Ferris State University

NCEES Surveying Education Award $15,000 winner

School of Engineering and Computing Technology

Surveying Engineering program

Ferris State University Mission Statement

The Bachelor of Science Degree in Surveying Engineering is designed to meet the needs of all students in the program:

Program graduates will apply communication skills, lifelong learning attitude, and the knowledge of mathematics and basic science to attain advancement within the surveying profession.
Program graduates will exhibit creativity, leadership and team-building abilities, cultural appreciation and an understanding of global, societal, and environmental context consistent with the principles of sustainable development.
Program graduates will be engaged in the professional practice of surveying engineering with high ethical and professional responsibilities.
The program graduates will strive for professional licensure.

How will your program use the prize money to engage your students with other professionals, introduce them to both historical and new technology, and promote licensure?

The prize came at a serendipitous moment as we need to upgrade our computers to Windows 11 and will have buy new computers as the current set is not compatible.

Ferris State University’s Surveying program allows students to apply for licensure after graduation. According to the Michigan Occupational Code, in order to be licensed as a professional surveyor in Michigan an individual must provide evidence of completion of a degree in professional surveying. The majority of students in the program enroll because the program enables licensure through the degree. Maintaining the hardware and software, both A/V and non-A/V, will allow the students to use the latest technology.

Surveying students have meetings every Tuesday at 11 am and usually survey professionals come in and do a presentation on their work and their company. This is done through the Burt and Mullet Student Chapter of the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS), and the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors, (MSPS). This allows students to interact with professionals and also serves as a recruiting opportunity for the professionals and their organization. The funds will assist us in keeping the A/V equipment current for these fine presentations and allow the students to engage with professionals. The A/V equipment has been quite useful over the past year when many meetings were done remotely, thus it is very important to maintain it.

The Surveying program also has historical equipment. This is necessary as a surveying legacy: students need to know how observations were done before current technology; for example how solar observations were done for location before GPS location.