From: Khdrevik@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 2:14 PM To: r3-excom1999@ieee.org; sec-r03@ieee.org Subject: ET/OR R3 Report Take 2 March 23, 1999 East Tennessee and Oak Ridge Joint Sections Report to R3 ExCom The ET and OR Sections have had an eventful year thus far. The joint newsletter, 'The IEEE Communicator', was expanded to a double-sided 11x17 format (complete with pictures from meetings, conferences, etc.) in order to increase the probability that people will read it. Surf https://www.ic.ornl.gov/IEEE/ to view the newsletter archives. The new format has received positive feedback from members, but meeting attendance has not increased significantly as hoped. Meetings have consisted of talks/tours showcasing the technology of local companies, and educational overviews of some of the latest design tools. In February the sections also cosponsored a technical-editing workshop with the Society of Technical Communication and UTK's Civil Engineering Department. This turned out to be a very interesting departure from the typical section meeting. The best attended meeting was the December dinner meeting at which Dr. Igor Alexeff, president-elect of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society, gave an entertaining talk on the history of Plasma Science. Many members brought family and friends to the meeting. The sections have been represented at the 1998 PACE Conference, the Technological Literacy Counts (TLC) Workshop, and the 1999 Membership Development Retreat. The ET and OR sections branched out into continuing education by joining forces with Atlanta's WYLE electronics and Texas Instruments to sponsor several one-day workshops. To date there have been workshops on TI's MSP430 16-bit RISC microcontroller, and TMS3200C54X 16-bit fixed-point DSP. As the workshop collaboration expands, WYLE will be offering a discount registration fee to IEEE members in return for IEEE help in promoting the workshops. This ties in well with the R3 Membership Development Committee's ongoing Corporate Relations Project, as well as with concepts discussed at the 1999 MD Retreat. The sections also got involved in Engineer's Week this year. Tennessee's Technology Conference, a.k.a. WATTEC, was moved from its E- Week time-slot to June 1-3 for 1999 in order to join forces with Tennessee's Economic Summit. Robert Palmer of the ET Section took on the responsibility of organizing engineering presentations with local schools during E-Week. Only two area schools took him up on his offer, so he and ET's Ken Baker went back to high school for a day. The presentations were well received by teachers and students alike. The sections hope to be invited back to those schools and into others in subsequent years. In other pre-college news, the ET and OR sections are once again sponsoring the Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair with donations, IEEE awards, and judges. The excoms hope to expand pre-college education efforts in the coming years, and Robert will continue his work in the educational activities arena. Speaking of Tennessee's Technology Conference, David Bower, TN Council Vice Chair, ET Past Chair and ET PACE Chair is the Sponsor's Committee Chair for the 1999 conference (officially labeled 'Tennessee's Technology Summit' due to the 1999 merger with the Economic Summit). He has been the primary IEEE representative on the committee as well. As a result of his efforts, the IEEE has a strong slate of sessions scheduled for the June Summit. For more info please visit the website at https://www.korrnet.org/wattec, or tackle David in Lexington.