Region 3 Past-Director Report

As mentioned before, wearing my N&A hat, expressions of interest are welcomed from
members who may wish to consider other positions with the Region 3 committee, including
liaisons as corresponding members to IEEE-USA policy committees. For a full list of
those positions, send an email to g.mcclure @ ieee.org.

CTAP

1. I attended a meeting of the Committee on Transportation and Aerospace Policy by
telecon, on 15 May. There was a focus on shortcomings in transportation infrastructure,
summarized in an op-ed from the head of the Rockefeller Foundation, at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050802810.html .

2. Another concern is the mitigation of asteriod effects on earth. The odds are 6 to 1
that the earth will be hit by an asteroid in the next 80 years. NSF has funded the space
telescope in Aerecibo, P.R., which is a major resource for tracking asteroids in near
earth orbit, but will be cutting its research funding over the next two years. The Jet
Propulsion Laboratory is funded for tracking near-earth space objects over 1 kilometer
in size. However, there are many smaller objects out there, too -- some 100,000 at 140
meters and larger that need funding for tracking. Restoration of the planned reduction
in funding ($2.5 million per year) for Aerecibo is seen as critical for this effort. An
object larger than 1 km could seriously damage a state. One at 140 meters could wipe out
a county. A related cover story is found in The Atlantic Monthly for June, 2008.

3. Aviation Traffic Management is moving forward faster in the European Community than
in the U.S. With $30 billion in public-private partnerships, EUROCONTROL has accepted
the master plan for work in 2008-2013, identifying all required projects. The 123-page
master plan is found at
https://eurocontrol.int/sesar/gallery/content/public/docs/DLM-0710-001-02-00-D5.pdf

4. The lack of funding support for the America Competes Act, where the legislation has
been passed but not appropriations, is a concern. This affects both K-12 improvements in
math and science, and reduced support for basic research that will lay the groundwork
for future product innovation. Norm Augustine, chair of the commission that prepared
"Rising Above the Gathering Storm," detailing our problems and solutions, has a column
in Forbes showing how other countries are beating us to the punch.
https://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/03/21/norman-augustine-education-oped-cx_nra_0324augustine.html

Career Fly-in

The April Career Fly-in was concerned with guest worker (H-1B) quotas. Members
participating visited their representatives on Capitol Hill. As a follow-up, there are
three bills that you will hear about from Adeeb Hamzey.

George McClure