National Organization for Business and Engineering

National Organization for Business and Engineering
Abbreviation	NOBE
Formation	2007
Type	Engineering societies
Location	United States and Canada;
Membership	400+ Nationally
National President	Andrew Quinn
Website	nobenational.org

The National Organization for Business and Engineering (also referred to as NOBE) is a national society uniting business, management, and engineering organizations from universities in the United States and Canada.

History

NOBE originally began as SBME, The Society for Business & Management in Engineering. SBME was founded in 1998 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by then Mechanical Engineering student, Alex Meyer. The organization was formed in order to bridge the gap between engineering and business in the academic environment, thereby helping students develop into prepared and effective business leaders as well as engineers. From the outset, SBME was intended to be an organization that would eventually expand to major universities with engineering programs.

Meyer recruited Cam Kennedy, Brent Schwoerer, and John Hebda to form SBME's first managing board. Upon Meyer's graduation, John Hebda became the organization's second president and was joined by an expanded board of directors selected by SBME's founding board. Alex Meyer continued to support the organization and the board and to serve as an occasional presenter. In 2001 he established the first SBME Student Scholarship sponsored by his then employer, Deloitte Consulting.

In 2006, the Society for Business and Management in Engineering (SBME) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposed to move forward with the initial goal of expanding the organization to other universities and take it to a national level to gain exposure and recognition, while providing an environment for students all over the nation who are interested in business and engineering. SBME contacted similar organizations at three other universities (Purdue University, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan) with this idea and put in motion the transformation into the National Organization for Business and Engineering. In March 2007, representatives from each of these universities convened at the University of Illinois to formally launch the national organization and make the vision of a national presence a reality. Alex Meyer returned to Urbana to keynote at the event. In 2008, NOBE's first executive board of directors was formed with Andy Forti, Toni McEwan, Alex Meyer, and Matthew Price as its initial members.

Constitution

At the annual NOBE National Conference held in February 2010, all chapters ratified the NOBE Constitution, a process that has been underway for over a year. Important issues, including national board elections, new chapter application, probation, and chapter structure, were debated and voted upon. By the end of the conference, all chapters were in agreement with the Constitution, and it became the official governing document of the national organization.

National Executive Board

In addition to ratifying the official NOBE Constitution at the 2010 NOBE National Conference, the first national governing board was formed to continue growth and development of the national organization. Elections were held for 5 positions. Katy Hoover, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign chapter, was elected the first president of the national organization. Other positions were filled by Adam Brunner (Vice President), Andrew Quinn (Finance Director), Kevin Daley (Secretary), and David Grochocki (Technology Director).

Events

The local chapters of National Organization for Business and Engineering keep holding events throughout years in and out campus to pursue the goal of bringing the business perspective to engineering and technology students. Local events include case studies with different companies, company info sessions, faculty speeches, lectures related to interviews and job hunting.

In addition to local chapter events, the National Organization for Business and Engineering holds national events each year.

One tradition is the National Conference. The National Organization for Business and Engineering has a three-day-long national conference each spring semester and the board members and general members from each chapter will go to a host school to attend the conference. The content of the conference includes annual summary of NOBE's operation, discussion panels, speeches of different topics, workshops related to what is going on in today's business and engineering society, the national election and a banquet. See below for a list of all historical National Conferences.

Other events held by the National Organization for Business and Engineering included a Stock Market Simulation Game. This is an online stock game with real stock market action, but virtual capital. Any member from NOBE can play this game and the competition is among all the chapters. The first three places of the game typically win prizes.

The National Organization for Business and Engineering also has case studies which prove to be very informative and gives students a chance to take part in actual case studies with reputed companies like Dow Chemicals and Caterpillar. They give you hands on experience about how to approach a problem and how to impromptu convince your customer about why he/she should buy your product. This makes these case studies all the more exciting and challenging. The case studies give a group of students a particular situation in which you are expected to sell your product to the customer where you are given the advantages and dis-advantages of a product and the students are supposed to crack the deal with the customer in a limited amount of time. The students are also awarded with the first, second and third prices to add another incentive and encourage them to participate.

