IEEE Central Texas Section

THE ANALOG

Volume 56-07

July 2012

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

Archives of The Analog can be found on the CTS web site here.

Published monthly. Deadline for inclusion is the 26th day of the previous month. Send submissions, comments, questions to John Purvis, Editor, john.purvis@ieee.org

CONTENTS

General Interest

Chairman's Column

Membership Development

News of Interest to the Section

Continuing Education

Student Branches

Calls for Volunteers

Local Chapter Activities

Antennas & Propagation/Microwave Theory and Techniques

Joint Circuits and Systems/Solid-State Circuits

Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology

Computer Society - Austin

Computer Society - San Antonio

Consultants Network

Electromagnetic Compatibility Society

Electron Devices Society

Engineering in Medicine and Biology

Graduates of the Last Decade

Instrumentation and Measurement Society

Laser and Electro Optics Society

Life Members Affinity Group

Joint Power and Energy, Power Electronics, Industrial Electronics, and Industrial Applications Societies - Austin

Power Engineering Society - San Antonio

Product Safety Engineering Society

Joint Signal Processing/Communications Society - Austin

Joint Communications and Signal Processing Society - San Antonio

Systems, Man and Cybernetics

Technology Management Council - Austin

Technology Management Council - San Antonio

Women in Engineering

Conferences, Events and Other Meetings

Local IEEE Conferences, Events and Workshops

Non-IEEE Meetings and Events of interest suggested by the membership

Miscellaneous

Latest issue of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Events and Information

Career

Tips, Tools and Gadgets

IEEE EXTERNAL LINKS

IEEE

IEEE-USA

IEEE Region 5

IEEE Central Texas Section

Call for Papers

IEEEXplore - full text access to IEEE Publications

What's New at IEEE

SocietyNews from IEEE

IEEE Standards Association

The Spectrum Online - The Magazine for Technology Insiders

IEEE Regional News

General Interest

Chairman's Column

The Central Texas Section is pleased to announce that a Chapter of the Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA) has been approved by the IEEE. The new chapters Chair is Dr. Zhou Li of IBM. The first meeting will be announced in the weeks to come, watch the Analog for information.

It's time for the nominating process to begin for chapter officers for next year. Nominations for chapters and affinity groups should go to the chairman of the group. Self nominations are allowed, if you are interested in volunteering. The IEEE Member and Geographic Activities Operations Manual states that all chapter officers are elected annually. The term of office will date from 1 January through 31 December. Each member of the Chapter Committee shall be an IEEE member of Graduate Student Member, Member, Senior Member or Fellow grade and a member of the parent Society. Elections should take place during the chapter November meeting. If the chapter does not have a meeting scheduled for November then the election should take place during the meeting prior to November. The Chapter Elections process is specified in the MGA Operations Manual, section 9.6.F Chapter Election Process ( it can be found at https://www.ieee.org/documents/section09_19nov2011.pdf )

July 4th is on a Wednesday this year, I hope everyone enjoys themselves and are having a safe and enjoyable summer.

Kenny Rice
Chairman, Central Texas Section
krice@ieee.org

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Membership Development

HALF PRICE IEEE MEMBERSHP

That’s right half price IEEE membership.  Join IEEE for the first time and pay only ½ annual dues.  If you have been looking to join, but waiting for a good excuse, now is it.  Go to https://www.ieee.org/join for details.

If you are currently unemployed and have not renewed your membership for 2012, you also receive IEEE membership at ½ price.  Simply go to: https://www.ieee.org/renew.


Did you know about IEEE – myIEEE
Did You Know –

You can find out what are the most accessed documents in IEEE Xplore for the month. By selecting the Knowledge Tab in myIEEE, you will see the IEEE Xplore module located in the middle column. Here you will find a list of the top 10 documents accessed this month. Citations and their Abstract are available with quick links to the full article. IEEE Xplore has over two million documents on emerging and revolutionary technologies.

GO TO myIEEE now at https://www.ieee.org/myieee

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

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News of Interest to the Section

Congratulations to new Senior Members
Congratulations to recently elevated Senior Members Rekha Bangalore and Zafar Javed Shahid of the Central Texas Section. 

IEEE-USA Providing Members Free E-books
IEEE-USA's free e-book will be "Personal Positioning for Engineers." This publication is designed to help you learn more about employment options available to engineers. You will also learn how to position yourself for success by choosing the right options for you.

