IEEE Central Texas Section

ANALOG NEWSLETTER

Volume 52-02

February 2008

Newsletter of the Central Texas Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc.

Published monthly. Deadline for inclusion is the 25th day of the previous month. Send submissions, comments, questions to Kevin Nickels, Editor, k.nickels@ieee.org

CONTENTS

1. Section Activities

2. Chapter Activities

3. IEEE News & Information

4. Local Conferences

IEEE EXTERNAL LINKS

Your IEEE - www.ieee.org
IEEE-USA
IEEE Conferences - Calls for Papers
IEEE Xplore - fulltext access to IEEE Publications
What's New at IEEE
Society News from IEEE
IEEE Standards Association
The Spectrum Online - The Magazine for Technology Insiders

1. Section Activities

Chairman's Column

In my first message to the CTS membership as your Chairman, let me say how honored I am to have this opportunity to serve you in this office, & how grateful I am to those who have preceded me. Clif Denny did a terrific job leading our Section over the past two years. We thank him & wish him well in "retirement," but know he'll remain in the middle of everything for the Section.

I'm excited about the future of the Section. We reside in one of the fastest growing areas of the country with the fastest growing university (UTSA). This will present some great opportunities to us... & I'm excited about what we can do with them.

My number one goal will be to improve how the Section can help the members.....in networking, in education, in professional opportunities. Again, don't hesitate to send me your ideas for helping us do this. Just drop me a note at polhamus@ieee.org. And don't forget that Engineers Week is just around the corner. There are all sorts of activities you can participate in this month. Check details for your local area.

Again, I look forward to serving you all in 2008.

Garrett Polhamus
Chairman, Central Texas Section
polhamus@ieee.org

Back to TOP

Membership Development

Have you renewed you IEEE membership for 2008?

If you don't know, this might be a good time to check. A large number of IEEE members simply forget to renew and loose their benefits of being an IEEE member. At the end of February, for those members who have not renewed, membership benefits such as the IEEE Spectrum, IEEE.TV, MyIEEE, your IEEE Alias, and many others will be removed.

You can check your membership status and update any member at www.ieee.org/myieee.

To prevent any disruption of your IEEE membership benefits renew today. You can renew online with your IEEE Web account at www.ieee.org/renew. If you need any assistance contact IEEE Member Services under www.ieee.org/memberservices or contact me.

Joe Redfield
CTS Membership Development Chair
J.Redfield@ieee.org
210-522-3729

Back to TOP

Engineering in San Antonio - SA Vice-Chair's Column

E-week is coming up (February 17-23), and the Bexar Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers has been historically the most active society in E-week. I would like to share the fun for San Antonio. Engineers Week is a national event, celebrating engineers and what we do for society. Each location is different, but can range from educational outreach to just plain having fun! Bexar TSPE has approached me to help with Engineer for a Day (EFAD).

On the day of the Proclamation Breakfast (Feb 19), high schoolers have signed up to follow an engineer (be an Engineer for a Day - get it?), and apparently, most of the students who show up want to follow an electrical or computer engineer, but they end up with civil engineers. Why? Because electrical and computer engineers don't sign up. I would guess that is because we didn't KNOW about it, so thats why I'm sharing this. I've checked it out - the students sign up in advance and make their requests for areas, and they might not know where they are going until the Breakfast. What I'm asking of you, and your employer, is to sign up for a group of students. These students don't actually follow you around (unless you want them to) - what others have done is arrange some presentations and give them tours. The students (and their teacher) work their own transportation, so, if you don't attend the breakfast, they show up about 10 at your place, and you give them tours, and get them even MORE enthusiastic about engineering! If you feed them, fine, if not, they are told to bring lunches and/or lunch $. Then they should be released about 2:30 to get back to school. There are lots of benefits, besides letting San Antonians see what we really do. I have too much information on this - contact me if you have questions, but contact Becky Carroll (210) 375-9000 to sign up. Becky also has all the legal information that you might be wondering about. The website for E-week has activities, and, for next year, I'd sure like to see one sponsored by CTS IEEE - anybody interested?

