East Tennessee Section Chair Report for April 2008 Region 3 Meeting

East Tennessee Section 2008 Activities year to date:

Section meetings:
Jan. 23 - ExCom Meeting
Jan. 30 - Technical Meeting
   Dr. Igor Alexeff - Recent Developments in the Plasma Antenna
Mar. 4 - Technical Meeting
   Dr. Ned Sauthoff - ITER International Fusion Energy Project

The Section recognized National Engineers Week Feb. 17-23 with two
events:
  1. On Feb. 19 the East Tennessee Section showed it's appreciation to
  Life Members for their dedicated membership in IEEE by sponsoring two
  tables for them and their wives at the Knoxville All Engineers Week
  banquet featuring guest speaker Bruce Pearl, Head Coach of the
  University of Tennessee men's basketball team. The master of ceremonies
  recognized the IEEE Life Members during introductions.
  
   2. On Feb. 23 the East Tennessee Section was a sponsor of the annual
  Tennessee Science Bowl. Three section members and three UT student
  branch members also volunteered as judges, scorekeepers, contest
  organizers, and registration assistants. All student participants were
  given IEEE literature about engineering, careers, and websites. The
  winning team will compete against more than 60 other teams from across
  the nation in the U. S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl to
  be held May 1-6, in Washington, D.C.
  
On April 1, the East Tennessee Section will be a sponsor of the
Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair (SASEF) to be held on
the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Section members
will also volunteer as judges. They will not only judge for the SASEF
but will select 4 entries to receive special IEEE cash awards for
"demonstration of electrical, electronics, computer science or related
expertise."

The East Tennessee Section is supporting it's two student branches
Pellissippi State Technical Community College and the University of
Tennessee Knoxville by assisting them with expenses to attend and
participate in the student competitions at SoutheastCon 2008.

The East Tennessee Section is a beta test site for the OU Mgt project
led by Region 3 Secretary David Green. The section is using the OU Mgt
Meeting software for registering members for section meetings and
providing feedback to David's software development team.

The East Tennessee Section has been asked by the Knox County Schools
and Knox County Chamber of Commerce to participate in a new volunteer
K-12 education program. The section Chair is participating in meetings
to determine how the East Tennessee Section might participate and a
poll has been added to the section website to solicit members interest
in volunteering for school programs. The section sponsored a
Teacher-In-Service workshop for the Knox County Schools Professional
Development Center in 2006 but has had not drawn interest for
additional workshops. This Knox County initiative may offer another way
to reach K-12 students and motivate them to pursue careers in science
and engineering.

Terry Kurtz
2008 Chair
IEEE East Tennessee Section
https://ieee.org/go/easttn
https://ieeeet.blogspot.com/