Piedmont Section Report, October 2007

Section Officers:
Chair:  Jerry Clark
Vice chair:  Louis Hapeshis
Treasurer: Owen Parks
Secretary: Owen Parks

2007 was an interesting and productive year for the Piedmont Section.

We continue to increase our support to the Engineering Department of Clemson University and this year hosted
their Student Paper competition and student project competitions. In addition, our November meeting will
include the Student Branch, with a presentation from Jim Smith called “Giving a Winning Presentation”. We
have scheduled this to coincide with the next student project competition. We hope this presentation will
help the Clemson students gain valuable and timely presentation skills.

In March, we were presented with an outstanding presentation from Dr. Nicholas Rigas, Director of the South
Carolina Institute for Energy Studies. The mission of the South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies is to
promote energy research and development in and for the state, to transfer energy technology developed by
others to South Carolina applications, to contribute to national energy issues in areas of excellence, and to
promote state-wide energy education activities. Dr. Rigas’ presentation was both interesting and timely, as
the nation turns its focus on environmental issues.

The section had an opportunity to tour Oconee Nuclear Power Plant in July. Our tour included a walk to the
generator floor, as well as discussions of security and operations. This tour had been in the works since the
previous October and was certainly worth the wait.

The Clemson Robotics Team that competed in the SoutEastCon2007 Robotics competition came to our meeting in
April and gave the Section a demonstration of their entry into the competition. Their presentation gave the
Section an idea of the challenges each team faced and the deadlines and constraints under which they worked.