Society Board meets in Dallas
On Sunday October 18th 16 of your Society volunteers showed
up at the Dallas Airport to make the decisions that keep Conferences
and Publications running smoothly. In addition, Bill Chen conference
called from Singapore and Wulf Knaussenberger from New Zealand.
Ralph Russell, Membership and Chapter Development, reported that
as of September 1998 the membership of CPMT was up to 3825. This
was a gain of 3.2% over 1997 and 9.6% from our low point in 1996.
Ralph discussed the many processes that helped encourage members
and volunteers to remain active: building local chapters, renewal
letters of appreciation, contacting authors and presenters at
our meetings that are not yet members, and making the conference
fee differential as part of the Society dues.
Al Puttlitz, VP Education, reported on the Motorola Graduate student
Fellowship. There were 11 candidate presentations with the winner
coming from Georgia Tech. To make the logistics easier in the
future reviews the field will be kept smaller. The Seattle ECTC
also produced $97,000 for the Society from 10 short courses with
360 attendees.
Paul Wesling, VP Publications, reported on the strong trend of
IEEE to embrace electronics. In time all the core library collections
will be electronic. Next year our society may consider putting
the proceedings of both Semitherm and ECTC on the same CD-ROM
in order to better serve our members.
Jim Morris, VP Conferences, discussed the general impression that
there were too many Packaging meetings. We have been jointly sponsoring
and merging workshops and conferences to keep some downward pressure
on the number. He complimented those conferences that alternate
between an Asian, European and North American venue; our membership
is supporting these meetings particularly well. On the other hand,
IEMT-USA is stabilizing at a smaller attendance than the Board
guesses would best serve the Society. Many options were discussed
for tipping the balance toward growth.
Dennis Olsen, former Society President, reported on the upcoming
50th anniversary celebration for CPMT. He successfully lead a
motion for the IEEE History Division to write the history of our
technologies and make it available to our members (CD-ROM or pamphlet).
A list of long-standing activists in our field must be quickly
made and interviews held and recorded. If you are a walking historian
or know someone who is, please contact Dennis Olsen (1 602 413
5673).
Rao Tummala, Technical VP, reviewed the decisions made by the
TC chairs which resulted in realignment of all the Technical Committees.
He suggested that each TC must be rededicated each year in case
volunteers get preoccupied and must be replaced. He also suggested
that CPMT as a policy offer each volunteer a Society letter to
their Management underlying the importance of their particular
activities for the health of the profession. Rao also suggested
that a TC handbook be establish and revised each year allowing
the members and activity participants to understand the organization
and see the volunteers that bring them value. There was some discussion
on whether a "bio TC" was needed.
There was much discussion on how the CPMT must enhance our formal
education services since many companies are becoming virtual,
only hiring consultant teams when then have a matching task to
do. If the companies no longer spend 5% of their revenue on employee
education, than the consultants must educate themselves many ways
including through CPMT.
Bill Chen reported on the South Asia meetings. The Globatronics
meeting was very busy and quit successful. The ECPT meeting had
developed a great program and was trying to attract a good turn
out despite the economic uncertainties in the region. Paul Wesling
announced that Professor Gary May of Georgia Tech had won the
CPMT educational development grant through the proposal contest
at the ECTC. In addition a thermal design course with Prof Bar-Cohen
of Minnesota as the contact also is receiving CPMT support.
Ragen Chanchani, Chair of Materials TC, agreed to review all materials
databases including the Purdue CINDAS and Maryland’s CALCE
in order to see if CPMT could provide some missing elements.
Merrill Palmer, treasurer, reported on the financial status of
the Society. Due to the ongoing stock market drubbing, our nest
egg was shrinking. We also had purposely budgeted more expenses
than revenue for the next year in order to achieve long wanted
goals: increase membership by 5%, reorganize technical committees,
enhance our web site, provide the IEEE on-line publication to
members free (OPeRA), pay for special new opportunity keynote
speakers at the upcoming ECTC.
Pictures: James Billigmeier and Merrill Palmer raise point
Dennis Olsen, Past President, reports on plans for 50th anniversary celebration for our society
Rao Tummala, Technical Vice President, reports on rejuvenation of Technical Committees
Rajen Chanchani (Materials Chair), Paul Wesling (VP Publications), and Al Puttlitz (VP Education)
Tony Mak, Chair TC-9 Thermal Management & Thermomechanical Design, reports to Board