Dawn Roberson
Vice-Chair San Antonio
robersondj@ieee.org
210-458-5520

Back to TOP

Section & Chapter News

E-Week Activities - Proclamation Breakfast (and Engineer for a day event)

On Tuesday, February 19, 2008, the Bexar Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is hosting a breakfast to kick off E-week at the CPS Roundhouse at La Villita. Registration will be 8:00 am - 8:30 am, and breakfast begins at 8:30 am. See https://www.bexartspe.org for more information and registration. IEEE Members are particularly encouraged to attend, as many students request to visit Electrical Engineers. If you would like to volunteer to host some high school students for the Engineer for a Day Event, see this note.

E-Week Activities - TSPE Golf Tournament

As part of the e-week activities, the Bexar Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is hosting a golf tournament at Canyon Springs Golf Course on Friday, February 22. Registration is at 11:30, Shotgun Start at 12:30 pm. There will be dinner immediately after tournament. See https://www.bexartspe.org for more information and registration. Registration deadline February 8. IEEE Members are encouraged to attend.

E-Week Activities - TSPE Sporting Clays Tournament

As part of the e-week activities, the Bexar Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is hosting a Sporting Clays Tournament at the Cedar Ridge Range (7110 FM 1863, Bulverde, Texas) on Saturday, February 23. Registration and Breakfast is at 8:45 am, shooting starts at 9:00 am. In the event of a rainout, the make up date will be Saturday, March 1, 2008. See https://www.bexartspe.org for more information and registration. Registration deadline February 8. IEEE Members are encouraged to attend.

E-Week Activities - TSPE Engineer of the Year Banquet

The Engineer of the Year Banquet caps off the e-week activities. The Bexar Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is hosting the TSPE Engineer of the Year Banquet on Saturday, February 23. Cocktail Hour will begin at 6:00 pm with a cash bar, and dinner will begins 7:15 pm. See https://www.bexartspe.org for more information and registration. Registration deadline February 8. IEEE Members are encouraged to attend.

Chapter Elections

Officers for Chapters should have been elected by the end of the year. If you haven't yet, please submit your list of officers, with IEEE Membership Numbers, to the section secretary Thuy Dao <thuybdao@ieee.org> as soon as possible. Please cc the Chair, vice-chair, and treasurer on the email, or click this link to do it automatically.

Teacher in Service Program

The IEEE Central Texas Section is implementing the IEEE Teacher In-Service Program (TISP). The first CTS TISP seminar will be presented at at the TEA Region 20 Service Center in San Antonio on Tuesday March 25th. If you would like to participate, please contact Dean Schneider.

TISP is a volunteer program where IEEE members work with local schools and school districts to provide technology training to teachers in an in-service environment. IEEE, in partnership with IBM, has developed a large number of lesson plans (at www.tryengineering.org - Check it out!) that IEEE members help teachers to implement in the classroom. More information on the TISP program can be found at www.ieee.org/web/education/preuniversity/tispt/index.html. The CTS is currently recruiting section members to become involved in the program. Training and financial support for TISP activities is available! Please contact Dean Schneider at d.schneider@ieee.org for more information on how you can be involved in our children's future. Chapter chairs, please contact Dean Schneider if you would like to have a presentation on TiSP at your chapter meeting.

SENIOR MEMBER UPGRADE EVENT April 2008

"Supersize" your IEEE Membership - Upgrade to Senior Member Status

If you have a baccalaureate degree in engineering and seven or more years of professional experience you are eligible to apply for upgrade to Senior Member Grade. Complete upgrade information, including requirements can be found at www.ieee.org/membership/upgrade.html

If you meet the requirements but never seem to have the time to complete an application, we are planning the first Senior Member Event for 2008 in the Austin area toward the end of April. Senior members who have been through this process will be at the meeting to provide assistance in reviewing your application. We will have computers available to help you to finalize your application if needed. After the event, the Central Texas Section (CTS) will manage that the required references are written by CTS senior members. Light refreshments will be provided.

Watch your Email for further details.

