This message is written as I just returned from a two-week trip to Asia where I attended the Asia-Pacific EMC Week, and the inauguration meeting of the newly formed EMC Shanghai Chapter.
     The Asia-Pacific EMC Week was held at the Beijing International Convention Center which is across the street from the famous Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium. In this Symposium, chaired by Professor Jinliang He, more than 300 papers were presented in a full four-day symposium program, and some 500 delegates from 43 countries attended the technical program and the joint Technical Exhibition on EMC and RF/Microwave Measurements and Instrumentation. The IEEE EMC Society is happy to have provided technical co-sponsorship of this Symposium that in just a few years has achieved a remarkable growth in becoming one of the major EMC international conferences in the world. Congratulations to the Symposium President, Jinliang He, the General Chair, Erping Li, and the organizing committee for a wonderful, high quality event! I am sure that much more will be reported on this Symposium in a following Newsletter issue.
     While in Beijing, I was pleased to attend the IEEE-Chinese Experts’ Meeting on EMC Technical Exchange & Cooperation organized by the Safety & EMC editorial office. During the dinner meeting I provided a presentation on the IEEE EMC Society, and I had the chance to meet EMC engineers from China. The meeting was productive and I am sure that the EMC profession will benefit from improved communication with EMC engineers in China.

Stuck in Asia by a Volcanic Ash Cloud

Composite map of the volcanic ash cloud spanning 14–25 April 2010.

Originally, my trip to Asia was intended to last a week according to a very tight schedule, but an extremely unpredictable natural event upset my plans as well as those of all the Europeans attending the AP-EMC Week. None of us were able to fly back home due to the shutdown of the northern Europe airspace caused by the ash cloud generated by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. When I initially heard about this eruption, which began on April 14, and the possible impact on the air traffic over the following days, I was pretty confident that I would have made it home to Italy. Iceland lies on the mid-Atlantic ridge, in a very remote part of the globe, so far away from Italy, that I was underestimating the exceptional disruption that it caused. So, after a very productive week, I was stuck in Asia, in the hands of fortune and weather conditions, luckily with some Italian colleagues and gracious Chinese hosts. It was extremely frustrating waiting and not knowing when I would be able to fly back home. I made it one week later than expected after rerouting my schedule through Southeastern Asia.

Francesca Maradei provides a welcome message on behalf of the IEEE EMC Society during the opening Session of the AP-EMC Week in Beijing.

Chapter Developments & Outreach Activity
Congratulations to the newly formed IEEE EMC Chapter in Nigeria! The effective date of this chapter formation is March 17, 2010. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Chapter Chair, Tunde Salihu, for his effort in leading the formation of our second chapter in Africa, and the first one affiliated with the EMC Society exclusively.

A group photo was taken in Shanghai following the Chapter inauguration meeting. Pictured from left are Franz Schlagenhaufer, Esa Korhonen, Francesca Maradei, Marcello D’Amore, Hongmei Fan and Mauro Feliziani.

     I have just returned from China where I had the privilege of attending the inauguration meeting of the newly formed IEEE EMC Shanghai Chapter. The inauguration meeting was held on April 17, 2010, at Shanghai University Yanchang Campus, and was attended by about 20 EMC professionals. It was very challenging for me to arrive at the meeting on time to provide a presentation on the EMC Society and take part in the red ribbon-cutting ceremony after a headlong fall! From the photo below, you can see I arrived at the meeting in a wheelchair. Special thanks go to my Italian colleagues Marcello D’Amore, Mauro Feliziani and Alessio Tamburrano for their tremendous support. Without their help, it would have never been possible for me to attend. See page 16 of this Newsletter for a report on this inauguration meeting.
     As part of the global outreach activity, I also visited the IEEE EMC Chicago Chapter. The meeting was held on March 9, 2010 at the Illinois Institute of Technology, at their Rice Campus in suburban Wheaton, Illinois directly in the heart of the Illinois high tech corridor. More than 40 attendees participated in the meeting that was jointly organized with the Chicago branch of Women in Engineering.

     While in San Diego for the March Board of Directors meeting, the IEEE EMC Society sponsored a dinner meeting with the IEEE San Diego EMC Chapter and Section. The meeting was held at the Grande Colonial Hotel in La Jolla, California on March 11, 2010. Former EMC Society Distinguished Lecturer Alistair Duffy was the speaker on the topic of communication cables.

Francesca Maradei having dinner with friends of the Chicago Chapter, including (from left) Ray Klouda, Bob Hofmann and Jack Black.	Francesca Maradei giving a technical presentation on power distribution network modeling at the Chicago Chapter meeting on March 9, 2010.

 
Looking Forward to Fort Lauderdale in July
Time flies and the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on EMC is just around the corner. The annual IEEE EMC Symposium is the best place for remaining technically current, and for networking both professionally and socially. A full week symposium provides a wide offering which includes workshops, tutorials, technical sessions, meeting, experiments, demonstrations, a technical exhibition, and the Global EMC University program. You are encouraged to join your engineering colleagues at this great event. Visit www.emc2010.org for more information and plan to attend!

Board of Directors Meetings
The first EMC Society Board of Directors (BoD) meeting in 2010 was held in the beautiful city of La Jolla in Southern California on March 12. A brief summary of the most important issues addressed during this meeting follows.

• As a result of the hard work done by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on the Technical Committee (TC) reorganization, the Board approved the dissolution of technical committees TC-7 (Non-sinusoidal Fields) and TC-8 (Product Safety). The motivation for disbanding the two TCs was due to the overlap of TC-7 with TC-5 (High Power Electromagnetics), and TC-8 with the Product Safety Society, as well as to the lack of papers on/interest in these topics at the EMC Society Symposia. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people over the years that served on these TCs.
  
• The Board of Directors approved the EMC Society award recipients for 2010. The awards will be announced during the Awards Luncheon on July 29, 2010 held during the EMC Symposium in Fort Lauderdale. Please, mark this date on your calendar!
  
• Representatives from three Chapters presented their proposals for hosting the 2014 IEEE EMC Symposium. They are Research Triangle Park, Washington DC and Ottawa (Canada). The Board will vote on the Chapter and venue assignment for 2014 at its next meeting in Fort Lauderdale.

     The next EMC Society Board of Directors meeting is scheduled on July 25 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm), during the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Fort Lauderdale. Remember, all meetings of the EMC Society BoD are open. Any members who want to attend will be most welcome. The schedule of the BoD meeting is posted on the website at https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/conferences.html, and in the Calendar section of the Newsletter.

Call for Volunteers
Our Society has had the fortune over the years to benefit from the many fine volunteers who have contributed unselfishly of their time and talent. To keep up the pace, however, we need a continuous influx of new talent to carry on as vacancies occur and to support new areas of interest. Please, give serious consideration to becoming involved in our broad and challenging goals and objectives. If your interests and skills are focused on specific Society functions, please contact the appropriate Vice-President or Committee Chair. The full list of committees can be found on our website at https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/directors.html.     EMC