Brain Teaser Challenge - "October"†

by Butch Shadwell
When I got started in this business we used multi-meters with a d'Arsonval meter movement that was powered by the signal that was being measured. Of course the voltage that one read from the meter needle movement could be off a bit depending on the source impedance of the signal. They used to rate the meters input resistance in ohms per volt. Some would be 10,000 ohms/v or even higher sometimes.

If I had a multimeter rated at 1000 ohms per volt, set on the 10 volt range, what voltage would I read from the dial if I measured the voltage at the middle node of a voltage divider composed of two 10,000 ohm resistors in series, across a solid 5 volt DC supply? Later I bought a VTVM or vacuum tube volt meter, with a fixed input resistance of 11 megaohms.

Reply to Butch Shadwell
904-223-4510 (fax)
904-223-4465 (v)
3308 Queen Palm Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328.
www.shadtechserv.com

The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column. 

† Our friend Butch volunteers a bit too much, he never quite catches up to the current month.

October 2009 ExCom Minutes

October Minutes

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Free PES Student Membership

Students: Energize Your Future!

Join the IEEE Power & Energy Society for FREE!

This offer ends 15 August 2010
With over 23,000 members around the globe representing every facet of the electric power and energy industry, PES is at the forefront of the rapidly changing technological advancements that impact everyone’s future.
LEARN about current research and applications of recent technologies such as wind, photovoltaics, fuel cells, distributed generation, flexible AC transmission, energy storage, SmartGrids, and more.
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NETWORK with experienced professionals in all aspects of the industry at local, regional and international meetings. Save really big on conference registration fees,too. Some are even free!
If you have not previously been a PES member, we’d like to introduce you to the benefits of membership by offering the FIRST YEAR FREE. To be eligible for this offer you must be an IEEE Student member.

Already an IEEE Student Member? JOIN PES FOR FREE RIGHT NOW! You must already have renewed your IEEE Student Membership for 2010 to take advantage of this offer.

• Go to: www.ieee.org/go/PE_add (case sensitive)
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• IEEE Power & Energy Society Membership will appear in the mini-cart after login.
• Click “View Cart/Proceed to Checkout.”
• At the Shopping Cart, enter PES10WEBA in the promotion code box next to IEEE Power & Energy Society Membership.
• Click "Recalculate Totals" at the bottom of the page.
• From there, you may "Checkout" or browse.

Not an IEEE Student Member yet? FREE PES MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU JOIN IEEE AS A STUDENT MEMBER TODAY!

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September ExCom Minutes

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Systems Engineering Certification Tutorial Webinar

Interested in receiving your INCOSE Systems Engineering (SE) certification and becoming an INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP)? Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) is hosting a tutorial webinar to help you learn SE and prepare for the certification exam. The tutorial is taught by John O. Clark, Chief Engineer at the NGC Information Systems Sector and Director of Education & Training for the INCOSE Hampton Roads Area Chapter. The tutorial covers the CSEP process and the SE Handbook version 3.1 (the basis for the CSEP exam). It also provides tips on filling out your application. A certificate of completion is provided.

Beginning Thursday, November 19th and running through April 2010, the tutorial consists of 16 weekly sessions, held from noon to 1:30 p.m., Eastern Time USA, for up to 250 participants. Prior to each session, participants are encouraged to read the sections and appendices of the SE Handbook to be presented. Course materials include the tutorial slides (including PowerPoint Notes), sample questions, and prior-session audio recordings. The current schedule (including the specific session, section/appendix, and topic) is available at the links below. This schedule is subject to change as the course progresses. Check the links below for the course materials and to obtain the latest schedule.

More Information

2010 IEEE Election Results

IEEE Members Select Moshe Kam 2010 President-Elect

8 October - Moshe Kam, department head and Robert Quinn Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa., USA, has been selected as 2010 IEEE President-Elect. Pending acceptance of the Teller's Committee report by the IEEE Board of Directors on 22 November, Kam will begin serving as IEEE president on 1 January 2011. He will succeed 2010 IEEE President Pedro Ray, president, Ray Engineers, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The other candidates for 2010 IEEE President-Elect were J. Roberto Boisson de Marca, professor, Pontifical Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Joseph V. Lillie, AT&T (retired) Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. All of the candidates were nominated by the IEEE Board of Directors.

Of the members who voted, 15,690 selected Kam, 14,903 selected Lillie, and 12,704 selected de Marca.

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Region 3 selects David G. Green as Director Elect for 2010-2011

David G. Green of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, has been selected as the IEEE Region Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect, 2010-2011

David G. Green has been on the faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) since 1981. His areas of interest include software engineering, collaboration systems, computer networking, and the engineering design process. He is a member of the project management team for the university´s Active Directory (Windows Services) and Exchange (E-Mail) projects. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (BSE, 1975; MSE, 1977) with an Electrical Engineering specialization. David Green has received numerous IEEE awards including the IEEE Millennium Medal, IEEE Educational Activities Meritorious Service Award, Region 3 Outstanding Service Award, Regional Activities Board Innovation Award, USAB Regional Professional Leadership Award, IEEE´s Outstanding Branch Counselor, and the Region 3 Joseph M. Biedenbach Outstanding Education Award. He is a senior member of IEEE, a member of ASEE, HKN, and Tau Beta Pi, and a life member of ARRL.