For more information contact Joe Redfield at J.Redfield@SwRI.org

Back to TOP

Continuing Education

Streaming Video: Networking Webinars Now Available Online

Whether you're actively job searching, considering a career change, or simply trying to get ahead in your career, networking is likely to be a key to success. In an information-rich session, Dr. Michelle Tullier examines the factors that make networking work. And career consultants Ellen Sautter and Diane Crompton, both of whom have followed hundreds of clients through their online networking journeys, provide a webinar on how to network online and build professional relationships through Internet-based tools, including: professional and social networks, discussion groups, blogs, and personal Web sites. Recorded from 8 January and 15 January IEEE-USA-sponsored Webinars. https://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/9934/104964

NEED CEUs?

The University of Texas at Austin offers a wide array of continuing engineering education opportunities geared towards Texas engineers. All of the training awards continuing education units (CEUs) which Texas PEs are now required to submit for their annual renewal. We even boast CEU Conferences where you can get all required 1.5 CEUs - including 1 hour of engineering ethics - in just a few days! Visit www.UTclee.org for more information.

Back to TOP

Student Branches

St Mary's University- San Antonio (https://ieee.stmarytx.edu/)
Faculty Adviser: Djaffer Ibaroudene, Email: dibaroudene@stmarytx.edu
Branch President: Damon Cardenas (email: dcardenas@stmarytx.edu)

Trinity University - San Antonio
Faculty Adviser: Farzan Aminian, email: farzan@engr.trinity.edu
Branch President: Jonathan Simpkins, email: Jonathan.Simpkins@Trinity.edu

University of Texas at Austin (https://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/)
Faculty Adviser: Sriram Vishwanath, email: sriram@ece.utexas.edu
Branch chair: William Ward, email: chair@ieee.ece.utexas.edu

University of Texas at San Antonio (https://www.utsaieee.org/)
Faculty Adviser: Yufang Jin, email: Yufang.Jin@utsa.edu
Branch chair: John Collins, jcollins@lonestar.utsa.edu

Student Member News

New Branch Chair

Jon Simpkins is now the Trinity University student branch chair. He can be contacted at jsimpkins@trinity.edu

Signal Processing Distringuished Lecturer Tour in conjunction with UT-Austin Student Branch
https://www.ece.utexas.edu/faculty/seminar/distinguished_lecture_series.html

Topic/Title Recent Advances in Face Recognition
Speaker Rama Chellappa
Date/Time 1-2pm, Thursday, February 7th
Cost none
Location ACES Auditorium (ACES 2.302), The University of Texas at Austin Campus
Directions https://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/areas/eastmall.html
Abstract Over the last twenty years, much progress has been made in still image based recognition, accompanied by meticulous performance evaluation of many state-of-the art algorithms. It is widely believed that the face recognition problem has been solved for frontal images acquired in controlled illumination conditions. However, when variations due to pose, illumination and aging are present, the performance of many existing algorithms is not good enough for deployment. This talk will discuss three new algorithms for pose and illumination invariant face recognition using still images, model-based approaches for face recognition across aging in children and adults, and the video-based face recognition problem
Speaker Bio: Rama Chellappa is the Minta Martin Professor of Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, where he is the Director of the Center for Automation Research. Over the past 26 years, he has published numerous highly-cited papers and has authored many books in visual surveillance, biometrics, MRFs and image processing. He has served as the associate editor of four IEEE Transactions and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the IEEE

Editor's Note

Advisers/presidents - send us updates on student chapter activities!

Back to TOP

Calls for Volunteers

E-week activities - Engineer for a Day

As part of Engineer's Week, on February 19, the Texas Board of Professional Engineers (TSPE) is hosting a Proclaimation Breakfast and Engineer for a Day event. Engineers who volunteer will be paired with High School students who want to see what an Engineer does and what is involved to be an engineer.

To volunteer, call Becky Carroll at Pape Dawson Engineers (375-9000) and tell her how many students that you wish to host, before February 11.

See here for other information on e-week activities.

CenTex EWeek - Expose K-12 students to SME!

