IEEE East Tennessee Section Blog

Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair 2009

2009-04-17T16:59:00.001-05:00

The 57th annual Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair (SASEF) was held at the University of Tennessee April 7-9, 2009. Section Vice Chair Martin Bauer judged the contestants and made the following IEEE Special Awards for he best demonstrations of electrical or electronics design or computer science.

$50 prize for twoJunior Division students:
JCPS-01 "The Shocking Truth About Memory", Caroline Wallace, from Maryville School
(Junior Computer Science )
JEEM-14 "Let Go My Lego! Robot", Kyle Wehrenberg from Episcopal School of Knoxville
(Junior Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical)
A $100 prize for one Senior Division student:
SCPS-01 "Data Mining and Visualization: Predicting the Next Epidemic", Rowan Chakoumakos, Oak Ridge High School
(Senior Computer Science), also* *Senior Grand Reserve Champion (2nd place in senior division)

Science Fair Judges Needed

2009-04-17T08:54:00.002-05:00

Volunteers are needed to serve as judges in the Loudon County Science Fair to be held on Tuesday, May 12th from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the Philadelphia Elementary School. If you are interested, please contact Greg Mills at 576-0951 (millsga@ornl.gov).

Tennessee TSA State Conference Needs Volunteers

2009-03-30T15:18:00.002-05:00

Judges are needed for the TSA State Conference to be held in Pigeon Forge April 6 & 7, 2009. This conference brings middle and high school students from all over Tennessee to compete in various events. All judges receive free breakfast and lunch.

Learn more on the Section website.

CSIIRW09 April 13–15 2009 at ORNL and UTK

2009-03-12T20:10:00.001-05:00

ORNL Computational Sciences and Engineering Division is hosting the 5th Annual Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Workshop at ORNL on April 13-15 2009. The workshop is open to the public (registration is $149) which includes a reception, banquet and speaker at the Oak Ridge Doubletree Hotel. We have an outstanding list of ten keynote speakers from Industry, Government and Academia that will be giving presentations over those three days. Please see www.csiir.ornl.gov/csiirw for details.

Contact:
Frederick T. Sheldon, Ph.D.
Computational Sciences and Engineering Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
PO Box 2008, MS 6418, 1 Bethel Valley Rd
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6418
576-1339 Office

UT Student Branch Excels at SoutheastCon

2009-03-08T18:24:00.003-05:00

The UT IEEE Robotics Team placed 2nd in the 2009 SoutheastCon Robotics Competition held in Atlanta March 6-8. Forty-four teams competed. This is the first time that UT has placed in several years, and UT's robotics team was just restarted this past year after a multi-year hiatus. The final scores are available at: http://new.gt-ieee.org/scores.php. You can view video from UT's Final Round at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKbZQwHCgig.

Additionally, the IEEE Ethics team placed 2nd out of 11 teams.

Well done! Congratulations.

Career Transition Assistance Fair 3/10/2009

2009-03-02T15:56:00.003-05:00

Innovation Valley Inc., Knox County, the City of Knoxville and the Knoxville Chamber have partnered to provide the community with a Career Transition Assistance Fair on March 10 from noon to 7Pm in the Jacobs Building at Chilhowee Park in Knoxville.

The purpose of this event is to provide support and information to individuals living in East Tennessee who are unemployed or underemployed. The Fair will consist of three different components.

To learn more visit their www.careertransitionfair.com.

2009 SASEF Seeking Judges

2009-02-12T19:17:00.001-05:00

Each year, the Southern Appalachian Science & Engineering Fair needs more than 100 category and special award judges. In the past, scientists, engineers and teachers in and around Knoxville have participated. The 57th SASEF will be held at UT April 6 - 9, 2009.

If you would be interested in being a judge, please go to the SASEF page on the Section website where you will find the Judges Form. The deadline for submitting Judge Forms in Feb. 20th. Judging will take place on April 7th.

