Central Tennessee Section Report to
IEEE Region 3 Committee, April 2013
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INTRO The Central Tennessee Section covers virtually all middle Tennessee
counties, extending from the Tennessee River in the west to just east of
Cookeville and Tullahoma. The section contains four ABET-accredited
engineering schools: Vanderbilt University, Lipscomb University, Tennessee
State University, and Tennessee Tech University. Most meetings are held at the
Tennessee Engineering Center in Nashville. Often meetings are held in
conjunction with the Music City Power Quality Group. Approximately 30-40
people attend each meeting.

MOST FUN ACTIVITY/PROGRAM One of our fun events is our annual Winter Meeting,
which is held in December. During this time we gather to have a meal together,
socialize, and reflect on the past year. In 2012 the speaker spoke on
management styles designed to empower employees and the prior year topic
included iPad vs. other tablets.

MOST SUCCESSFUL ACTIVITY/PROGRAM One of our best technical programs included a
3 hour in-depth presentation on lead-acid batteries, presented by John Kim of
Enersys on February 21, 2013. Our most well-attended meeting was an overview
of key changes to the 2011 National Electric Code, which Metro-Nashville was
adopting at the time. The presentation was delivered in February 2012 by Alan
Manche of Schneider Electric.

In November, several members presented a series of Power Quality Case Studies.
Topics covered included harmonic distortion and filtering, UPS incompatibility
with modern servers, voltage sags, and lightning protection.

MEMBER ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES We primarily interface with our members through
our quarterly technical meetings. However, we held a student outreach BBQ in
the month of October at Vanderbilt University, which allowed us to gain
feedback from many student IEEE members in our area. We also have our annual
Winter Meeting.

SECTION ACTIVITIES FOCUSED OUTWARD The section has sponsored the MATHCOUNTS
student mathematics competition for the past several years. We have also
supported students traveling to SECON at both Tennessee Tech University and
TSU.

BARRIERS
None.

ISSUES REQUIRING ACTION BY REGION 3 EXCOMM
None.

Sara Elliott