Director-Elect Report to Region 3 Excom
July 2005
 
Asian Competitors - The 16 June plenary session at the Board series
included a detailed presentation on Asian competition for engineering
projects, pointing to the rapid increase in foreign direct investment in
Asia by U.S. venture capitalists, and the large numbers of engineering
graduates from schools in China and India.  Since advanced engineering
is the key to being competitive in innovation, and therefore competitive
on the world scene, the future outlook in the U.S. looks cloudy.  The
increasing number of patents in those countries is a measure of the
threat.  The IEEE Spectrum coverage of ÒChinaÕs Tech Revolution,Ó in the
June issue, was the starting point for the 35-slide presentation, made
by President-elect Michael Lightner.  A copy of the PowerPoint file is
available for those interested.

Membership Directory - The RAB Membership Development Committee reports
that the IEEE Membership Directory will be reestablished in an on-line
form, with access limited to IEEE members only.  The Fellow citations
will be included.  Congratulations to the Region 3 leaders who
spearheaded this revival of a useful tool.  The new feature in the
RAB/TAB rosters that allows a search by name only works if the member
sought is listed in one of the rosters.  But, if that name is included,
details associated with it will appear.

Delinquent Sections - Two Region 3 sections are delinquent in submitting
the L-50 financial form for 2004; the section chairs and treasurers have
been contacted to get the L-50s in.  The deadline for submission to
qualify for the rebate was June 30, but if there were an extenuating
circumstance relief could be given.  In one case the previous section
treasurer moved away and took some of the records with her.  All
CouncilsÕ L-50 reports have been received.

Sick List Chapters - Only two chapters in Region 3 remain on the sick
list.  They are ED15/LEO36, and VT06 in the Atlanta section.  Sections
are encouraged to revitalize these chapters as a service to their
members (since networking at chapter meetings is a strong attraction).

Region 3 Forum - All R3 Excom members and section chairs are encouraged
to join the IEEE Region 3 Forum, a Virtual Community, which requires a
web account.  To sign up for the web account, go to
https://services1.ieee.org/membersvc/registration/intro.htm .  To access
the Region 3 Forum go to https://www.ieeecommunities.org/region3  . 
Currently there are only 31 members signed up, up from 26 in April.  Two
are IEEE staff and some of the rest have not accessed the site in over
than a year.  If this to become a useful coordination tool for Region 3
Excom and section business, we will have to sign up all officers and
visit the site more frequently.

Life Member Upgrades Ð life members currently in the Associate Life
Member grade will be administratively elevated to full Life Member
grade.  Any life member making a donation of $50 or more to the Life
Member Fund in 2006 will receive a Life Member lapel pin.

George F. McClure
g.mcclure@ieee.org
(407) 647-5092