IEEE ET Section to Sponsor First Lego League Team(s)

2009-02-12T18:52:00.003-05:00

The Section has approved the sponsorship of one or two First Lego League teams in 2009. The Section is looking for members who would be interested in being coaches or mentors for middle school students who join the team(s). Team registration begins on May 4, 2009. The 2009 challenge will be released in September. The Tennessee competition is usually the first week in December at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. Learn more about First Lego League. Also visit the Tennessee First Lego League to see what teams have participated in Tennessee.

This is a K-12 outreach project in keeping with IEEE's Education Activities goal of encouraging pre-college kids interest in pursuing science and engineering careers.

If you are interested, please complete the Lego League Questionnaire.

Washington Career Fly-In

2009-01-08T13:26:00.002-05:00

IEEE-USA will be holding its 5th annual Washington Career Fly-In on March 23 and 24. All IEEE members in the United States are invited to join us on Capitol Hill to discuss high-skill immigration with your members of Congress.

For nearly a decade, IEEE-USA has been the strongest voice in Washington pushing for reforms to our skill-based immigration system. Over the past two years the debate about high-skill immigration reform shifted dramatically in our favor. But now we face a new Congress with an unusually large number of new members. These new members have probably never heard of an H-1B visa, never given any thought to high-skill immigration and likely don’t know what IEEE is. This is your opportunity to tell them.

Studies have shown that the single best way to influence a member of Congress is to meet with them in person. The Career Fly-In gives IEEE members an easy way to ensure that your concerns and opinions are heard by your elected leaders.

Fly-In participants will meet on the afternoon of March 23rd for a complete briefing on skill-based immigration policy and to learn how to meet with members of Congress (hint: it is easy). On March 24th, participants will spend the day on Capitol Hill meeting with their legislators. IEEE-USA will arrange all meetings. All you have to do is hold them.

All IEEE members in the United States are welcome and encouraged to attend. Students, retired members and even IEEE members who are not American citizens are needed.

In 2009, IEEE-USA will be trying to convince Congress to adopt our “Green cards not Guest workers” program by expanding access to green cards for immigrants who earn a masters or PhD from an American university. Our goal is to shift the focus of American immigration policy away from short-term work visas towards permanent green cards, especially for international students.

More information on IEEE-USA immigration proposals can be found here: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/immigration/.

To learn more about the IEEE-USA Career Fly-In and to register for the event, visit us at http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/careerflyin.

Thank you, and I hope to see you in March.

Russell T. Harrison
Senior Legislative Representative - Grassroots Affairs
IEEE-USA
(202) 530-8326

Engineer's Week STEM Outreach Challenge

2008-11-30T15:23:00.005-05:00

Can engineers around the world volunteer one million hours of their time to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education from now through December 2009? Will Knox County Area (Knox and adjoining counties) engineers and scientists participate? That's what Engineers Week and Vols4STEM want to find out.

To quantify Engineers Week's global outreach to support STEM education, Engineers Week and NSPE have launched a "One Million Hours Initiative" and need your help. At http://www.eweek.org/ , engineers can log the volunteer hours they've contributed to outreach activities.

Examples of activities include the following:

Visit a classroom
Participate in an extracurricular or community activity (the STEM Resource Guide lists many such activities in Knox County)
Volunteer as a moderator, timekeeper, scorekeeper, or judge at the Tennessee Science Bowl
Volunteer to judge at the Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair
Volunteer for the National Engineers Week Future City Competition
Host a Design Squad event
Introduce a "Girl to Engineering"
Help with EWeek's National Family Day
Attend or volunteer at a career fair
Participating in programs like MATHCOUNTS , JETS , robotics competitions, or any other student design or engineering-related competitions.

Now through December 31, 2009, be sure to log in and track your hours at http://www.eweek.org/ .

This website sports a new, improved easy-to-use volunteer sign-up form and has a nifty one-minute video clip showing some of last year's festivities. Check it out!

