The next Executive Committee (EXCOM) Meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 07, 2008, at 5:30pm.
Refreshments will be served. Come along to introduce yourself and get to know us.
Everyone is welcome to attend, but please make a reservation.
Click here for monthly meeting minutes.

Time: 5:30pm-7:30pm
Location: Tampa Electric Co.
702 N. Franklin Street
Tampa, FL 33608.

Date: Thursday October 02, 2008
Location: TECO Hall, TECO Plaza. 702 N. Franklin Street, Tampa FL 33602
Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Register: online at: http://time2meet.com/fwcs-meetings/
Information: Please contact Ralph Painter, rdpainter@ieee.org, (813) 228-4685 or
Sean Denny, venner20@ieee.org, (813) 410-6982.

Each year, local school systems invite professionals and parents into the classroom to step into the shoes of teachers and
share their experiences with students. Visitors engage students in a variety of activities. Visitors often use the
opportunity to share the joys and challenges of their professions. Professionals with unusual experiences or special
expertise may prepare and teach classes about topics of current interest. For example, one Power Engineering Society
member who was involved in the TECO/Department of Energy project to build the first commercial scale coal
gasification plant in Polk county taught a class on clean coal technology to environmental science students at
Bloomingdale high in Hillsborough County.

Schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties are holding their teach-ins Wednesday, November 19. Other counties may
have teach-ins on other dates. Contact your local schools for more information.

This year, FWCS members have decided to show students what engineering is all about by engaging students in a design
challenge to “Build Your Own Robot Arm.” The activity was inspired by the heroic accomplishments of Apollo 13
engineers who saved the lives of the crew by adapting the command module CO2 removal filters to work in the lunar
module using only miscellaneous “junk” that happened to be on the spacecraft. The FWCS is holding a special meeting to
prepare members to present this activity. The meeting is Thursday, October 2, 2008 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and
will be held in TECO Hall, which is on the ground floor, just off the atrium of TECO Plaza at 702 N. Franklin Street,
33602 in downtown Tampa.

Come join the fun! Whether or not you plan to participate in the Great American Teach-in, this is a cool activity you can
use anytime you are called on to explain just what it is that engineers do. Attendance is free. Register on line at
http://time2meet.com/fwcs-meetings/. For further information, please
contact Ralph Painter, rdpainter@ieee.org, (813) 228-4685 or Sean Denny,
venner20@ieee.org, (813) 410-6982.

Here are some additional links:
http://www.pcsb.org/Infosvcs/08-09calendar.html
http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/info/Calendars/2008_09impdates.html.

Speakers: Dr. Jean Krause - Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders, USF

Date: Wednesday 15 October 2008
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: ENB 109
USF, Tampa, FL
Directions: See http://www2.eng.usf.edu/contact.asp for directions to USF campus and parking information.
The seminar room is in the Engineering Building II (ENB).
Contact: Ravi Sankar, e-mail: sankar@eng.usf.edu
or Hector Martinez, e-mail: hmartinez@HNTB.com for further information.

FREE SEMINAR, REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED. ALL ARE INVITED!

ABSTRACT: In adverse listening conditions, talkers can increase their intelligibility by speaking clearly. This modified speaking style,
known as clear speech, is typically spoken more slowly than conversational speech. Clear speech has some inherent acoustic properties,
independent of rate, that contribute to its improved intelligibility. Identifying these acoustic properties could lead to improved signal
processing schemes for hearing aids. Two properties that appear likely to be associated with improved intelligibility are increased energy
in the 1000--3000-Hz range and increased depth of low-frequency modulations of the intensity envelope. Intelligibility testing with
hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners in noise suggest that 1) increasing energy between 1000-Hz and 3000-Hz does not fully
account for the benefit of clear/normal speech, and 2) simple filtering of the intensity envelope is generally detrimental to
intelligibility. While other manipulations of the intensity envelope are required to determine conclusively the role of this factor in
intelligibility, it is also likely that additional properties important for highly intelligible speech at normal rates remain to be identified.

BIOGRAPHY: Jean Krause holds the BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and the SM and PhD degrees in Electrical
Engineering from MIT. She is currently an Asst. Prof. of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of South Florida and her
research (http://uweb.cas.usf.edu/~jkrause/) is concerned with speech perception by normal hearing listeners and listeners with
hearing loss, as well as the perception of American Sign Language, Cued Speech, and other visual communication systems used in the education
of deaf children.

Speaker: Thomas Blair, P.E., Senior Consulting Engineering, Tampa Electric
Date: Friday 17 October 2008
Time: Registration & Breakfast: 8:30am – 9:00am, Seminar: 9:00am – 2:00pm
Location: Tampa Armature Works, 6312 78th Street Riverview, FL 33569
Cost: $100 Members, $150 Non-Members. Includes lunch.
Credits: 4 professional development hours will be awarded. Be sure to enter you name and PE number on the
signup website as it appears on your license. IEEE Florida Provider Number 3849.
RSVP: http://time2meet.com/fwcs-pes1/index.html
Make checks payable to: IEEE FWCS. Send checks to:
IEEE-FWCS.
30612 Nickerson Loop,
Wesley Chapel, FL 33543
Attn: Dr. Paul Schnitzler

Space is limited to the first 24 registrants!!! Sign up early.
Questions: Contact Tom Blair at 813-228-1111, ext 34407 or e-mail: tom_blair@ieee.org

PES West Coast Chapter invites you to the opportunity to attend a seminar on Electrical Machines and Drives at the
Tampa Armature Works Riverview facility on Friday, October 17.

The Electrical Machines and Drives Seminar will provide an excellent overview of electric power conversion rotating
machines and the drives that control these machines. The purpose of the Electric Machines and Drives seminar is to
introduce the basic theory and applications of motors, generators, and drives. The first hour of the seminar will cover DC
motors and DC generators. The second hour of the seminar will cover AC motors and AC generators. The last two hours
of the seminar will cover solid state drives that are used to control these machines and a discussion of the various
applications of rotating machines and drives. Equivalent circuits will be review to present simplified analysis methods.

After the seminar, opportunity will be provided for those interested to tour the Electric Motor Facility of Tampa Armature
works – transportation from the TAW Riverview facility where the seminar will be to the TAW Electric Motor Facility
will be attendee’s responsibility (we will provide directions at seminar).

Speaker Bio: Thomas Blair has been a Senior Consulting Engineer with Tampa Electric Company for 7 years. Prior to his term at
Tampa Electric, he was an engineer at Phasetronics/Motortronics for 10years. Over his past 17
years experience, Tom has designed and performed startup services for motor and drive
applications. Tom currently teaches the “Powerplant Engineering” and “Electric Machines and
Drives” courses as an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida. Tom received his
B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (Power Engineering) degrees from University of South Florida in 1991 and
2001 respectively and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Florida (PE# 53239).