Eastern North Carolina Section R3 Report

Chair:                      Roger Lawrence
V. Chair:                   Tom Jepsen
Treasurer:                  Jai Arun Singh
Secretary:                  Dev Palmer
Membership / Newsletter:    Jim Ray
Awards / Website :          Lee Haas


It has been a good year thanks to all our chapter/special interest Chairs, our committee
members, and volunteers. The quickest and easiest way to know what is going on in the section
is to visit our website https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r3/enc/ where all recent and future scheduled
meetings are posted to the calendar. Mouse-over and click the calendar entries to access the
details of meetings. The website provides a complete list of chapter and special interest
group chairs. Lee Haas has revamped the website in format and content.

Grayson Randall has received the IEEE USA Citation of Honor for leadership that inspired
pre-college and college engineering students in the area of robotics. Grayson works
enthusiastically and tirelessly on robotics projects involving NCSU students. We are pleased
to have him working with us in IEEE ENCS.

We are pleased to announce the formation of a new chapter: The Industrial Electronics Society
Chapter under the leadership of Mo-Yuen Chow. Mo-Yuen has been chairman of the Computational
Intelligence Society and has handed over this role to Le Xu. Thanks to Mo-Yuen for his
excellent leadership of CI and also for his initiative in forming the new IES group.

Congratulations to Section members who have achieved elevation to Senior Membership. We are
pleased to act as nominating sponsors for members interested in applying for Senior
Membership. Thanks to Jim Ray and his team for their support. Details of requirements for
Senior Membership may be found on our website and at www.ieee.org.

There have been a variety of interesting meetings during 2007 covering diverse interests.
Meetings have covered subjects that range from tax preparation, to understanding amplifier
electromagnetic compatibility, to various aspects of designing embedded systems, and to
electro technologies dealing with waste water. A presentation covering aspects of Amateur
Radio was well received. As all engineers know, engineering technologies are not only useful
but are absorbingly entertaining to boot.

The section has also been out and about this year. It was great to have the interest and
support of those who attended the Computer and Technology Showcase in May. It was a valuable
forum and well attended. I met a number of members and was pleased to renew contact with some
folks we had not seen in a while.

The North Carolina Global TransPark Authority and Insight Racing invited the Section to
Kinston to view the Lotus Elise Autonomous Vehicle. Those who missed this event were able to
catch up with the progress being made on the DARPA project at NCSU in September.

CP&L invited us to their Community Day Open House at the Harris Energy and Environmental
Center. They hosted a successful and insightful day and offered good information as well as
entertainment that appealed to all ages.

The IAS/PES welcomes Siri Varadan as Vice Chair. The chapter is in the process of planning
future chapter meetings. Members are invited to attend these sessions and meeting notices are
posted to the calendar.

The section works to draw on local talent and expertise and we are always pleased to have
members make presentations to a chapter or to the section meeting. John Lindberg of UNC Chapel
Hill gave us an excellent presentation about his first hand knowledge of SCADA System design.
Three students from NCSU described their experiences in designing and operating their
autonomous underwater vehicle.

This year’s family picnic at The North Carolina Museum of Science attracted the greatest
member involvement at one event for the year. It was good to meet so many of you. 267 people
attended and we all had a good time. The weather was hot, as always in July, but not too humid
despite the rain storm the day before. There were many interesting things to do for all family
members. Thanks to all those who volunteered to help out for this event. Special thanks are
due to Lee Haas for his organizational part in this.

RENCI@NCSU hosted our Section Meeting for October. Their open house offered many of us
hands-on experience and a taste of pushing back the frontiers of communication.

Our sincere thanks are due to Matt Horrer who has been our newsletter editor for a number of
years. He kept us “on track” from quarter to quarter and we appreciate his diligence in this.
Jim Ray has taken over and we welcome him to his new role. The newsletter purpose is to
disseminate information and all members are invited to contribute. We especially welcome
general interest items and technical input.

We also have a new Chair for our Social Committee. We welcome Clinton Banner to the role and
look forward to his contribution to the Section.

Roger Lawrence
Chair IEEE ENCS