January 28, 2000

Alabama Section

The Alabama Section has been meeting on a regular basis and is actively working toward developing broader participation in the section and increasing attendance at the monthly Section Meetings. The Technical Societies, which are made up of the Engineering Society, the Management Society, the Communication Society, the Computer Society, the Industry Application Society, and the Power Engineering Society, have also been holding periodic meetings. The Montgomery Sub-Section has been meeting regularly and the sub-committees are functioning and working toward goals to best serve the IEEE and the Membership of the Alabama Section.

Outside activities include the active participation of the section in the Joint Engineering Council of Birmingham. The Alabama Section sponsors an annual golf tournament that helps to publicize the IEEE and provide support to the section.

The Alabama Section Bylaws revisions are nearing completion. Changes are being made to bring the operation of the Alabama Section in line with the IEEE by mirroring its calendar. This goal will be complete by the beginning of January 2000.

Student night will be the first Monday in February with emphasis focused on the encouragement of the Student IEEE Branches from area Colleges and Universities. In participation with the Engineering Council of Birmingham, The Alabama Section of IEEE will present awards to its nominees for Engineer of the Year, Young Engineer, and The Distinguished Service Award.

The Section Guide for the Alabama Section and Montgomery Sub-Section serves as the operating guide for all activities. This guide includes the job description and time restraints associated with every job function. The Section Bylaws are a part of the Section Guide. The updating process is nearing completion with a release planned in early in 2000.

Budgets have been adjusted so that the fiscal year mirrors the calendar year. The Executive Committee has approved and released the new budget for year 2000 and it is posted on the web site.

The web site will be used for posting the updated Section Guide, new budgets, minutes of the executive committee meetings, The Significant Bits Newsletter, and other important information. Visit the Alabama Section Web Site at . There are no plans to post the updated Section Guide and Bylaws until early 2000.

Huntsville Section

The Huntsville Section changed to the calendar year basis in 1994 to simplify financial record keeping. The section was represented at both SoutheastCon and Sections Congress '99. Attendees found both of these meetings to be extremely useful.

This year the section reactivated the Aerospace and Electronics chapter and the student branch at Alabama A&M University. Next year we plan to try to form a couple more chapters. All of our current officers have agreed to run for a second term of office.

We will hold our annual Computer Fair in February and we are sponsoring AUTOTESTCON 2002. The kick off meeting for our GOLD program was held recently and about 50 people attended.

The section is in the process of changing from a hard copy newsletter to a web based newsletter to conserve funds and communicate with our members in a more timely manner. We have established a web page and a majordomo for this purpose, but unfortunately, we only have good e-mail addresses for about 600 of our 1200 members, and about 200 other interested people. We have written articles on how to obtain free e-mail and Internet accounts and we have pushed @ieee.org aliases. In the future we will only mail out hard copies to members without good e-mail addresses. We will also do a hard copy mailing in February to advertise our Computer Fair and in October to publish the slate of officers nominated and to call for petition candidates.

The Section has nominated 11 members and 3 alternates for Millennium Medals. A section history is being established as part of the millennium celebration and will be sending out a larger than normal hard copy millennium issue of the Section newsletter to all our members. The millennium medals will be supplemented with up to 50 certificates so that more of the members who have made significant contributions to the success of the section over the years will be recognized. The Section is also going to issue some Founders Plaques to those people formed the local IRE and AIEE sections, the first chairman of the IEEE section and the first chairman of the old Muscle Shoals subsection. So far one of these gentlemen has been located.

Steven Johnson has been notified that he has been made a fellow of the Institute as of 1/1/2000. A number of Section members have also been nominated for Senior Membership.

Mobile Section

The IEEE-Mobile Section held its first meeting of the year in September 1999 and new officers were elected, with Mr. Gregory R. Gayowsky elected chairman. A full calendar of events was adopted with the high point of the year to be the Mobile Area Council of Engineers Banquet and Awards ceremony to be held in February of 2000.

The Mobile Section has used the calendar year as the fiscal year for some time although officers serve based on the academic year.

Montgomery Subsection

This subsection has been meeting on a regular basis and with reasonable attendance. The Subsection is seeking ways to make the meetings more meaningful such as having a training session with course material and a good instructor. New ideas are welcome and will be appreciated.

Mississippi Section

No report submitted.

Northeast Mississippi Subsection

There has been recent interest in revitalizing this Subsection. Dr. Mark Halpin is to provide the name of a contact person who is involved in this effort.