Volunteer for the 2009 Tennessee Science Bowl

2008-11-20T19:49:00.002-05:00

The 2009 Tennessee Science Bowl is coming up, and we want your help to make this year’s event the best ever! Like last year, the next Tennessee Science Bowl will be held at the Hardin Valley campus of Pellissippi State Technical Community College (PSTCC). The event date is Saturday, February 21. Please check your calendar now and if possible, reserve that day for us! We want you!

Here are essential particulars as you contemplate the possibility:

Date of the event: Saturday, February 21, 2009

Location: Hardin Valley campus of PSTCC (a map is available on the Science Bowl website)

A volunteer sign-up form and other useful details about the 2009 Tennessee Science Bowl are on the event’s website at http://www.orau.gov/sciencebowl/

We have not yet determined the date for the volunteer training session, but Thursday, February 5 or Tuesday February 10 are good possibilities. We will let you know the date, time and place for the volunteer training session as soon as possible.

How Engineers Make a World of Difference

2008-11-19T19:51:00.001-05:00

WASHINGTON (18 November 2008) -- The winning entry in the 2008 IEEE-USA "How Engineers Make a World of Difference" Online Engineering Video Scholarship Competition can be seen on the PBS "Design Squad" Web site at http://pbskids.org/designsquad/special/ieee/ieee.html.

Engineering Undergraduates Ben Toler and Emile Frey of Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La., split the IEEE-USA competition's $2,500 first prize. Their entry was deemed most effective in reinforcing for an 11-to-13-year-old audience how engineers improve the quality of life and how engineering can be a creative and rewarding career.

With two teams of high-school students competing to solve a new engineering challenge each week, "Design Squad" was created by PBS to reach the same 11-to-13-year-old audience. The program is in its third season on PBS with the IEEE continuing funding support.

Mentors for Community College Scholarships Awards

2008-11-04T15:57:00.003-05:00

The knoxAchieves Board of Directors is looking for volunteer mentors for our new community college tuition-assistance program. knoxAchieves will award 500 tuition-assistance scholarships to members of the Class of 2009 who want to attend either Pellissippi, Roane or Walters State Community College. We are looking for mentors to help our public high school seniors work through the college application process.

What does it mean to be a mentor?

Each mentor will be assigned to a County high school and will work as part of the school's knoxAchieves team. Each school will have a team leader to provide support to individual mentors.

Each mentor will be assigned 3-5 students to shepherd through the college application process.

Mentors will attend a training session in early December that will outline the college application process, define the mentor's specific responsibilities and provide general information about working with students.

Mentors will work with their assigned students to help them meet the deadlines and complete the paperwork required for ACT testing, the federal financial aid application (FAFSA)*, college application and class enrollment.

The minimum time commitment for being a knoxAchieves mentor is January through December 2009. Optimally, mentors will continue to encourage their students throughout their two years in community college.

Apply now!

To become a knoxAchieves mentor, download a mentor application from knoxachieves.org and return the completed form by fax to 215-2002, or by mail to Krissy Gladders, 400 Main Street, Suite 615, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Questions?

Contact Krissy Gladders at 215-4754 or by email at krissy.gladders@knoxcounty.org.

knoxAchieves is a special project of the East Tennessee Foundation.

*A team of financial aid experts is being assembled to support this. More information will be available at the mentor training.

KnoxAchieves, 400 Main Street, Suite 615, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902
865-215-4754 or krissy.gladders@knoxcounty.org

IEEE Sections Congress 2008 Presentations

2008-10-07T10:23:00.005-05:00

The IEEE Sections Congress 2008 website has been updated to include material presented in Quebec City. All the presentations are available to be downloaded individually or as a group.

Core Track Training Material - The Core Training presentations explained the impetus for the MGA transition and provided a view of what MGA success will look like. MGA is about putting members first and at the center of IEEE. The guiding principles summarize it all: IEEE is the member and the member is IEEE. The MGA Board is a complete change from RAB and a shift in focus to the member. Sections are now part of an organization focused solely on the member and designed to inspire members’ participation in IEEE. The stage is being set for MGA to be the primary touch point for IEEE members, engaging them throughout their careers and providing them with what they need, when they need it, to be successful in their profession. Secti! on Chairs are being called to help support IEEE and act as the key point of contact for their members.

