IEEE Newsletter

Chairman’s Column

2004 IEEE Distinguished Lecture, 12 Nov 04

Dr Robin Batterham AO delivered the third IEEE SA Distinguished Lecture, Science, Technology and Innovation Challenges for the Next Generation to a full house at "The Crystal Room", Stamford Plaza Hotel. It was an entertaining and informative address which met the terms of reference for this event ... "anyone from anywhere in Australia who has something important to say about the future for our members in South Australia".

Dr Batterham indicated that "Australia must aim to be in the 3% of the world's research which leads to innovation" ... the corollary of which is South Australia must aim to be in Australia's 3% of research most likely to lead to innovation ... to stay competitive. He also said "science and technology should be regarded as indivisible" and this has important implications for how IEEE and other professional engineering groups should address the looming crisis in high school science education.

It was the occasion of the presentation of IEEE SA Section Distinguished Service Awards to Don Sinnott and Harry Green, for outstanding volunteer contributions to the Section and the profession by Bob Bogner and Andrew Parfitt respectively. Both Bob and Andrew are previous recipients of a Section Distinguished Service Award, and both are also recipients of R10 Outstanding Volunteer awards.

An excellent evening was had by all present. The attendance target was exceeded for the first time and with much less effort than in previous years (we also had numerous apologies). This year the Premier sent a representative and this was also a first.

I would like to express my thanks to the organising committee of Andrew Piotrowski, Zia Ahmed and Tim Ferris, with special thanks to Bruce Vyden who was unable to attend because of interstate work commitments (5 weeks at Puckapunyal).

IEEE R10 2003 Outstanding Small Section Award

In addition to the RAB Outstanding Small Section Award we have now been advised (but it should come as no surprise) that R10 has selected South Australia as its Outstanding Small Section for 2003.

Text Box: The 2003 R10 Outstanding Large Section Award went to IEEE NSW. Australia achieved the double, a rather remarkable outcome. Of course the Chair of IEEE NSW in 2003 was none other than Andrew Parfitt, well known to many of us, who has returned to South Australia recently as Professor and Director of the Institute for Telecommunications Research. Congratulations Andrew.

IEEE R10 Director-Elect

Another important success was the election of Prof. Janina Mazierska as IEEE R10 Director-Elect. Janina was with James Cook University (IEEE Nth Qld) for many years before recently taking up a Chair in New Zealand. Janina was a member of the APMC 2000 (Sydney) organising committee.

http://www-ist.massey.ac.nz/ieee_nomination/

IEEE Australia Council

The outcome of the recent elections for office positions on the IEEE Australia Council is

Chair Michael Evans (SA)

Vice-Chair Renate Sitte (Qld)

Secretary Ian Boyd (NSW)

Treasurer Zia Ahmed (SA)

The term of office is 2 years.

2005 - IEEE SA - 20 Years since Charter

The Section was chartered on 23-Aug-85 and we will doubtless be celebrating our twentieth anniversary in 2005 with appropriate enthusiasm !! Please note this date in your diaries ... 23 Aug 05 is a Tuesday.

And ...

Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Section Committee (and the committees of the various Section entities) for their activity and support during 2004, and indeed over the past three years.

The IEEE depends heavily on volunteers to make things happen and their efforts on behalf of IEEE members in South Australia are warmly appreciated.

On behalf of the Section Committee may I wish you all the compliments of the season and all the best for 2005.

Dr Michael E. Evans

Chair, IEEE South Australia Section

December, 2004

Elections of Office Bearers

At the IEEE SA AGM held 24 Nov 04 at Cos Restaurant, Leigh Street, Adelaide the following office bearers for 2005 were elected.

Section Executive

Chair Zia Ahmed

V-Chair Arek Dadej

Secretary Steven Gordon

Treasurer Andrew Udina

Communications and Signal Processing Chapter

Chair John Asenstorfer

V-Chair Peter Shoubridge

Secretary Gareth Parker

Treasurer Mark Ho

AP, Microwave Theory and Techniques Chapter

Chair Hedley Hansen

V-Chair Bevan Bates

Sec/Treas Sam Mickan

Control, Aerospace and Electronic Systems Chapter

Chair Michael Evans

V-Chair/Sec Mark Pszczel

Treasurer Michael Evans

Computer Chapter

The Computer Chapter AGM was adjourned to a date to be advised.

Information Theory Chapter

The IT Chapter is a joint Section Chapter (ACT/SA/NSW/VIC) and holds its AGM at its annual national meeting in Jan/Feb.

Membership Development

	31 Oct 03	31 Oct 04
Fellows	2	3
Senior Members	30	29
Members	307	313
Affiliates/Others	36	18
Students	68	65
Other	1	0
TOTAL	444	428

Congratulations to Derek Abbott for his recent election to FIEEE. Derek is only the 4th FIEEE in South Australia.

Congratulations also to Andrew Piotrowski for his election to Senior Member.

Nominate a Colleague for Fellow

It's time to start thinking about nominating a colleague who is a senior member for the 2006 class of IEEE Fellows. Nomination forms are due to the Nominations Committee by 1 March 2005. For the first time, you can submit nominations for a new category that recognizes members working in industry, including application engineers and engineers who have made significant contributions to the profession. To nominate an IEEE senior member for fellow status or to learn more about the process, visit http://www.ieee.org/fellows.

