well
as our annual conference, whichwill be in Marco Island in 2023.
Sam Yates (05:24):
Now, I know that the organization also has special
committees and special groupsthat look at very specific
things. And one of the itemsthat continues to come to the
forefront is the Serb sidecollapse. Yeah, what's happening
there,
Kelly Cranford (05:40):
we had formed a working group, with not just
members of the Floridaengineering society, but also
some members of the ConcreteInstitute that, you know,
concrete apparently failed. Sothey were as part of the group,
we have structural engineers, Ibelieve we also had the building
officials association that webrought together a group of
(06:00):
about 12 people representingdifferent organizations who have
looked into what rules andregulations could have been in
place to help prevent this fromever happening again. And that
group in the next couple ofmonths, we'll reconvene and tie
up some loose ends with a lot oflegislation that's new. And that
was put together fairly quickly.
There were some questions. Sothey're going to hope to
(06:22):
alleviate some of thoseunintended requests and an
unintended consequences of somethings that were put into that
legislation.
Sam Yates (06:31):
So in reality, the Florida Engineering Society does
play a very critical and keyrole in getting legislation back
to our local communities back tothe state that keeps us safe.
Kelly Cranford (06:43):
We have we have several lobbyist, and we also,
every year we go, and we haveprofessional engineering days at
the State Capitol, where we goand meet with each and every one
of the legislators and tell themnot only what our concerns are
for any legislation that's beenintroduced, but also what our
members do and how we can helpthem. So they have a constituent
(07:03):
that's all upset about thisintersection, or bridge failure
or this, we have members thatwill they can contact and we'll
reach out and help thelegislator and his staff or her
staff understand what's reallygoing on and help them find
solutions.
Sam Yates (07:17):
Now, I know by being affiliated with you, and
Culpeper terpening. Inparticular, I have seen problems
that exists. And engineers, theyhave a knack for solving
problems. Without going intospecifics. Hurricane Ian just
really wreaked havoc acrossFlorida. Any problem areas that
(07:39):
surfaced that engineers are inparticular, taking a look at
right now as we are into 2023.
Kelly Cranford (07:45):
There are I mean, there, there is still a
lot of damage over there. And sothere are a couple of things.
Our sister publication, the veryfirst issue is going to come out
in March, the engineeringFlorida publication, which will
be available on the website aswell. One of the things that was
amazing following Hurricane Ianwas how Flass the Florida
(08:05):
Department of Transportation wasable to get those bridges
reopened. It was I mean, afterHurricane Michael, it took
months, but they were able to doit in a matter of weeks and
days. So they did that by aseries of a new procurement
method, and working togetherwith the contractors to make
sure everything was donequickly. So that will be one of
the features of our very firstpublication. So we'll look
(08:28):
forward to the details there. Wehave seen some homes are needing
to be right elevated for thetide for the surge, and the new
construction standards. They'velooked at what what really
happened, what survived whatdidn't survive. And there is a
local high school who's got apro who is looking at different
alternatives as a high schoolproject to see how they can help
(08:51):
their own community. We're alsohelping the Florida Gulf Coast
College, which was hit verybadly by hurricane Ian, we had
engineering students who had aplace to live. And then their
classes were canceled for abouta month because they had no
facilities. So what they'redoing is going back and taking
classes on Saturdays, well, ifyou had a part time job, that
(09:12):
means you can't do the part timejob and get your degree. So we
have some donors who areoffering to help those students.
Sam Yates (09:20):
And that brings that brings to the forefront two
items that I think a lot ofpeople may not realize is that
the the Florida EngineeringSociety and engineers in
general, are very, verycommunity related in every
community. They're involved indoing something for the
betterment of their communities,and that's something the
(09:40):
organization takes on as well.
Kelly Cranford (09:42):
Yes, we're known for being introverts, which fine
you might not find us on thefront page of the newspaper or
are taking the lead on as ananchor man or something but some
of us are, but we do like to getinvolved. And sometimes a lot
often will be behind the scenes.
But when we see there's a need,we will develop an way to solve
that need.
Sam Yates (10:06):
Something that flows along with that if someone wants
to get involved from ourcommunities, and they're not
necessarily engineers, but theywant to take a role of some
sort, and helping to educate ouryouth into the many different
aspects of engineering, howwould they go about? And can
they do that?
