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Calendar Archive, January 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Washington Section Administrative Committee Meeting
Time: 6:45 pm
Place: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC
Directions: Use the 12th Street entrance. The AAAS building is one block from Metro Center (Red, Orange and Blue lines).
Street parking is free after 6:30 pm (no parking 4:00-6:30 pm). There is a pay parking lot at the intersection of 9th St. and New York Ave., and an underground parking garage at 14th St. and New York Ave.
See map at www.aaas.org/dcwest.pdf.
More Info: All interested IEEE members are welcome.
Contact: RSVP to Monica Taysing-Lara at m.taysinglara@ieee.org or 202-725-2225.
Sponsor: American Society for Quality (ASQ) Section 509 BioMed/BioTech SIG
Cosponsor: Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
Speakers: Kathleen Chavanu, RN, Executive Director, Quality Improvement and Clinical Support Services, Children’s National Medical Center; and Harry Hongjun Yang, Ph.D., Senior VP, Sirnnaomics, Inc. (See topics below.)
Time: Refreshments and networking 6:00 pm; program 6:20-8:50 pm; door prize drawing 8:50-9:00 pm
Location: Kelly’s Deli Conference Center, 7519 Standish Place, Rockville, MD
Directions: From I-270, take Exit 9A. Turn left (East) onto Shady Grove Dr. Turn right onto Rockville Pike (Rte. 355). Turn left onto East Gude Dr. Immediately turn left onto Crabb’s Branch Dr., then left onto Standish Place.
More Info: Ms. Chavanu’s topic is “Challenges in Our Healthcare Systems and Use of Quality Data to Drive Improvements in Patient Care.” Dr. Yang’s topic is “Shanghai Clinical Research Center: Progress, Challenges, and Its Quality Specimen-Procurement Program.”
Cost: Free, open to the public.
Contact: Please register
at
www.asq509.org/ht/d/DoSurvey/i/35817 by Thursday, Jan. 8. For questions, contact Dr. George Chang, Biomed/Biotech SIG Chair, at
gchang2008@yahoo.com or call 240-793-8425.
Sponsor: Land Transportation Committee of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Speaker: Tom Tsai, Ph.D., P.E., Retired, Federal Railroad Administration, Washington, DC
Time: Lunch 11:30 am, presentation 12:15 pm
Place: American Public Transportation Association, 11th Floor Conference Room, 1666 K Street NW, Washington, DC
Directions: Take the Metro to Farragut North station (Red Line, use K Street exit) or Farragut West station (Orange and Blue lines, use 17th Street exit).
More Info: See Diamond story below. The National Capital Land Transportation Committee (LTC) holds monthly lunch meetings from September though June. The LTC is jointly sponsored by the ASME Rail Transportation Division and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society of the Washington and Northern Virginia Sections. All interested persons are invited. Membership in ASME or IEEE is not required.
Cost: $15 cash at the door for lunch.
Contact: Please RSVP by 4:00 pm Friday, Jan. 9 to Karl Berger at
karl.berger@dcm-va.com or 703-803-7917, or Ken Briers at ken.briers@parsons.com or 202-775-3397.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Nano-optics of Surface Plasmon Polaritons and Their Applications in Microscopy and Cloaking
Sponsor: IEEE Photonics Society (formerly the Lasers and Electro-optics Society)
Speaker: Prof. Christopher Davis, University of Maryland College Park
Time: Refreshments & socializing 6:00 pm, lecture 6:30 pm
Place: University of Maryland, A. V. Williams Building, Room 2460, College Park, MD
Directions: From the north or I-495, take Route 1 South. Approx. 2 miles south of the Beltway, turn right onto Campus Drive, then immediately take Paint Branch Drive and the A.V. Williams Building will be on the right. Parking is free after 4:00 pm in certain lots, but read the signs carefully to avoid a parking ticket.
See
www.parking.umd.edu/themap.
From the College Park Metro Station (Green line), take the free UM campus shuttle, get off at the first stop, walk back for a hundred yards, turn left onto Paint Branch Drive and look for the second building on the right. See shuttle schedule at
www.transportation.umd.edu/routes/schedules/CollegeParkMetro.pdf.