Professional Exam for Software Engineers
The U.S. National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying will begin offering a Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in software engineering in April 2013. Registration is set to begin in December. The council is working with IEEE-USA and the IEEE Computer Society to produce sample study questions.

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Continuing Education

10 July 2012: IEEE Spectrum Webcasts - Introducing COMSOL Multiphysics Version 4.3
2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT / 18:00 GMT (Duration: 1 hour)
For further information see https://spectrum.ieee.org/webinar/2075189


16 July 2012 -- ONLINE -- 9:00am - 4:30pm EDT
Wireless Communications Engineering - Current Practice
Register by 20 June and save $25.00
US$300.00 non-member; US$250.00 IEEE/ComSoc member
Take this one day, online course to learn about: Antennas, Radio Propagation and Engineering; Access Technologies and Standards; Wireless Networks; Network Management and Security; Spectrum and Network Engineering Practices
Instructor: Javan Erfanian
Read the complete course description and review the agenda.
Earn 0.6 IEEE Continuing Education Units.

23-27 July 2012 -- ONLINE
4 hours each day from 9:00-11:00am EDT then again from 1:00-3:00pm EDT
5-Day Wireless Communications Engineering Intermediate Fundamentals Review & Current Practices
Register by 22 June and save $100.00
US$725 non-member; US$625.00 IEEE/ComSoc member
This five day course provides 20 hours of online lecture on seven key areas professionals working in wireless should be proficient in. These include: fundamental knowledge; RF engineering, propagation and antennas; wireless access technologies; network and service architectures; wireless network management and security; infrastructure and wirless communication; agreements, standards, policies and regulations.
Instructors: Javan Erfanian and Daniel Wong
Review the agenda and complete course description.
Earn 2 IEEE Continuing Education Units.

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Student Branches

St Mary's University - San Antonio (https://engineering.stmarytx.edu/ieee/)
Faculty Adviser: Djaffer Ibaroudene, email: dibaroudene@stmarytx.edu
Branch Chair: Omar Magaña email: omagana1@mail.stmarytx.edu

Texas State University - San Marcos (new branch, 2009)
Faculty Adviser: Larry Larson, email: Larry.Larson@TXState.edu
Branch Chair: Jonathan Park, email: jp1563@txstate.edu

Trinity University - San Antonio (https://www.engr.trinity.edu/)
Faculty Adviser: Farzan Aminian, email: Farzan.Aminian@Trinity.edu
Branch Chair: Harold Garza, email: hgarza@trinity.edu

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

University of Texas at San Antonio (https://www.utsaieee.org/)
Faculty Adviser: Shuo Wang, email: Shuo.Wang@utsa.edu
Branch Chair: Devon Johnson, email: DevonJohnson@ieee.org

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Calls for Volunteers


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Local Chapter Activities

Antennas & Propagation/Microwave Theory and Techniques (APS/MTTS)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ap_mtt/


Topic/Title

 No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract

Date/Time

Cost


Reservations

Location

Notes

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

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract


Date/Time

Cost

Reservations


Location

Notes

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

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Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (CPMT) - Austin
https://cpmtaustinchapter.org/

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker
Date/Time
Cost
Location
Notes

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Computer Society - Austin (CS)
https://www.austin-cs.org/

Topic/title

 Gaming in the next decade

Speaker

 Peter Walker, CTO Spawn Labs

Abstract

 The worldwide video game industry is projected to reach $70.1 billion by 2015. It surpassed the U.S. movie and music industry in 2005 and 2007 respectively.  This is due in part to the combined growth of console, portable, PC, and online video games. More recently a new category of gaming called cloud rendered video gaming has emerged, motivated by  the desire to present games to users instantly and on-demand  to any device, as well as the physics of gaming as  GPU continues to demand increasingly more power to render high quality games. In this talk we first look back at some of the key factors that informed the gaming trends today and then we forecast what is likely to be the new and disruptive products/technologies domains that will shape video games in the next 10 years.

Date/time

 Wednesday, July 18th 2012 - food/drinks provided
6:30 p.m. Networking and Gathering
7:00 p.m. Call to Order, Announcement
7:15 p.m. Presentation, with Q/A
8:45 p.m. Meeting Evaluation, Adjourn

Location

 THE ADVISORY BOARD - BUILDING 7
Room Number: Suite 100
12357-C Riata Trace Parkway
Bldg 7, Suite 100
Austin,  Texas

Cost

Reservations

Notes

Follow the Austin chapter on Twitter @AustinIEEECS, and please feel to tweet with our tag for relevant content to our community.

