(ENR) All 50 states in the U.S. require registration of all professionals practicing engineering. The basic reason is to protect the public by enforcing standards that restrict practice to qualified individuals.
While professional registration is required for design of most critical infrastructure projects such as water and wastewater treatment facilities, people and companies that implement and configure the control systems and software for these same systems aren’t covered by registration requirements. Also, many organizations do not require professional engineers to have demonstrated proficiency in these areas of design. This gap needs to be closed.