Membership Breakout Sessions - The growth and nurturing of our 375,000+ members is a core value of IEEE. The material presented in this track focuses on how a member’s relationship with IEEE can be enhanced through local engagement. Geographic unit leaders will be trained on the benefits of IEEE membership, and how to communicate and apply these benefits to the needs of members in their local area. Material presented also includes best practices for using the IEEE Membership Development tools, staff and volunteer network. Leveraging these resources will ultimately lead to significantly increased retention, recruitment and recovery of members at the local Section level.

Section/Chapter Activities Breakout Sessions - The success of IEEE depends on the continued cooperation between geographic units at the local level. This material presented in this track focuses on how to promote and facilitate the delivery of technical, professional and educational material. Issues cover a broad range of topics such as learning how to leverage Standards; acknowledging contributions of members through awards and recognition; learning about new humanitarian projects supported by IEEE and its members; and working with students and student branches. Activities your Section can undertake to enhance its image and support IEEE are also discussed.

Section Management Breakout Sessions - Running a successful Section requires having the tools and support to do the job. The material presented in this track provides information on obtaining support and resources from the IEEE organization and discusses best practices to follow. Several sessions address how to manage activities such as finances, conferences and affinity groups. Effective practices for planning successful meetings, volunteer recruitment and leadership development are also covered. New tools for supporting the volunteer administrative responsibilities will also be introduced.

SC08 Recommendations - The highlight of every Sections Congress is when delegates develop and vote on recommendations that IEEE will address in order to best serve the needs of its members. The Top ten recommendations, as ranked by the primary Section Delegates, are available.

Highlights from IEEE Sections Congress via IEEE.tv - The following video highlights from the IEEE Sections Congress and the IEEE Honors Ceremony are available via IEEE.tv.

2008 Sections Congress Highlights - Inspire, Enable, Empower and Engage
2008 Sections Congress Opening Highlights
2008 Honors Ceremony Program
Profile of 2008 Medal of Honor winner Gordon Moore

SoutheastCon 2009

2008-10-03T16:00:00.002-05:00

SoutheastCon 2009 will be held in Atlanta, GA March 5-9, 2009. SoutheastCon 2009 invites prospective authors to submit their technical work on all aspects of engineering, science, and technology of current interest, to the conference.

SoutheastCon is the annual IEEE Region 3 Technical, Professional, and Student Conference. It brings together electrical, computer and other engineering and science professionals, faculty and students to share the latest information through technical sessions, tutorials, and exhibits. Attendance and technical program participation from areas outside IEEE Region 3 are also cordially encouraged and welcomed.

IEEE Sections Congress 2008 Announcements

2008-10-01T12:07:00.004-05:00

The new meeting management software developed by Region 3 and beta tested by the IEEE East Tennessee Section was announced and made available to all IEEE sections at the Sections Congress in Quebec, held Sept. 19-21, 2008. The software is called meetings.vtools and gives IEEE volunteers an easy way to have members register for upcoming section meetings and to print name badges, attendance lists, and file meeting reports. There will be more vTools modules available later this year.

New features that have been added to MyIEEE were also announced. In conjunction with meetings.vtools, members may now view meeting announcements all over the world from the Community Desktop page of MyIEEE. MyIEEE also features the new MemberNet where IEEE members may search for others with their interests, or who work for their company, of are in their local section. However, this feature requires members to Opt In to the network by providing details about themselves on the My OptIn Preferences page. of MyIEEE Please visit the MemberNet and enter your information.

IEEE Region 3 Employment Assistance

2008-07-28T12:14:00.002-05:00

The economy continues to shed people at all levels. To support Region 3 members in case they need to make a career change, we have created a Region 3 Employment Assistance web page at,

www.ieee.org/r3jobs

This web page has career information and a growing base of links to information that can help you write a resume, prepare for an interview and find job openings. If you are not aware of potential companies in your area or an area that you would like to move to, the web site has a Company Directory download. To use this feature, enter your geographic query into the online form. The company directory will then be emailed to you within 24 hours. We can provide more company detail with a focused request such as a city, county or zip code. Please don't ask for an entire state.

