MINORITY/WOMEN GRADUATE ENROLLMENT RISING - According to the 1996 Survey of Graduate Students, released by the National Science Foundation, recent trends in science and engineering graduate enrollment continued for most population subgroups. The number of women enrolled, which has been rising continuously since 1980, increased 1.0% from 1995 to 1996. The number of men enrolled in graduate S&E programs fell 3.3% during the same period, continuing a series of declines since a 1992 peak. As a result, women's share of graduate S&E enrollment reached a high of 39% in 1996. For free copies of the full report, contact pubs@nsf.gov.
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING DEGREES, 1966-95 - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released an annual report on trends in bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees awarded in the United States and its territories to men and women in science and engineering fields of study. The full report may be found at www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf97335/htmstart.htm.
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES INCREASING AND MORE DIVERSE - Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity 1996-2012 is a new study conducted jointly by the College Board and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. According to the report, by 2008, the nation's high schools will graduate a record 3.2 million students, 26% more than the 2.5 million students who completed high school in 1996. Also, almost every state will see changes in the ethnic composition of graduates, with the largest grown seen among Hispanic students. The study is available in both printed and electronic forms, includes state- by-state graduate projections for both public and nonpublic schools. Contact WICHE Publications at 301-541-0290 or www.wiche.edu/rapa/hsgrads.htm.
ENGINEERINGNET WEB SITE OFFERS CAREER INFO FOR STUDENTS - EngineeringNET (www.engineeringnet.com) is a new web site designed to help high school students understand the various engineering disciplines, select a university or program, and network with professional engineers and other students with similar interests. The site has been nominated for several awards, and includes links to most professional and student associations, tips for high school coursework, and links to news in the engineering and scientific community.
GETTING READY VIDEO RELEASED - IEEE Educational Activities has released a 25-minute videotape of advice to students from successful electrotechnology professionals. Topics covered in the video, titled Getting Ready: Careers for Electrical Engineers and Computer Scientists, include the importance of selecting electives, making time for co-op jobs, keeping up with technology, and deciding on whether to pursue an advanced degree. To order, call 800-678-IEEE or e-mail customer.service@ieee.org and ask for Product No. EV5522; ISBN 0-7803-4583-5.
TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY COUNTS! - IEEE is seeking volunteers to attend the "Technological Literacy Counts" workshop set for 9-10 Oct. in Baltimore. The goal of the workshop is to open communication lines between the engineering and the academic communities in order to foster technological literacy for K-12 students. The workshop planning committee will select 150 engineers and educators to take part in the activities. Volunteers interested in attending should send their biographies and a statement of why they are interested in the workshop to Barbara Coburn, Educational Activities, b.coburn@ieee.org, 732-562-5498.
NSF SEEKS GRANT PROPOSALS FOR WOMEN IN ENGINEERING PROJECTS - The National Science Foundation is soliciting preliminary proposals for the Program for Women and Girls in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (see www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf9851). Proposals should reflect instructional or motivational projects that focus on "critical points that facilitate or hinder the successful participation of women and girls in science, engineering, and mathematics education from grade school to graduate school and on to careers."
A computer was something on TV
>From a science fiction show
A window was something you hated to clean
And RAM was the cousin of a goat.Meg was the name of my girlfriend
And gig was something you did on stage for money
Now they all mean different things
And that really Megabytes.An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano.Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 1/2" floppy
You hoped nobody found out.Compress was something you did to the garbage
Not something you did to a file.
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for a while.Log on was adding wood to the fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode.Cut you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu.I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead.-author unknown
The Nominations Committee has announced the following candidates for officer positions for the 1998-99 term:
Chairman - Alan Triggs
Vice Chairman - Jeff Carrell
Secretary - Bob Krause
Treasurer - Bob Hayes
Nominations by petition may be submitted through May 17 to the Nominations Chairman. Petitions must contain the names and signatures of 20 voting members of the Fort Worth Section (member level or above).
IEEE representatives had a prominent role in a recent Capitol Hill press conference that launched legislation to improve pension portability, a longtime goal of IEEE-USA. The Retirement Account Portability (RAP) Act, H.R. 3503, was introduced on March 19 at a gathering attended by a White House official, representatives of large membership organizations such as the AARP and the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees, and by the two principal sponsors, Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.
Key provisions of the bill include:
Dr. Timothy Grayson, representing IEEE-USA's Engineering Employment Benefits Committee, said improvements in pension portability are urgently needed to enable mobile American workers, including scientists and engineers, to take their pension benefits from job to job. Grayson cited US Department of Labor research findings that two-thirds of the American workers who participate in employer-sponsored pension plans lose as much as 50% of their benefits under current patterns of job mobility and pension coverage.
Gene Sperling, director of the President's National Economics Council, gave the bill the White House's stamp of approval, saying the President is grateful to the sponsors for their efforts to "advance our shared goals."
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES CONFERENCE, "PREPARING FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM" is scheduled for Labor Day weekend, 4-7 Sept., at the Pointe Hilton Resort at Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona. Six tracks of sessions will offer more than 50 workshops and plenaries designed to meet the career and professional skill development needs of today's engineers. See www.ieee.org/usab/PACE/98pace.html. For registration materials, contact Ann Hartfiel, a.hartfiel@ieee.org, 202-785-0017.
