IEEE Mississippi Section Report Ð January 2006

The Mississippi Section held six section meetings the last half of 2005.  

On April 28th we were honored to have a demonstration by the 2005 SoutheastCon winning
robotics team from Mississippi State University. This meeting was of special interest to
one of our Life Members Mr. Orris Hicks. His granddaughter, Ashley Hicks, was on the
winning team.

In May we had a dinner section meeting and a plant tour of SmartSynch, an international
provider of wireless data solutions for the utility industry, in Jackson Mississippi.

On September the 22nd we along with everyone in the south east tried to get back to normal
with the hurricanes and held a dinner section meeting and a plant tour explaining non-fuel
engineering oils at the Ergon Refinery, in Vicksburg Mississippi.

Our October 27th meeting was a dinner section meeting and a tour of the Entergy storm
response facilities in Jackson, Mississippi.

The November meeting was a professional ethics training meeting held in Jackson. Also at
this meeting new officers were elected for 2006. See the list of officers below.

We finished 2005 with a celebration of the service provided our organization by Marvin E.
Richardson who passed away in 2005. A social dinner meeting was held on December 15 to
honor Mr. Richardson who held various offices including Section Chair during his career.
Mr. Richardson was a loyal supporter of our section till his health failed him. He was
always willing to help and provide insight.

As 2006 starts we are in the process of setting up our meeting schedule and will work
diligently to keep our general membership meeting on the third Thursday of each month. We
are looking at ways to involve membership that are not in the central part of the state.
Discussions are under way with members in other areas to see if they will accept
responsibility for one monthly program during the year. We have in the works a joint
meeting with the MSU Student Branch to present to them the plaque and portrait of Mr.
Richardson.

Our January meeting was held in Crystal Springs, MS. We toured the Kuhlman ElectricÕs
medium power transformer plant.

The February meeting was a joint meeting with multiple engineering societies as we
celebrated E-week in Vicksburg. The program was on the New Orleans levees.

In March we will tour the Calvert Company plant in Richland. They are the leading builder
of bus duct components and systems in the U.S.

We have been able to schedule the April and May meetings also. In April Russell T.
Harrison, IEEE-USA Legislative Representative, will be our guest speaker. In May we will
tour the Siemens regulator plant.
 
 
The following are the current elected officers for 2006:
David Schoggen Ð Chair             Joe Savage Ð Treasurer
Gerald Brown Ð Vice Chair          Ron Ogan Ð Secretary
Forrest Lee Hall Ð Membership    
 
The Mississippi Section of IEEE has an active web site and all meetings and attendance
rosters are posted: http:ewh.ieee.org/r3/mississippi.
 
Respectfully Submitted by:

David C. Schoggen, P.E.  
IEEE Mississippi Section, Chair