Professional engineers in most US states must earn Professional Development Hours (PDH) to renew their license, and they need documentation for every course in case they’re audited. As a provider, the certificate you issue is that documentation. Here’s what it should show.
How PDH hours are counted
Most boards base their rules on the NCEES Model Rules, where one PDH equals one contact hour of instruction. Common conversions in the model rules include:
- 1 contact hour of a course or seminar = 1 PDH
- 1 continuing education unit (CEU) = 10 PDH
- 1 college semester credit hour = 45 PDH
- 1 college quarter credit hour = 30 PDH
Use our PDH calculator to convert hours, CEUs and college credits.
What to print on the certificate
- The engineer’s full name, and ideally their license number and state
- The course title and a short description, or a reference to the course outline
- The date(s) of the course and the location or delivery method (live, online, self-paced)
- The number of PDH earned
- Your organisation’s name and, where a state approves providers, your provider or approval number
- The signature of the instructor or an authorised person
- A unique certificate number so you can confirm the record later
Some boards also expect a statement for specific topics, for example ethics or state laws and rules. If a course counts towards one of those, say so on the certificate.
Keep your own records
Engineers typically have to keep their documentation for several years, and so should you. Keep the attendance list and the certificate numbers so you can confirm any certificate if a board asks.
Making PDH certificates for a whole class
Put one row per engineer in a spreadsheet with columns such as Full_Name, PE_License, Course_Title, Completion_Date, PDH_Hours, Provider_ID and Cert_ID. Upload it to BulkCertPDF and every engineer gets a US Letter certificate with their own details. See the PDH certificate generator.