We've officially launched the LinkedIn group for our the Austin chapter of the IEEE Computer Society.  Feel free to sign up at the following URL:  https://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=4064900.

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

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker
Abstract
Date/Time
Location
Cost


Reservations


Notes See website for directions and parking,
  https://www.ieee-cs-cts.org

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Central Texas Consultants Network Affinity Group
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/cn

Topic/Title Enhance Your Consulting Success.
Speaker Brad Closson and Mike Leamon
Speaker Bio Brad Closson and Mike Leamon specialize in assisting clients with painful special projects through the use of high engagement Visual Problem Solving.  As Connective Management, they work with large organizations that are ready to break through their pain using breakthrough collaboration.  Their uniquely eclectic and potent mix of custom and borrowed methods is shaped from decades of experience working with organizations like the London Underground Railway, Porsche Consulting, Kellogg’s, Nestlé Foods, Dell, AMD, and National Instruments.  War Rooms and Visual Planning using Lean methods and principles represent the most energizing way Brad and Mike have found to help busy organizations manage complex projects and resolve organizational pain.  Company Web Site:  https://www.connectivemanagement.com.
Abstract

Surviving and thriving as a consultant demands continuous relationship building and continuous improvement of your practice.  Brad Closson and Mike Leamon leverage their 50 years of combined experience to give all their secrets away in the areas of Visual Problem Solving, Connective Networking, and Lean Continuous Improvement.  This session demonstrates Visual Problem Solving techniques as we interactively cover the following topics:  1) Connective Networking to learn an authentic and dare we say enjoyable approach to initiating and building a Grove of business relationships that last;  2) Lean Continuous Improvement to learn how the Effectiveness Foundation model embodies key Lean principles and guides the continuous improvement of your consulting practice.
Date Wednesday,  July 25, 2012
Networking at 6:00 pm; 
Business and Program from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Location PoK-e-Jo’s,  2121 W. Parmer Lane at Lamplight Village,  Austin  TX  78727
Cost $5.00 minimum charge for the restaurant.   Supper is at optional extra cost.
Reservations Not required.  All interested parties are invited to attend.
For more information, go to:  https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/cn/
Notes

Do a friend a favor. Bring your colleagues to grow the Consultants Network.

More information on Consultants Networks: https://www.ieeeusa.org/business/whatis.asp

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Electromagnetic Compatibility Society
https://ewh.ieee.org/mu/ctx-emcs/

No meeting scheduled at this time.

Topic/title

 No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract

Date/time

Location


Cost


Reservations


Notes

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

Topic/Title

 No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract

Date/Time

Refreshments


Reservations


Location

Notes

 Sponsoring the Solar Technology Workshop, September 16.  See IEEE Meetings section for details. 

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

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker
Abstract
Date/Time
Cost


Reservations
Location


Notes

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

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

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Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Affinity Group

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker


Abstract
Date/Time


Cost
Reservations


Location


Notes

More information on GOLD: https://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/gold/index.html

GOLD Launches Mentoring Connection Webinar
Are you interested in becoming a mentor or finding a mentor to help with  your professional development? If the answer is yes, check out a free new IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) webinar aimed at
helping mentors and mentees connect with each other. Learn more at https://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/17953/32170

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Instrumentation and Measurement Society

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract

Date/Time

Cost


Reservations

Location

Notes


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Laser and Electro Optics Society

No meeting scheduled at this time.

For more information, contact Ray Chen

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Life Members (LM) Affinity Group - San Antonio

Topic/Title Japan 2012 - IEEE Technical Tour
Speaker Life Senior Members Joe Jankowski and Bob Harris will report on their trip to Japan this year with the IEEE group.  They will narrate slides and video.
Abstract


Date/Time Thursday, July 12, 2012
11:30
Location Lion & Rose British Restaurant & Pub, 842 NW Loop 410 (Park North Shopping Center)
San Antonio, TX
Cost

We will order from the regular menu, and the restaurant will provide separate checks.
Reservations So that we may have an accurate headcount, RSVP to Tom O'Brien, Life Members (SA) Chair, 210.481.3443 or t.p.obrien@ieee.org
Notes


More information on LM: https://www.ieee.org/societies_communities/geo_activities/life_members/index.html