Kelly Cranford (10:25):
They certainly can. The Florida engineering
society. In Florida, we havebeen the sponsor of Mathcounts,
which is a middle schoolcompetition, promoting math.
Within Florida, I believe it wassince 1993, whenever the program
first started. So our 18chapters actually hold regional
competitions. And then theFlorida Engineering Society
(10:47):
sponsors, the state competitionwinners of their of course go on
to the internationalcompetition. And if you're
interested in sponsoring, thatare volunteering to help with
that competition, you can go toflng.org, as well. And there's a
link. We also are involved inthe science fairs within the
state of Florida. But if you goto the flng.org, and call our
(11:10):
main office, they will get youcoordinated with whoever is in
need of needing volunteers anddonations. We are also
affiliated with the Floridaengineering Foundation, which
their sole mission is educationof engineering students. So
starting in kindergarten andgoing all the way through
college. So that's a greatorganization. And it's my
(11:32):
fvf.org is their website,
Sam Yates (11:35):
as we look at the things that go on from the
Florida Engineering Society toits constituents, you also do
things abroad.
Kelly Cranford (11:45):
We do we are in the process of signing a
memorandum of understanding withour counterpart in Puerto Rico,
they are close by they are UScitizens, they have similar
interest in issues to we do towhat we have in Florida, similar
climate, they have a real needfor engineers. So right now, you
(12:05):
have to sign up and beregistered in Puerto Rico. So
we're working on different ways,kind of behind the scenes. And
that might be two or three yearsto get done. But we have
interest in taking trips. Sothat's something else we're
looking at engineering relatedtrips, whether it's to tour and
Machu Picchu, led by an FIUprofessor who is very familiar
(12:29):
with Machu Picchu, but he it'sthe trip will focus on
engineering related aspects.
We've also been invited intoSpain to go visit the Aqua
ducks. And once again, a tour byby engineers for engineers. So
they're things like that thatare going on
Sam Yates (12:46):
aerospace engineering, aerospace, it also
is something that we see growingsignificantly in Florida, would
that be an area that we say,hey, aerospace engineers, here
we are?
Kelly Cranford (12:59):
Yes, definitely.
So in our industry practicesection, they would definitely
fit in there. To be an aerospaceengineer, you don't necessarily
need to be licensed in the stateof Florida to practice
engineering, we encourage it,but you don't need to
necessarily, but we still lookafter the education abilities.
So to be an aerospace engineer,you still need the stem. So
(13:20):
while you might not enjoy, areprotecting your licensure
because you don't have one, goahead and invest in the future
of engineering, join our societyand make sure we have students
who are trained in the basics ofSTEM, so they can become an
engineer in the future.
Sam Yates (13:38):
Our members of the Florida Engineering Society,
know what STEM means and some ofour audience, but not all of our
audience, tell us what that is.
Kelly Cranford (13:47):
So STEM is science, technology,
engineering, and math. And thoseare the core curriculums that
you need to be any sort ofengineer. You could also be a
physicist and a bunch of otherthings. But those are the core
curriculums to help youunderstand how to design or fix
a lot of things.
Sam Yates (14:04):
Now, I know the answer to this, but it's sort of
my practice to do it every timeI interview someone and that is,
will you be able to come backfor another episode? Of course,
Sam,
Kelly Cranford (14:14):
I'd be glad to.
Sam Yates (14:16):
So, you know, as we were planning and pulling all of
this together to launch our veryfirst engineering Florida
podcast, we wanted to make surethat we covered all the bases.
Is there anything that we havenot touched upon, that we should
mention at this point?
Kelly Cranford (14:33):
There is one interesting story. The president
of the Florida EngineeringSociety before me will be on the
next episode. So I don't want totell you too much about him. But
we were in Tallahassee meetingwith legislators and he and I
and a couple of other of ourcolleagues were standing around
in Tampa, Tampa Bay, the theirchamber of commerce had a big
(14:54):
thing going on where they weregiving out Cuban sandwiches
there are pirates roaming aroundsharing If this pirate comes up
to us, and he says, ah,remember, don't leave fish to
find fish. And I'm like, What?
What on earth does that mean?
Turns out it was a fraternitybrother from my colleague who
they hadn't seen each other inlike 20 years. Oh, my goodness.
