Janet O’Neil, Editor, enjoyed meeting Professor Shuichi Nitta,
Chairman of EMC ‘99 Tokyo in Japan recently.
One of the things I enjoy most about my job is getting out and about. I enjoy traveling to various EMC conferences and seminars in the US and abroad to meet new EMC engineers and to learn what they doing to further EMC engineering. The common denominator I find at every conference, no matter the location or the topic, is the enthusiasm exhibited by EMC engineers for their work. EMC may be frustrating, but more often it’s a challenge. It’s the challenge and the desire to learn more that prompts the organization of many conferences and consequently, the presentation of many great papers.
That said, in April I attended the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE’s) EMC TopTec in Novi, Michigan. This conference attracted a largely local group of EMC engineers, some 85% of whom do not attend the annual IEEE EMC Symposia. This was their opportunity to learn more about automotive EMC and they eagerly took advantage of the situation. Several EMC Society members, including Poul Andersen of DaimlerChrysler, are also members of the SAE and they were very active in putting together the diverse technical program. As automobiles become increasingly more computerized, the need for good EMC design and test practices increases as well. Cars just aren’t what they used to be!
I also managed to take in EMC ’99 Tokyo this past May. Over 400 people attended this conference from 19 countries. There were 196 general papers and 20 invited papers. This issue of the EMC Society Newsletter includes many photos from the conference, details of the EMC Society Board of Directors meeting held at the conference (see page 25), and abstracts from several of the papers presented at the conference (see page 32). From your review of this material, I’m sure you’ll agree this was a top-notch EMC conference.
In June, I also happened to attend the 1999 Mode-Stirred Chamber, Anechoic Chamber, and OATS Users meeting in Northbrook, Illinois. Like the conference in Japan, this event attracted a very international group of EMC engineers. However, unlike the conference in Japan, the papers presented at this meeting were very specialized. It was also a smaller, high intensity group, which led to tremendous, on-going interaction between the attendees and the presenters. A few photos from this Users meeting are included herein.
At the 1999 Mode-Stirred Chamber, Anechoic Chamber and
OATS Users Meeting in Northbrook, Illinois, several “movers and shakers”
convened, including Mike Hatfield (L) of the Naval Surface Warfare
Center in Dahlgren, Virginia, and Olof Lundun of FOA in Sweden.
Mr. Lundun received the “Best Paper Award” at the conference.
Lunches during the Users Meeting provided an opportunity
for the international
attendees to get to know one another. (L-R) Luk Arnaut of the National Physical
Laboratory in the United Kingdom used his lunch hour to meet Sam Newman of
Micro Sales and John Ladbury of NIST.
At the Users Meeting dinner party, Gus Freyer (L) of the
Northeast Consortium for
Engineering Education shared his expertise in EMC with Dan Horjus of
Underwriters Laboratories in Camas, Washington.
The Users Meeting concluded with an impromptu, light-hearted
“awards”
presentation. Receiving hat awards from UL were (L-R) Kevin Goldsmith
of the Defense Science and Technology Organization in Australia. He received
the award for “coming the farthest” to attend the meeting. Paolo Corona with
the Naval University of Naples in Italy received the award for “asking the most
questions” during the meeting and Olof Lundun of the FOA received an award
to commemorate his “best paper”.
The Users Meeting in Northbrook included a tour of the ten
meter chamber at
Underwriters Laboratories. UL’s John Niklewicz (in suspenders) presented a
paper at the conference and then conducted a tour of the chamber.
Of course, increasing the awareness and study of EMC just doesn’t “happen.” It takes enthusiastic, go-getters to organize EMC conferences and dedicated, talented engineers to write and present the papers. One such go-getter is Professor Shuichi Nitta, of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and Chairman of EMC ’99 Tokyo, whom I had the pleasure to meet in Japan. One such dedicated, talented EMC engineer is Bob Dockey of Hewlett Packard in Vancouver, Washington who was recognized by the Academy of Electrical Engineering of the University of Missouri-Rolla for his outstanding contributions to the profession of electrical engineering and for leadership in his community and profession. Bob is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Rolla class of 1970. He is also a Distinguished Lecturer of the EMC Society. As a member of the Seattle EMC chapter, I was fortunate to hear Bob speak to the chapter last year.
GE Medical Systems in Milwaukee turned up in force at the
Users Meeting.
(L-R) Keith Griffiths, Bruce Fiorani and Jerry Itzenheiser appreciated hearing
the papers presented by EMC experts.
Bob Dockey of Hewlett-Packard in Vancouver, Washington (left)
was honored recently by the University of Missouri-Rolla,
Academy of Electrical Engineering. He was joined at the April
presentation ceremony in Rolla by Professor Todd Hubing.
For the ultimate “out and about” experience, nothing beats the annual IEEE EMC Symposia! The 1999 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility in Seattle will be featured in the next issue of the EMC Society Newsletter. Check it out! Also, be sure to put the 2000 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility in Washington DC on your calendar for next year. The dates are August 21-25, 2000. See you there!