An ancient proverb says: "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Replace the word "fish" in the proverb with EMC and that's exactly what the Education and Student Activities Committee (ESAC) strives to achieve.

An ancient proverb says: "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Replace the word "fish" in the proverb with EMC and that's exactly what the Education and Student Activities Committee (ESAC) strives to achieve. The ESAC has taken this to heart and implements many educational opportunities for people to get educated about EMC. In the previous issues you have read about various activities the ESAC undertakes. Here, I would like to present to you one of the hallmark activities of ESAC that has provided immense return on investment (ROI). This program is the University Grant Award. The idea was tried and experimented with great success in the Santa Clara Chapter by then Chair John Howard. His Chapter provided a grant to the local university to start an EMC course. It was so successful that the idea was embraced by the ESAC of the EMC Society a couple of years later. Now, John Howard is the Chair of the University Grant Subcommittee and leads this effort for the ESAC. The University Grant program provides "seed" money to the higher educational institutions to start (and continue at least once a year) offering an EMC course. The institution is selected based upon its proposal. The Award is open to any institution of higher learning in the world that does not already offer a course in EMC. The details of when to submit a proposal and where to mail it can be found on our Society's website (www.emcs.org). The award is 40dB$ (US$10,000). The University Grant has been in existence for about a decade. During the last three years we have collected information about the use and benefit of the Grant from the past recipients and now any institution that gets the Award has to submit a report at the end of one year. In the recent past (1999), the recipient of this award was the University of Michigan at Dearborn. The instructor, Mr. Mark Steffka, has provided the cover story of this Newsletter for your information. A significant factor in the UM at Dearborn's success in both getting the Award and running a successful course is the synergistic use of the ESAC award money with the local industrial money and talent. If you are thinking about applying for the University Grant Award, your chances of success will become higher if you have support and participation from your local businesses and industry. The information in Mr. Steffka's article is a good guideline for those who are thinking of starting an EMC course and for others it provides how the Grant money can be put to good use and what can be achieved if done properly. Even in the austere times of today, the EMC Society Board of Directors has determined to continue the 40dB$ Grant to seed and feed the future of our Society. In later issues of this Newsletter, other similar experiences will be highlighted. If you have any questions and want to know more details about Mr. Steffka's course offering, I am sure he will be delighted to share information with you. EMC