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A PUBLICATION OF THE PIEDMONT SECTION OF THE IEEE

February, 1997

http://www.carol.net/ieee/

Articles:
Chairman : '97 State Student Paper : IEEE-USA's Tech Policy Council : South Carolina Council of Engineering Societies Conference : Next Meeting : Editor : Officers

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Glenn Bishof
The January meeting of the Piedmont Section was the traditional student paper contest, held at the Ramada Inn in Clemson. The first place prize went to Karl Gurley for his presentation on a temperature measurement system design. John Wren won second place for his work on the use of LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) in the detection of air turbulence near aircraft. Both presentations were interesting and very well done. I would like to congratulate Karl and John and thank them for the effort they put into giving presentations.
I believe that students who participate in IEEE activities such as this are getting a head start on their careers. The opportunity to give a presentation to practicing engineers without the pressure associated with a design review, cost justification, or other critical performance will certainly make the transition from school to profession much smoother. I hope that the members of the Piedmont section will continue to show their support for the future members of our profession by encouraging student participation in IEEE student events. If you know any electrical engineering students, help them get involved in the engineering profession. I don't have to tell you how. You're engineers. You'll figure it out.
Our February meeting will also be in Clemson. Dr. Lewis Fitch will talk about Lightning. For those of you who have never had the chance to see Dr. Fitch in action, I recommend that you attend our next meeting. You will definitely learn something and be entertained as well. Greenville will continue to be our "normal" meeting place in March since it is closer to the geographical center of the Piedmont section's membership locations.
While reading The HP Way, I realized that David Packard and Bill Hewlett were doing something that I haven't caught engineers doing at work in a long time: they were having fun! As a local organization, we will try to do things that are fun, too. We are wide open for suggestions. If there is anything related to electrical engineering that you have always wanted to do but never had the opportunity, please let us know. I'll throw out a couple of suggestions as seeds for thought:

Any input will be appreciated. Let's have fun.

1997 State Student Paper Contest
Sponsored by
South Carolina Council of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

All student papers welcome. Fabulous pries!!
Date:February 15, 1997
Time: 10:00 am
Location: Room 1C01, AMOCO Hall, Swearingen Center University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
Contact:Adib Chebli, (864)458-1346, a.chebli@ieee.org

IEEE-USA's Technology Policy Council

Nick Pasquerilla
The IEEE-USA's Technology Policy Council has the following mission: To present information and the views of the IEEE-USA to the public, Congress and the executive branch on various technology issues. There are committees organized into numerous subcommittees and ad hoc task groups consisting of over 200 volunteers who do work for the council. Focus issues are Private and Public sector cooperation and support funding for R&D. The committees are:

South Carolina Council of Engineering Societies Conference

January 30, 1997
Adib Chebli
The IEEE SC Council will be hosting a joint conference with the South Carolina Council of Engineering and the Society of Professional Land Surveyors on March 14 in Columbia, SC. The conference will consist of several concurrent presentations throughout the day on engineering topics related to the South Carolina industry. The IEEE will be sponsoring four presentations, however, participants may choose to attend any other presentations of their choosing. The IEEE will offer 1.5 PDH for continuing professional education credit for each of its sessions, up to a total of 6 PDH for the four presentations.
The IEEE-sponsored presentations will be:

A. 9:15am to 10:30am
Title: BellSouth Mobility DCS Service.
Presenter: Mr. Mike McIntyre, BellSouth Mobility, DCS Account Executive
Description: Discussion of the capability of the mobile phone service with emphasis on BellSouth Mobility DCS service in particular.

B. 10:45am to 12:00 noon
Title: Finite Element Analysis Applied to Tire Performance and Manufacture.
Presenter: Mr. John Melson, Michelin Research, Manager of CAD/CAE systems
Description: A review of application of advanced finite element techniques to tire design and manufacture. Modern analytic methods can yield significant improvements in design for performance and equally impressive decreases in design time. Advances in hardware allow engineers to use these tools in their daily activities at a reasonable cost. Computation times have decreased by factors of 10-100 over those possible a decade ago.

