Celebrating Engineers Week
Take Three: a Q&A with Jeffrey Cowen, PG, PE

1. What motivated you to pursue professional registration? My first degree was in geology, and I started working in the geotechnical field because it was the only job I could find due to the economy when I graduated in 1982. As an entry level technician, I was told the I would be the engineers’ “eyes and ears” on the jobsites. After a couple of years, I decided to pursue the geotechnical field as a career and decided that it would be necessary to get professional registration to achieve my long-term goals because Alabama did not have a professional registration program for geologists at that time. Professional Engineer registration also meant that I had to go back to school to get a degree – so that was another five years of night school but it paid off in the long run.

2. You have PEs in 33 different states – why so many? I didn’t have a plan to collect registrations, it’s not like collecting stamps, professional registrations come with responsibility.  Since the inception of Building & Earth, we have consistently partnered with clients who recognize the quality of our services and entrust us to support their projects regardless of location. In order to provide engineering services, registration was required.  At the time, I was the only engineer with an ABET accredited degree, and NCEES record, so that’s what lead to my collection of PEs – trying to follow the rules. The rules also say that certificates must be posted in your place of business, so that’s why they cover the walls in my office.