The Central Texas EWeek organization is soliciting volunteers to help visit Austin area schools to expose K-12 students to math, science and engineering. Anyone wishing to volunteer can go to the CenTex EWeek web site (https://www.centexeweek.org) and sign up. Training sessions for volunteers are currently scheduled for:

Wednesday, February 13th (4:30-6:00 p.m.) Austin City Hall, 301 W 2nd Street

You do not need to create activities for school visits. During the training, sample hands-on activities for various age groups will be presented. You will also be given an opportunity to try out these activities yourself. Tips for managing a classroom activity and communicating the activities' relationship to real world engineering will be discussed. Important facts about engineering to include in a classroom presentation will be covered. There will be discussion about the responsibilities of a team lead and steps needed to complete a school visit. Please RSVP to Katie Kizziar at kkizziar@skillpointalliance.org so there will be enough materials for the training sessions.

Teachers can also go to the web site to request a visit to their classroom. During the 2006-2007 school year, Central Texas Discover Engineering volunteers visited over 15,000 students from more that 100 schools in the greater Austin area. Over 700 volunteers participated, representing 60 different local companies and governmental organizations.

Austin Energy Regional Science Fest

The Austin Energy Regional Science Fest is seeking judges. Judging will take place for the Jr/Sr division on Thursday, February 21 at the Palmer Events Center in Austin. To volunteer as a judge, go to www.sciencefest.austinenergy.com and click on "sign up as a Science Festival judge now".

IEEE Mentoring Connection

The IEEE Mentoring Connection is looking for "online" mentors to help guide younger IEEE professionals in career planning and professional development. Currently, 989 mentees, but only 440 mentors have registered to participate. Mentor participation is open to all IEEE members above the grade of Student Member. Shortly, we will be inviting Graduate Student Members to join the program. These members have graduated with their first professional degree and are presently in a graduate program (Masters, MBA, PhD, etc.). We will need additional mentors in the program to handle the requests from this new group. We need you! Presently our mentors represent positions in academia including Associate Dean and Professor. Various Industry positions are represented by Director of Engineering, Senior Sales Engineer, Project Manager, Corporate Owner, Consultant, R&D Technical Manager, Licensing Manager, Division Manager - Control Systems, Electrical Engineer, Vice President Research, Director - Customer Operations, Computer Scientist - Branch Chief, Senior Product Development Engineer, Design Engineer - Power and Retired.

If you have received an invitation to join the program and been thinking about it, now is the time to join. If you have already signed in as a mentor - thank you for participating. Gary Hinkle, a mentor in the program, says "Helping young engineers develop in their careers is very rewarding. Working with some of these individuals has proven to be quite a challenge, because of the diversity among those seeking mentors. I'm glad to be contributing to this program."

The program enables the mentee to select their mentoring partner online from a list of individuals who have volunteered to serve as mentors. After mentors are identified as a potential match, they are contacted and asked to begin establishing a relationship.

Interested members can visit https://www.ieee.org/mentoring for information on the roles and responsibilities of each mentoring partner, including additional program information and an FAQ page. Potential mentors are asked to review the time and effort commitment to the program necessary to ensure a successful mentoring partnership. To enter the program website, please go to https://www.mentoringconnection.com and use the IEEE Group ID "IEEE2006" to enter for the first time. Once in, you will need to set your own User ID and Password.

If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Downer, Regional Activities, at c.downer@ieee.org.

Back to TOP

2. Chapter Activities

Multiple Chapters

Personal Futuring

Sponsoring Chapters Technology Management Council, Women in Engineering (Austin Chapter), Education Society, and Consultant's Network
Topic/Title Personal Futuring
Speaker Verne Wheelwright
Date Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Time 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Cost no charge
Location National Instruments, 11500 N. Mopac Expy Bldg C, Room 1S13
Map See website for map.

The speaker, a graduate of the school of Studies of the Future at the University of Houston, conducts research into the methods of personal futures. He presents an easy-to-follow methodology and tools such as scenario planning, probability, impact analysis, and life-cycle mapping for analyzing and assessing trends and creating scenarios of the future. He also provides information on strategies that you can use to achieve your goals. He provides a table of life stages and the characteristics of that stage of one's life. He discusses six foreknown forces that appear in every person's life and that influence your actions that will in turn affect your future.

