IEEE Tallahassee Area Section Report, April 2013

In 2012 and 2013, the Tallahassee Section held a total of 24 technical,
professional, administrative and social meetings. The section has 1
society chapter (PES) and supports two student branch chapters at FSU and
FAMU. We conducted one distinguished lecturer event, supported STEM
activities and student programs. We have submitted all our required
reporting and financials. 

In 2013, we have four additional meetings planned and will define upcoming
meetings, plant trips and other events for Fall 2013 in the coming months.

Most Fun Recent Activity:

Winter Social & 30th Anniversary Celebration. The Section held its annual
winter social in conjunction with the 30th Anniversary celebration at a
local restaurant (Bucca di Beppo). Attendance = 40 people. Butch Shadwell,
an FSU alumnus, presented a brief reflection on his education in
Tallahassee and presented his tutorial "Engineering Career Strategies".
Election of officer positions was conducted as well as announcement of the
inaugural "Tallahassee IEEE of the Year Award", "Tallahassee Engineering
Educator of the Year" and "Distinguished Students of the Year" initiatives
for 2013.

Most Successful Recent Activity:

Most technical lectures attract around 20-30 participants. Our most
successful event was a PES Distinguished Lecture "Obstacles to Real-Time
Measurement and Control," William Ackerman, PhD (2012 IEEE PES
Distinguished Lecturer). Dr. Ackerman, a 2012 IEEE Distinguished Lecturer
for the Power & Energy Society, discussed major challenges in feedback and
correction facing the US Power Grid. This PES chapter event was attended
by over 50 people with a good mix of students and professionals.

Member Engagement Activities:

The Section has embraced any and all members interested in officer
positions of attendance at monthly ExComm meetings. Technical and career
development activities are hosted throughout the year. When possible,
these are held in conjunction with graduate seminar series to
cross-pollinate. STEM activities occur throughout the year, and we have
been very active in Engineer's Week activities in February. We also have
generated and implemented a new website for dissemination of information,
both for the section and for the PES chapter. These works in progress are
intended to better serve and inform our section members.

Section Activities Focused Outward:

We support STEM activities at various levels. We provide judges for school
science competitions. We collaborated with other the societies of other
technical societies.  The section will continue support IEEE student
sections at FSU and FAMU, including attendance, team events and
presentations at SouthEastCon. Over the last year, we have planned several
technical activities. We are planning to have a career development
workshop in Fall 2013.

Barriers:

Our on-going barrier is identifying and recruiting volunteers and
officers. We need to establish more active members from industry and the
profession as we are very heavily academically weighted. Need to reach to
military and defense contractors in the FL panhandle

Issues Requiring Action by the Region 3 ExCom or Committee:

No issues at this time.

Section Website:

https://sites.ieee.org/tallahassee/

Submitted (late as usual) by your serant;
Samuel C. Grant, PhD, SM-IEEE
Section Chair
mrmicrocoil@ieee.org