To:  Region 3 Excomm Members, Region 3 Section Chairs
From: Bruce L. Walcott, RSAC
Re: SAC Excomm Southeastcon Report (4/02)

2001-2002 STLWs

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 TennesseeKnoxville, 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.

SOUTHEASTCON 2002 STUDENT ACTIVITIES

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 and is also our regional technical conference.
This year's Southeastcon 2002 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 have done a Herculean job of putting the
student activities portion of the conference together.  They and the
rest of the University of South Carolina group deserve a rousing
Region 3 cheer!  As you may know, 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.  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 planned for
Southeastcon 2002.  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/.  The Web
Site entries will also compete internationally to determine the top
three IEEE student branch web site winners in the entire world!

The Student Paper Contest is conducted through the RSAC.  This year,
we have a modern day record of 16 papers entered.  The top 10 will
present at Southeastcon while Dr. John Bowles, the Southeastcon 2002
Technical Program Chair, has been extremely accommodating in allowing
the 6 non-finalists to present their papers as part of the technical
program on Sunday, April 7th at 10:30 a.m.  The top three papers will
receive $850, $500, and $250, for first, second, and third place,
respectively.  We are grateful to the Institute Life Member Fund for
these generous prizes.

SOUTHEASTCON 2002 MEETINGS

There will also be a meeting of the Branch Counselors on Sunday
Morning at 8:00 a.m. (this is biologically equivalent to 7:00 a.m. due
to the daylight savings time change) and a Branch Chairs meeting
immediately following.  A mini STLW will be conducted at the Branch
Chairs meeting. Chris Ruffin will be putting in a big plug for SPACs
with our student leaders.

SAC ISSUES
Some of the issues being debated at the SAC committee are:
-       Revision of the graduated dues program
-       Publications (Spectrum, Potentials) and their value for
        student members
-       Terminating Student Membership after X number of years
-       Revision of Outstanding Branch Judging criteria

STUDENT NUMBERS

In terms of Student Numbers, Region 3 counted a total of 4440 IEEE
student members as of 12-31-01.  This is up 154 student members or an
increase of 3.6%.  For the breakdown of these numbers by section,
please go to https://www.engr.uky.edu/csl/secon2002/Region36.pdf

Respectfully (and eventually) submitted,

Bruce L. Walcott
RSAC
___________________________________________________________________
Bruce L. Walcott, Associate Dean 	e-mail: walcott@engr.uky.edu
College of Engineering 			Voice: (859) 257-8827
University of Kentucky 			FAX: (859) 323-4922
Lexington, KY 40506-0108		Web: https://www.engr.uky.edu/csl/