California Surveyors Forums

Please share a few stories of how you invest yourself in inspiring and including up and coming surveyors, or your peers.

See "Test Yourself" in The American Surveyor magazine and "The Problem Corner" in the old Professional Surveyor (now xyHt) magazine.

See Field Notes on the xyHt website. Many other ways as well - teaching, speaking at conferences, leading by example, mentoring, and more.

Taking friends high school students to the field allowing them what surveyors really do. They think it's cool when you find 80 or 90 year old iron pipes one foot below asphalt, or dirt!

As for dealing with peers, communication goes a long way. I'm tired of others that say they will do something, and never do (A real pet peeve of mine). Coming from a so-called professional, it shows a lack of respect.

Now back to your regular scheduled programming!

This is from my book "The Curt Brown Chronicles."

CURT BROWN

In order to properly explain the importance of Curtis Brown upon the surveying profession, I must ask the reader’s indulgence. My own experiences leading up to my career in land surveying are perhaps typical of other Land Surveyors. I began surveying in Boston, Massachusetts in 1971 and unbeknownst to me, Curt had retired from land surveying a few months earlier. After graduating from Boston Technical High School, where I majored in electronic engineering, I took a job with one of the country’s oldest civil engineering and land surveying firms, Boston-based Whitman and Howard. I initially accepted the position of a surveyor’s apprentice as a summer job, something to keep me occupied. Although I had been accepted to a local engineering college to continue my education in electronics, land surveying took me elsewhere. I never looked back.
While surveying throughout New England, I attended classes at Wentworth University where I received an educational Certificate in Land Surveying. In 1976 I relocated my wife Maureen and two sons, Michael and Justin to San Diego where I continued surveying. Two years later, I attended Mesa College to further my formal education. As luck would have it, my instructor proved to be a most inspirational man, Charles (Chuck) Safford. As a direct result of his classes and inspiration, I was introduced to Curt’s Boundary Control and Legal Principles and Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Control. I immediately took to these books and as I studied them, I readily observed that the vast majority of the cases and examples cited therein were all drawn from the San Diego area. In pursuit of my fascination with Curt’s work, I began collecting copies of the various maps and material referenced within the books and I began following Curt’s footsteps.

While attending classes, I learned that Curt lived in La Mesa, a small city located east of San Diego. I took the initiative to contact him and I was delighted when he accepted my call. Following a brief conversation, we agreed to meet and in short order we became friends. This wonderful friendship lasted until the day he passed. Over the intervening years, we spent many hours looking for old maps and ancient court cases. Although Curt’s technical reputation preceded him, I came to know him for his infectious sense of humor. To this day, I can still hear his hearty laugh, as he shared one of his silly jokes with me. There were many facets to Curt.

As our friendship developed, we talked about writing a book about local history. To his credit, Curt knew his health was diminishing and he was prepared to work with me; there were clearly many more stories to tell. It was obvious that if we were to write a book, we would have to move the project along. And we did. In 1988, we published The History of San Diego Land Surveying Experiences. Soon thereafter, we began to receive unsolicited phone calls from other surveyors who had profited from the information found in that book. We were quickly rewarded for our efforts. Thanks to Curt, legions of Land Surveyors have learned how to deal with many of the county’s problem areas and I learned something about land surveying.

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PAUL CUOMO

As many Professional Land Surveyors would agree, there are not enough words to express the land surveying community’s appreciation to the late Paul Cuomo. Ever since I met Paul in the early ‘80’s, while we served as officers and members of the California Land Surveyors Association (CLSA), we have enjoyed a bond that goes far beyond that enjoyed by most people. In addition to our friendship, Paul has been one of the driving forces in my professional life. Thanks to him, we began this project and as a result of our mutual interest in the works of Curt Brown, I have been able to complete this work. Accordingly, this homage is intended to serve as a token of my appreciation to Paul along with our mutually inspired intention to honor the late Curtis M. Brown. Together and apart, both men were giants in the profession.

Although Paul and I spent considerable time presenting various seminars and lectures, my fondest memories go back to 1988 when Paul served as incoming President of CLSA. Always a man of ambition, he took great pride in organizing the annual state conference being held in Anaheim, California. Paul worked night and day to put on a world class event. He accomplished this by garnering the participation of several of the profession’s finest luminaries, Curt Brown, Walt Robillard, Charles Moffitt, and Ben Bucker. It is not surprising that one of my favorite memories is of the evening when Paul hosted a dinner with these fine gentlemen. The repartee and conversation was decidedly priceless. If nothing else, if one did not take an interest in land surveying after that meeting, there would simply be no hope for the profession.

