Fostering Community Among Engineers

Members of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers. (2019)

Photo / Brian Bogert

Article /

Christine Dinh

Brian Bogert is a senior at Virginia Tech double majoring in industrial and systems engineering and political science. He has been a member of Virginia Tech’s chapters of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), Tau Beta Pi, and Alpha Pi Mu since fall of 2018. Bogert now serves as President of Alpha Pi Mu, Vice President of Tau Beta Pi, and Vice President of Operations for IISE. In the following interview, Bogert discusses how he fosters community amongst engineers through his leadership.

What are the respective missions for IISE, Tau Beta Pi, and Alpha Pi Mu?

IISE

IISE is the professional society for the industrial systems engineering (ISE) major. We host companies for professional development events, along with hosting social events to promote networking between students in the ISE major.

Tau Beta Pi

Tau Beta Pi is an honor society open to all engineering disciplines. Service and using our skills to serve the community are important at Tau Beta Pi. We also work to promote excellence in engineering, collecting the best and brightest engineers, and connecting them to opportunities that will aid them in their careers.

Alpha Pi Mu

Alpha Pi Mu is the honor society for industrial systems engineering. Like Tau Beta Pi, we focus on using our skills to serve our community. Virginia Tech’s chapter of Alpha Pi Mu has been voted the No. 1 chapter in the country for 12 of the last 13 years, so it means a lot that I’m serving as the president now and get to do my part in upholding that reputation.

What have you observed about the varying degrees of communication across these three organizations throughout the course of your memberships?

It’s been interesting seeing the different levels of communication in these organizations as I’ve come into my current positions. In the past, I haven’t been in a position where I could inspire change, but I could still observe all the cultures of communication. I chose to take on all these leadership roles because I’m passionate about all these organizations and I want to see them become better.

IISE

The communication in IISE has always been solid. We have our Slack server that people are active in, and we also have different GroupMe chats for various ISE classes. Furthermore, we have regular emails and meetings. In IISE, you’re immersed in a variety of ways as a member.

Alpha Pi Mu

Alpha Pi Mu didn’t have the same level of communication as IISE, partially because it’s an honor society by invitation only, so you can’t reach out to members for recruitment. Within the organization, there was no

I say we’re a family. I emphasize how close we are because with that closeness comes mutual respect and understanding that improves the ability for people to cooperate.

Bogert

specific place for members to interact besides regular email communication and our General Assembly Meeting.

Tau Beta Pi

At the time I joined, Tau Beta Pi had very little communication both from officers to members and between officers. There were a lot of announcements that got left to the wayside. I knew I wanted a leadership role in Tau Beta Pi so I could improve our communication. When you foster community, you can learn from each other and come up with better ideas.

How do you navigate through the varying standards of communication across these three organizations in your leadership?

I’m trying to start by getting the officer teams in these organizations closer together — making sure that we have officer socials and establishing an environment where people feel like they can talk to me. In my leadership of the operations team in IISE, for example, I don’t say we’re a team — I say we’re a family. I emphasize how close we are because with that closeness comes mutual respect and understanding that improves the ability for people to cooperate. At the end of the officer team meetings, I do something called “fist bumps” where I congratulate each member of my team for something they accomplished since the last meeting. In Tau Beta Pi, I inspired the initiative to start a Slack server. Currently, it’s just officers, but it will eventually be open to everyone. Through this, we’re having more regular communications such as officer meetings. We have officers that are passionate about seeing this organization become better and now that we’re all communicating with each other, we can figure out how to best implement the same thing for our members. By developing camaraderie on an officer level, we’re more aligned when developing ways to get our members on board with the same sense of community.

In your experience, what strategies work best for fostering community amongst engineers?

I try to find people who communicate well and put them in touch with people whose strengths lie more within their technical skills so they can learn from

each other. I’m a big proponent of interdisciplinary studies, as evidenced by my double major. In these organizations, I’m bringing the communication side of political science, where there is an emphasis on strong leadership and delegation, into the engineering realm. This strategy has worked well; the organizations are functioning better and people are getting stuff done. I have been able to launch initiatives I never would have dreamed of, like reaching out to other Alpha Pi Mu chapters to plan events — that’s something that hasn’t been done in years.

Why has fostering community amongst engineers been such a prominent part of your leadership?

In high school, I was the shyest person in the world. All five of my CliftonStrengths at the beginning of college — learner, input, context, futuristic, intellection — were things about strategy, and nothing about connecting with other people. I feel that’s changed. I have experienced the joy of being around other people and learning from them. I want to help other students find that light. I hope to do my part and keep these initiatives going on for years to come.

I have experienced the joy of being around other people and learning from them. I want to help other students find that light.

Bogert

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