Contact: Robert Bartolo at 202-404-2077 or
bob.bartolo@nrl.navy.mil
or Tom Murphy tem@umd.edu or 301-405-3602.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
An Overview of Trends, Tools, and Technologies in Software User Assistance
Sponsors: IEEE Professional Communication Society, IEEE Computer Society, Society for Technical Communication
Speaker: Joe Welinske, WritersUA
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm
Place: NRECA Conference Center, 4301 Wilson Blvd., Room CC1, Arlington, VA
More Info: See Diamond story below.
Cost: $15 for dinner
Contact: Preregister by Friday, Jan. 9 at
http://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/337. For information, contact Hugh Owen at hugh.owen@ieee.org.
Sponsor: Women in Engineering
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant, Ballston Common Mall, 4238 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
Directions: Ballston Common is two blocks south of Ballston Metro station (Orange line). Turn right at top of Metro escalator, then left on the street, proceed two blocks toward Macy's, turn left and walk toward Ballston Commons Mall. Look for Chevy's on the right. Street parking is limited, and underground parking typically costs $1 for 3 hours.
See
www.ballston-common.com/info/map.cfm.
More Info: Come meet other Women in Engineering while enjoying chips with salsa and maybe a frozen drink! WIE will be holding elections at 7:00 pm.
If you are interested in running for an office, please send an email to
Katie Schaffold.
Contact: Please RSVP by Monday, Jan. 12 to Katie Schaffold at katie.schaffold@ieee.org.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Northern Virginia Section Administrative Committee Meeting
Time: Dinner 6:00, business meeting 7:00-8:00 pm
Place: Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Conference Room 8, Fairfax, VA
Directions: See
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/maps/locatMap.htm. From I-495, take I-66 West to Exit 55B Fairfax County Pkwy North (Route 7100). Turn right onto Fair Lakes Pkwy East. Turn right at light onto Monument Dr. Turn right at light onto Government Center Pkwy. The Government Center is on the left.
More Info: All interested IEEE members are invited to attend.
Contact: Please use the new IEEE vTools application to preregister at http://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/315 or contact Jeff Poston at poston@ieee.org or
703-983-7020.
Progress Towards a Landsat Data Continuity Mission Launch
Sponsor: Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society
Speaker: Dr. James R. Irons, LDCM Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Time: Refreshments and networking 3:00 pm, presentation 3:30 pm
Place: Visitor Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
Directions: See
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/directions/index.html.
More Info: See Diamond story below.
Contact: James C. Tilton at j.tilton@ieee.org.
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant, Ballston Common Mall, 4238 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
Directions: Ballston Common is two blocks south of Ballston Metro station (Orange line). Turn right at top of Metro escalator, then left on the street, proceed two blocks toward Macy's, turn left and walk toward Ballston Commons Mall. Look for Chevy's on the right. Street parking is limited, and underground parking typically costs $1 for 3 hours.
See
www.ballston-common.com/info/map.cfm.
More Info: All APS members may participate in the officer election. If you are interested in running for an office, send an email to Monica Taysing-Lara.
Contact: Please RSVP by Tuesday, Jan. 20 to Monica Taysing-Lara at m.taysinglara@ieee.org.
Sponsors: Robotics and Automation Society, Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Control Systems Society, and Sensors Council
Speaker: Dr. Robert Grabowski, Senior Robotics Engineer, MITRE Corp.
Time: 7:00 pm (preceded by an RAS chapter update meeting at 6:30 pm)
Place: MITRE Corp., Building 2, 7515 Colshire Drive, McLean, VA
More Info: See Diamond story below.
Contact: Raj Madhavan at raj.madhavan@ieee.org.
Postponed to Tuesday, Feb. 24 due to snow.
Sponsors: Computer Society, American Society for Quality (ASQ) Section 509 Software SIG, Society for Software Quality (SSQ)
Speaker: Brian Fitzgerald, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Sponsor: Computer Society
Speakers: Ashish Jaiman and Zhiming Xue, Microsoft
Time: 6:00-9:00 pm
Place: Microsoft, 12012 Sunset Hills Rd., Reston, VA
Directions: From the Capital Beltway, take Exit 45A (Rte. 267 West) towards Dulles Airport. After approx. 8 miles, take Exit 12 Reston Pkwy (Rte. 602) and turn right to go North on Reston Pkwy, then turn left onto Sunset Hills Rd.
More Info: See Diamond story below.
Contact: Tom Starai at starai@ieee.org.
