Mats Järlström has a BSEE.
A Beaverton man who has a bachelor of science degree in engineering and has repeatedly challenged Oregon’s timing of yellow traffic lights as too short was investigated by a state board for “unlicensed practice of engineering’’ and fined $500.
“Now, Mats Järlström has joined with the national Institute for Justice to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against members of the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying.
He contends state law and the board’s actions that disallow anyone from using the word “engineer” if they’re not an Oregon-licensed professional engineer amount to an “unconstitutional ban on mathematical debate.’’”
I have a B.A. in Philosophy. Does that make me a “philosopher,” or do I need to be a member of some professional society of philosophers or philosophy professors? Or can anyone, with or without a degree, claim to be a “philosopher” if they think deeply about the nature of reality, ethics, the definition of beauty, and so forth?
It’s when you spell “Engineer” correctly, with a capital “E”, and sign your name other than with an “X” mark that you have to pay for a license for the privilege of rising above the herd. All he had to do to escape this criminal accusation was to present his data as a statistician rather than a an “Engineer.”
If he called himself a professional engineer (a PE), implying that he had gone through the certification process, then I would agree with the board. If he simply called himself an engineer, then I think that the board is way out of line. In my profession, most anyone can call themselves an accountant if they have any training in accounting or hold an accounting-related job but they cannot call themselves a CPA without having gone through the certification process.
The term engineer is a pretty generic term which someone who holds an engineering degree should be able to use. BTW are the people who run trains allowed to call themselves engineers in Oregon?
I’m guessing that in his letter he said that he was an engineer. That’s probably what got him in trouble - not the actual studying of the lights.
I got a degree that has “Engineering” at the end of the description. But I’m not an engineer, and don’t claim to be one.
Yeah well, these are the same A-holes who claim Glowbull warming is settled science.