(15:18):
But so if you're happy where youare, we're not, we're not a
headhunting organization. Soyes, you will be exposed to
opportunities to changeemployers. But if you're with a
good employer, we wholeheartedlyencourage you to stay there
Sam Yates (15:33):
that the Florida Engineering Society does have a
database for people both lookingto change or looking to hire.
Kelly Cranford (15:43):
Right. So if your employer is not allowing
you time to do your professionalorganizations, then maybe you do
need to consider to pick up youryour boat and your fishing line
and go try and see what else isout there. But if things are
going great for you, by allmeans, stay put stay involved in
the society. And let's make moregreat engineers.
Sam Yates (16:06):
One more time, how may someone reach the
organization to join the FloridaEngineering Society
Kelly Cranford (16:11):
go to fleng.org.
Sam Yates (16:16):
Great. Kelly Cranford, it has been my
pleasure to have you on the veryfirst the inaugural episode of
the Florida Engineering Societyengineering Florida podcast and
we look forward to spreading theword about all things
engineering in Florida.
Kelly Cranford (16:35):
Thank you, Sam.
We're excited.
Sam Yates (16:37):
So ladies and gentlemen, that wraps up the
very first ever FloridaEngineering Society Engineering
Florida podcast. And today is amomentous occasion because we're
going to have many other guestsand we're going to be talking
many other topics. And it's allabout engineering in Florida.
(16:59):
I'm Sam Yates and I'm happy tobe here today and so happy to
have all of you on board forthis podcast. Thanks for
listening to another informativeepisode of the Engineering
Florida podcast. Our goal is tohelp educate and inform everyone
(17:19):
who listens to our podcast aboutour members and topics of
interest to the FloridaEngineering Society. On behalf
of the Florida EngineeringSociety, and the Engineering
Florida podcast, have a greatday everybody
Engineers are ingenious professionals.
Engineers invent, design, verifyand qualify, engineers are the
professionals who make our livesand businesses prosperous and
safe. The Florida EngineeringSociety is proud to put our
engineering professionals in thespotlight so that they may
(00:21):
educate, share information andintroduce you to the world of
engineering that is thriving inFlorida. Here's your host of the
Engineering Florida podcast, SamYates with today's guest.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to abrand new podcast for the
Florida Engineering Society. Thepodcast is called Engineering
(00:43):
Florida. And I have thepresident of the Florida
Engineering Society here withme, Kelly Cranford. Kelly,
welcome to the program.
Kelly Cranford (00:51):
Good morning, Sam.
Sam Yates (00:53):
Now, I think everyone wants to know, what is this
program? How does it work? Andwhat is it going to do for the
Florida Engineering Society?
Kelly Cranford (01:02):
Well, we have over 3000 members within our
society. And we thought thepodcast forum would be a great
way to help keep our members upto date and show other people
who are not members what whatwe're doing, why you should join
and become one of us.
Sam Yates (01:17):
And I want to take a little credit there because when
I met you as the the presidentof the Florida Engineering
Society, I have to step asideand say I've known you for a
while Culpeper interpreting, Iknow that engineers many sorts
do many different things here inFlorida. And it's always been
something that fascinates methat you do so many things as
(01:39):
engineers that people don't knowabout. So I think this is a
great avenue for putting peoplein the spotlight. But it's not
just people, it's also topicsand issues.
Kelly Cranford (01:49):
It's topic, it's an issues and how we come
together to solve differentproblems and challenges that are
facing society, we are problemsolvers by trade. That's what we
have in common. And we do, we'vegot private practice, which is
all your consulting engineers,we have engineers in government,
that's another one of ourpractice sections. We have those
(02:09):
in education. So yourprofessors, your teachers,
they're part of our group, andwe get to bounce ideas off of
each other. So that we have notonly those that are in the
consulting field, but we havethose that are doing the
research, and we can talk backand forth and incorporate the
new research that they're doinginto what's actually being built
in the field brings me to theengineers that work in
(02:30):
construction. So once theproject is designed, we have
engineers out there watching itand making sure that it's built
correctly,
Sam Yates (02:36):
when we take a look at construction, you know, I
will put on my partialconstruction hat and say that
I'm a member of the Gold CoastBuilders Association Board of
Directors. And looking at theconstruction industry, they're
always raising questions of howto interface with the
engineering side of business,this could be one of those
(02:57):
vehicles that helps to bring thetwo parts together, they
Kelly Cranford (03:00):
could and we're hoping and when we've talked and
we will do that. So I am a civilengineer, and the majority of
our members, but definitely notall of them are civil engineers,
as well. So we do the thingsthat don't move the things below
the ground and the skyscrapers,making sure when you flush the
toilet that it goes to thetreatment plant and gets
treated, making sure that thewater you turn on the tap that
(03:23):
you get water at the rightpressure and the roads that you
drive on make, we do our best tomake sure they last there is an
issue we go in and we fix it.