Paul began his surveying career in 1958 with the California Division of Highways (CALTRANS). He received his license to practice land surveying in 1973 and that year started teaching boundary classes at Santa Ana Junior College. He left Caltrans in 1980 and joined the Orange County Surveyor’s Office as Deputy County Surveyor. In 1985, Paul founded Pacific Land Seminars and began offering exam preparation workshops for the California Land Surveyor in Training (LSIT) and Professional Land Surveyor exams. He also founded Paul Cuomo Press, Inc. Paul “retired” in 1993 to become a consultant in the boundary and mapping fields and to focus more on surveying education.

Paul was the founder and past chairman of the California Foundation for Land Surveying Education. He was a major supporter of California State Polytechnic University Pomona’s (Cal Poly Pomona) efforts to obtain ABET accreditation for their 4-year Surveying option program. As a result of the Foundations efforts, over $100,000 in scholarships have been awarded to surveying students at Cal Poly Pomona and California State University at Fresno. In addition to funding scholarships, the foundation also provided over $50,000 in equipment donations to the Fresno, Pomona, Santiago Canyon Community College, and San Jacinto Community College surveying programs.

Paul co-authored the university textbook “Advanced Land Descriptions” with the author, Michael Pallamary and the late Roy Minnick. He also authored “Surveying Principles for Civil Engineers.” Paul has been an Expert Examiner for the California State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors and he held the office of president at both the local and state level for CLSA. Through Pacific Land Seminars, Paul presented classes, seminars, and workshops across the United States. As an educator and mentor over the past four decades, Paul’s devotion to the advancement of surveying education has touched thousands of lives and careers.

Paul made many other important and largely unheralded contributions to the land surveying profession. To most, Paul will be remembered as a friend, educator, and mentor to the many men and women who came in contact with him. Beginning in the mid 1970’s, Paul developed a passion and devotion to the advancement of land surveying education. His commitment lasted four decades. Through his many classes, seminars, and workshops throughout the country, Paul shaped the careers of literally thousands of individuals. Following many years of unselfish contributions to the land surveying profession, my dear friend Paul Cuomo passed away on December 2, 2008.

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Excellent examples.
I am little bit thrown off because I was expecting more of a Dale Carnegiesque discussion. One that addresses individuals who don't excel in intrinsic motivation quite as much, but need a few nudges.

We frequently talk about 'trying to get a certain segment of surveyors inspired to stretch themselves more than they do now.'

Yes, I hear you. I will see if anyone comes to mind.

Shortly after achieving my LSIT, I had the opportunity to attend an LS Exam Review group organized by Vance Breshears, CALTRANS District 11 Survey Engineer. While the group was mainly aimed at getting Vance's CALTRANS people licensed, he opened the course up to a few of us at the County. I was years away from being able to take the LS exam, however it was a great way to learn what I did not know. I attended for several years until I was licensed in 1996. Then Vance encouraged me to teach one session, Geodesy and GPS on the LS Exam, which I continued off and on for many years. I organized other LS review programs at the CLSA conference and at the East Bay Chapter too. I think that being involved with a program helping others learn, you get back at least as much as you give. You have to learn your subject matter much better than you thought you already knew to be able to teach it, and just being part of a learning environment helps you learn much more. Seeing young surveyors learn and grow is rewarding in itself.
I would encourage those interested in personal and professional growth to get involved. I found the LS exam prep involvement quite rewarding.

Steve, you did a wonderful job on this program. You, my friend, are an inspiration!

Thanks Mike,

In the vein of "Inspiring and including up and coming Surveyors" per the OP, I spent several years with the CLSA Education Foundation and had the chance to award scholarships to a number of up-and-coming surveyors. Seeing many of them now in leading roles in our industry is quite gratifying. The CLSA Education Foundation is really a team effort between the CLSA Chapters, the CLSA membership, everyone who donates (even if it is through Amazon Smile), the Foundation members, all who volunteer to review applications, Instructors who spread the word about the scholarships and write recommendations, and the CLSA Central Office. The point is, this is another way to get involved. Helping those who want to make a career in our profession is quite rewarding.