Registration is now open for the 2009 February Fourier Talks at the University of Maryland, taking place February 19 - 20, 2009. The conference addresses a diverse audience of academic, government, and industry participants.

http://www.norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/FFT09/

Further information is below:

EVENTS

In addition to scientific talks throughout the day on Thursday and Friday, the evening on Thursday will feature a keynote address by renowned mathematics author Barry Cipra, followed by light dinner and drinks in the mathematics building rotunda. Friday afternoon features the Norbert Wiener Lecture, delivered by Professor Robert Fefferman, of the University of Chicago.

This year's conference also features a student poster session in the afternoon on Thursday. Preliminary submissions are now being accepted from graduate students. Further details are available at:

http://www.norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/FFT09/posters.html.

SPEAKERS

You may view the list of speakers, as well as the available titles and abstracts, at http://www.norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/FFT09/speakers.html.

REGISTRATION

Registration is now open at:

http://www.norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/FFT09/Register

Registration is free for students and government employees. Government employees are encouraged to register early so that they may be accommodated. For all others, the fee is $45 on or before January 8, 2009, and $60 thereafter. All fees are payable via a secure online system.

SPONSORSHIP

Corporate and technical sponsorship are also invited for this year's event. Information, including available sponsorship packages, past sponsors, and current sponsors, is available at http://www.norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/sponsorship.html.

If you have any questions about the FFT, please contact Christopher Shaw, at schris@umd.edu. Questions specific to posters may be directed to Radu Balan, at rvbalan@math.umd.edu.

FFT 2009 Organizing Committee

Radu Balan

John Benedetto

Wojciech Czaja

Kasso Okoudjou

3. Robot Challenge Video on IEEE.TV

This video program appears on IEEE.tv, and may be of interest to you.

Launch the video at:

http://www.ieee.org/portal/site/ieeetv/index.jsp?pageID=ieee.tv.viewer&path=membport/ieee_tv&file=CNT_Robot.xml&vid=105154&play=true

To see all the programs available on IEEE.tv,visit:

http://www.ieee.org/ieeetv

4. Baltimore Engineer of the Year

Nominate your colleagues or projects for the Baltimore Engineer of the Year, Young Baltimore Engineer of the Year, Baltimore Meritorious Engineer of the Year, and Project of the Year. This is sponsored by the Engineering Society of Baltimore (ESB) of which the IEEE is a member. The awards will be presented at the Engineers Week Dinner at the ESB Mansion on Monument St in Baltimore. The nomination forms for next February's awards are now posted on the website, at:

http://www.esb.org/esb_awards.php.

Deadline for submissions is January 14, 2009.

The IEEE has had members awarded all three of the Engineer of the Year in the recent past. Please consider nominating your colleagues and projects for these awards.

5. IEEE Web Page

The IEEE has a web page that lists benefits/features of the IEEE that are available to members, check it out at:

http://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/top40/top40.html

Examples are descriptions of:

myIEEE

IEEE Standards

IEEE Expert Now

New Technology connections portal

IEEE.tv

Membernet

Careers

Merchandise

Etc

6. Opportunity to Participate in New EPEAT Standard Development Processes

The University of Tennessee's Center for Clean Products (UT), as the managing organization for development of up to four new Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) product standards, is pleased to issue an open call for participation in two IEEE standard development processes:

1) Imaging Equipment Working Group; and

2) Television Study Group.

Initial workgroup interest is being solicited through Wednesday, 26 November 2008.

In the first phase of this project, the UT team will initiate formal processes for standard development on imaging equipment (including copiers, printers, and multi-function devices) and a study group on televisions. The two categories were identified and prioritized as part of the EPEAT Standard Development Roadmap process in spring 2007; the second phase of standards development will include servers and mobile devices (mobile phones, PDAs, and SmartPhones). Initial scoping meetings for imaging equipment and televisions were held this spring, and all documents outlining these initial discussions are located at:

http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/p2/elect-scope-meeting.html.

The IEEE standards development process is an ANSI-accredited, open, consensus based process. UT welcomes all interested parties to participate in the imaging devices and television processes. Participation is sought from all interested stakeholders, including manufacturers, suppliers, environmental advocacy groups, purchasers, resellers and retailers, electronic equipment recyclers and reuse organizations, trade associations, environmental representatives of government regulatory agencies, and academic experts in the field of electronics and the environment.

Both the Imaging Equipment and Television groups will meet primarily via conference calls, which are expected to start in early December. An initial face-to-face meeting is planned for February 2009. Once launched, the standard development process for each product is expected to span 18 months and will likely include the development of common criteria that are applicable across the IEEE 1680 family of standards.

