April 1998

The East Tennessee and Oak Ridge Sections have a combined membership of approximately 950. Both sections meet jointly, once per month (September through May) and share program responsibilities. Normally, a meal is planned just before the meeting. Program speakers are presented with an IEEE coffee mug. This year’s Programs have been organized and planned by Sam Burgiss and Kathy Drevik, East TN and Oak Ridge Vice Chairs. Meeting topics are as follows:

September:

Dr. Steve Kercel, from ORNL, gave us a presentation concerning the work his group has done to develop a practical (and low cost) system for determining if a person is hidden in a vehicle. This technology is applicable in any situation where people might be trying to sneak past a guard-post, and utilizes wavelet-based signal processing techniques to isolate the signature of a person’s heart-beat from all of the surrounding noise (vibration related and otherwise).

October:

Cleve Hayes took us on an extremely well-attended tour of Dick Broadcasting Corporation. Dick Broadcasting is the home of WIVK fm 107.7, WNOX fm 99.1, WNOX am 990, WIOL am 850, WOKI fm 100.3, and WXVO fm 98.7. The tour included studios and the technical center along with microwave links to transmitter sites.

November:

We helped Pellissippi State Community College with "Technology Night", which is organized to show high school students and anybody else thinking of a technical career what PSTCC has to offer in terms of education and practical experience. The IEEE was there to answer questions and provide information to potential members, as well as to support PSTCC in its efforts to become a leader in technology-based education. Paul Ullrich, Past Chair of the PSTCC student chapter, was instrumental in organizing the event. Paul has now transferred to UTK to complete his BSEE, and is proof that the pre-engineering program at PSTCC is in excellent shape.

December:

OR Secretary-Treasurer Martin Bauer took us on a tour of IPIX, the world leader in "Immersive Imaging". IPIX is developing and now marketing software and services for creating and displaying true interactive spherical images. The presentation and tour were very well attended.

January:

Mike Moeller, formerly of Advanced Radio Telecom gave a presentation on the development of high-bandwidth wireless communications technology, which is currently in its developmental stage, but might soon become an alternative to other forms of wireless communication. Mike was up late that night as we kept the questions coming throughout his presentation. For many of us the meeting was as much an education about current trends (and terminology) in telephony as it was about coming technology.

February:

WATTec served as our February meeting as many of our excom members were involved with at least one of the IEEE sponsored sessions. David Bower, who had so much fun with WATTec in 1997 and 1998 that he will be in charge of the conference in 1999, submitted this synopsis:

This year, the IEEE was very active in WATTec ‘98, "Tennessee’s Technology Conference," held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Knoxville, TN. The IEEE sections, along with forty other professional societies, were active in WATTec and sponsored four sessions and one workshop hosted by Sprint. The sessions were: "Tech 2020-Promoting Telecommunications in East Tennessee," Advanced Sensors," Emerging Smart Transducers" and "Promoting Interest in Science and Technology through Astronomical Exploration." In the latter session, Moon rock samples from all the Apollo missions were exhibited, and attendance was so good that people were standing in the doorways as the room was full. The Sprint Workshop focused on Computer-Telephony Integration, the future of new telecommunication technologies and compressed video developments, including H.323 standards. A live compressed video demonstration took place. The IEEE sections had more sponsored activities than any other society at the technology conference. Approximately 1000 engineers, scientists, technologists and industry leaders attended the event. One of the featured speakers was John Holliman from CNN "Gulf War" fame.

March:

Dr. Asa O. Bishop discussed the direction that engineering education is headed in the next century. Dr. Bishop is heading up the preparation for UTK’s ABET accreditation update which is slated for 1999, and will be the first time UTK is judged by the new ABET 2000 criteria. After the presentation we toured several of the EE Department’s research labs in UTK’s new Science and Engineering building.

April:

Bill Schwenterley of ORNL discussed the High Temperature Superconducting Transformer development that is ongoing at ORNL and various other research facilities around the country. Many very curious KUB folks were on hand to learn about what may soon replace their conventional transformers. Questions continued long after the presentation was completed, and we had reasonable attendance despite the monsoon-like weather.