And we alter the design if we'reseeing that there is a
reoccurring problem. But we alsohave members that serve in
industry. So we have somemembers that work for a bottom
lawn that actually made thecontact lenses. We have a wide
variety of members. And we'reexcited to bring them to the
(03:46):
public through this podcast.
Sam Yates (03:50):
Awesome. And one of the things I want to take on as
as a goal is to help increaseyour membership 3000 members,
that's a lot. How many memberscan we have
Kelly Cranford (04:00):
before our last recession in 2009, we were at
4600 members so we know they'reout there that we can get back
up to there. And thanks totechnology, we can have meetings
virtually. We can bring youthese podcasts. We have our
newsletters, we have ourprofessional development,
virtual and in person webinarsthat our members are welcome to.
(04:20):
So yeah, I think it's a greattime and we're gonna keep on
keep on rolling.
Sam Yates (04:25):
Right here at the top of the program before we get too
far into the program. How maysomeone if they are interested
in becoming a member of theFlorida Engineering Society? How
can they go about that
Kelly Cranford (04:37):
they can go to fleng.org.
Sam Yates (04:42):
Now I know you also have students who are members of
the organization.
Kelly Cranford (04:47):
We do and Student Membership is free. We
have I believe it's 18 chaptersthroughout the state of Florida
at different universities. Sothe membership is free as long
as you are a college student andyou can sign up at this same
website flng.org. So they havemeetings, they have student
meetings, they elect thepresidents and all the officers.
(05:08):
And they're also welcome toattend the local chapter. So we
have 19 chapters throughout thestate of Florida. So student
members can attend their studentmeetings, but they are also
welcome to attend the chaptermeeting in their region, as well
as our annual conference, whichwill be in Marco Island in 2023.
Sam Yates (05:24):
Now, I know that the organization also has special
committees and special groupsthat look at very specific
things. And one of the itemsthat continues to come to the
forefront is the Serb sidecollapse. Yeah, what's happening
there,
Kelly Cranford (05:40):
we had formed a working group, with not just
members of the Floridaengineering society, but also
some members of the ConcreteInstitute that, you know,
concrete apparently failed. Sothey were as part of the group,
we have structural engineers, Ibelieve we also had the building
officials association that webrought together a group of
(06:00):
about 12 people representingdifferent organizations who have
looked into what rules andregulations could have been in
place to help prevent this fromever happening again. And that
group in the next couple ofmonths, we'll reconvene and tie
up some loose ends with a lot oflegislation that's new. And that
was put together fairly quickly.
There were some questions. Sothey're going to hope to
(06:22):
alleviate some of thoseunintended requests and an
unintended consequences of somethings that were put into that
legislation.
Sam Yates (06:31):
So in reality, the Florida Engineering Society does
play a very critical and keyrole in getting legislation back
to our local communities back tothe state that keeps us safe.
Kelly Cranford (06:43):
We have we have several lobbyist, and we also,
every year we go, and we haveprofessional engineering days at
the State Capitol, where we goand meet with each and every one
of the legislators and tell themnot only what our concerns are
for any legislation that's beenintroduced, but also what our
members do and how we can helpthem. So they have a constituent
(07:03):
that's all upset about thisintersection, or bridge failure
or this, we have members thatwill they can contact and we'll
reach out and help thelegislator and his staff or her
staff understand what's reallygoing on and help them find
solutions.
