Recently asked to serve on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Board on Government Relations Fellows Committee, I will be participating in bi-annual ASME board meetings and helping to select the next class of ASME congressional fellows.

Having taken a leave of absence from Dewberry in 2010 to serve as an ASME congressional fellow—as a non-partisan engineering advisor to U.S. Representative Betsy Markey (CO-4) [read more here]—my experience will give me great insight into selecting the next batch of fellows.

ASME selects fellows annually based on professional experience, education, registration as a professional engineer, and public policy experience. Once selected, fellows undergo a two-week orientation prior to serving in a congressional assignment for one year.

The real challenge to an engineer working in public policy is realizing that there is seldom a straightforward solution to any problem. Initial conditions are challenging. In water resources policy, for example, the perspectives of insurance, development, and environmental groups have equal—if not greater—weight than the engineering community. If I could give words of advice to engineers who aspire to work in policy: Take the time to understand other perspectives.