C: 1:30pm to 2:45pm
Title: The Internet, 1997.
Name: Mr. Lee Stogner, Fluor Daniel Corporation, Principle Consultant, also IEEE Region 3 PACE Chairman
Description: Review of a new global Internet technology industry that gathers information and provides it to customers in a variety of ways. This talk will discuss the best of these new applications and let the audience see them in a live demonstration. New and improved ways of finding information will be presented followed by a discussion on the directions of growth of the Internet.

D: 3:00pm to 4:30pm
Title: Compressed Video Applications in South Carolina.
Presenter: Mr. D. W. Lee(Danny), PE, South Carolina State Budget and Control Board office of Information Services, Customer Services Consultant for Broadband Applications.
Description: This discussion will cover compressed video applications, including the technology, ISDN, the terminology, the cost, and South Carolina applications. Mr. Lee will demonstrate a live video call from USC to another location using Video conferencing equipment.

This conference will be held in the Swearinger Engineering Center on the campus of USC in Columbia, SC. The fee is $40 for IEEE member, $45 for non-member if the registration is made before March 1, 1997. Otherwise, the fee is $45 for IEEE member and $50 for non-member at the door.
Registration includes breaks and lunch with speech by Mr. Cleve Gillette Chairman of the Board of Engineering and Land Surveying of South Carolina.
To register, please send name, address, title, and phone, along with check payable to "IEEE South Carolina Council".
Mail to:
IEEE South Carolina Council
P.O. Box 1204
Mauldin, SC 29662-1204
Reservations may be made by FAX to (864) 297-8251 or by e-mail to d.hulett@ieee.org at any time. Checks will be collected at the registration table at the conference. On-site registration is accepted at the IEEE registration table.

Next Meeting

January 30, 1997
Lightning Talk
How many professors get good reviews years after their classes? Dr. Fitch's Lightning talk is reputed to be fun, interesting, and informative. And those statements are from former students. Join us at the Ramada Inn of Clemson to find out for yourself.
Dr. Fitch received his Bachelor's from Duke in 54, and his Master's from NC State in 60. That's where his interest in lightning began. While getting his doctorate from Ohio State in radio astronomy, he applied his knowledge of lightning to solve problems encountered with receiving signals. Dr. Fitch started teaching at Clemson in 70 in the area of electromagnetics. He relates everything, from white noise to the avalanche breakdown in diodes, to lightning. Since retiring in 93, he consults with Blue Ridge Electric on lightning problems and corona effects around power poles. In his "spare" time, he serves on several local boards and plays bassoon (one of his 8 instruments) in the Anderson Symphony.
Meeting Details:
Thursday, Feb 27, at the Ramada Inn of Clemson, located at the intersection of Hwy 124 and Hwy 76.

The cost is $8.00 for members and guests and $4.00 for students. For reservations please contact one of the officers listed in this newsletter by Tuesday, February 25, 1997.

Don't miss next month's great topic: PC-based Controls, Specifications and setup. The date: March 20.

From the Editor

Mark Stokes
Don't forget to let me know what method you would prefer to receive the newsletter. Three are available:

If you would like to receive the newsletter via some other method than USPS, please email me your full name and e-mail address.
A little note: I have been trying to get the newsletter out at least four days before the meeting date. If you haven't received the newsletter by the day before, then chances are the meeting has been postponed. This year I will try to post whatever information about the meeting I know as soon as I know it on the Newsletter web page section of our web page. Please refer to this page whenever you have a question about the meetings. I hope this will help when you are planning your third Thursday's of the month.

Officer List:

CHAIRMAN Glenn Bischof (864) 638-3601 ext.4357 email
VICE-CHAIRMAN Nancy Gunderson (864) 882-2414 ext.357 email
SECRETARY Bob Richardson (864) 587-4435 email
TREASURER Mark Stokes (864) 647-2065 email
MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Allen Thomas (864) 862-5718 email
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Nick Pasquerilla (864) 882-2414 ext.271
STUDENT ACTIVITIES Dr. John Komo (864) 656-5916 email
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES Lee Stogner (864) 281-8276 email
NEWSLETTER EDITOR Mark Stokes (864) 647-2065 email
AWARDS Dr. Randy Collins (864)656-5920 email

Use this space to reach over 500 IEEE members in this section!!

The Piedmont section of the IEEE is still offering sections of its newsletter for advertising space. If you are interested in supporting this effort, please contact one of the officers listed above.

-Mark