In this issue, we review some of the anniversary activities that took place this year in recognition of the 125th Anniversary of the IEEE. You’ve most likely noticed the anniversary logo that’s been on the cover of each issue of this Newsletter in 2009. The tag line says it all: Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future. When you think about it, each engineering discovery or patent filed propels us into the future and modernizes how we live, communicate, travel, work, etc.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF IEEE |
| EMC Society photographer Ken Wyatt created the cover of the Summer 2009 issue of the EMC Newsletter using images from the IEEE history files. Do you know what this “unidentified apparatus” could be? Please help us identify this image and solve the riddle! |
You’ll find examples of engineering the future in several articles featured in this issue. You can read about the newly elected Fellows of the IEEE EMC Society starting on page 30 in Bill Duff’s Personality Profile column. Dr. Jim Knighten, Dr. Bill Radasky, and Dr. Omar Ramahi have certainly contributed to the advancement of our profession during their respective careers. You may have come across these names during your career. Now you can read about them and appreciate their contributions to engineering the future.
Of course, Dan Hoolihan’s History column that starts on page 33 reminds us about the legacy of the EMC Society and the many individuals that shaped the course of this organization. When you read Dan’s article, I trust you will think about how far we’ve come when you learn how a “Woman’s Voice Explodes Missile.” Sometimes I wish I had that power! In all seriousness, Dan’s column has regularly featured the most referenced IEEE Transactions on EMC papers in the 50 year history of the EMC Society. This issue features the ninth most referenced paper. Interestingly, it is by David A. Hill of NIST, who happens to have also been the author of the eighth most referenced paper and the primary author on the seventh most referenced paper. He surely is an example of engineering the future.
You’ll find a real treat in the article on page 62 written by a high school student, Justine Kim, on her research experience in RF engineering. She wrote the article hoping to inspire other high school girls to become interested in the field of RF engineering. I know she inspired me with her straight forward writing that conveyed not only her scientific research, but her emotions as she undertook her research, competed in a national and international scientific engineering fair, and ultimately succeeded beyond her dreams. Thank you to her father, Professor Joungho Kim,
a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE EMC Society, for sending this article to the Newsletter,
and for his encouragement of his daughter’s research.
I sense a tremendous contribution to engineering the future from Justine Kim.
Back to the here and now, “Smart Grid” is the buzz word for a current engineering challenge and the focus of major standards development being undertaken by the IEEE and the IEC as well as by other organizations worldwide. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 gives the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) the primary responsibility to coordinate the development of an interoperability framework that includes protocols and standards identified as crucial for the smart grid. Don Heirman in his Standards Activity column on page 67 lays the framework for the importance of the smart grid while guest author Jerry Ramie explains the importance of this “modernization of the electricity delivery system so that it monitors, protects and automatically optimizes the operation of its interconnected elements.” Talk about engineering the future!
On the cover of this issue, EMC Society Photographer Ken Wyatt has assembled photos of some historical engineering inventions. Can you name them? They are images courtesy of the IEEE history files and all could be identified – except one! Clockwise, starting from the upper-right, you’ll find: 1. An early Lee De Forest triode radio tube, 2. An unidentified apparatus, 3. Two wet cells and a light bulb, and 4. The first wireless set used by the U.S. Signal Corps (November 1906). Surely when these new items were developed, they were considered revolutionary. Now, over 100 years later, the wireless set in particular is a dinosaur compared to the wireless mobile devices we all carry today. If you can name the unidentified apparatus, you will get a special prize at next year’s EMC Society Awards Luncheon!
Throughout this issue, you will find examples of engineering the future as noted above, and in the other articles by President Joffe, Chapter Chatter, EMCABS, Design Tips, and Practical Papers (note one paper talks about grounding and medical systems, this is one more example of how engineering impacts another facet of our daily lives – healthcare).
Of course, the EMC Society, as a “family” of electromagnetic compatibility engineers, had to officially celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the IEEE. You can read about the celebration on page 72. In the historic city of Philadelphia, in a museum built to honor one of the leading engineers of our time - Benjamin Franklin, members of the IEEE EMC Society Board of Directors, Founders of the Society, IEEE luminaries, members of the Philadelphia EMC Chapter, and others celebrated the 125th Anniversary. Thank you to Mike Violette for contributing the article on the anniversary festivities and to Graham Kilshaw for leading the organization of this memorable event.
I hope you enjoy this issue!
Janet O'Neil
Editor-in-Chief
EMC