The other candidate for IEEE Region Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect, 2010-2011 was Eric S. Ackerman, Assistant Dean Nova Southeastern University, Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

Of the members who voted, 1,474 selected Ackerman and 2,178 selected Green.

The Open Channel for November 2009

Note our next newsletter will be in January 2010

Inside The Open Channel
Front Page - 2009 Annual Student Paper Presentations
Page 2 From the Chair
Page 3 Directions to Culinary Arts Institute
Page 3 IEEE HR Annual Elections - Last Call
Page 3 From the PES Corner
Page 4 Brain Teaser Challenge Solution - August 2009
Page 5 Brain Teaser - September 2009
Page 5 Moshe Kam is 2010 IEEE President - Elect
Page 5 Other IEEE Election Results

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November PES Update

PES had a successful first stand alone meeting with "The New Face of Nuclear Power." Presented by Ray Riha, Ph.D on Oct 8th. There have been several improvements in the area of safety; all moving in the direction of passive safety where the need for human interaction is not required to deploy the safety feature in Generation III and Generation III + Reactors. Some designs of newer reactors also consume a greater portion of the fuel, leaving less waste (in one case it can use the spent fuel rods from older facilities).

A motion was made and carried to have a tour of a Nuclear power facility, and details will follow on that effort.

We continue the Green Power Engineering with the November 10th meeting: "Practical Lessons in Wind Farm Collector Systems and Interconnections" by Wanda Reder of S & C Electric. Ms. Reder is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE and PES. This is a great follow up to the Sept. Presentation on Off Shore Wind Farm Project presented by Justin Turner .

If you are interested in attending the Nov 10 Meeting please RSVP early to inure your seat.
This meeting will be opened to the public and announced through the local media, and the limited seats could fill quickly.

It will be held at Town Point Club in Norfolk, and their dress code applies (business attire, coat and tie preferred)

Cost for members Early RSVP and advance payment (IEEE, PES) is $25 and Guests $30.

Checks payable to HR-PES can be mailed to IEEE HR-PES at 210 Graves Circle Newport News, VA 23602-7536


Early RSVP closes Nov 2. Late RSVP is $35, and is from Nov 3 - 6, when Registration closes.

Please submit your reservation(s) online at http://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/1231.
Your feedback and comments are invited. Tell HRPES what tours, and topics you want to see in our Spring line up.

I look forward to working with you in the future!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Ammentorp

November from the Chair

So do you think you know as much as a university student? Here’s your chance to find out. Come to the November section meeting and hear our local undergraduate engineering students give presentations on the topics of their choice. We have adjusted our meeting schedule to be more in line with the students’ schedule so that, as they are finishing projects, they can practice presenting on a body of engineers and receive feedback from us. If you are not careful you may even learn something! The PES chapter is providing a technical program this month for those that need to get continuing education credits for the licensure requirements. Either way, I believe both programs will be quite informative.

We had an excellent October meeting that was well attended. I want to thank Muelhbauer for being such gracious hosts in sponsoring this event. It is truly amazing how much technology has increased and improved even since I went to school. One of our life members asked the question, “What would Maxwell think?" Remember him? The mention of his name conjures up memories of curl and divergence. The technology of today might overwhelm the giants of yesterday, but in electrical engineering we truly get to stand on the shoulders of giants in our understanding of the world. What will tomorrow bring? I don’t know. But I do know that electrical engineering will be out front. Actually all engineering disciplines will be out front, we are just partial to electrical engineers. My thought is that the IEEE provides us the opportunity to meet as a body of engineers so that we can learn from each other. The local section, society chapters and student branches allow us that opportunity. We have 876 active members in our section. There is opportunity to learn from each one of them.

Not only does IEEE give us an opportunity to learn but also the opportunity to serve. We have numerous opportunities in the section for people to serve. We are currently working with the local Marine Technology Society in co-hosting the Oceans 2012 conference which will be held in Virginia Beach. The local Marine Technology Society is small (~14 members). We have been asked to help them with this conference. There is a great deal of work to be done to pull this off but I am confident that we can do it. I am going to be blunt about this - if we are successful, the section can make some money on this deal. We continue to struggle with finances (for the 3 years that I have been an officer). This will get us on some good footing when it comes to our financial picture.

November is the last technical presentation for this year. We will be looking for additional presentations starting in January and running through April. If you know of any potential presentations and/or presenters, please contact our Vice-Chair Greg Hodges.
Nominations for officers are still being taken by our past Chair, so please contact Kurt Clemente if you are interested in serving in our section. Elections will be in November.

Regards,
James Bolitho
2009 Chair
Hampton Roads Section