If you are interested in joining either the Imaging Equipment Working Group or the Television Study Group (or both) please send the following information to thea.norris@gmail.com in an email with "Response to EPEAT workgroup solicitation" in the subject line:

Name:

Workgroup or study group you would like to participate in (Imaging Equipment Workgroup or Television Study Group):

Title:

Organization you work for or will be representing:

Email address:

Phone Number:

Stakeholder category you represent (Select one of the following: manufacturer, supplier, purchaser, environmental advocacy group, reseller/retailer, electronic equipment recycler and/or reuse organization, environmental representative from government regulatory agency, academic, trade association, public/other):

Your time zone:

For additional information, please contact Catherine Wilt at catwilt@utk.edu or the project leads below.

UT is the recipient of a cooperative agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency to build upon the work developed through EPEAT. Patricia Dillon of Dillon Environmental Associates (by email at patty.dillon@verizon.net or by phone at 978-346- 9462) will serve as project lead on the Television Study Group. Pamela Brody-Heine of the Zero Waste Alliance (by email at pamela@brodyheine.com or by phone at 541-633-7254) will serve as project lead on the Imaging Devices Working Group. In addition, Larry Chalfan of Zero Waste Alliance will serve as a senior advisor on issues related to the formal IEEE standards process.

EPEAT is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare, and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes (http://www.epeat.net). EPEAT provides clear and consistent performance criteria for the design of products and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of their products. EPEAT was developed through a multi-stakeholder consensus decision-making process, which resulted in the development of IEEE 1680, a Standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. This project will expand EPEAT to include additional products.

7. IEEE-USA Employment and Career Services

The IEEE-USA Employment and Career Services Committee has launched a Webinar series that will assist you in finding your next job, maintaining your career, negotiating an appropriate salary and understanding ethical considerations in the workplace, among other career-building strategies.

You may use the link below to register for the webinar(s) of your choice:

http://ieeeusa.org/careers/Webinars/default.asp

This link is also available from the R2 employment web site:

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/2/R2J/Empl_menu.html

8. Society of American Military Engineers

The Society of American Military Engineers is once again coordinating “Day with an Engineer” (DWE) as a key component of Engineer’s Week. This event is scheduled for Wednesday, February 18, 2009.

The purpose of the event is to allow high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to gain an understanding of engineering and scientific disciplines by working side by side with experienced professionals. It is requested that each firm participate by hosting two or more students for one day. During DWE, the members of the firm shall provide students with the opportunity to be actively involved in a variety of engineering and scientific activities, such as brainstorming, design, and execution of a client deliverable with a project team.

Last year there was a fantastic turn out and excellent feedback from 32 highly motivated students and 12 generous firms who donated their time and efforts. This program is continually being improved and this year, the following actions will again be implemented:

Require students who participate to be nominated by their teachers, counselors, or principals and each student must complete an application form to ensure interest and dedication.

Utilize information provided by you and the students to make sure students interests are appropriately matched with each firm’s capabilities.

Recognize participating firms at SAME meetings and in the newsletter (FREE Advertising!)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Abbie Adams at 410-771-4950.

9. Notes from the Chair of Baltimore Section

The following are notes from Bill Semancik, the Chair of the Baltimore Section of the IEEE.

“A letter of apology to the members who came to the Senior Member Drive

I want to offer my sincerest apology to all who came to the Senior Member Drive in November. We were totally underprepared for the response from members. What we learned from the experience is that the earlier loose organization just will not work into the future. What I can do is make recommendations as to how we can make this activity better in the future. The recommendations that I make are the following:

First, we need to form teams of reviewers who will review each application.

Second, the members who are applying should know who will be providing reference letters in advance as the reviewers should have electronic forms from the people in advance from whom they will be providing applications. This will speed the process of the review.

Third, we need to take appointments for when people will come in to have their applications reviewed. I would rather that we fill out all available appointments and not handle as many people that we could instead of frustrating both the applicants and the reviewers as we managed to do in November.

We cannot undo the frustration that we provided both the applicants and the reviewers from the past Senior Member Day. We can resolve to not repeat the same mistakes. That will be my role in the next drive that we plan.

Volunteer Opportunity Supporting the National Electronics Museum and the local MTTS chapter

The MTT Society is interested in a series of short articles that would feature a picture of an artifact from the National Electronics Museuem (known fondly to us as the Historical Electronics Museum) with a follow-up article the next month describing the artifact. We would be looking for volunteers to photograph museum artifacts and perform some research on the history of the artifact. This may be a very interesting opportunity especially for GOLD members. If anyone is interested, please contact one of the elected officers.

The end of my term as Chair of Baltimore Section

This month will mark the end of my holding an elected office for Baltimore Section. After 18 months of having the office it is time to let someone else come in with some new ideas for moving the section forward. I will have the opportunity to mentor the next chair in the role as past chair just as Boris Gramatikov has played that role for me. I will want to resurrect the Teacher In Service Program in the Baltimore area. There just wasn't enough time in the day to run both the section and that educational outreach program. I have been approached to help out the central Pennsylvania Sections set up a TISP program and will do so as well as continue to run the repair pits for our robotics challenge. (Volunteers are needed for this year especially for Sunday 19 April). I also have a year to go as Communications Society representative to IEEE Systems Council. There is lack of volunteering opportunities for IEEE. I will continue to stay involved as Electrical Engineering is my chosen profession.

