Orange County Branch Newsletter

July 2012

ASCE Society Fellow

What is a Fellow and how do I become one?

By Mr. Ziad Mazboudi, PE, F. ASCE, Past President



There is no direct admission to the grade of Fellow. Fellow status must be attained by professional accomplishments via application and election by the Membership Application Review Committee (MARC). It is a prestigious honor held by fewer than 5% of ASCE members.

Fellows are practitioners, educators, mentors, and most of all leaders. They have distinguished careers that have contributed significantly to the Civil Engineering profession. The accomplishments of Fellows have left their marks on their communities, society, and future engineering professionals.

I have recently been approved to advance to the grade of Fellow, and Josh Nelson, ASCE OC President asked me to write an article about my experience. 

As ASCE OC secretary, I remember writing an article about how to become a Fellow for our newsletter, and recognizing the local Fellows in Orange County.  When I did the research, I found out that among the other requirements, I needed to be a member for at least ten years.  I knew I met this requirement, so one day, I decided to move forward with filling the application and submitting it.

For any of you who may not know the requirements to become a Fellow, here they are:

  1. Must advance from grade of Member.
  2. Must be a licensed Professional Engineer or Professional Land Surveyor in the United States or in the country in which the Member resides (if such licensure is available).
  3. Must provide three (3) references from Society members (at least two (2) references must be from Society Fellows; the third reference may be from a Society Member or Fellow).
  4. Must be nominated by an Organizational Entity of the Society (this includes Section or Branch Presidents, Board of Direction members, Institute Board of Governors members, and Chairs of Standing Board Committees).
  5. Must have had responsible charge for not less than ten years, in the grade of Member, of important work in engineering or surveying and be qualified to direct, conceive, plan, or design engineering works OR have had responsible charge for not less than ten years, in the grade of Member, of important industrial, business, construction, educational, editorial, research, or engineering society activity, requiring the knowledge and background gained from engineering training and experience.

Well, the criteria seemed reasonable, and I believed that I had enough experience and accomplishments that would qualify me.  So, I went on the ASCE website, [url=http://www.asce.org]http://www.asce.org[/url] and downloaded the application .  The applications is long, ten pages, but not terrible. My advice is to have your resume handy when filling out the application. 

So, what is in the application? You need to list of your education accomplishments and any scholarship/ fellowship awarded.  Then, you need to enter any professional registration/licensure that you currently have.  This is followed by a summary of your professional history, where you have worked and what position did you hold.  Once this is complete, you need to provide a digest of achievements, notable achievements in civil engineering or related fields, awards and honors, publications and presentations.  Next comes the professional activities, ASCE and non-ASCE professional positions held.  You also need to include civic and other achievements, which can include religious, charitable, community, political and volunteer or other work.  Finally, you can include non-professional society activities. 

The application provides a checklist to verify that you have included all what is required, including three references, two of which must be completed by two ASCE Fellows, and the third from an ASCE member or Fellow.

Once completed, the completed application is emailed to Society headquarters with attachments to ssiebert@asce.org and then you get to wait for the Membership Application Review Committee to review the application and get back to you.

The application process was not difficult, and I encourage anyone who believes that he/she qualifies to submit an application and be recognized for their accomplishments by being promoted to the grade of Fellow. 

Fellow Program Contact:
Stephanie Siebert
Membership Coordinator
(703) 295-6289, (800) 548-2723 ext. 6289, ssiebert@asce.org

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