Past President - Laura Drumm, PE

First, I'd like to thank our incoming board members for volunteering for their new roles and in most cases for the work they have already done in their previous positions. I'm excited about our enthusiasm for the upcoming year and I'm looking forward to the challenge of keeping up with everyone's ideas and actions.

As the new chapter year begins we are treated to a redesigned state website. Please check out our new look. The state home page features easy access to the Events List which brings you within clicks of registration for state and Chicago Chapter events. On our chapter portal you will find our featured Chicago Chapter Events for the upcoming months.

Personally, I'm proud to be taking a turn at the helm of the Chicago Chapter. I was honored to be recommended for the position of president. During my term I plan to continue the mission to promote engineering in the Chicago area. This includes:

    • Providing downtown PDH and networking events for our members
    • Partnering with other engineering associations to provide PDH opportunities and address legislative issues
    • Showcasing local engineering projects
    • Encouraging youth to pursue engineering careers by supporting our Scholarship and Mathcounts programs and recognizing other regional youth STEM competitions.

The Chicago Chapter Awards and Installation Luncheon was a great way to begin the chapter year. We were able to recognize four local engineering projects from different disciplines throughout the Chicagoland area.

The success of the event was due to many people, including everyone on the incoming board and programming committee, all those who submitted award nominations, the award winning teams, our incoming state president, Dawn Edgell, for conducting the installation, and our keynote speaker Coach Bruce Weber.

LDrumm Photo

Laura Drumm graduated from the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Illinois in 1992 and has 18 years of experience in environmental and civil engineering.

Ms. Drumm joined the ISPE Bloomington Chapter in 1994 at the suggestion of a coworker. She volunteered at the chapter's mathcounts competition every year until moving out of the area in 2001. She also regularly participated in the Chapter's Engineer's Week school visits. Now living in the Chicago area, Ms. Drumm continues to volunteer at local and state Mathcounts competitions and attends career fairs for high school students to promote engineering to today's youth. She has served on the Chicago Chapter board since 2004 and held the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President as well as working on the Scholarship, Awards, Programming, and Communications committees.