You will also find links to other IEEE job resources on that page.

TIA 2008 Inventor Seminar

2008-07-15T15:12:00.002-05:00

Opportunities for Innovation in East Tennessee

The Tennessee Inventors Association (TIA) is presenting a Seminar for Inventors on August 16, 2008. The Seminar will be held at the Tech2020 building in Oak Ridge, TN. The Seminar will offer workshops and presentations throughout the day. Many local inventors will have prototypes of their inventions on display. Local vendors who provide services of interest to inventors and entrepreneurs. Lunch will be provided for those who pre-register for the full day seminar. Walk-ins are welcome.

Information on the Schedule, Presentations, Speakers, Vendors, and Inventors can be found on the TIA website.

Cyber Security R&D Town Hall Meeting June 30-July2

2008-06-27T09:20:00.001-05:00

OPEN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE

Cyber Security R&D Town Hall Meeting 2
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, June 30 - July 2, 2008
http://www.ioc.ornl.gov/doe-gcs <-- goals / registration / logistics
http://www.ioc.ornl.gov/doe-gcs/program.html
http://www.ioc.ornl.gov/doe-gcs/keynotebios.html
https://wiki.cac.washington.edu/display/doe/Home
___________________________________________________
HIGHLIGHTS:

Eight Keynote Speakers from Government/Industry/Academia
Opportunity to influence the DOE Office of Science Research Agenda
$200 Onsite Registration Fee (waived for student attendees)
Webcast via Microsoft Live Meeting capabilities for all keynotes (free)
___________________________________________________
INVITED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

+ Michael Foster, NSF Division Director, Computing and
Communication Foundations
+ Steve Nixon, Director of Science and Technology, Office of the Director
of National Intelligence
+ Ji Sun Lee, Program Manager, Technology Acceptance & Integration,
Human Factors, DHS
+ John Abeles, CEO, System1
+ Radia Perlman, Sun Fellow, Network Protocols and Security
Project, Sun Microsystems
+ Michael Strayer, ASCR Associate Director, DOE
+ Von Welch, Director, National Center for Applied Secure Systems
Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
+ George Hull, CTO, Northrop Grumman IT, Intelligence Group (TASC)
___________________________________________________
REQUESTING TO JOIN THE LIVE MEETING REMOTELY:

+ All keynotes, including Walt Polansky DOE, Q&A will be live
+ Send your request to join the Microsoft Live Meeting to Cristal Case
casecs@ornl.gov by Noon on Monday June 30, 2008.
+ You will receive an invitation 30mins prior to the first presentation
for each day
+ Full audio, video and slides (questions may be submitted via instant
messaging [details with your invitation])
___________________________________________________
ORGANZATION:

General Chair:
+ Brian Worley, Director of Computational Sciences and Engineering
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Meeting Co-Chairs:
+ Deborah Frincke, Cyber Security Chief Scientist
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
+ Frederick Sheldon, Cyberspace Sciences and Information Intelligence
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Section Picnic Planned for June 11, 2008

2008-05-27T12:54:00.006-05:00

The East Tennessee Section will hold a picnic for members and guests at Melton Hill Park in West Knoxville on June 11, 2008. Registration is required to attend. Please register on the section website on the Upcoming Meeting page no later than 6PM on May 9, 2008. You will find more details and directions to the Park on the registration page.

National Instruments LabVIEW Education Day - June 10, 2008

2008-05-15T14:52:00.003-05:00

At this FREE, full-day event go beyond the basics and take your skills to the next level – network with local colleagues and engineers, and learn from in-depth topic presentations, product demonstrations and user group sessions led by technical engineers. Increase your expertise by learning new skills such as managing your test data and developing efficient LabVIEW applications, and discover the latest innovations in NI LabVIEW, LabVIEW Real-Time, and data acquisition products.

