IEEE ALABAMA SECTION CHAIR REPORT - MARCH 2014
 
MEMBER ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES/ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Alabama Section held a total of 44 technical, professional, administrative
and social meetings during 2013. The 2013 Annual December social provided
members and guests a chance to enjoy a time of member recognition & awards,
fellowship and holiday music with the Wilson Hill Band. The October 2013
Section meeting, held in conjunction with our support of the BEST Robotics
competition, was a successful Senior Member Rodeo, where the paperwork was
successfully completed for 7 members to advance to the Senior Member status. 


The following provides a summary of 2013 Chapter/Affinity Meetings
- Industry Applications (IAS) - 9 meetings
- Power and Energy (PES) - 6 meetings
- Computer Society - 3 meetings
- Communications Society (ComSoc) - 7 meetings
- Magnetics Society - 3 meetings
- Gold Affinity Group (now Young Professionals) - No activity in 2013
- Life Member Affinity Group - 5 meetings

Our Life Member Affinity group formed last year and is very active with 20-30
attendees at each bi-monthly meeting.

Chapter-coordinated technical meetings continue to be our primary driver for 
member engagement.

We plan to poll members who are currently in arrears on their membership to 
gain some insights into why these people have decided not to renew yet.
 
SECTION ACTIVITIES/ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOCUSED OUTWARD

The Alabama Section STEM programs continues to promote careers in engineering
to High School students with our involvement and support of MathCounts and the
BEST (Boosting Engineering and Science Technology) Robotics Competition. In
2013, for the sixth year in a row, the Alabama Section supplied personnel for
the "A" Team Committee to produce the Blazer BEST Robotics competition.
Additionally, the Alabama Section helps encourage and showcase participating
BEST Robotics student teams by offerng to help sponsor their attendance at the 55th
Annual Engineering Council of Birmingham (ECOB) Awards Banquet held February 20,
2014.  The section continues to be actively involved in ECOB with three of our 
executive committee members providing various support.

 
BARRIERS TO SECTION MISSION

While involvement at the Chapter level is strong, the Section continues to
struggle with identifying and recruiting volunteers to participate at the
Section level.
 
ISSUES REQUIRING REGION 3 ATTENTION
None to report
 
Eric Brockman
IEEE Alabama Section Chair
eric.o.brockman@ieee.org