IEEE Region 3 RSAC Report January 2005 Bruce L. Walcott, RSAC Patricia Davis, RSR This report is an update to the RSAC report submitted in October of 2004. It outlines the progress made in the following areas: - Membership - SPACs - First WIE Affinity Group - Southeastcon 2005 - Student Activities Update Membership ========== The student membership numbers that count are the numbers that are calculated on December 31st. These are the numbers that determine the rebates that branches are entitled to. As of December 31, 2004 Region 3 has officially 4712 student members. This compares to 4432 student members reported in October (an increase of 6.3%). The top ten student branches in our region are: Student Branch Student Members 1. GEORGIA INST OF TECHNOLOGYT 717 2. VIRGINIA POLY INST&STATE U 316 3. NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV 256 4. NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 230 5. FLORIDA UNIV OF 229 6. CENTRAL FLORIDA UNIV OF 193 7. SOUTH FLORIDA UNIV OF 162 8. AUBURN UNIV 157 9. KENTUCKY UNIV OF 132 10. TENNESSEE UNIV OF 111 We are very encouraged to see the return of the University of Kentucky back to the top ten list after being missing since after their hosting of Southeastcon 1999. In terms of disturbing news, the University of Jamaica's student branch membership has fallen to just 5 members. This is consistent with the trend of declining student membership for branches who have recently hosted a Southeastcon (Jamaica hosted Southeastcon 2003). SPACs ===== On October 18th, 2004 the University of South Florida held the first SPAC of the 2004-2005 academic year. Special thanks goes to the USF SPAC Chair, Carlo Dionson and fellow officers Jeremy Huffman and Joshua Schumacher, for making the first SPAC of 2004-2005 a success! Speakers for the event were Ms. Erna Grasz, Mr. Art Nordlinger, Mr. Jon Kile. The date for Georgia Tech's SPAC and preliminary program are now set. The GaTech SPAC will be held Thursday, February 24th 2005 in the student center of the Georgia Tech campus. The theme of Georgia Tech's SPAC is "Entrepreneurship". The speakers and talks are: Irwin Weitman Ð ÒIs Consulting for Me?Ó Chris Klaus Ð ÒGrowing a Cyber-Security Company: The EvolutionÓ Dr. Lewis Brown Ð ÒThe ÔSecretsÕ of Success for an EngineerÓ The conference is expected to run from 10 AM to approximately 2 PM. WIE Affinity Group ================== Perhaps the most daunting problem facing our organization today is diversity--or lack there of. Specifically, our percentage of women members is abysmal (7%). In an effort to address this problemm, IEEE has recently started a Women in Engineering affinity group. I am proud to report that the first WIE affinity group among student branches has just been approved by our Region 3 Director, Bill Harrison. The WIE affinity group will be located at Georgia Tech and is the brainchild of Sriram Narasimhan, the Georgia Tech Student Branch Chair. Congratulations, Georgia Tech and Sri, and good luck on this pioneering program. We would like to see other student branches (and sections) follow your lead! Southeastcon 2005 - Student Activities Update ============================================= RSAC encourages the Region 3 EXCOMM and Sections to visit the Southeastcon 2005 student activities page at the URL below: https://sec05.nova.edu/student.htm Hardware (Robot) Contest ======================== There are currently 37 Region 3 student branches registered for what has evolved into Southeastcon's premier activity--the hardware contest. The rules and FAQ page (there are now 61 questions and answers) can be found at: https://sec05.nova.edu/hardware_design.htm Programming Contest =================== Unlike in year's past, the programming contest at Southeastcon 2005 will mirror the well-know ACM programming contest rules. It is hoped that with such a structure, more of our students in Computer Science programs throughout Region 3 will want to participate. Complete rules can be found at: https://sec05.nova.edu/programming.htm Paper Contest ============= January and early February represent an ideal opportunity for IEEE sections to organize a joint meeting with local student branch(es) in the form of a Paper Contest. Many of our Region 3 sections already hold such an event and submit the winner to our Region 3 Paper Contest. If a section would like to sponsor such an event, it is encouraged to follow the rules specified for the official contest located at: https://www.engr.uky.edu/csl/secon2005/paperrules.htm Other Southeastcon 2005 Student Activities ========================================== A T-Shirt and Web Site Contest will also be held at Southeastcon 2005. Rules are posted for these activities at https://sec05.nova.edu/student.htm Also scheduled are a reception on Friday evening and awards banquet on Saturday evening. The details of these events are forthcoming.