Click here to Register NOW!

IEEE Launches MemberNet Online Directory

2008-04-23T13:27:00.005-05:00

The IEEE has launched an online member directory designed to encourage peer-to-peer networking within IEEE membership. memberNet is the first step in a series of next-generation capabilities that will encourage virtual collaborations between members with similar technical interests, regardless of geography. While the basic member profile in memberNet contains every member's name and membership grade, each member can indicate by check mark what additional information they would like to also have appear. These may include technical interests, local Section, or IEEE Society affiliation. The memberNet directory, and its opt-in management, is accessible from myIEEE, at <http://www.ieee.org/myieee>. For more information about IEEE memberNet, visit <http://www.ieee.org/membernet>.

DVD Documentary of George Westinghouse

2008-04-12T12:50:00.003-05:00

Pittsburgh, PA - Inecom Entertainment Company announced today that its new film,Westinghouse, will be available in stores nationwide on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. Preorders for the film are already being taken through Internet retailers such asAmazon.com. Click here for a sneak preview of the film.

Westinghouse is a feature-length documentary about the life and times of George Westinghouse, his companies, legacy, personality and achievements. George Westinghouse is considered America’s greatest industrialist and the only man who would go up against Thomas Edison, and win.

His victory over Edison during the Battle of the Currents set the stage for the entire future of electric power and the Westinghouse air brake is considered one of the most important inventions in history. Automobile shock absorbers, railroad signaling and the modern day weekend all owe their existence to the man who Andrew Carnegie called “A genius who can’t be downed.”

His spirit lived on for decades when his former companies created the golden age of American-made appliances, machines and technologies. Westinghouse Electric dominated the 1939 World’s Fair with Elektro, the talking robot, and the Battle of the Centuries dishwashing contest. The “You can be SURE… if it’s Westinghouse” slogan was used in ads that featured Ronald Reagan promoting home appliances.

Westinghouse may be most famous for the massive companies that he created, but the man called “Uncle George” was a reserved, creative giant who went out of his way to treat his workforce with dignity and respect. He was an honest millionaire in the days of robber barons, an optimist in the days of skeptics and a generous CEO from whom today's executives can learn.

Westinghouse was filmed in cooperation with the George Westinghouse Museum and features rare and never before seen footage, industrial films and photos previously buried deep within the Westinghouse archives. Filmed in High Definition, the film includes an interview with George Westinghouse Museum Executive Director, Edward J. Reis.

Director Mark Bussler’s credits include EXPO - Magic of the White City narrated by Gene Wilder, World War 1 - American Legacy narrated by David Carradine, Horses of Gettysburg narrated by Ronald F. Maxwell, Gettysburg and Stories of Valor narrated by Keith Carradine and Johnstown Flood narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.

4th Cyber Security & Information Intelligence Research Workshop to be held at ORNL May 12-14, 2008

2008-03-05T19:25:00.000-05:00

CSIIRSW-08 will feature 7 keynote speakers from industry/academia. There will also be a keynote panel on "Security Engineering Theory and Practice." Registration is $99 but is waived for students with valid IDs. For more information refer to the CSIIRW-08 website.

Education Summit Looks to Future

2008-02-27T19:02:00.004-05:00

There will be a Workforce and Education Summit hosted by Innovation Valley Inc. on March 24, 2008 at the Knoxville Convention Center. It will include educators, businesspeople, parents, community leaders, faith-based institutions, and students throughout Innovation Valley. The summit will begin at 8 AM.

The goals of the daylong summit are to outline what the region's future workforce looks like, to identify the barriers that may be standing in the way of achieving such a workforce, and for each attendee to leave with a plan of how he or she can individually contribute to the overall goal of developing a skilled and educated workforce.

Registration is free and representatives of area engineering/scientific/technical societies are encouraged to attend. Learn more and register to attend at Workforce and Education Summitt.