Brain Teaser Challenge - "January" 2010†

Parker Peter was a science nerd. One day his school went for a field trip to a laboratory where they experiment with genetically altered earthworms. As the students were visiting the specimen cases, he discovered that one of the slithering mutants had escaped. Then while he was distracted taking pictures of the lab assistants, the errant annelid managed to sink its fangs (I did say it was a mutant, right) into the unsuspecting Parker. Naturally, Parker experienced only mild side effects as his body was transformed into that of a superhuman with all of the powers of a very large earth worm.

Aside from the ability to asexually reproduce, Wormboy also gained the ability to flatten his body so he could slide under the door to enter a locked room and borough in the soil. His arch enemy, The Bass Fisherman, discovered that passing an electric current through the ground would force Wormboy to come to the surface and reveal his whereabouts. BF decided to measure the bulk resistivity of the soil with four probes 1 cm apart and got 20 ohms. What is the bulk resistivity of this soil?

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.

MedTech 2010

First AMA/IEEE EMBS Medical Technology Conference: Personalized Medicine (MedTech) - 28 – 30 Mar 2010, Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC, , IEEE Sponsor: Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

From the PES Corner February 2010

Belated Happy New Year Everyone! Compared to our closing presentation by Wanda Reder last November, PES as a group feels like it has a slow start for 2010. There are things going on behind the scenes, covering lessons learned from that presentation and planning for a better turn outs at future high profile Lecturers. There are Administrative issues to close at this time, reports need to be finalized and turned in to IEEE Headquarters, all a part of a new Chapter’s learning curve. The Web page effort is slow in development, but we do have space allocation now. We just need to format files and the space, and then upload them. This is a steep learning curve for me, just so you know. As they say in Monte Python, “But I’m not dead, yet.”

At the January 12 PES ExCom we determined a few things yet to iron out with respect to holding Officer elections times and meeting attendance. Our intent is to hold elections in April for terms that run from 1 July to 30 June, and our challenge is to insure there is not some obstacle to that plan. Another lingering question was limitations of the Section and Chapter public ally affiliating with political action groups. Thanks to Dawn Ostenberg’s perseverance we received an answer from IEEE National about the Chapter and Section affiliating ourselves with Green Job Alliance, and Green Economic Alliance. And for Chapter activities we are planning to forecast for the entire year of 2010, to improve publicizing events and increasing participation. For example, October will be our month for the big Distinguished Lecture, allowing for more time to plan and schedule without competing with so many functions in November. HR-PES continues the search for more economical venues for meetings, alternating on both sides of the water. PES members can expect a survey asking for those talents and time you are willing and able to commit to upcoming activities.

Again I must give credit to Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in supporting the generation of this chapter. My leader ship has volunteered to cover the expense of sending me to the General Membership meeting in July, to get Chapter Chair training. This would commit me to another term of service as Chair. It is humbling to know my company stands behind PES, believing this is an important investment for them in support of the Professional Community. Thank you Northrop Grumman Corporation!
PES is arranging a guided tour April 7th at Surry Nuclear Power Facility but this is a very limited tour. We can schedule more in the future if this turns out to be a popular activity. I am waiting for responses from PES Members before opening up to the IEEE General Membership. Because this is a daytime activity, we are likely going to have a Technical meeting that month, as an evening event.
Rick Williamson is looking into a tour of Aetna Wire for February. This facility is very close to Aberdeen Steak house on the Southside. Will send out an e-mail with details and create a Vtools link time permitting.

This July and Aug summer I will be participating in the IEEE Merit Badge Project as an instructor in the Electricity Merit Badge Booth. This project is chaired by Ralph Russell, a long time PES and IEEE member in the Richmond area. He has been organizing this project for several BSA Jamborees. I am proud to represent our chapter in this STEM type effort which has brought many young scouts into careers of Engineering as a result of how fun and challenging it can be. Anyone interested in helping with this project can contact me to learn more about it, or find out how to help.

PES is open to ideas of what topics you would like to explore for meetings, where we can hold meetings and even if you can offer a little time trying to help iron out these details.

Your feedback will strengthen our Chapter, and help increase our momentum beyond the spectacular presentation by Wanda Reder last year. The response from attendees was great, it was an upscale finale we would like to continue as a Chapter tradition. I look invite your inputs and look forward to a stronger year for the Chapter!

Yours in Energy,

Jennifer Ammentorp
jennifer.ammentorp@ieee.org

The Open Channel for February 2010

Inside The Open Channel

Front Page LabVIEW and its Application in Electrical Engineering
Page 2 From the Chair
Page 3 Directions to Christopher Newport
Page 3 From the PES Corner
Page 4 Upcoming Conferences
Page 5-6 SoutheastCon 2010
Page 7-8 Career Opportunities

Upcoming Events

Feb 14-20 EWeek
Feb 18 Meeting
Feb 20 PEC
Mar 18 Banquet Meeting

This is a 271 KB PDF file. Click here to download

February 2010 From The Chair

The Hampton Roads Section technical meeting was held on January 21st at Clark Nexsen. The presenter was Jimmy Tran from Old Dominion University. The topic dealt with atomic layer deposition and is one method that is being worked on currently to solve the scaling issues associated with smaller architecture. All this work just so we keep Moore’s law active. Although the section attendance was small in number, the questions were plenty and quite diverse. I guess I had not given it much thought lately that surface roughness plays a very important part on surface conductance. I haven’t been living in the nano-scale world recently. I want to thank Mr. Tran for presenting and Kurt Clemente for hosting at Clark Nexsen.


In February, we will have a vendor give us a demonstration on the latest effort by National Instruments and their product LabView. I always liked Labview, where you could design an instrument at the module level and can really see signal throughput. As practical as this seems, the training applications are outstanding. I can say one thing about Labview, you don’t have to worry about surface roughness, or do you? I want to thank Dr. Riedl for hosting the meeting at Christopher Newport University. My wife is a graduate of Christopher Newport, so we get to go to some athletic events. I have to put a plug in for the Lady Captains basketball team and Coach Hunter. I am very impressed with the team. As of this writing, they are still undefeated (19-0).

We have an opportunity to be a team. We have too many openings on the Executive committee. We have an upcoming anniversary in which I have heard from one person volunteering to help with the program. We have an opportunity to work with the Marine Technology Society for the Oceans 2012 program and the tech surge program being held in June, but we are still looking for volunteers. With that all said, I would be remiss if I did not say that we do have quite a few individuals who have stepped up and I would like to name them all but space does not permit. A team can do a lot more than an individual. So I hope to hear from you once you have read this newsletter.

The Power and Energy Society Chapter is going to have a tour of the Surry Nuclear Power plant scheduled for some time in April. One of our Executive Committee members will be attending the SouthEastCon 2010 in Charlotte. So there is plenty to do, we just have to get out there and do it. If you have a desire to volunteer, please contact any member of the Executive Committee.

Regards,
James Bolitho
2009 Chair
Hampton Roads Section