Chapters

University	Chapter Since	Description
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	2006	The Society for Business and Management in Engineering (SBME) was founded in 1998 to help expose students to the myriad of opportunities in which they can apply their business and engineering degrees. SBME was one of the founding chapters which currently consists of over 150 members at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Their goal is to provide a learning environment that integrates business and engineering that is not only natural, but essential. SBME was at the forefront of a movement to prepare students for a market that not only requires an understanding of technology, but an understanding of business as well. As NOBE, they will continue this movement. This chapter was also instrumental in starting NOBE. In 2006, it was a SBME member who proposed the idea to take the organization to a national level, and in 2007, the vision became a reality, and NOBE is now an expanding national organization.
University of Wisconsin–Madison	2006	The Wisconsin Chapter was formerly known as Students Uniting Business & Engineering (SUBE), a student organization at UW-Madison that began in 1997. It currently has approximately 70 members in business or engineering disciplines at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Their mission is to broaden the visions of students in technology and business fields by facilitating relationships, providing cross-functional knowledge, and developing professional skills.
Drexel University	Spring 2009	The Drexel Business and Engineering Society (BES) was founded in the early-1980s as the Commerce and Engineering Society to link the small group of students in Drexel's joint major then known as Commerce and Engineering (C&E). In 2007, the Commerce and Engineering Society switched its name to BES to represent the new interest of students and reflect the change of Drexel's Commerce and Engineering degree to Business and Engineering (B&E). By 2008, the overall interest from all types of students helped propel us to over 100 active members. In early 2009, BES completed a year-long transition process to NOBE. By becoming a NOBE chapter, the Drexel BES became the first expansion chapter in NOBE history and the first NOBE chapter to be established on the east coast.
University of Minnesota	2011	The University of Minnesota chapter of the National Organization for Business and Engineering was founded in November 2010. The founding Executive Board believed it was necessary to unite the College of Science and Engineering with the Carlson School of Management in order to promote professional development on campus, and strive to create more well-rounded graduates. Minnesota NOBE's first active semester on campus was during the Spring of 2011, and it quickly gained the attention of the student body as there were not any similar student organizations at the time. The Twin Cities are a mecca for the combination of engineering and business as there are numerous prominent medical device and manufacturing companies in the area. To this day, NOBE has been successful in bringing in high-level corporate sponsors in the effort to raise awareness of the synergy that is created when these two facets of academia are joined together.
University of Southern California	2011	Started in December 2010, the USC Chapter of the National Organization for Business and Engineering arose out of a desire to bridge the gap between the Viterbi School of Engineering and Marshall School of Business. In an increasingly technology-driven world, it seemed appropriate and necessary to bring NOBE to the USC campus in order to support interdisciplinary cooperation and networking. The first executive board came together to lay the foundation during the Spring 2011 semester. Along with a warm reception by both undergraduate and graduate students, USC NOBE quickly got its name out into the school by bringing in VP's from both Intel and Qualcomm, co-founders of internet start-ups, and passionate professors to lead workshops.
McGill University	2011	The McGill Chapter was originally known as Engineers in Business (EIB), a student organization founded in 2008 by two entrepreneurial engineering students who were frustrated by the rigidity of the McGill engineering curriculum. Desiring to educate students about career opportunities in the business world, they quickly developed relationships with industry leaders in the consulting, finance, entrepreneurship and management fields. In 2010, EIB officially began the process of becoming a NOBE chapter. Today, NOBE McGill continues to expand its brand on campus and in the Montreal and Toronto business communities by organizing information sessions, networking cocktails, case competitions, and other activities aimed at connecting engineering students with business careers.
Penn State University	2014	The Penn State University Park NOBE Chapter was officially founded in September 2014 in the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering. The founding members realized the importance of business knowledge and concepts to complement their engineering degree. The group ultimately seeks to provide engineers with a working knowledge of important financial terminology and concepts necessary to function in a corporate business environment. The group also seeks to help students build professional relationships with corporate employers while sharing their passion and knowledge of these business principles with the undergraduate engineering students in the engineering economy course offered within the industrial engineering department. The group will host corporate or academic speakers one time per semester and will host social events and on-site visits to network with corporate employers hiring engineering students into their organization.
Penn State Behrend	2013	The Penn State Erie, The Behrend College chapter of the National Organization for Business and Engineering was founded in November 2013. The Penn State Behrend School of Engineering and the Sam and Irene Black School of Business have a strong interdisciplinary relationship. With the addition of a NOBE chapter, this connection will continue to thrive. Members of the Behrend chapter include students in both business and engineering who would like to further their professional skills through multifunctional learning and networking. The chapter will continue to spread the importance of bridging the gap between business and engineering to students and corporations.
The University of Texas at Austin	2015	The University of Texas Chapter was originally known as Business Engineering Association (BEA), a student organization founded in 2012 by a few engineering students desiring to educate engineers about career opportunities in the business world. However, after a year or so the leadership fell apart and the organization ceased to exist. Previous members and other engineering students with the same desires later came back and restarted the organization. They quickly developed relationships with industry leaders in the consulting, finance, entrepreneurship and management fields. In the restarting process they came across NOBE. In 2015, BEA officially began the process of becoming a NOBE chapter. Today, UT NOBE continues to expand its brand on campus and in the Austin business communities by organizing information sessions, networking cocktails, and other activities aimed at connecting engineering students with business careers.

National Conferences


Year	Dates	Host University	Location
2009	10/23 - 10/25	Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana
2010	2/19 - 2/21	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, Wisconsin
2011	2/25 - 2/27	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	Champaign, Illinois
2012	2/24 - 2/26	Drexel University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2013	3/1 - 3/3	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California
2014	2/14 - 2/16	McGill University	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2015	2/20 - 2/22	Drexel University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2016	2/12 - 2/14	Penn State University Park	State College, Pennsylvania
2017	3/24 - 3/26	Penn State Behrend	Erie, Pennsylvania
2018	4/6 - 4/8	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	Champaign, Illinois
2019	3/28 - 3/31	McGill University	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2020	3/26 - 3/29	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota
2022	3/18 - 3/19	University of Waterloo	Waterloo, Ontario

External links

National Organization for Business and Engineering National Website