Sponsor: Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Washington University
Speaker: Shangkai Gao, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Time: 3:00-4:00 pm
Place: Phillips Hall 640, George Washington University, Washington, DC
More Info: See Diamond story below.
Contact: Dr. Harrington at
rharring@gwu.edu.
ASQ Biomed/Biotech Special Interest Group Meeting
Sponsor: American Society for Quality (ASQ) Section 509 BioMed/BioTech SIG
IEEE Cosponsors: Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
Speaker: Raafat Fahmy, Ph.D., Science Advisor, Division of Manufacturing Technologies, Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation, Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA
Time: Refreshments and networking 6:00 pm; program 6:30-8:30 pm; door prize drawing 8:30 pm
Location: Kelly's Deli Conference Center, 7519 Standish Place, Rockville, MD
Directions: From I-270, take Exit 9A. Turn left (East) onto Shady Grove Dr. Turn right onto Rockville Pike (Rte. 355). Turn left onto East Gude Dr. Immediately turn left onto Crabb’s Branch Dr., then left onto Standish Place.
More Info: See Diamond story below.
Cost: Free, open to the public.
Contact: Please register at
www.asq509.org/ht/d/DoSurvey/i/35080 by Thursday, Jan. 28. For questions, contact Dr. George Chang, Biomed/Biotech SIG Chair, at
gchang2008@yahoo.com or call 240-793-8425.
Sponsor: National Capital Area Consultants' Network
Time: 10 am to 2 pm
Place: National Electronics Museum, 1745 W. Nursery Rd., Linthicum, MD
Directions: From the Washington Beltway, take Rte 295 (Baltimore-Washington Pkwy.) north to the West Nursery Rd. exit and stay right on the ramp. Go through three stoplights. The museum is on the left, next to the Marriott Hotel. Please park in the large lot at the far end of the building, not in a visitor's space. See
www.hem-usa.org/hours-directions-parking.shtml.
More Info: The content of this workshop is identical to the evening meeting series that begins in Virginia on Feb. 17. The series is designed for IEEE members and other engineers who practice consulting, are thinking about consulting, or want to take charge of their careers. Sessions will cover topics such as running a consulting business, marketing, getting paid, contracts, and effective communication. Attendees can expect to hear fresh ideas and proven techniques from experienced consultants. They will find a hospitable, informal atmosphere in which to compare notes with others to find out what works and what doesn't -- from people who know. All IEEE members, student members, and guests are welcome. Sandwiches will be served.
Cost: $20 cash at the door.
Contact: Please register by 12:00 noon on Jan. 30 at
http://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/329. For additional information about the workshop, contact Monica Mallini at m.a.mallini@ieee.org.
Diamond Stories
In the U.S. and around the world, there is an increasing demand for an affordable, seamless passenger rail system in large metropolitan areas. With an aging population, increased migration to these areas, traffic congestion, high cost of gas and infrastructure, the need for an efficient rapid rail transit system becomes increasingly clear.
One innovation is a shared-use light rail system or tram-train that could provide large-capacity rapid transit using existing rail networks from downtown to the suburbs and even to cities 50 miles or farther. The mandatory positive train control requirements for commuter rail services and a new supportive public investment policy will help introduce this innovative system to more of our metropolitans. This presentation will update the current technology and review existing systems around the world and the U.S.
Tom Tsai, P.E., has long been a member of the Land Transportation Committee and has spoken to the group in the past. His major technical interest is mechanical system dynamics, including shock and vibration of various structures. His professional career covers a broad range of industry and government programs.
In the area of rail structures, Dr. Tsai managed a national research and development program on the dynamics of railroad freight car equipment and served as the wheel/rail interface function coordinator at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) from 1977 to 1982. He returned to the FRA in 1992 as a research program manager in the areas of equipment safety. Prior to his retirement in 2006, he managed several testing programs of high-speed trains including the German ICE, the Swedish X-2000, and the Spanish Talgo trainsets. He was a key member of a group of technical experts developing the first safety standards of passenger rail equipment at FRA. He managed a national program on occupant protection to improve the survivability of passengers and crew. As part of the program, he managed the full-scale crash testing of passenger rail equipment, the development of fire safety standards and emergency egress systems. He also managed research programs on light rail equipment for possible services on mainline railroads.
