Vincent P. Drnevich

The course explains why ethics is important, gives an overview of professional codes of ethics, describes the rules of professional conduct in the Indiana Statutes and Rules, provides guidelines for making value-laden decisions, includes several case studies, and shows the value of professional and technical societies in maintaining ethical health fitness. This course fulfills the rule requiring one hour on ethics applicable to the practice of professional engineering. Included with this course are a summary sheet with links to references, a quiz, and a course evaluation form. Upon completion of each course and passing of the quiz, a certificate acknowledging completion of the course will be sent to you.

Biography:

Vince Drnevich was born and raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is the oldest of 10 children. His father was a commercial and residential builder. Vince received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame and he completed the Ph.D. degree at the University of Michigan. While studying at Michigan, he met and married Roxanne M. Hosier who was a research chemist for Parke Davis in Ann Arbor. Professor Drnevich was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky for 24 years where he progressed through the academic ranks, did a four-year term as Department Chairman, and served as acting Dean of Engineering for a year. In 1991, he was recruited to Purdue University as the Head of the School of Civil Engineering, a position that he held until June 2000. Some highlights of his tenure include: the Kettelhut, Olson, and Rieth Distinguished Professorships, formation of the Civil Engineering Advisory Council and the Civil Engineering Student Advisory Council (CESAC), establishing development person for the School, dedication of the Kettelhut, Pankow, and Olson labs, and obtaining the Kresge Challenge grant. His research focuses on the engineering properties of soils and concrete, especially as measured by stress wave propagation and electromagnetic wave propagation. His earlier research focused on the development and use of the resonant column test and quasi-static torsional shear test to accurately measure soil properties. His work is the basis of an ASTM Standard D 4015-07 and he holds a patent on this technology. He is the president since 1974 of Soil Dynamics Instruments, Inc., a firm which manufactures resonant column and torsional simple shear testing equipment. His recent research developed the Purdue TDR Method for water content and density determination of soil, for which there is an ASTM Standard (D 6780-12) and Purdue holds five patents. Durham Geo/Slope Indicator Company licensed the technology and made it commercially available. It is now licensed to InstroTek, Inc. He also has developed a vibratory hammer device for compaction of granular soils which allows for getting maximum densities and water contents for effective compaction from a single test, for which there also is now an ASTM Standard (D 7382-07). Over fifty students have received graduate degrees with him as their advisor or co-advisor. Vince Drnevich has been recognized for both his teaching (especially the senior design course at Purdue) and research by a number of national awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers (Huber Award and Norman Medal), the American Society for Testing and Materials (1979 and 2014 Hogentogler Awards and Woodland G. Shockley Award), the American Society for Engineering Education (George Wadlin Award), and Chi Epsilon (Harold T. Larson Award and the James M. Robbins Award). He is active in many professional and technical organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers (Fellow, Life Member, and Distinguished Member), the American Society for Engineering Education (he held officer positions in the Civil Engineering Division ending with Chair of the Division in 2004), the American Society for Testing and Materials (Fellow), the National Society of Professional Engineers (Fellow and 2010 P.E. Mentor of the Year), and the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers (Fellow) where he is a past President and in 2013, received the inaugural Thomas A. Morris Award. In 2009, he was awarded the Diplomate of Geotechnical Engineering (D.GE) by the Academy of Geo-Professionals. He is a licensed professional engineer in Indiana. In 2008, he was appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels to the Indiana Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and was elected chair for 2013. He is the faculty advisor to the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE) Chapter and its Rube Goldberg Team, and the founding advisor of Geo-Institute Graduate Student Organization. He has been involved in the Indiana MathCOUNTS program for over 20 years. He has provided many short courses and presentations on professional and technical issues, especially on the topics of ethics, professionalism, and continuing education. Vince and his wife, Roxanne, celebrate 47 years of marriage; have four grown children and six grandchildren. They both are active in their church and are avid golfers, ballroom dancers, and college sports fans.