ASIE Monthly Seminar Covers Entrepreneurship, Professional Conduct for Young Engineers

ASIE speakers with ASIE Board of Directors – VP Chetan Vyas (left), President Dinesh Shah, Tej Kour, Speakers Arun Singhal, Raj Mashruwala, and Dr. Sulekh Jain with Sirish Madichetti, Archana Sharma, Secretary Gaju Patel and Chaitanya Gampa. Photo: Navin Mediwala

ASIE speakers with ASIE Board of Directors – VP Chetan Vyas (left), President Dinesh Shah, Tej Kour, Speakers Arun Singhal, Raj Mashruwala, and Dr. Sulekh Jain with Sirish Madichetti, Archana Sharma, Secretary Gaju Patel and Chaitanya Gampa.
Photo: Navin Mediwala

HOUSTON: American Society of Indian Engineers and Architects (ASIE), a Houston based organization for engineers, architects, designers, and engineering technicians, held its monthly luncheon seminar at Mayuri Restaurant in Houston.

The seminar was a complementary offering by ASIE for all its members. Almost 100 members, including majority young professionals, attended. The seminar was coordinated by ASIE young professional team under the leadership of ASIE Program Chair Archana Sharma and assisted by Chaitanya Gampa, Sirish Madichetti, and Tej Kour.

The seminar was introduced in two parts. The topic of the first part was “Entrepreneur Business Plan for Young Engineers and Architects”, presented by two speakers. Tej Kour introduced Arun Singhal, a retired engineer from Bechtel Corporation. He is the author of a well-known published book 9 Habits of Project Leaders.

Singhal talked about entrepreneurship and how to put technical thoughts into action for the creative business of engineering and architecture. He expanded his presentation with various topics concerning starting and running your own business. He introduced SCORE, a volunteer organization and a resource partner with the US Small Business Administration.

The second speaker was Raj Mashruwala, a chemical engineer and ex-Director of Corporate Strategic planning for ARCO Oil & Gas Company. He is a certified CFA and a SCORE (SBA) Mentor. Mashruwala conducted a well-received Q&A session on entrepreneurship topic.
The topic of the second part of the seminar was “Proud to be an Engineer and Architect.” It was presented by Dr. Sulekh Jain, a former Executive with GE Combustion Engineering and Wyman–Golden Company, and has many years of engineering and management experience. He congratulated the young engineers and architects for choosing one of the noblest professions. Jain touched upon the creations we see, practice or enjoy in our daily life owing to engineers and architects. Then he warned that sometimes engineers can do tremendous damage and kill hundreds of people due to the negligence and expanded his point with a “Code of Conduct” and “Few Must” presentations on professional conduct.

As a token of gratitude, a Certificate of Appreciation and ASIE Mug were presented to all three speakers by young professionals Jigar Desai, Nathan Seshadri, and Reddy Edulukunta. After the vote of thanks by Sirish Madichetti, the two-hour program was concluded with appreciation by young and senior professionals. A Senior Engineer Chandrakant (Chad) Patel said, “The seminar about SCORE was very informative for not only those who want to be entrepreneurs but also for those who have been there and done that.”

The young Engineer Jigar Desai also expressed that “It is really nice to see ASIE attracting a number of young and experienced professionals to each of its events and contributing not only to the professional development of participants, but also in the development of the engineering community. I am proud to be a member of ASIE.”