Dr. Tsai was born in China and completed his engineering education in the U.S. With a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, he is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Sigma Xi. He has published over 60 technical papers in structural dynamics, and organized and chaired many technical conferences. He represented the U.S. Government in technical visits to Canada, China, Japan, and several NATO countries. He is currently enjoying retirement as a grandfather in Palo Alto and as a reporter to Chinese news media in Rockville.
Back to Calendar listing above.
The application of technical communication skills to the development of software user assistance has grown immensely in the past 20 years. This specialization is very fulfilling and challenging and technical communicators are finding their role in the software development process to be increasingly valued. User assistance is much more than "Help." It encompasses a wide range of skills and technologies that are combined to improve the software user’s experience, including wizards, tutorials, web-based training, knowledge bases, and content management systems, as well as printed manuals and their PDF equivalents.
Helpful content is now embedded directly into the user interface, and technical communicators are involved with usability testing, localization, testing, quality assurance, and branding. This presentation provides a cutting-edge overview of the latest trends in software user assistance, defines the key terminology, highlights the most important technologies, and offers predictions on future directions in technical communication.
Joe Welinske is President of WritersUA, formerly known as WinWriters, a company devoted to providing training and information for user assistance professionals. The WritersUA/WinWriters Conference draws hundreds of attendees each year from around the world to share the latest in user assistance design and implementation. The free content on the WritersUA website attracts over 20,000 visitors each month.
Welinske has been involved with software documentation development since 1984. Together with Scott Boggan and David Farkas, he authored two editions of the book Developing Online Help for Windows. He has also taught online Help courses at the University of Washington, University of California Santa Cruz, and Bellevue Community College.
Welinske received a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois in 1981, and a M.S. in adult instructional management from Loyola University in 1987. He was president of the Society for Technical Communication's Puget Sound Chapter from 2006 to 2008 and is now vice president in charge of sponsorships.
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Progress Towards a Landsat Data Continuity Mission Launch
This presentation will provide an overview of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), which has advanced to the preliminary design stage, Phase B, of mission development. The mission is being implemented as a free-flyer satellite through an interagency partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Launch will be no earlier than December 2012.
Progress to date includes selection of Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. to build the primary LDCM earth sensor, the Operational Land Imager (OLI); selection of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems to develop the LDCM spacecraft; initiation of ground system development at the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observations and Science in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and consideration of the possible addition of a thermal imaging sensor to the LDCM payload. At the same time, a new era in Landsat data access has begun with the USGS decision to distribute Landsat data from its 36-year archive at no cost to those requesting images, a policy that will include LDCM data.
James R. Irons is the Associate Chief of the Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He is also the NASA Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Project Scientist and in that capacity ensures that the design and implementation of the mission meet science requirements. Prior to 2007, Dr. Irons worked 28 years as a physical scientist in the Biospheric Sciences Branch at GSFC, where he served as the Landsat 7 Deputy Project Scientist beginning in 1992.
Dr. Irons received his B.S. in environmental resources management in 1976 and an M.S. degree in agronomy in 1979 from Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. degree in agronomy in 1993 from the University of Maryland.
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Small ground robots, such as the PackBot and Matilda, have found a strong niche in military and civilian applications over the past year supporting efforts such as IED disruption, bomb disposal, search and rescue, and vehicle inspection. However, the robotic community is still several years away from fielding the first large-sized ground vehicles in any significant operational situations. Issues of sensor fidelity, perception, and safety (both human and property) still exceed the current capabilities of large UGVs. This presentation discusses issues and challenges facing large UGVs. It examines the progress demonstrated through DARPA's last two Grand Challenges. It also highlights recent research and capabilities of the MITRE robotics group.
Dr. Bob Grabowski has been a Senior Robotics Engineer at the MITRE Corp. for the past few years supporting development of their large UGV program. He earned his Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering in 2004 from Carnegie Mellon University, where he developed sensing platforms and perception algorithms for the Millibot project, a team of 5cm, heterogeneous robots. Dr. Grabowski went from researching small robots to developing large, autonomous, outdoor vehicles - one of which (The Meteor) made it to the finals of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. He has been the principal investigator on five internally sponsored robot projects as well as supporting the Army's Future Combat Systems and the OSD Test Resource Management Center's new Unmanned and Autonomous Systems Testing focus area.