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Power and Energy Society - Austin (PES)
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/austin

Topic/Title Energy Storage Systems: Why There Is No “One Size That Fits All”
Speaker Jeff Bruce, Director of Product Development, Xtreme Power, Austin, TX
Jeff received his BSEE from Washington State University and MSEE from University of Idaho. He spent his early career in semiconductors (data storage) and moved to the energy storage this past decade. Jeff holds 35 US and International patents and has another 15 patents pending.
Abstract What are the major battery chemistries used in the energy storage and how do they relate to the major market segments within energy storage? Today’s large format energy storage systems are dominated by a single battery (or other storage) technology. The key to unlock all the potential of energy storage is to look at all markets and realize that there is no one technology that fits all revenue generating markets. Much like computers have multiple data storage technologies, energy storage systems can benefit from using multiple energy storage chemistries. In this presentation, Jeff will explore the “hybrid” energy storage concept, its benefits and its challenges.
Date/Time Tuesday, July 24, 2012
6:00 to 6:30 PM Social
6:30 to 7:00 PM Dinner
7:00 to 7:30 PM Business Meeting
7:30 to 8:30 PM Program
9:00 PM room closes for the benefit of long distance drivers and early risers
Location El Gallo Mexican Restaurant, 512-444-2205
2910 S Congress (directions below)
Austin, Texas
Cost IEEE members and accompanying spouses: $11 or $13 for dinners.
Non-IEEE members: $14 or $16 for dinners.
All: $2 for non-alcoholic beverages.
Student members: FREE or $2 for special selections for dinners.
Student visitors and non-meal participants: $3.
A bar is available for those who care to purchase a beer or other alcoholic beverage.
Reservations If you plan on attending, please RSVP by sending an e-mail to ieee.pi2.austin@zxtech.net.
Notes See the map linked from our website: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/ .
From I–35:  Exit at Oltorf and drive west. At S. Congress, turn left (south). El Gallo is about 500 feet past the next traffic light (Cumberland), on the right (west) side of Congress, directly across from the entrance to St. Edward’s University.
From Ben White Blvd. (US290/SH71):  Exit at S. Congress Avenue and drive north. El Gallo is about 600 feet past the next traffic light (Woodward), on the left (west) side of Congress directly across from the entrance to St. Edward’s University.

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

Topic/Title UL 1449 3RD Edition – Surge Protective Devices
Speaker Jim Massey
Phoenix Contact
Abstract


Date/Time July 26, 2012
6:00 PM Social
6:30 to 7:00 PM Dinner
7:00 to 8:00 PM Speaker Presentation
Location

Acadiana Café
1289 Southwest Loop 410
San Antonio, Texas
210-674-0019
Cost Attendees shall order and pay for their own meals via room waitstaff.
In addition the following fees are due for IEEE:
$2 Members
$5 Non-members
$10 No meal ordered – applies to both members and non-members
Fee waived for students
Reservations Please RSVP to Curtis Cryer @ 210-353-2159, or cbcryer@ieee.org
For more information go to our web site https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/sanantonio/index.html
Notes

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

Topic/Title Annual Social Meeting
Speaker None - We will pick a movie when we all arrive at 6:30pm
Abstract
Date/Time Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Cost The cost of the movie plus food
Reservations Please so we have some idea of how many people are coming
 For more information: Call Dale Ritzen (512) 651-5338 for details and directions
  https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/
Location   Flix Brewhouse
  Hesters Crossing
  2200 South IH-35, Suite B1
  Round Rock, TX 78681
Notes

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 6:30pm, with the program starting at 7:00pm. For further information about the PSES, please contact Dale Ritzen at (512) 651-5338.

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Joint Signal Processing/Communications Society - Austin

https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/com_sp/



Topic/Title

Objective Video Quality Assessment for Multi Bit Rate Adaptive Streaming

Speaker

 Prabhu Hosur, AT&T Labs
Prabhu Hosur is the Principal Member Technical Staff at AT&T Labs, Austin, Texas.  He works on the design and scientific analysis of the system for video delivery to TV and connected devices.  Prabhu has degrees in Communications Engineering (Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India) and Computer Engineering (PhD, Newcastle University, United Kingdom).  Prabhu has been working on the design and development of video codecs and streaming technologies for the past 15 years.  He has participated in MPEG standards meetings and contributed to the MPEG-4 standards.  He has more than 25 publications in International journals, conferences, standards and three patents pending.   His areas of interest include, video coding, media streaming, and video quality measurement.