To prepare for this meeting, download the Personal Futuring Workbook, a great resource to help you plan your own future.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information, see the TMC Austin Chapter website: https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems/index.htm

DepthX - the Autonomous Submarine

The major San Antonio professional societies (AIAA, ASM, ASME, ASCE, IEEE) get together annually for a technical meeting. This one will be Feb 27 (location/time TBD - watch your mid-month reminders!)

Sponsoring Societies AIAA, ASM, ASME, ASCE, IEEE
Topic/Title DepthX - An Autonomous Submarine Used To Develop Search-for-life Algorithms That May Be Used In Future Missions To Europa
Speaker Ernest Franke, SwRI Project Manager
Date February 27, 2008

Some of you may have noticed that the September 2007 Spectrum had an article on DepthX - an autonomous submarine used to develop search-for-life algorithms that may be used in future missions to Europa.

SwRI was responsible for the science payload of DepthX and Ernest Franke was the SwRI project manager. We finished the project recently with several field expeditions to Zacaton, a deep cenote near Tampico, Mexico. Ernest has a lot of pictures of the robot, the expedition, Mexico and a general presentation on the technical details.

The Spectrum article can be reviewed at https://www.spectrum.ieee.org/print/5491. There is also a short article on the Southwest Research Institute Web site https://www.swri.org/3pubs/ttoday/Spring07/technics.htm

Back to TOP

Joint Circuits and Systems/Solid-State Circuits
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ssc_css/

Topic/Title There will be NO February meeting. The March meeting will have several speakers in our annual review of the 2008 International Solid State Circuits Conference.

The joint Circuits & Systems/Solid State Circuits Societies meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. This meeting is open to the public and interested parties. Additional details will be posted at https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ssc_css/. If you have any questions about this meeting or this group, please contact seningen@ieee.org or dferguson@ieee.org

Back to TOP

Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology
https://cpmtaustinchapter.org/

Topic/Title
Speaker
Date/Time Thursday, February 7, 2008, 6pm-7:30pm
Cost
Reservations
Location Freescale Semiconductor, 7700 Parmer Lane, Austin, Bldg C, Long Canyon Conference Room
Notes

Chair: Om P Mandhana, Freescale

Back to TOP

Computer Society - Austin
https://www.ieee.org/austin_cs/

See https://austin-cs.org/ for detailed directions and for last minute information. This presentation is open to the public.

Back to TOP

Computer Society - San Antonio
https://www.ieee-cs-cts.org/

Topic/Title Technical Meeting with the IEEE Computer Society
Speaker
Date/Time Thursday, February 21, 2008
6:30 networking, 7:00 dinner, 8:00 program
Cost $10 IEEE Members, $13 Non-members, $0 students
Reservations RSVP to Yu Zhang by Monday before meeting, (210) 999-7399
Location Conference Room B, University Center, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX
Notes See www.ieee-cs-cts.org for directions and parking information.
This meeting is open to the public.

Back to TOP

Consultants Network
https://www.alesu.com/xltrp/ieeecons/next_met.htm

Sponsoring Chapters Technology Management Council, Women in Engineering (Austin Chapter), Education Society, and Consultant's Network
Topic/Title Personal Futuring
Speaker Verne Wheelwright
Date Tuesday, February 12, 2008 (Regular date, different time and place)
Time 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Cost no charge
Location National Instruments, 11500 N. Mopac Expy Bldg C, Room 1S13
Map See website for map.

The speaker, a graduate of the school of Studies of the Future at the University of Houston, conducts research into the methods of personal futures. He presents an easy-to-follow methodology and tools such as scenario planning, probability, impact analysis, and life-cycle mapping for analyzing and assessing trends and creating scenarios of the future. He also provides information on strategies that you can use to achieve your goals. He provides a table of life stages and the characteristics of that stage of one's life. He discusses six foreknown forces that appear in every person's life and that influence your actions that will in turn affect your future.