It has been my honor to serve the 4600+ members of Baltimore Section. Where we have been successful, it is because of the cast of volunteers in both section, the technical chapters, and the affinity groups of Women In Engineering and Graduates of the Last Decade. When we have been less than successful, I will take responsibility.

I hope these notes in the newsletter have given some visibility into the workings of the section to our members. I ask for your support for the officers for 2009.

Bill Semancik

Chair, Baltimore Section IEEE”

10. Baltimore Region Conferences

The following conferences are planned for Maryland, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia. This list can be used for planning purposes and also represents potential volunteering opportunities.

2009 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition - APEC 2009

15 Feb - 19 Feb 2009

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

Washington, DC, USA

http://www.apec-conf.org

2009 43rd Annual Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS)

18 Mar - 20 Mar 2009

The Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD, USA

http://ciss.jhu.edu

2009 5th International Conf. on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks & Communities (TridentCom)

06 Apr - 08 Apr 2009

TBD

Washington, DC, USA

http://www.tridentcom.org

2009 IEEE/NIH Life Science Systems and Applications Workshop (LiSSA) Formerly known as LSSA and LISA

09 Apr - 10 Apr 2009

NIH Campus, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Bethesda, MD, USA

http://lissa.wustl.edu

2009 Integrated Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Conference (ICNS)

13 May - 15 May 2009

TBD

Crystal City, VA, USA

http://i-cns.org/

2009 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO)

02 Jun - 04 Jun 2009

Baltimore Convention Center

Baltimore, MD, USA

http://www.i-leos.org

2009 International Quantum Electronics Conference (IQEC)

June 2-4, 2009

Baltimore Convention Center

Baltimore, MD, USA

http://www.i-leos.org

2009 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference (PPC)

28 Jun - 02 Jul 2009

Renaissance Mayflower Hotel

Washington, DC, USA

http://web.ece.missouri.edu/ppc2009

2009 IEEE Workshop on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Enterprise: Economics Measures and Indicators (STEM Measures)

15 Sep - 18 Sep 2009

TBD

Washington, DC, USA

2011 IEEE AUTOTESTCON

September 19-22, 2011

Baltimore Convention Center

Baltimore, MD, USA **

http://www.autotestcon.com

2009 IEEE 59th Annual Broadcast Symposium (BTS)

14 Oct - 16 Oct 2009

The Westin Hotel

Alexandria, VA, USA

http://www.ieee.org/bts/symposium

2009 IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena - (CEIDP 2009)

18 Oct - 21 Oct 2009

Virginia Beach Resort Hotel

Virginia Beach, VA, USA

http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/dei/ceidp/ <http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/dei/ceidp/>

11. Continuing EE Education

We are re-running this request for interest in a continuing education program. This program will be in the format of seminars focused on a particular topic of interest. The seminars may run either during the week after work hours or possibly on Saturday. The idea for the program is described below.

Name of project: Continuing EE Education (“CEEE”)

Goal: A section-level program aimed at:

Updating the IEEE members on new developments in the EE field.

Familiarizing engineers with basic new tools, products and techniques as well as giving them the initial knowledge and skills to use them.

Inviting representatives from different vendors to present leading novel products.

Giving tutorials in new areas.

Helping IEEE fellow members become more competitive, especially in times of uncertain jobs, off-shoring and salary stagnation.

Facilitating networking.

Broadening the horizon of each IEEE member.

Fostering collaboration between members of different societies as well as generation of new ideas (“cross-pollination” element).

The program should be open to all IEEE members, including students. It is meant to be a cross-societies initiative, i.e. should not be limited to narrow topics serving the interests of a single chapter only. Emphasis should be placed on meeting with experienced experts from different fields. Critical comparisons between different solutions of EE problems are expected to be made, and trends should be discussed.

Potential topics of interest could include, but are not limited to:

Software tools:

Programming languages

Compilers

Real-Time Operating systems

Debuggers

Emulators

Hardware tools:

Novel electronic components

Single-Board Computers (SBC)

Embedded solutions

FPGAs

Printed circuit board design (schematics capture, layout)

Circuit simulation (PSPICE)

Portable devices

Signal and image processing (examples, tools, help)

Wireless devices:

Theory

Standards

Available OEM products

Trends

Internet-based methods and devices:

Standards

Available tools

Web Page Design

Contemporary design tools (like AutoCad and Solid Works)

Reliability and Compliance issues

We plan to invite qualified speakers from academia, industry and governmental institutions. The speakers will be professionals who can give first-hand information and share front-line experience on the technology, methods and tools being presented.

We plan to organize 2-4 meetings annually. Each meeting is planned to last for 2 hours or more. We could meet on weekdays, or on Saturdays.

Please send us your suggestions and preferences regarding topics, time and place of meetings, the name/acronym of the program etc.

Boris Gramatikov

Baltimore Section

Bgramat@jhmi.edu