Abstract

 One of the trends in the streaming media industry recently is the over-the-top (OTT) HTTP adaptive bit rate (ABR) video streaming to end-user devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and PCs having different display screen sizes.  For example, streaming technologies such as Apple’s HTTP Live streaming (HLS), Microsoft’s HTTP Smooth Streaming (HSS),  Adobe’s HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), and MPEG Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP( DASH), all use HTTP adaptive bit rate streaming as their underlying method of video delivery.   As a result, the consumers are now viewing live video on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Therefore, the requirement of achieving the best video quality on the end-user devices is an important factor that influences the design of adaptive bit rate streaming systems.
 
This talk will provide an overview of HTTP adaptive bit rate streaming and its implementation in AT&T Labs.  This overview will be followed by the details of the methodology for video quality assessment for mobile video delivery using HTTP adaptive bit rate streaming.  The individual and combined effects of spatial up-scaling, frame rate up-conversion, bit rate, and video codec profile on the video quality are discussed. In the end, the best practices for designing the transcoder profiles for multi bit rate encoding in adaptive video streaming are presented.

Date/Time

 July 19, 2012

Location

AT&T Labs
9505 Arboretum Blvd
Room #220
Austin, TX 78759

Cost


Reservations

 https://comsoc071912.eventbrite.com

Notes

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Joint Communications and Signal Processing Society - San Antonio (Com/SP)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/satx

Topic/Title

 No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract

Date/Time

Location

Cost

Reservations

Notes

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Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society

Topic/Title

 No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker

Abstract

Date/Time

Location


Cost

Reservations


Notes

 For further information, contact David Akopian david.akopian@utsa.edu

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Technology Management Council - Austin
https://www.austin-tmc.org/

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker
Date/Time
Location
Cost
Registration
Notes Receipts and Certifications for PDHs will be available.  Doug will have a limited number of copies of his book available for purchase.

int meeting with the Women in Engineering chapter

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

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Technology Management Council - San Antonio (TMC)

https://webinabox.vtools.ieee.org/wibp_home/index/CH05214
Topic/Title TMC SA has no scheduled meetings for July
Speaker
Abstract
Date/Time
Location
Cost
Registration
Notes

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Women in Engineering Affinity Group
https://www.austin-wie.org/

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker
Date/Time
Location
Cost
Registration
Notes Receipts and Certifications for PDHs will be available.  Doug will have a limited number of copies of his book available for purchase.

Joint meeting with the Austin Technology Management Council chapter

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

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Conferences, Other Meetings and Events

Local IEEE Conferences, Events or Workshops


Non-IEEE Meetings and Events of interest suggested by the membership

July 10, 2012: The July Door64 Invitational
(i.e. an off-schedule Door64 Happy Hour) is sponsored by Global Foundries, and will be held at Third Base near Mopac and 6th street in downtown Austin:

https://door64.com/jul2012gf

This is particularly relevant (and restricted to) local semiconductor professionals, from device, process, and yield-enhancement engineers in the fab to design folks.

July 19, 2012: The regularly-scheduled July Door64 Happy Hour in downtown Austin
Held at Six Lounge is sponsored by EVE, a HW/SW co-verification firm in Austin. 

https://door64.com/jul2012

July 20, 2012: Theresa Neil's one-day Usability / User Interface Design seminar in Austin.
On Friday July 20, user experience professional Theresa Neil will guide you through the current mobile strategies: responsive web, optimized sites, native apps and hybrids. You'll learn the merits and pitfalls of each option, and look at the most successful implementations in the market today, and some of the worst. This one-day seminar is designed around Theresa's O'Reilly book Mobile Design Pattern Gallery.   Register for Theresa Neil's one-day seminar in Austin.

August 3-4, 2012: Texas Linux Fest 2012
Texas Linux Fest 2012 will be held Aug. 3-4 at the Norris Conference Center in downtown San Antonio.

In its third year, Texas Linux Fest 2012 brings the latest developments in Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) to the public, and provides a wide variety of sessions to accommodate everyone from the newest beginner to the most seasoned developer.

In addition, the event also features an exhibition hall where the latest Linux distros and FOSS programs will display their wares.