May:

We will be having a joint meeting with the East Tennessee Computer Society (headed up by IEEE member Greg Weinstein). Representatives from IDT and Centaur Technology are going to discuss the "WINCHIP", which is a pin-compatible upgrade/replacement clone for the Pentium microprocessor. They will come bearing gifts of motherboards and processors to give away to those who draw the lucky numbers.

For more information about the East Tennessee and Oak Ridge Sections, please refer to our web site:

STUDENT BRANCH ACTIVITIES

University of Tennessee https://www.engr.utk.edu/org/ieee/

The UTK branch was very active in the past year. In additions to having numerous meetings/activities of their own, students managed to attend many of the regular meetings as well. New officers have been elected and are off to a good start this Spring. Dr. Mongi Abidi will be taking over as faculty advisor after this Spring semester, as long-time (and well-loved) advisor Dr. Fred Symonds is steeping down after many years of service to the student branch. Eleven students will be attending Southeastcon from UTK, several of which will be taking part in the paper contest.

Pellissippi State https://www.pstcc.cc.tn.us/ieee

Paul Ullrich, the Past Chair, has done much to increase the growth and activities of the chapter. Once again they organized "Technology Night" in November to promote the awareness of technical career paths and technical education within the community . In addition to IEEE, other professional organizations participated. Exhibits were displayed and tours conducted to great effect.

MEMBER PARTICIPATION IN ACTIVITIES/HONORS

1. Dr. T. Vaughn Blalock, East Tn. Member, serves on the Board of Directors for the Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair (SASEF).
2. Wayne Manges, Oak Ridge member, served as President of the SASEF in 1998.
3. Brian Swail, Oak Ridge Chair, continues vital service as Region 3 E-Mail Coordinator as well as stepping into the Tn. Council Chairmanship.
4. David Bower serves as the Chair for the WATTec (Tennessee’s Technology Conference) Sponsor’s Committee. The committee represents the forty sponsoring societies for WATTec, and is responsible for all the technical programs and related activities. David is also Chair for Chapter 113 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) in East Tennessee. He is Vice Chair for the IEEE Tennessee Council and East Tennessee Section PACE Chair. He is a manager for the Nashville Section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
5. Kathy Drevik, Oak Ridge Section Vice Chair, continues to be the editor of the IEEE Communicator, which is the newsletter sent to members of the East Tennessee and Oak Ridge sections of the IEEE.
6. Greg Weinstein, East Tn. Section Member, was elected president of the East Tennessee Computer Society.
7. Dr. Igor Alexeff, Oak Ridge Section member and IEEE Fellow, was elected to President of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society of the IEEE. He begins a four-year term of office that commences as Vice-President in 1998. He then advances to President in 1999and 2000, and finally holds the title of past president (advisor to the new President) in 2001.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

1. We helped fund the UTK IEEE Student Branch’s effort to attend Southeastcon .
2. We supported Technology Night (including financial support) in November 1997 at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.
3. We participated jointly with approximately 40 technical and professional societies to support the 25^th Tennessee Technology Conference (WATTec) in Knoxville, Tennessee in February. Details are listed in the February meeting description.
4. The IEEE sections provided awards and judged exhibits for the Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair this spring in Knoxville. IEEE gave four awards; the top award (a plaque and $ 100 savings bond) was awarded for the Best Exhibit in Electrical Engineering, "Copper Wire: A Garden Hose for Electronics," won by an 8^th grade student.
5. Through PACE, the IEEE sections are working to develop an initiative to promote the Professional Engineering License in Tennessee. The first effort is to develop a short videotape to interest engineers in pursuing the PE exam and to promote the value of the license to companies in this area, as well as to graduating seniors in electrical engineering. The second phase involves investigating delivery methods for the PE License Review Course using technologies such as interactive compressed video, videotape and computers. At the Tennessee Council meeting this past fall, a working committee consisting of various Tennessee section members and educators was formed.
6. Also through PACE, a project is being developed to make available a portable, easily moved exhibit to promote IEEE . The concept is to have a display which can be customized with different promotional "panels" that can be secured easily to the display and changed to meet specific needs for an exhibit. Space would be available to customize a portion of the exhibit for local IEEE section activities. The goals are to make it flexible, easy to use and low cost.

SUBMITTED BY:

Kathy Drevik
Oak Ridge Vice Chair
ET and OR newsletter editor
mailto:k.drevik@ieee.org
423-483-2267