The Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) has added a new classification of membership. The active specialized member (SM) designation allows RSES members to participate in the society's specialist examination without having passed the certificate member (CM) examination. Prior to this new classification, an RSES member was required to pass a CM examination in order to participate in one of the specialist exams and become a certificate member specialist.

“As the industry has grown and evolved, it's apparent that many HVACR professionals choose to specialize in particular areas of the industry,” explains Renee Tomlinson, RSES director of training and testing. “These areas don't require all of the extensive knowledge and experience in general refrigeration and air conditioning, as is tested for in the CM examination.” The SM status is earned by passing one or more of the eight specialist examinations: commercial refrigeration; commercial air conditioning; heating; controls; domestic service; HVACR electrical; heat pumps; and dynamic compression. rses.org