IEEE-USA COMMENTS ON ANTIPIRACY ACT - In a March 16 letter to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, IEEE-USA offered comments and suggestions regarding the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act (H.R. 2652), legislation introduced to restore intellectual property rights previously granted to "sweat of the brow" collections of information that were lost under the Supreme Court's decision in Feist v. Rural Electric. See www.ieeeusa.org/usab/FORUM/POLICY/98mar16.html.
CABINET SIGNALS CLINTON OPPOSITION TO IMMIGRATION BILL - Attorney General Janet Reno, Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, and Commerce Secretary William Daley sent a strongly worded letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee stating unequivocally that the Clinton Administration strongly opposes the American Competitiveness Act (S.1723) as introduced because it "emphasizes providing opportunities for foreign workers rather than providing for and protecting US workers." S. 1723, introduced by Senator Spencer Abraham, R-MI, would raise H-1B visa restrictions on entry of skilled guest workers in order to satisfy industry demands for high tech workers. Despite the implied veto threat, the Committee voted to report the Abraham bill by a vote of 12-6 with only minor revisions, the most notable being an amendment to allow increases in the H-1B VISA cap for five years only, rather than the permanent increase originally proposed.
Congressional thinking on utility deregulation - as of early March - is apparently divided on whether to go ahead with a narrow bill to repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) or push for passage of a broader bill that would include a mandate for states to pass laws requiring deregulation of electricity prices. PUHCA is a 1935 law limiting mergers and entry of utility companies into non-power activities. Many in Congress strongly support repeal of PUHCA as an easy way to deal with energy deregulation in an election year. They have the support of the electric utility industry, which is represented by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI).
As jockeying for position goes on in Congress, several states are taking steps to edge into deregulation. In trend-setting California, the start of retail competition in electricity has been delayed from Jan. 1 to March 31. The delay was initially blamed on computer system glitches. However, news sources report that the real problem was that the prospect of competition in the utility industry has failed to attract the attention of consumers. Commercials, advertising aimed at special populations (Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians) and marketeering gimmicks have brought about only a few conversions. As of Feb. 26, only 25,000 out of an estimated 9.9 million California customers had switched providers of electric or gas power. According to the New York Times, most Californians "remain confused about the purposes of the program and doubtful about the payoff, if any, for them."
Although members of Congress generally support the "idea" of deregulation of "one of the last bastions of monopoly," a few doubt the blessings of consumer choice and lower prices. One of the skeptics is Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, D-Ohio, a freshman House member. On Feb. 25, 1998, Kucinich challenged supporters of deregulation to demonstrate that the benefits promised - lower rates, greater efficiency and "fairness" - will actually accrue to consumers. The real issue, he said, is money. "There is a lot of money on the table - not only for those who believe retail wheeling will allow them to negotiate more favored prices, but also for the speculators in futures, options, hedges and derivatives. Wall Street and others are driving this issue, not for the sake of free market, but to gain access to profits."
The White House finally put in its two cents on March 25 by unveiling its long-awaited Comprehensive Electricity Competition Plan. The plan calls for phase-in of customer choice by Jan. 1, 2003, but allows states to opt out of the competitive market structure if they believe that their consumers would be better off under the status quo system or their own unique restructuring proposal. The plan endorses payment of stranded costs to the utilities but leaves implementation to the states. It also contains a controversial proposal to require that at least 5.5% of all electricity sales include generation from renewable energy sources by 2010.
Additional information on the Administration proposal is available in an "Eye on Washington" feature on-line at www.ieeeusa.org/usab/ FORUM/EYE/0327981.html.
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING STANDARDS AVAILABLE THROUGH ON-LINE SUBSCRIPTION - IEEE Standards launched its third on-line subscription, providing access to over 40 IEEE software engineering standards. Standards subscriptions are fully text searchable. In addition, when new or revised standards are added to the subscription service, customers are automatically notified via e-mail that their electronic library of information has just been enhanced. Other subscriptions available on-line are the Local and Metropolitan Area Networks Subscription and the Power Transmission and Distribution Subscription. For more information, contact Karen McCabe, IEEE Standards, k.mccabe@ieee.org, 732-562-3824.
WIE WEB SITE ON "WORKPLACE ISSUES" - The IEEE Women in Engineering Committee introduced the Workplace Issues Webpage (www.ieee.org/women/!ieeewie.htm) to help women to perform their best and achieve their dreams through mutual support. Topics include: Mentoring, Networking, Professional Skills Development, Career Development, Personal/ Professional Balance, and Legal issues in the Workplace. Each section includes an introduction, i.e. What is Mentoring? Why Network?, guiding principles, stories of experience, as well as resource and reference lists.
IEEE/CONTINENTAL RELATIONSHIP OFFERS BIG DISCOUNTS - IEEE Travel Services has established a relationship with Continental Airlines that guarantees substantial discounts for IEEE members and entities booking international and domestic US flights. In addition to the discounts, Continental has established "zone" fares with the IEEE that don't require a Saturday night stay-over for domestic travel in the US and flights to and from Europe. To inquire about travel discounts, contact IEEE Travels Services, 800-TRY-IEEE, ieee-travel@ieee.org.
Recognizing our Section members for their long-time commitment to the profession on the anniversary of their joining IEEE.
65 yrs
50 yrs
45 yrs
40 yrs
25 yrs
20 yrs
Find the words whose initials are on the right side of each equation.
Answer to last month's Brainbuster:
Jean Eason, Editor