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July 2011 www.sname.org/sname/mt services to the public?and all 55 U.S. licensing jurisdictions required that those oering engineering services to the public be licensed?only the states of Washington and Oregon oered a specic naval architec- ture/marine engineering licensing exam at that time to those practicing in the marine eld. It was clear that there was now a need for a national licensing program for those oer- ing engineering services in the marine eld, one that each state legislatively authorized to do so would be able to make available to those qualied applicants practicing, or intending to practice, in their jurisdiction. SNAME contacted the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) for guidance in meeting this need, applying for recognition of naval architec- ture and marine engineering (NAME) as an engineering discipline for licensure. In 1995, NCEES authorized SNAME to begin devel- opment of an examination in Ship Design Engineering (SDE) with approval to change the name to Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NAME) after the rst exami- nation was held. SNAME agreed to be the sponsoring society for the examination, developing examination items in accor- dance with NCEES procedures and practices. NCEES, in turn, provided assistance in pre- paring and analyzing an industry survey that SNAME conducted with its membership, to determine the tasks, knowledge base, and skills required for safe engineering practice of naval architecture and marine engineer- ing, as well as in preparing a specication for examinations that would be made available to those states authorized to oer it. e membership survey was conducted in 1995-96 and the rst SDE examination was offered in October 1999. The second examination, NAME, was oered in April 2001. Currently, there are more than 40 states that oer the NAME examination to its qualied applicants. Some state licens- ing boards are authorized only to offer license examinations in a limited num- ber of disciplines, e.g., civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering, while other states are able to oer licensing in all elds recognized by NCEES. ose seeking licen- sure are encouraged to go to the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying Web site at www.ncees.org where state board contact information, and other information may be found for all of the state licensing boards. A clear need Results of the rst two examinations showed there was a clear need to help those wishing to become licensed in their examination preparation. Under the guidance of SNAME Past President Professor José Femenia, the examination specification elements were organized into study modules suitable for presentation by capable instructors. A fac- ulty was recruited and arrangements made for computer-based, Internet-available pre- sentations over an extended period before each scheduled examination. e success of this work is indicated by the consistently high pass rate of recent examinations. Over the past 11 years, there have been 417 exam- inees, 343 taking the examination for the rst time, 234 of whom passed it on their rst try, through 2010. As of 2010, a total of 274 exam- inees have passed the examination and become licensed to oer naval architecture and marine engineering services to the pub- lic (2011 exam results will become available in mid-summer). e number of rst-time exam takers is shown in gure 1. In an eort to maintain the currency of the examination specication with develop- ments in the eld, a second industry survey was conducted in 2006-2007, and the exam- ination specication was revised and rst implemented in the examination of 2008. Examinations are now oered in April. It is of further interest to note that on May 4, 2006 the Coast Guard issued NVIC 10-92, Change 2, which extended the same recognition aorded to plans stamped by a PE or duly-authorized ABS employee as plans stamped by duly authorized employ- ees of other Coast Guard-recognized classication societies. ese classication societies have been recognized by the Coast Guard in accordance with 46 CFR, Part 8, Subpart B. At this time, the Coast Guard- recognized classication societies are ABS, Lloyds Register, Gemanischer Lloyd, Det Norske Veritas, and Bureau Veritas. While the Coast Guards MSC staff continues to make extensive and detailed reviews of plan submittals, P.E. submittals generally require a lower level of review. In recent Coast Guard testimony to the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, it was noted that plan and specication submit- tals were currently being reviewed within a month or less, testifying to the success of the above developments. MTWalter Maclean is professor emeritus at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He taught at Webb Institute for 7 years and retired from the academy in 1995 after 23 years. FIRST TIME TAKERS YEAR 010251999200020042008 200220062010 200120052009 200320072011 405203515304550271336272729262833344815FIGURE . NAME PE EXAM