IEEE Canaveral Section 2002 Calendar Year Summary Kathy Rinehart IEEE Canaveral Section Chair The Section, composed of approximately 250 members, now has a joint Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society/Computer Society Chapter as of January, 2002. (Previously, AESS was not represented in the section.) Canaveral also has a joint Life Member Chapter with the Melbourne section, very convenient since both sections are in Brevard County, Florida. The Section held ten meetings during 2002, and averaged an ExComm meeting every month. We have no student branch, as the students who reside in the section are members at their schools. We continued our efforts to hold meetings with other technical organizations, and invited local law enforcement members to our June meeting titled EE meets CSI: Intro to Computer Crime. It was one of the best-attended meetings of the year, and three law enforcement officers took us up on the offer. We had a speaker from the Computer Society Distinguished Visitor Program, and efforts to obtain an AESS Distinguished Lecturer were delayed until March, 2003. While the Section's 50th anniversary was technically in September, the ExComm decided that the height of hurricane season was not the optimum time for a Florida section to celebrate its 50th. November was judged to be more favorable, both from weather perspectives and from the opportunity to include members who are "snowbird" residents as well. Despite the high winds and "red tide" challenges, the celebration was well attended. The Section has been extremely fortunate during 2002 in the awards area, starting off with members Adam Kissiah and Kathryn Rinehart winning IEEE-USA Award recognition in Electrotechnology Transfer and Professional Achievement areas, respectively. Section Life Senior Member Arthur N. Greene, Jr. was the 2001 winner of the Florida Council and Region 3 Outstanding Service Award, the first time a section member had won either award. (The presentations were made in 2002.) Section Member Dr. Neelkanth Dhere won the 2002 Florida Council and Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award, the first time a section member had won either of these awards. Past Section Chair and current Section Treasurer Wayne L. Rendla won the 2002 Canaveral Council of Technical Societies Technical Award, and Senior Member Susan H. Beard, an EMC specialist, won the Society of Women Engineers Technical Achievement Award. Both of these nominations were made by the Canaveral Section. The Section saw ten members upgraded to Senior Member status, the second year in a row for that number. At least six Associate members have been upgraded to Member status, four of whom have also become Senior Members. One Life Member was upgraded to Life Senior Member. This multi-year effort has been critical, as Canaveral was in danger of losing its corps of Senior Members, and would have been unable to achieve future upgrades had that trend been allowed to continue. The Section was represented at Sections Congress and at all Florida Council meetings. All reports were submitted in time for the financial bonus.