Sam Yates (07:17):
Now, I know by being affiliated with you, and
Culpeper terpening. Inparticular, I have seen problems
that exists. And engineers, theyhave a knack for solving
problems. Without going intospecifics. Hurricane Ian just
really wreaked havoc acrossFlorida. Any problem areas that
(07:39):
surfaced that engineers are inparticular, taking a look at
right now as we are into 2023.
Kelly Cranford (07:45):
There are I mean, there, there is still a
lot of damage over there. And sothere are a couple of things.
Our sister publication, the veryfirst issue is going to come out
in March, the engineeringFlorida publication, which will
be available on the website aswell. One of the things that was
amazing following Hurricane Ianwas how Flass the Florida
(08:05):
Department of Transportation wasable to get those bridges
reopened. It was I mean, afterHurricane Michael, it took
months, but they were able to doit in a matter of weeks and
days. So they did that by aseries of a new procurement
method, and working togetherwith the contractors to make
sure everything was donequickly. So that will be one of
the features of our very firstpublication. So we'll look
(08:28):
forward to the details there. Wehave seen some homes are needing
to be right elevated for thetide for the surge, and the new
construction standards. They'velooked at what what really
happened, what survived whatdidn't survive. And there is a
local high school who's got apro who is looking at different
alternatives as a high schoolproject to see how they can help
(08:51):
their own community. We're alsohelping the Florida Gulf Coast
College, which was hit verybadly by hurricane Ian, we had
engineering students who had aplace to live. And then their
classes were canceled for abouta month because they had no
facilities. So what they'redoing is going back and taking
classes on Saturdays, well, ifyou had a part time job, that
(09:12):
means you can't do the part timejob and get your degree. So we
have some donors who areoffering to help those students.
Sam Yates (09:20):
And that brings that brings to the forefront two
items that I think a lot ofpeople may not realize is that
the the Florida EngineeringSociety and engineers in
general, are very, verycommunity related in every
community. They're involved indoing something for the
betterment of their communities,and that's something the
(09:40):
organization takes on as well.
Kelly Cranford (09:42):
Yes, we're known for being introverts, which fine
you might not find us on thefront page of the newspaper or
are taking the lead on as ananchor man or something but some
of us are, but we do like to getinvolved. And sometimes a lot
often will be behind the scenes.
But when we see there's a need,we will develop an way to solve
that need.
Sam Yates (10:06):
Something that flows along with that if someone wants
to get involved from ourcommunities, and they're not
necessarily engineers, but theywant to take a role of some
sort, and helping to educate ouryouth into the many different
aspects of engineering, howwould they go about? And can
they do that?
Kelly Cranford (10:25):
They certainly can. The Florida engineering
society. In Florida, we havebeen the sponsor of Mathcounts,
which is a middle schoolcompetition, promoting math.
Within Florida, I believe it wassince 1993, whenever the program
first started. So our 18chapters actually hold regional
competitions. And then theFlorida Engineering Society
(10:47):
sponsors, the state competitionwinners of their of course go on
to the internationalcompetition. And if you're
interested in sponsoring, thatare volunteering to help with
that competition, you can go toflng.org, as well. And there's a
link. We also are involved inthe science fairs within the
state of Florida. But if you goto the flng.org, and call our
(11:10):
main office, they will get youcoordinated with whoever is in
need of needing volunteers anddonations. We are also
affiliated with the Floridaengineering Foundation, which
their sole mission is educationof engineering students. So
starting in kindergarten andgoing all the way through
college. So that's a greatorganization. And it's my
(11:32):
fvf.org is their website,
Sam Yates (11:35):
as we look at the things that go on from the
Florida Engineering Society toits constituents, you also do
things abroad.
Kelly Cranford (11:45):
We do we are in the process of signing a
memorandum of understanding withour counterpart in Puerto Rico,
they are close by they are UScitizens, they have similar
interest in issues to we do towhat we have in Florida, similar
climate, they have a real needfor engineers. So right now, you
(12:05):
have to sign up and beregistered in Puerto Rico. So
we're working on different ways,kind of behind the scenes. And
that might be two or three yearsto get done. But we have
interest in taking trips. Sothat's something else we're
looking at engineering relatedtrips, whether it's to tour and
Machu Picchu, led by an FIUprofessor who is very familiar
(12:29):
with Machu Picchu, but he it'sthe trip will focus on
engineering related aspects.
