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Syracuse Section Represents IEEE
at 2008 New York State Fair
By Mike Hayes, IEEE Syracuse Section Secretary
We’ve been at the New York State Fair since 2003. The first year we just
had IEEE brochures, articles about the 2003 Northeast power outage, and similar
items. We had at least 100 of everything and went home with about 99 of everything.
Back to the drawing board.
The next year we had a laptop with a CD from the IEEE History museum plus the
brochures. There was a little interest in the computer display, but not much.
However, it was better than what we had the first year. But, back to the drawing
board again.
We borrowed some “toys”, er lab equipment from Syracuse University,
that our “customers” could actually touch the third year. Success!!
We’ve continued with that format ever since.
With the support of Cornell University, who controls the space we had, the IEEE
Syracuse Section had a display booth at the New York State Fair from Friday,
August 29 through Labor Day September 1, 2008 at the 4H/Youth Building. We were
collocated with FIRST (interactive robotics), Lockheed Martin Explorer Post
(working hover craft), and ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers –
interactive train, bridge, pump, and crane display). Space was really tight,
but we made it work.
Approximately 400,000 people attended the Fair during the four days we were
there. State Fair personnel estimate that over 20,000 people passed through
the 4H/Youth Building during these four days. Based on a sample count we took
last year, we actually interacted with between 1500 and 2000 people. Interacted
means the children, and sometimes their parents, actually touched and used the
equipment.
This year the Syracuse Section had two Tesla coils (our biggest draw), a Van
de Graaff generator, a human-power generator, and an oscilloscope with a microphone.
Syracuse University let us borrow the generator, and National Grid let us borrow
one of the Tesla Coils we had and the oscilloscope. Seventeen people from the
Syracuse Section volunteered to work at the Fair.
We interacted primarily with elementary and middle school children. They “played
with our toys” and got to see electrical technology in action.
Our “customers” learned how difficult it is to generate enough power
to turn on a small light bulb.
A few felt the power of electricity when they got zapped by a Tesla coil (no
one got hurt)! Most of the kids really liked the Tesla coil; many of their eyes
really “lit up” even when they didn’t get zapped!
The Van de Graaff generator was small and didn’t work very well, partially
because it was relatively humid. It probably wasn’t adjusted quite right
either.
The Tesla coils caused a lot of interference with the oscilloscope. So we had
to turn them off so the kids could see the waveforms of their voice when they
talked. We’ll probably get a small amplifier next year to fix this (first
year we had an oscilloscope).
When we first started several years ago, I (Mike Hayes) asked Tom Frawley, the
president of the New York State Technology Education Association (NYSTEA), who
invited us to participate the first few years, whether what we were doing had
any significant impact on kids. He said that there’s no way to know. However,
it’s possible that a few kids might be sparked (pardon the pun!) into
an electrical engineering career at least partially because of this. He strongly
recommended we continue participating, which we have.
I think our volunteers enjoyed interacting with the kids. The time seemed to
go by quickly since we almost always has several people at our table. Here are
some representative pictures of the action.
Note light on girl’s face from generator powered light bulb.
Van de Graaff generator (left), oscilloscope (second from left), Tesla coil
(third from left), switch, light, & part of generator (right)
Adult getting zapped by Tesla coil
Volunteer Jeff Duly with future electrical engineers!
Volunteer Mike Hayes with customers – large and small!
Congratulations to George Kirkpatrick, Chair of our Life Fellows Chapter
The IEEE AESS Pioneer Award for 2007
has been awarded to
George M. Kirkpatrick
For the original development of monopulse techniques for radar systems.
IEEE Membership, A look at membership statistics and our growth as a global society
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Updated October 8, 2008