Wyoming Paths to Professional Engineering Licensure

The Wyoming Board of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors (WYOPEPLS) assists in providing information and guidance to obtain a professional engineering license. WYOPEPLS’s website provides a “one-stop” location for license application; renewal; search; and related rules, regulations and statutes (https://engineersandsurveyors.wyo.gov/home).

Wyoming was the first state to require licensure of engineers in 1907 due to the “unruly nature of engineering and land surveying in a vast, largely undeveloped state.” Charles Bellamy (patriarch of a Wyoming family of engineers) was the first licensed engineer in the U.S. His license was issued on August 8, 1907. Since 1907, Wyoming has issued over 11,000 professional licenses.

The Wyoming license of professional engineers is based on the “three-legged stool” of engineering education, engineering experience, and examination. To meet these requirements, Wyoming has multiple paths to licensure. Three of the paths are summarized here.

Traditional Pathway. The traditional path requires a degree from an engineering program that is accredited by ABET/EAC, four years of engineering experience completed after the degree, and successful completion of the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering examination and an NCEES Principles of Practice Exam (PE) or NCEES Structural Exam (SE).

Doctoral Degree Path. A license may also be obtained via the doctoral degree path. For this path, the applicant must have earned a doctoral degree in engineering from an institution that grants ABET/EAC accredited undergraduate or graduate degrees. Four years of engineering experience is also required. The four years of experience must be obtained after the applicant completes their first degree (undergraduate or graduate) in engineering. The applicant must also successfully complete a written examination on professional ethics and Wyoming engineering licensing laws and also complete an interview with the Board.

NCEES Equivalency Path. What if your engineering education does not fit these paths? In this case, your combined educational credentials (undergraduate, graduate) will be evaluated against the NCEES education standard by the WYOPEPLS Application Review Committee (ARC) for schools within the United States. The standard requires:

• 32 college semester credit hours of higher mathematics and basic sciences.

o Credits in mathematics must be beyond algebra and trigonometry and must emphasize mathematical concepts and principles rather than computation. Courses in differential and integral calculus are required.

o Credits in basic sciences must include at least two courses. These courses must be in general chemistry, general calculus-based physics, or general biological sciences; the two courses may not be in the same area.

• 48 college credit hours of engineering science and engineering design.

o Courses in engineering science must be taught within the college/faculty of engineering and must have their roots in mathematics and basic sciences but carry knowledge further toward creative application of engineering principles.

o Courses in engineering design must stress the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and evaluation. Graduate-level engineering courses may be included to fulfill curricular requirements in this area.

• 12 college credit hours in a general education component that complements the technical content of the curriculum.

o Examples of traditional humanities/social sciences courses in this area are philosophy, religion, history, literature, fine arts, sociology, psychology, political science, anthropology, economics (micro and macro), professional ethics, and social responsibility. Examples of other general education courses deemed acceptable include management (such as organizational behavior), accounting, written and oral communications, business, and law.

If your education credentials are from an international institution of higher education, equivalency analysis is completed directly by NCEES. (https://ncees.org/records/ncees-credentials-evaluations/).

If your education credentials are found to be equivalent to NCEES standards, you will need to complete four years of engineering experience and successfully complete the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering examination and an NCEES Principles of Practice Exam (PE) or NCEES Structural Exam (SE).

If your education credentials are found to be not equivalent to NCEES standards, the ARC will provide a list of requirements to meet equivalency. Applicants are encouraged to complete additional coursework in a timely manner.

The goal of the WYOPEPLS is to assist all qualified applicants in obtaining a professional engineering license. We are here to help. Feel free to reach out to WYOPEPLS at: wyopepls@wyo.gov