The Call for Papers for Texas Linux Fest 2012 opened April 15, and speakers are encouraged to get their proposals in early. A more detailed announcement is forthcoming. The deadline for submissions is June 1 and speakers will be notified on June 15.To submit your talk for consideration, email the following information to info@texaslinuxfest.org

To register for Texas Linux Fest 2012, visit https://register.texaslinuxfest.org/reg6/

For more information, visit https://www.texaslinuxfest.org

August 6-9, 2012: NIWeek, Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas
Each year National Instruments hosts Texas Day at NIWeek. This one-day engineering and networking event is on Tuesday, August 7, beginning at 8:00 a.m. at the Austin Convention Center. Texas Day includes access to NIWeek's kickoff keynote presentation featuring Dr. James Truchard! Throughout the day, learn from today’s leading innovators through a variety of interactive technical sessions, panel discussions, and hands-on and case study presentations for beginners and advanced developers.

Texas Day also includes an invitation-only luncheon featuring a guest speaker as well as a Tour of Texas, highlighting success stories across the state. Meet your local NI field engineers and NI Alliance Partners, and discover how you can use NI products to advance your application and retain your competitive advantage.

Seats are limited, so reserve your spot today. When registering as a first-time NIWeek attendee, use the code TxDayNew for complimentary admission. To learn more, contact an NI technical sales representative at (800) 433-3488.

See https://www.ni.com/niweek/

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Miscellaneous

June issue of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer includes these features:

Crowdfunding: A New Opportunity for Science and Innovation

YOUR CAREER, YOUR LIFE
  • How to Make a New Job Fall into Your Lap
ENERGY & THE ECONOMY
  • Energy and the Economy: Part 1
  • Book Review: Energy and the Wealth of Nations
  • Engineering Societies Engage World Leaders on Sustainable Development
STEM EDUCATION
  • STEM Visa Legislation Proposed
SHORT CIRCUITS
  • Your Engineering Heritage: Pulse Code Modulation: It all Started 75 Years Ago with Alec Reeves
  • World Bytes: Sex Bias in Research
  • Tech News Digest

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Events and Information




Career

eWeek.com
IEEE Career Alert
The Nation's Best Jobs In Engineering & Information Technology
Though it may seem hard to believe—especially now that firms such as Google and Facebook seem to have their pick of the best and brightest university graduates—engineering and other technical professions weren't always widely seen as “cool” careers. While investment bankers, airline pilots, and surgeons had their respective moments in the sun, traditionally "nerdy" careers are the new rave. “Software engineers are the rock stars of today's working world, and even computer systems analysts and Web developers can claim some of that recognition, since the demand for IT pros is so deep,” says Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com. A CareerCast.com article hosted by the IEEE Job Site lists the top 12 jobs of 2012 in engineering and information technology. Software engineering tops the list, which ranks jobs based on criteria such as income, outlook, environmental factors, stress and physical demands.  Read on.

IEEE Computer Society
Big Job Prospects for Big Data

Everybody, it seems, recognizes the opportunity to harness and exploit big data for the benefit of business and society. And everybody, it  seems, is concerned about the lack of enough computing professionals in the market who have the particular skills considered essential to this new field. --Read more

IEEE The Institute
Make Yourself Indispensable!
How do engineers stay competitive in an unfavorable job market? IEEE president Gordon W. Day offers a piece of advice given by his mentor years ago: "Make yourself indispensable!" In his column, Day highlights the importance of committing to a lifetime of learning and building new skills. Read more

Tips, Tools and Gadgets

I have been working in the Web Hosting business for the last year and have come across a few tools that may be of interest to some of you. 

Have you ever wanted to know if a domain name has already been registered, or who owns a domain that you have visited.  Or maybe you want to check to see if your DNS is set up properly.  A useful tool for these an other such tasks is https://network-tools.com/. Entering a domain name, clicking on the radio button for Whois, xlixk on rhw "GO!" button, and you will see if anyone owns the domain name, and if they do, you usually will see contact information for the owner.  Or if you click on the DNS Records radio button you will see the DNS data for the domain. 

Perhaps a web site that you are trying to load seems dreadfully slow to you.  You can check how it is loading at other places around the world by going to https://internetsupervision.com/.  Enter the domain name you want to check and click on the "Check URL" button.  You will see a report on how quickly the site is loading in 8 different locations around the world.

If you have comments, or suggestions as to something I should mention in a future issue, please let me know at john.purvis@ieee.org.  I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.