Student Activities Committee Excomm Report (1/02) Bruce L. Walcott (b.walcott@ieee.org) In terms of student activities this past fall, we held three Student Leadership Training Workshops in Knoxville, Birmingham, and Orlando. These Student Leadership Training Workshops are a great way to meet fellow IEEE student leaders at nearby schools as well as a catalyst for planning upcoming student branch activities. I want to thank our host schools: University of Tennessee-Knoxville, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of South Florida. Finally, the workshops could not happen if it were not for the volunteerism of our workshop trainers. Thanks to Stacy Wilson, David Green, Pat Donohoe, Joey Duvall and Butch Shadwell for volunteering and taking time away from their families to lead our Student Leadership Training Workshops. Remember, the life-blood of our organization is volunteerism and without it, IEEE would certainly cease to function. Speaking of volunteerism, this is the part of the newsletter where we annually bid adieu to our Region 3 Student Representative, Ms. Joey Duvall. Joey has been our RSR for the past 5 years and will be sorely missed in this post. However, while Joey's leadership and experience as our RSR will be sorely missed, her IEEE Region 3 participation continues in another capacity in our GOLD (graduate of the last decade) program geared to engage former students making the transition into the professional world. We hope to have one or more RSR candidates visiting us in Atlanta next week. Truly, the culmination of our student activities in Region 3 occurs each year at our annual Southeastcon conference. We in Region 3 are unique in that our regional student conference is also our regional professional conference which is also our regional technical conference. The interaction and networking that occurs at a Southeastcon between students, practicing professionals, and academics is remarkable and I invite you to partake. This year's Southeastcon will be held in Columbia, South Carolina, Apri 5-7 2002. This year, our conference is the result of a dedicated group of students and faculty volunteers at the University of South Carolina. The student program co-chairs are Patricia Davis and David J. Brearley who can be reached via e-mail at ieee@engr.sc.edu. The theme for this year's hardware contest is Pong - "America's most exciting home video game." The classic home video ping-pong game of the early 1970s will be brought to life with robots acting as paddles and a golf wiffle ball will be the object the robots "pong" back and forth. The playing service is elevated in the middle so that a robot imparting too much "oomph" on the ball will launch it off of the court and lose the match. Recall that every Region 3 Student Branch is eligible to submit an entry into the Hardware Contest. If your school is interested in designing a Pong robot, please see https://www.ee.sc.edu/orgs/Secon2002/Rules/ for the complete rules. While the Hardware Contest has become the "crowning jewel" of Southeastcon, there many other student activities to participate in. These include the Software Design Contest, the Web Site Design Contest, the T-Shirt Design Contest, a job fair and even a party! Details for these activities can be found on the student activities web page, https://www.ee.sc.edu/orgs/Secon2002/. In particular, I would like to put in a blatant plug for the Student Paper Contest. While the paper contest does not afford the opportunity to autonomously swat a golf wiffle ball, it does provide a forum to improve your written and oral technical communication skills. The ability to write technical reports and present them to a critical audience is key to a successful career in engineering or computer science. The paper contest not only provides a platform for undergraduate students to hone these important skills, but also rewards the top three entrants with $850, $500, and $250, respectively. We are grateful to the Institute Life Member Fund for these generous prizes. This year, entering is easier than ever and can be done entirely electronically! Deadline is March 1st and complete details on the paper contest may be found at https://www.ee.sc.edu/orgs/Secon2002/Papers/. I am very encouraged that at the time of this report (nearly two months before the deadline) we have had inquires from many R3 schools. Some upcoming important SAC deadlines are: January 31: Deadline for Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award. If you know of an IEEE student member who has served IEEE in an extraordinary fashion, take a minute to nominate him or her. (see: https://www.ieee.org/membership/students/awards/sc_wilson.html ) February 1st: Deadline for Exemplary Branch Award nomination. Every branch nominated and meeting the criteria will receive this award! (see: https://www.ieee.org/membership/students/awards/sc_exemplary.html ) February 28th: Deadline for Outstanding Branch Counselor award. If your Student Branch Counselor is outstanding, let him or her know that you feel this way (see: https://www.ieee.org/membership/students/awards/sc_counselor.html ) The last order of business is to welcome Dr. John Matthews of Georgia Tech, who will be assuming the reins as RSAC chair after this year's Southeastcon. Dr. Matthews is also this year's Region 3 Outstanding Student Branch Counselor and we offer him our heartfelt congratulations and support when he assumes command. RSAC Goals and Objectives: Director Howard has requested that RSAC set three primary goals for the coming year. In consultation with Dr. Matthews, we have established the following goals for 2002: 1. To resolve the logistical issues of transporting students and equipment to Jamaica in preparation for Southeastcon 2003. 2. To continue to rejuvenate the paper contest and Region 3 SPAC/SPAVes 3. To increase participation in Region 3 STLWs