Phone: 301-699-8833, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Eastern time
Fax: 301-699-8830, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Eastern time. Note: this is checked quite irregularly.
I have two businesses and two primary volunteer involvements--plus a labor of love for which I developed a web site in late 2010.. After giving you links to information about all of those, I will talk briefly about former professions and provide a link to other personal data.
Electrical
: I have been in business for about 30 years as Safety First Electrical Contracting, Consulting, and Safety Education. I now have information about that business on its own web page Go there also for a link to a description of my Third Party Inspection services. Please note that in late-February, 2012, I decided to stop serving as a Third Party Inspector for Washington, D.C.'s Department of Community and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), primarily in response to their relatively new requirement that all third party inspectors, whatever their qualifications, work under the direct supervision of professional engineers. (PEs).Writer/Editor
: I have been in business as a writer and editor since the mid-1980s, trading until recently under the hefty business name Accurate and Intriguing Writing and Editing. Now I identify the venture more simply as David E. Shapiro, Writing and Editing. You can find an immense amount of information here, at the separate web page devoted to that business. It includes my focuses, my values as a writer, my publication history, several writing samples, rate information, book reviews, references, and more.I maintain a considerable commitment to forwarding electrical safety through the inspectors' association, IAEI.
Special Interest Group for intellectually oriented people interested in the electrical industry. I've worked with these colleagues and published the SIG newsletter for a bit over 25 years.
In mid-2010, a several-year-long effort culminated in the publication of W. Creighton Schwan's final project, which I co-authored with him. Behind the Code both explains how many modern electrical rules came to be and traces their development. A historian and a P.E. have offered early reports on the interest that the stories convey. Electrical inspectors and consultants have added that the detailed histories will help them make decisions about whether installations they run across deserve to be grandfathered. This link takes you to www.DES-Publishing.com. You'll find lots more about the book and the authors there, and can order the work or comment on it.
I earned an M.S. in Experimental Psychology and an M.Ed. in Community Counseling. I have not performed research since 1988, nor been employed as a counselor since 1989. Both my heart and my intellect have found other outlets. I do maintain membership in the American Psychlogical Association, and follow current research. I continue to put this education to use in a number of ways.
Here are three examples of ways this has fed into recent activities:
In 2008, I provided guidance to my friend and former colleague John Heil, PhD., as he
prepared a report on the lessons learned in the aftermath of the shooting at Virginia Technical Institute.
I continue to explain the applications of current social science research on decision-making
and interpersonal influence in my column for electricians in Electrical Contractor magazine.
Finally, I served as guest editor for the Fall 2009 issue of a peer-reviewed scholarly quarterly, the Mensa Research Journal.
The issue was devoted to studies of autism.
More generally, my training in statistics, in research design and analysis, and
of course specifically in social science allow me to write
knowledgeably about these areas-and to evaluate the scientific bases of
claims.
Then there are the special benefits that came out of earning my first Master's degree from a specialized program Lehigh University offered. It was an unusual science graduate program,
focused on not only training researchers but on preparing us to become skilled college instructors. This means I had
more education and practice in the theory and practice of teaching than
most people receive, even people who have many years of schooling. I
was educated to teach through writing as well as by standing in front of
students. The training
benefits my teaching whether I'm consulting one-on-one or presenting a
seminar to a full room. The program was well designed, with good
instructors.
I used to work as a massage professional, ultimately training as a Structural Integration Practitioner; I have not practiced these skills professionally for many years. I rely on other ways of serving people. The education and training did give me a valuable understanding of body mechanics. For information on that work, check out the Guild for Structural Integration
Link here to Personal Description and early work and social history
Go to the top of this entire web site
I serve as Secretary-Treasurer for the International Association of Electrical Inspectors, George Washington Chapter (The chapter encompasses Washington, D.C. and most of Maryland). I also represent the chapter on the Executive Committee for the Eastern Section, IAEI. In addition, I have chaired the Eastern U.S. Section's Bylaws Committee.
Our purpose is to further electrical safety, and in particular to foster electrical education and the uniform application of electrical standards. About a third of us are electrical inspectors, mostly working for local governments; the other two-thirds are contractors, consultants, and representatives of organizations that support IAEI.
Please press this button to reach the web page of the local chapter , with seminar and meeting notices and reports, plus additional contact information.
Here's a button to reach the web site maintained by IAEI's international headquarters.
Go to the top of this entire web site.
This is a brief introduction to the Mensa -affiliated, transnational, special interest group of Electricians, Inspectors, Engineers and Interested
Others focusing on power, lighting and communications. A button at the end of this description will bring you to our fraternity's own web page.
IDENTITY
We're a club -- we sometimes visit, talk, help each other out on questions or projects. Our most regular endeavor is The Flexible Conduit, our newsletter. August 2008 will see our 250th issue! Incidentally, we take our work seriously, even passionately; but we try not to take ourselves too seriously. As an example, our April issue traditionally has been devoted to foolishness.
AFFILIATION REQUIREMENTS
You're expected to be bright, and interested in electricity. You are strongly urged to join Mensa, and to let me know when you do. (Mensa membership simply requires proof that your IQ is or was within the top 2%, and payment of annual, or one-shot lifetime, dues.)
People affiliate by getting on our mailing list. Most members currently are e-members, as described on the SIG's web page. For those few who prefer hard copy, the mailing list is a folder of self-addressed, stamped envelopes (SASE's). The SIG's membership definitely is more than a tally of newsletter subscribers. Before receiving a first copy of The Flexible Conduit (FC), you normally will send in a dollar and SASE (unless you're outside the U.S.) with a note or e-mail telling us about yourself, in return for a sample copy. Resumes will do, although they're usually impersonal. We'd like to know the person who's becoming our colleague. Once you join, that letter will be printed to introduce you to your colleagues. You will find further information on joining the SIG, and a partial index of The Flexible Conduit at