To prepare for this meeting, download the Personal Futuring Workbook, a great resource to help you plan your own future.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information, see the TMC Austin Chapter website: https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems/index.htm

Please bring a colleague to help us grow the Consultants Network attendance. The Consultants web directory is to be found at https://www.alesu.com/xltrp/ieeecons/listzero.htm

Back to TOP

Electromagnetic Compatibility Society
https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/chapters/centraltexas/index.html

When 20 February
Time 6:30 PM Social, 7PM Meeting (at the conclusion of the meeting there will be a EMC2009 Committee Meeting - all are welcome!!)
Where National Instruments Note change in location
Topic SW Def. Radio Standards Development
Speaker Stephen Berger, TEM consulting
Reservations RSVP to Mike Royer (mroyer@ptitest.com)
Map See website for map.

Next generation wireless, driven by advances in radio engineering, computer science and network design are introducing fundamental and exciting changes in wireless. IEEE SCC41 was created by the IEEE to create standards for this area and it has just completed ballot on its first standard, IEEE 1900.2, "Recommended Practice for Interference and Coexistence Analysis"

Neither IEEE nor EMC membership is required and all visitors are invited to attend. For additional information, including map to the meeting location, please see our web site at https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/chapters/centraltexas/index.html

Back to TOP

Electron Devices Society
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/eds/

See EDC web link for future meeting dates, past meeting presentations: https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/eds/

Back to TOP

Engineering in Medicine and Biology
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/embs/index.html

Date February 20, 2008
Topic/Title An update on the state of biomedical industry in San Antonio
Speaker Ann Stevens, President, BioMed SA
Location Biotechnology, Science and Engineering Building (BSE) 2.102, University of Texas at San Antonio Main Campus, One UTSA Circle, Map available: www.utsa.edu/maps/1604/
Agenda 6:30 - networking, 7:00 dinner, 8:00 Technical Presentation
Cost (dinner) $10 IEEE members, $15 non-members, students free!
Reservations Please email HaeOck Lee (HaeOck.Lee@utsa.edu) so we have a head count for dinner.
Meeting Synopsis BioMed SA is an non-profit corporation and was launched in 2005 by The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. One of the goals is to promote San Antonio as one of biomedical assets, based on the significant size of the local healthcare and bioscience industry and its importance to the local economy. Ms Stevens presented at one of our meetings two years ago, and will update us on the state of the biomedicine industry and future plans.
Future Meetings Hold the dates: March 12, April 16, May 21

Back to TOP

Engineering Management
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems

The Engineering Management Society is becoming the Technology Management Council. Information about meetings can be found in the sections for Technology Management Council - Austin and Technology Management Council - San Antonio

Back to TOP

Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD)

For more Information contact Jason Polendo jpolendo@ieee.org

Back to TOP

Laser and Electro Optics Society

For more information, contact Ray Chen

Back to TOP

Life Members Affinity Group

For more information, contact Scott Atkinson

Back to TOP

Power Engineering Society - Austin
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/index.html

The IEEE Central Texas Power Engineering Society presents two sessions of the NEC 2008 Code Class

Topic/Title NEC 2008 Code Class
Audience Electricians
Instructor James Stallcup
Date/Time 5:00pm-9:00pm, February 21, 2008
Cost $30, does not include any published materials or refreshments
Reservations Pre-registration/prepayment is required, email to Stan Friend stan.friend@us.schneider-electric.com
Location Austin Joint Apprenticeship and Training Facility (JATC), 4000 Caven Road, Austin TX 78744
Map See website for map.

AND

Topic/Title NEC 2008 Code Class
Audience Industry Engineers and other Professionals
Instructor James Stallcup
Date/Time 8:00am-5:00pm, February 22, 2008
Cost $125 non-IEEE members, $100 for IEEE members, includes lunch and 2008 edition of Stallcup's Illustrated Code Change
Reservations Pre-registration/prepayment is required, email to Stan Friend stan.friend@us.schneider-electric.com
Location Austin Joint Apprenticeship and Training Facility (JATC), 4000 Caven Road, Austin TX 78744
Map See website for map.