On international averages IEEE SA should have about 8‑10 IEEE Fellows. With Derek Abbott's recent election have only 4!

Higher Grade membership now stands at 287,078 members (Sep 04), just above the level of a year ago. While this is good news, the bad news is that Region 9 and all six of the U.S. Regions continue to show declines from their 2003 levels. Region 10 continues to have the highest rate of growth and retains the second largest higher grade membership, and is rapidly closing the gap on Region 6. IEEE saw significant improvement in both our Student and Higher grade retention rates this year.

On the October figures continued strong membership growth in Region 10 has further narrowed the distance between it and Region 6. R6 (60,322) remains ahead of R10 in total membership - but only by just 349 members. Without a very strong closing performance by R6 over the next two months, it is likely tthat R10 will become the largest IEEE Region by year-end. This would represent the first time in the history of IEEE that a non-US Region has held this position. The membership position is slightly misleading because R10 historically has had a high proportion of student membership. R10 higher grade membership (43,205) lags that of R6 (53,226) but this gap is also closing rapidly (approx. 3,500 in the 12 month period).

Andrew Udina

Chair, Membership Development

2003 IEEE Student Awards

The IEEE Student Awards were established in 1992 to recognise and encourage excellence in the study of electrical and electronic engineering. They are awarded annually to a second year student enrolled in courses with an electrical and electronics emphasis at each of the universities in South Australia.

In selecting the recipient of the IEEE Student Award it is interesting to note that each of the three universities has chosen a different approach, but in each case the practical and professional side of electrical/electronic engineering is emphasised.

The 2003 IEEE Student Award recipients are:

1. Mr. Jarrad Rosser (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Adelaide) for his work in the degree course, Practical Electronic Design 2;

2. Mr. Travis Bessell (School of Informatics and Engineering, The Flinders University) who distinguished himself in the overall experimental engineering components of the topics: 'Electrical Networks', 'Signals and Linear Systems', 'Analogue Signal Processing', 'Electronic Circuits', and 'Digital Circuits and Microprocessors';

3. Mr Aaron Mohtar (Faculty of Engineering, The University of South Australia) for his work in the subject 'Signals and Systems'.

Text Box:

LtoR: Aaron Mohtar , Mike Evans, Travis Bessell, Jarrad Rosser

The 2003 IEEE Student Award certificates and cheques were presented by the Section Chair, Dr Michael Evans during the annual "Student Paper Night" held in Engineers House, Bagot Street, on Tuesday 26 October 2004. The meeting was part of the Joint Technical Program in Electrical/Electronic Engineering arranged by a committee of the IEEE, IEE, TSA, and IEAust.

Dr Zia Ahmed

Vice-Chair, IEEE South Australia Section

Convenor, IEEE Awards Committee

Chapters/Branches/Affiliates

Text Box:

Ultimate Sailing Control, Aerospace and Electronic Systems Chapter

Stephen Bourn delivered a talk on his new wing-borne hydrofoil concept on 6 Oct 04 at DSTO and also at the U. of Adelaide.

It was well attended at both venues and there were numerous questions !

Dr Mark Pszczel

Chair, CAES Chapter

Communications and Signal Processing Chapter

The Chapter is providing in-kind support for the 3rd Workshop on Internet, Telecommunications and Signal Processing, 20-22 December 2004, Stamford Grand, Glenelg. The website is at

http://www.dspcs-witsp.com/WITSP_04/CFP.html

Dr Arek Dadej

Chair, C&SP Chapter

Antenna Propagation/MTT Chapter

The Chapter is heavily involved in the TeraHertz for Defence and Security Workshop, 16-17 December, 2004. The workshop will bring together world leaders working on terahertz applications and will follow the SPIE International Symposium being held in Sydney.

The Chapter has established a competition to encourage young engineers to consider careers in RF engineering. The project prize is valued at $2,500.

The workshop website is at:

http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/thz

Dr Hedley Hansen

Chair, AP/MTT Chapter

Student Branch, U. of Adelaide

IEEE SA sponsored for the first time the Final Year Student Dinner held Thursday 25 November 2004 at the The Brasserie, Ayers House. Steven Gordon and Michael Evans attended on behalf of IEEE SA.

Bobby Yau

President

Student Branch, Flinders U.

The Flinders U. Final Year Student Dinner held at Lido Caffe/Ristorante, Holdfast Shores GLENELG SA, 3 December 2004. IEEE SA attendeded this event for the second year.

Sherry Randhawa

President

NEWS

UPDATE YOUR IEEE EMAIL ALIAS ? ... do so by going to: http://eleccomm.ieee.org/

The IEEE Embargo is all but over: IEEE President A. Winston has ordered restoration of just about all services to members living in countries subject to US trade embargoes. This puts an end to the petition action that has been supported by thousands of IEEE members. It is great to see that a grass-roots movement of IEEE members can have a positive impact on the strategic decisions of the IEEE Board of Directors.