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Software + Services is Microsoft's approach for the next generation of computing. Central to the strategy is bringing together the best of cloud-based services and the software that resides on a world of devices. The power of local client or on-premises server software combined with the reach and always up-to-date nature of services in the cloud will be more compelling than software OR service only approaches. The Software + Service approach is a confluence of multiple industry phenomena including SaaS, SOA, and Web 2.0. While different vendors are evolving their offerings from different starting points, the entire industry is converging on the Software + Service approach.
The speakers will share their views on Microsoft’s Software + Services, review Microsoft Azure Services Platform and applications with demonstrations, and discuss services requirements common to the services platform such as interoperability, identity, data management, and service management.
Ashish Jaiman works as ISV Architect Evangelist with Microsoft, managing ISVs in the mid-Atlantic area. In his role he drives and accelerates the adoption of new (mostly pre-release) technologies and tools within the ISV community. His current focus is SQL 2008, VS 2008, Win2008, Net3.5 and web-based technologies. Jaiman has over 12 years of experience in designing and developing enterprise software, bringing technical solutions to business problems and consistently delivering high quality software on time and on budget. Before joining Microsoft he worked with small startups. His blogs can be found at
http://blogs.msdn.com/usisvde and
http://blogs.msdn.com/ajaiman.
Zhiming Xue (Z) is a Microsoft Architect Evangelist based in the mid-Atlantic area. He has more than 12 years of software development, consulting and IT experience, specializing in enterprise application architecture, development and integration. While with Microsoft Services he played technical and architectural roles on many consulting projects for large enterprise customers in both the commercial sector and the public sector. He has presented various topics at Microsoft events and local user groups. Through his blogs and publications he has reached readers in the U.S., China and other countries and regions. He holds a Ph.D. in management science from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a professional certification from American Production and Inventory Control Society, as well as several Microsoft certifications. His blog is located at http://blogs.msdn.com/zxue.
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Brain-computer interface (BCI) supports direct communication and control between the brain and external devices without any use of peripheral nerves and muscles. It provides a new channel for those people with severe motor disabilities to convey their intents or to control surrounding devices. Two of the major oscillatory electroencephalogram (EEG)-based BCIs will be introduced. They are the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) and the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) based BCIs respectively. The demonstrations show the potential applications of the systems.
Shangkai Gao received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering and the M.E. degree in biomedical engineering from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1970 and 1982, respectively. She is currently a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University. Her current research interests include biomedical signal processing and medical ultrasound. Prof. Gao is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering and the IEEE Transactions On Neural System And Rehabilitation Engineering. She is a Fellow of the IEEE.
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Quality by design (QBD) is a systematic approach to drug development that begins with predefined objectives and emphasizes product and process understanding and process control. This is based on sound science and quality risk management. To achieve quality by design, all critical quality attributes that impact product performance should be identified and controlled in the early stages of development, and continue throughout the product lifecycle. The goal of the FDA's Quality by Design initiative is to achieve a higher level of quality assurance and process understanding, which in turn may lead to regulatory flexibility.
This initiative is supported by U.S., European, and Japanese regulatory authorities through guidances from the International Committee on Harmonization (ICH Q8, Q9, and Q10).
Raafat Fahmy, Ph.D., is a science advisor at the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). He has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. For the past decade at the FDA, he has collaborated with academia in several research programs.
Dr. Fahmy provides leadership in the areas of drug product formulation, manufacturing and technology, including the evolving field of dissolution, formulations, manufacturing, and chemometrics. He also works with other experts at the agency and other organizations to provide scientific expertise in the development of policies and guidances in the area of manufacturing processes, quality by design. Dr. Fahmy represents CVM on manufacturing issues in national and international scientific symposiums.
Dr. Fahmy's critical path research supports innovation and efficiency in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and quality control. His collaborative research projects with the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy enhance manufacturing science, improve the scientific basis for understanding the behavior of pharmaceutical materials and allows for the development of robust processes early in the development process. His research focuses on important regulatory issues such as quality by design and online process control which have a positive impact on the regulated industry inside and outside the U.S. and the agency.
Dr. Fahmy has authored several textbook chapters, articles, and scientific papers, and he is a member of the USP Veterinary Biopharmaceutics Classification System Ad Hoc Advisory panel.
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Please send meeting announcements, corrections and comments
to ncac-scanner@ieee.org.
Updated 1/31/09
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