The PES, in conjunction with the JATC, has also arranged for the following special offer:

  • NEC 2008 Code Book - $60
  • NEC 2008 Code Book on CD - $85
  • NEC 2008 Hand Book (hard bound) - $90
  • NEC 2008 Hand Book on CD - $150

The above prices available as preorder only, available the day of the class. Contact Stan Friend at stan.friend@us.schneider-electric.com to order. These events are an important service to our local industry. This is a quality event on an important subject, at an amazingly low cose. Your industry and organization needs your support.

Back to TOP

Power Engineering Society - San Antonio
https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/sanantonio

Topic/Title Grounding
Speaker Stu Gibbon with Post Glover Resistors Inc.
Date/Time Thursday, February 28th, 6:00pm social, 6:30pm dinner, 7:00pm program
Cost $8 members, $12 non-members, FREE for students (cash only, no cards or checks please)
Reservations Please RSVP to John Brogan @ 210-353-3375 or jabrogan@ieee.org
Location Grady's BBQ, 6510 San Pedro, San Antonio 210-806-8036

As always you do not have to be an IEEE member to attend. For more information go to our web site at https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/sanantonio

Back to TOP

Product Safety Engineering Society
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/

Topic/Title Investigating a Field Failure - Common Steps and Common Mistakes
Speaker Ivan VanDeWege, Electrical/Product Safety Engineer, CASE Forensics
Date/Time February 19th, 6:30pm
Cost none
Reservations Call Dale Ritzen (512) 651-5338 for details and directions.
Location Dell, Parmer Campus, Parmer South Building 4, Victoria Conference Room.

We encourage you, others in your organization, or other interested parties to participate in our meetings. The PSES meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 6:30, with the program starting at 7pm. For further information about the PSES, please contact Dale Ritzen at (512) 651-5338 or Gary Schrempp at gary_schrempp@dell.com.

Back to TOP

Joint Signal Processing/Communications Society
https://www.cts-comsoc-sp.org/

The Joint Signal Processing/Communications Society has two meetings this month!

Signal Processing Distringuished Lecturer Tour in conjunction with UT-Austin Student Branch
https://www.ece.utexas.edu/faculty/seminar/distinguished_lecture_series.html

Topic/Title Recent Advances in Face Recognition
Speaker Rama Chellappa
Date/Time 1-2pm, Thursday, February 7th
Cost none
Location ACES Auditorium (ACES 2.302), The University of Texas at Austin Campus
Directions https://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/areas/eastmall.html
Abstract Over the last twenty years, much progress has been made in still image based recognition, accompanied by meticulous performance evaluation of many state-of-the art algorithms. It is widely believed that the face recognition problem has been solved for frontal images acquired in controlled illumination conditions. However, when variations due to pose, illumination and aging are present, the performance of many existing algorithms is not good enough for deployment. This talk will discuss three new algorithms for pose and illumination invariant face recognition using still images, model-based approaches for face recognition across aging in children and adults, and the video-based face recognition problem
Speaker Bio: Rama Chellappa is the Minta Martin Professor of Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, where he is the Director of the Center for Automation Research. Over the past 26 years, he has published numerous highly-cited papers and has authored many books in visual surveillance, biometrics, MRFs and image processing. He has served as the associate editor of four IEEE Transactions and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the IEEE

Regular Meeting

Topic/Title Multimedia Communication Security
Speaker Prof. Sos Agaian
Date/Time February 21st, 7pm
Cost none
Reservations RSVP to Steve Crowl scrowl@ieee.org.
Location BSE 2.102, UTSA
Directions utsa.edu/maps/1604/

Back to TOP

Technology Management Council - Austin
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems

Sponsoring Chapters Technology Management Council, Women in Engineering (Austin Chapter), Education Society, and Consultant's Network
Topic/Title Personal Futuring
Speaker Verne Wheelwright
Date Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Time 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Cost no charge
Location National Instruments, 11500 N. Mopac Expy Bldg C, Room 1S13
Map See website for map.

