Northwest Florida IEEE Section Report

Updated March 25, 2003

Meetings

When possible, IEEE Northwest Florida incorporates a technical lecture along with the meeting/tour of the month in order to obtain professional development hours towards continuing education for PEs. PDH credited meetings that have taken place recently are shown below.

• September 2002 - Student Submarine Design (1 PDH)
• Students from local University (Univ. of West Florida) presented their design ideas and plans for the AUVSI competition (the 6th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Competition will be held August 7th - August 10th, 2003 at the Transducer Evaluation Center (TRANSDEC) Facility located at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC San Diego) in San Diego, California).
• October 2002 – Electromagnetic Compatibility
• Dr. Maqsood Mohammad (EMC Chair) presented a technical lecture over dinner on the effects of electromagnetic interference. Discussions of typical cases of EMI were entertained.
• November 2002– International Paper (1 PDH)
• A thorough tour of our local paper company with a technical lecture from Mr. Wes Stepherson. The IEEE group learned facts about how many trees in the local community are used to make the paper we use every day
• December 2002– Annual Social Event
• Combined event with local Engineering Advisory Council to discuss local community assistance in expanding Engineering in Northwest Florida. Also heard a discussion from the University of West Florida President, Dr. John Cavanaugh concerning engineering in the local community and future expansion.
• January 2003– Power Electronics (1 PDH)
• IEEE Distinguished lecturer Dr. Muhammad Rashid presented a lecture on Power Electronics and its applications.
• February 2003 – Institute of Human & Machine Cognition (1PDH)
• Dr. Ken Ford gave a technical presentation on efforts that are currently taking place in one of the worlds most advanced research facilities in Pensacola, FL. Studies include a new human interface cockpit which allows pilots to absorb important information about flight using peripheral vision. In addition, much similar research is underway for the improvement of human and machine cognition.
• March 27, 2003 - The Future of Electronic Warfare and Modern Radar Signals (4 PDH)
• A double technical lecture (day/night) given by Dr. Richard Wiley, IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Wiley will be giving his technical presentation for a group during the day (4 hours) and an abbreviated version that evening for the general IEEE section meeting.

Sections Congress

Sections Congress was attended in October. Valuable information was gathered and used in our section. Recommendations were submitted to IEEE USA on behalf of our section. Some of the information gathered and used is reflected below.

Florida Council Meeting

The Florida Council meeting was attended on Feb. 8 in Tampa, FL. Some good ideas were discussed among all the Florida sections. These ideas were discussed with the ExCom at the February section meeting.

ExCom Meeting

An ExCom meeting was held on March 16, 2003 to discuss updating of the Bylaws as well as a recruitment idea to increase membership. Several action items were made and implementation should take place shortly.

Bylaws

Bylaws have been reviewed and updated. Membership has approved. Review process mentioned above was for changes made by RAB. They will be sent to Vicki Waldman by or before March 26, 2003.

Annual Reporting

All officer, financial and meeting reporting was done before the 10% rebate deadline (February 21, 2003).

Future Planned Meetings

o April – Pensacola Regional Airport TRACON and control tower

o May – Local solar power generation facility

o June – Social event

o Potential Meetings –

o Television station (WSRE – local college station)

Accomplishments

Ø All officers have recently received email aliases (e.g, nwf_chair@ieee.org)

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida has recently transitioned to postcard announcements for meeting reminders and significantly upgraded our website

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida is now actively promoting job listings in the local community for local employers on our website.

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida has recently created a Majordomo mailing list that will be used for all subsequent meeting announcements in addition to the postcard mailing in hopes of increasing meeting attendance.

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida supported the first annual Regional High School Science Bowl held February 15, 2003 at The University of West Florida. IEEE is provided man power as well as some financial support. In addition, we are assisted the Science Bowl supervisor (Dr. Maqsood Mohammad) in soliciting financial support with the Science Bowl (Use of IEEE’s name as backing the Science Bowl and requesting funding on behalf of both IEEE and the Science Bowl).

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida is supporting a student scholarship for EE & IEEE Student Members

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida is supporting our local UWF Submarine Team financially for their competition to be held later this year.

Ø IEEE Northwest Florida participated in a local Technology Expo by manning a booth sponsored by IEEE and promoting our local Section to engineers and employees. Certificates of appreciation were given to those who volunteered to help out

Ø Sr. Membership has been pushed extensively and we recently added 2 SR members to our list. More are applying. This has been discussed at every meeting since Sections Congress.

Ø Meeting attendance incentive (door prizes) are helping. Offering cumulative grand door prize for final meeting of the year (Palm Organizer) is also an incentive (more meetings attended = increased odds of winning).