Left to Right: Natalia Velez Serrano, Pashka Durgaj and Victoria Coglianese at the Order of Engineers induction ceremony.
NATALIA VELEZ SERRANO / COURTESY
Karen Flores, Senior Writer
The School of Engineering inducted 132 graduating students into the Order of the Engineer ceremony in early April.
The Order of the Engineer is a ceremony in which graduating engineering students take an oath of ethics and accept the “Obligation of the Engineer.” When they sign the oath, they pledge to practice integrity and uphold the standards and dignity of their chosen profession. This is symbolized by the wearing of a stainless steel ring given at the ceremony, which soon-to-be graduates then wear on the pinky finger of their writing hand.
Anirban De, Ph.D., interim dean of the School of Engineering and professor of civil and environmental engineering, explained to The Quadrangle the way in which the induction ceremony works.
“The event is open to all graduating engineers who received their BS or MS degrees,” De said. “A person would take that oath only once, so if they already did it at their undergraduate, they would not repeat it after their graduation. It’s also open to any qualified engineer who has never been inducted and any person from another university that wishes to participate, because by the rules of this order, we are obliged to let them participate with us in the same event.”
De shared that he got inducted into the Order of the Engineer when he became a professor at MU.
“When I arrived here [MU] about 23 years ago, we had the induction every semester and the dean at that time asked me if I was inducted into the Order,” De said. “When I said no, he invited me to participate in it. So I got inducted into the Order with the graduating class that year and I got my ring. Our past president and the former interim provost were both engineers, and I found out when they were here that they were not inducted before, and we inducted them in the last ceremony.”
De expressed feeling a sense of gratification during the induction ceremonies.
“It is deeply gratifying and probably the most rewarding part of our job is that we mentor young students who come from high school and learn to become, in our case, engineers,” De said. “We give them the education that is needed. But with education comes the obligation, comes the values that and the ethics that go with that profession. So I always make it a point to educate the students, not just about the academic side of the profession, but also the professional and ethical obligations that they have. It’s amazing that we educate and then see them become productive members of the community, either as fellow educators or professionals in the industry.”
Pashka Durgaj, senior mechanical engineering major, mentioned that she felt very proud and supported by her peers during the ceremony.
“It is a ceremony where I couldn’t help but feel pride,” Durgaj said. “These are the people that you’ve spent the last four years becoming an engineer with and you all start in the same place and we’re ending together. So I really took pride in watching my peers…To be recognized by our peers, professors and the MU engineering community as a whole, is very fulfilling. So I think more than anything, it was just a testament to everybody’s persistence to their education and professions.”
Aleena Jacob, senior electrical engineering major, shared similar sentiments with regard to being able to participate in the induction.
“It was really cool to see all the departments together because I’ve never had an event where I saw multiple seniors from all the departments come together,” Jacob said. “So the ceremony itself was really meaningful to us with all of our hard work for the past four years really paying off. Signing the oath and having that ring definitely signifies that whatever you sign on, you remember that you took that pledge and made the commitment of having ethics and other people’s best interests in mind. I think that’s a really important feature to highlight.”
De hopes to see students excel within their careers and that they remember the oath they have taken through their journeys.
“It’s always great to see a fresh batch of engineers all ready to go into the industry and change the world,” De said. “I wish them all well, and I hope things will work out very well for them. They have to keep in mind the ethical code which is not much different from our Lasallian mission, which is that you care for the individual, you give dignity for every human person and you work together to make things work for those who are less privileged than you. That’s exactly what we are doing here as well. It is good to remind the engineers that they will remember these ethical obligations, and as they proceed in their careers, they will follow an ethical path and make the future better for the next generation of engineers and everybody else.”