The speaker, a graduate of the school of Studies of the Future at the University of Houston, conducts research into the methods of personal futures. He presents an easy-to-follow methodology and tools such as scenario planning, probability, impact analysis, and life-cycle mapping for analyzing and assessing trends and creating scenarios of the future. He also provides information on strategies that you can use to achieve your goals. He provides a table of life stages and the characteristics of that stage of one's life. He discusses six foreknown forces that appear in every person's life and that influence your actions that will in turn affect your future.

To prepare for this meeting, download the Personal Futuring Workbook, a great resource to help you plan your own future.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information, see the TMC Austin Chapter website: https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems/index.htm

Contact Leslie Martinich (lmartinich@ieee.org) for more information about the Austin TMC.

Back to TOP

Technology Management Council - San Antonio
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems

Contact Nils Smith (nsmith@swri.org) for information about the San Antonio TMC.

Back to TOP

Women in Engineering
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/wie/

Sponsoring Chapters Technology Management Council, Women in Engineering (Austin Chapter), Education Society, and Consultant's Network
Topic/Title Personal Futuring
Speaker Verne Wheelwright
Date Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Time 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Cost no charge
Location National Instruments, 11500 N. Mopac Expy Bldg C, Room 1S13
Map See website for map.

The speaker, a graduate of the school of Studies of the Future at the University of Houston, conducts research into the methods of personal futures. He presents an easy-to-follow methodology and tools such as scenario planning, probability, impact analysis, and life-cycle mapping for analyzing and assessing trends and creating scenarios of the future. He also provides information on strategies that you can use to achieve your goals. He provides a table of life stages and the characteristics of that stage of one's life. He discusses six foreknown forces that appear in every person's life and that influence your actions that will in turn affect your future.

To prepare for this meeting, download the Personal Futuring Workbook, a great resource to help you plan your own future.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information, see the TMC Austin Chapter website: https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems/index.htm

Women in Engineering has been an Affinity Group of the Central Texas Section since the Fall of 2002. Additional information is on the WIE website at https://www.austin-wie.org

Back to TOP

3. IEEE News & Information

Design Squad on be Featured on Jeopardy! Game Show

On Monday, 18 February, the popular television program Jeopardy! will feature a category devoted entirely to Design Squad ˆ the reality television show funded by IEEE and other groups ˆ as part of its Teen Tournament Week.

Footage from Design Squad's first season will be used to test contestants' knowledge of basic engineering concepts through a series of questions co-developed by Design Squad and Jeopardy! producers. Host Alex Trebek will introduce the category and encourage viewers to find it on PBS. The Design Squad logo will be featured as the category header.

The air date of the category is timed to coincide with National Engineers Week which takes place 16-23 February. The Teen Tournament series is one of the program's most top-rated episodes each year. Jeopardy! has an average daily viewership of 12,000,000.

Design Squad will begin its second season on PBS this April.

Presidential Candidates Urged to Debate on S&T Issues

A distinguished group of science and engineering leaders, including IEEE-USA President Russell Lefevre, and spearheaded by U.S. Reps. Vernon Ehlers and Rush Holt, have issued a call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of the Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy. For more information on the S&T Debate 2008, visit: https://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/9939/104964

In related news, five presidential candidates have answered tech-related questions posed by TechCrunch, an Internet technology blog. You can check out their responses at the following links:

Scitopia.org Adds Four Societies

Scitopia.org, a search engine that scours the digital libraries of the IEEE and other leading science and technology societies, has added four more scholarly societies. Find out what the new societies are at https://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/9530/40069599

Back to TOP

4. Local Conferences

  • 2008 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2008) will be held in Austin Feb 24-28. https://www.apec-conf.org/

  • 2008 IEEE Region 5 Technical, Professional and Student Conference will be held April 17-20 in Kansas City. https://ewh.ieee.org/conf/basics2/. Paper submissions are due November 30.

  • 2008 IEEE Wireless Hive Networks Conference (WHNC) will be held in Austin on Aug 7-8. www.ieee-whnc.org. Paper submissions are due April 6, 20008.

  • 2008 IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control (MSC) will be held in San Antonio on Sept 3-5. https://conferenze.dei.polimi.it/msc08/.

  • 53rd Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) will be held November 10-14, 2008 in Austin, TX https://www.magnetism.org/

Back to TOP