We've also been invited intoSpain to go visit the Aqua
ducks. And once again, a tour byby engineers for engineers. So
they're things like that thatare going on
Sam Yates (12:46):
aerospace engineering, aerospace, it also
is something that we see growingsignificantly in Florida, would
that be an area that we say,hey, aerospace engineers, here
we are?
Kelly Cranford (12:59):
Yes, definitely.
So in our industry practicesection, they would definitely
fit in there. To be an aerospaceengineer, you don't necessarily
need to be licensed in the stateof Florida to practice
engineering, we encourage it,but you don't need to
necessarily, but we still lookafter the education abilities.
So to be an aerospace engineer,you still need the stem. So
(13:20):
while you might not enjoy, areprotecting your licensure
because you don't have one, goahead and invest in the future
of engineering, join our societyand make sure we have students
who are trained in the basics ofSTEM, so they can become an
engineer in the future.
Sam Yates (13:38):
Our members of the Florida Engineering Society,
know what STEM means and some ofour audience, but not all of our
audience, tell us what that is.
Kelly Cranford (13:47):
So STEM is science, technology,
engineering, and math. And thoseare the core curriculums that
you need to be any sort ofengineer. You could also be a
physicist and a bunch of otherthings. But those are the core
curriculums to help youunderstand how to design or fix
a lot of things.
Sam Yates (14:04):
Now, I know the answer to this, but it's sort of
my practice to do it every timeI interview someone and that is,
will you be able to come backfor another episode? Of course,
Sam,
Kelly Cranford (14:14):
I'd be glad to.
Sam Yates (14:16):
So, you know, as we were planning and pulling all of
this together to launch our veryfirst engineering Florida
podcast, we wanted to make surethat we covered all the bases.
Is there anything that we havenot touched upon, that we should
mention at this point?
Kelly Cranford (14:33):
There is one interesting story. The president
of the Florida EngineeringSociety before me will be on the
next episode. So I don't want totell you too much about him. But
we were in Tallahassee meetingwith legislators and he and I
and a couple of other of ourcolleagues were standing around
in Tampa, Tampa Bay, the theirchamber of commerce had a big
(14:54):
thing going on where they weregiving out Cuban sandwiches
there are pirates roaming aroundsharing If this pirate comes up
to us, and he says, ah,remember, don't leave fish to
find fish. And I'm like, What?
What on earth does that mean?
Turns out it was a fraternitybrother from my colleague who
they hadn't seen each other inlike 20 years. Oh, my goodness.
(15:18):
But so if you're happy where youare, we're not, we're not a
headhunting organization. Soyes, you will be exposed to
opportunities to changeemployers. But if you're with a
good employer, we wholeheartedlyencourage you to stay there
Sam Yates (15:33):
that the Florida Engineering Society does have a
database for people both lookingto change or looking to hire.
Kelly Cranford (15:43):
Right. So if your employer is not allowing
you time to do your professionalorganizations, then maybe you do
need to consider to pick up youryour boat and your fishing line
and go try and see what else isout there. But if things are
going great for you, by allmeans, stay put stay involved in
the society. And let's make moregreat engineers.
Sam Yates (16:06):
One more time, how may someone reach the
organization to join the FloridaEngineering Society
Kelly Cranford (16:11):
go to fleng.org.
Sam Yates (16:16):
Great. Kelly Cranford, it has been my
pleasure to have you on the veryfirst the inaugural episode of
the Florida Engineering Societyengineering Florida podcast and
we look forward to spreading theword about all things
engineering in Florida.
Kelly Cranford (16:35):
Thank you, Sam.
We're excited.
Sam Yates (16:37):
So ladies and gentlemen, that wraps up the
very first ever FloridaEngineering Society Engineering
Florida podcast. And today is amomentous occasion because we're
going to have many other guestsand we're going to be talking
many other topics. And it's allabout engineering in Florida.
(16:59):
I'm Sam Yates and I'm happy tobe here today and so happy to
have all of you on board forthis podcast. Thanks for
listening to another informativeepisode of the Engineering
Florida podcast. Our goal is tohelp educate and inform everyone
(17:19):
who listens to our podcast aboutour members and topics of
interest to the FloridaEngineering Society. On behalf
of the Florida EngineeringSociety, and the Engineering
Florida podcast, have a greatday everybody
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