IEEE - Piedmont Section - Region 3
Fall 2005 Section Report
October 2005

Section Officers:

Chair:                        Robert Scruggs    r.scruggs@ieee.org
Vice Chair:                   vacant
Sec/Treas:                    Jerry Clark       jclark89@hotmail.com
Membership Development:       Lee Stogner       l.stogner@ieee.org
Professional Activities:      Adib Chebli       a.chebli@ieee.org
Student Activities:           John Komo         john.komo@ces.clemson.edu
Educational Activities:       Lee Stogner       l.stogner@ieee.org
Newsletter Editor:            Mark Stokes       m.stokes@ieee.org
Awards:                       Randy Collins     randy.collins@ces.clemson.edu



The Piedmont Section had a very successful first half of 2005, with 5 regular technical
meetings and 2 ExCom meetings.  There were a wide range of topics to appeal
to a larger audience of industry, academic, and student participants.

Meetings included:

January:    We hosted the Student Paper Competition, complete with awards, and sent
            the first place winner on to the state competition.
February:   We concluded our automotive series, which began in 2004, with a presentation
            on Telematics.
March:      Held two meetings in March in combination with other groups including:
            a presentation "Integrated Engineering: Streamlining Plant Design Through
            Automated Software Systems" with the IIE, and, with Clemson University,
            we hosted the Professor Robert McEliece lecture "Are There Turbo Codes On
            Mars?"
May:        Pendleton High School - FIRST Robotics Team presentation.

Also, we held EXCOM meetings in January and June.

The second half of the year has been more challenging however.  Our Vice Chair resigned
at the June EXCOM, due to an employment relocation to another state.  Since then we have
struggled somewhat with organizing meetings.  We are now back on track for the Fall with
a meeting planned for November entitiled "An Introduction to EMC Test Requirements" and a
holiday social meeting for December.

Other Activities for this year have included awarding a grant to a local high school
FIRST robotics team, and the section provided some funding to the Clemson University
Hardware Team for the competition at Southeastcon 2005.

Jerry Clark attended Sections Congress as the Piedmont Section representative.

The monthly Newsletter continues to be sent out via IEEE e-notice with a printed copy
going to members without an email address. The Section WEB page is updated monthly.

We will also hold 2006 Officer elections during the November meeting and are actively
seeking candidates.  Recruiting/retaining officers and other volunteers continues to be
our biggest difficulty.


Respectfully submitted,

Rob Scruggs
2005 Piedmont Section Chair
r.scruggs@ieee.org
864-886-1348