Maqsood Mohd,
Associate Editor
I hope everybody had a bug-less Y2K beginning. Here at the Education and Student Activities Committee we have been busy putting together some wonderful activities for the 2000 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Washington, DC. Also, just before the holidays, two EMC-S representatives (Andy Drozd and myself) attended a WEB-Education Seminar in the Washington, DC area. The attendees included education chairs or their associates from various Societies of the IEEE. I had the opportunity to talk to a few of them, including the representatives from the Antennas and Propagation and Microwave Theory and Techniques Societies. I must congratulate you, the members of the EMC-S, that your Board of Directors places high value on educational activities (and rightfully so). This is evident in the high level of funds they allocate for various activities of this Committee. They always are willing to support new and innovative ideas if it is going to bear better fruit than what we are accomplishing now. The other sister societies are not as lucky as we are in our EMC-S. Also, the educational activities (such as fundamental tutorials, experiment demos, student paper contest, and now student design contest) that we do at the annual symposia are by far more than any other IEEE Society does for its membership. I learnt this because each Society representative had to give a presentation about the current activities and future needs for their membership. Also, some other Society education Chairs or their representatives asked me during breaks how we are doing so many activities. There is one area however, that we lack seriously — that is in educational material such as video tapes, CDs, etc. We have a plan to improve this area. We are considering all options including dissemination through the World Wide Web. This is the main reason why we attended that workshop. If you have any inputs, suggestions, comments, or even wish to take on this challenge, please contact me at (850) 729-6115 or send me an email at mohammed@teas.eglin.af.mil. If you want to see what happened at the web-education workshop you can view some of the highlights at https:// www.ieee.org/organizations/eab/webed-home.htm. They will update the site periodically, so visit it again if you need to find out more.
We have planned some exciting activities during this symposium. In the Monday Tutorial sessions, we have some outstanding speakers such as Professor VanDoren, Clayton Paul, and Henry Ott. So don’t miss this exciting session and sharpen up your skills in the fundamentals. In the Experiments area, we have some unique experiments planned similar to last year. If you want to participate in this activity please contact Andy Drozd who is leading this activity (he is also the vice chair of Education and Student Activities Committee) at andro1@aol.com. We are planning a NARTE preparation workshop on Monday and the exam on Friday. Professor Whalen and Dave Case lead this activity. In the student activity area, we have excellent participation in the Student Paper Contest this year. An additional activity that we have introduced this year is the Student Design Contest. This idea was introduced to us by TC-7. We have struggled with the idea for a while and this will be our pilot year for this activity. This year will be a learning year for us. We may not be able to do everything just perfectly this year; we need help, support, and understanding from every one of our EMC-S members. Ahmad Fallah is leading this activity. He can be contacted through email at afallah@ phoeintl.com. Some highlights of the competition are included in this article. Don’t hesitate to provide some healthy feedback on this activity to Ahmad or to me.
These are some of the highlights provided as general awareness to the membership of the EMC-S. Student participants and their sponsors may obtain the detailed version from Ahmad Fallah at afallah@phoeintl.com or phone 701-277-6322. The last day to request a kit was February 18, 2000. Entries must be received prior to May 31, 2000. If the contest interests you and you did not hear about it before the deadline to request a kit, please consider participating next year. Read on to learn what you will need to do and start thinking about your entry for the 2001 symposium now!
The IEEE Student Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Design Compeition is a student competition sponsored by the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society (EMC-S), and is conducted by the Education and Student Activities Committee. The goal of this competition is to provide the Electrical and Computer Engineering students who are interested in the field of EMC an opportunity to exercise their knowledge and to gain hands-on experience.
The objective is to develop the best solution to a standardized broadband electromagnetic interference (EMI) problem while maintaining the capability to perform required electronic functions. A standard kit containing the required components for the broadband EMI circuit will be employed.
The problem involves the design, construction, evaluation, and documentation of the EMI mitigation techniques for a prescribed electronic circuit. A diagram for a simple electronic circuit and a standardized kit containing electronic components are provided with each “design kit.” The experimental evaluation will involve testing the completed circuit by measuring representative EMI quantities using simple laboratory techniques and equipment.
The competition is open to all undergraduate and first-year graduate students in an EE curriculum. All participants must have a faculty as a sponsor who will attest to their qualification. Teams are limited to three members, however, only one member will be invited to attend the EMC symposium if that entry is deemed to be the winner. The name of the principle author shall appear first in the author list of the final report. Design contestants shall provide the reviewing committee with the assembled and tested circuit board, all of the remaining parts from the kit, and a report containing all measurement results along with a description of how the solution was achieved.
The review committee will select three finalists during the first round by reviewing the measurement results provided by the competitors, and by making measurements on the actual design entries using a standard means of measurement technique. The finalist entries will be invited by the pre-screening committee to participate in the final competition to be held during the IEEE International Symposium on EMC. An all-expense-paid trip to the location of the EMC symposium will be a part of the prize for the top three design entries.
Proper packaging and delivery of the design entries are the responsibility of the contestants. The EMC-S Education Committee can not assume responsibility for entries that may be damaged or delayed during transportation. Participants should submit their best design (i.e., lowest emission levels) at the least cost. The committee shall determine the winning entry based on criteria listed in the descriptions provided herein. Adherence to the guidelines listed in this document is a necessary condition for qualification.
The variety and depth of activities that the Education and Student Activities Committee of the EMC-S undertakes is envy of other Societies in the IEEE. By the way, this just doesn’t happen by chance. We are fortunate to have volunteers who are dedicated to excelling in their tasks and who are enthusiastic about what they do. I would like to express my personal thanks and appreciation for each of these volunteers who tirelessly work throughout the year to bring the very best in EMC education materials, workshops, demonstrations, and tutorials at every symposium and to all the members of the EMC profession throughout the year. When you email them, contact them, or see them during a symposium, please express your appreciation for volunteering their valuable time for the EMC-S and the Education and Student Activities Committee.