January From The Chair

Thanks to all who made it to our final 2008 technical meeting at Clark- Nexsen in Norfolk. Bernie Wright of General Electric gave an extremely in depth presentation of the challenges in designing an electrical system that is cost-effectively “layered” (that is, not flat with respect to every panel feeding from the main switchgear) while meeting the new National Electric Code requirements for selective coordination. After a theoretical treatment of selective coordination, including why this is normally NOT a requirement for most buildings, and typical building electrical distribution system design, Bernie demonstrated a General Electric software tool for examining various equipment selections to rapidly determine components and settings necessary to achieve coordination. The tool was able to highlight certain configurations in a hypothetical scenario that would require extremely costly components, permitting minor design changes to eliminate these costs. The tool was specific to GE equipment, as it contains libraries of parameters for various equipment, but is available at no cost. For copies of either Bernie’s presentation or the GE InstaPlan tool, see the IEEE Hampton Roads meeting archive. We are very appreciative of Bernie, both for his time in preparing and presenting the topic as well as making the tool available to IEEE members.
In January we hold the IEEE-HR Student Paper Competition, which Dr. Anton Riedl of Christopher Newport University has graciously agreed to host. If you have not attended this annual event, or are a student considering entering, the competition guidelines can be viewed on the Hampton Roads Web Site. The section provides cash prizes for the top 3 student presentations, and the winners may take their presentation to the IEEE Region 3 competition at SoutheastCon in Atlanta in March (see the Region 3 Web Site for details). The Executive Committee has received several inquiries regarding permitted topics. Without providing specific guidelines for such requests, we remind students that topics should be relative to the electrical and electronics engineers of IEEE… and that we have yet to reject a topic!
We will conduct 2009 IEEE-HR officer elections in January, as we did not receive sufficient nominations at our November meeting. We now have (almost) enough volunteers to fill the 2009 slate, but if you would like to volunteer for a position there is still time and opportunity.
Upcoming meetings:

• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting February 19th – Design of UHF RFID systems, Dr. C.J. Reddy, EM Software & Systems
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting March 19th
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting April 16th
• IEEE-HR annual social event in May

The January meeting will begin our Spring 2009 technical program. I hope you found the 2008 program interesting and look forward to this year’s topics. For those who are licensed engineers, the announcement has not been officially made but we expect the APELSCIDLA board to implement the new regulations by March 1st. The good news is that the current IEEE technical meeting format will meet these requirements, and our newsletter provides the necessary documentation to demonstrate meeting content, duration, and speaker qualifications (assuming the topic is relevant to your area of practice). Save the printed newsletter or reference our website’s meeting archive and you will be prepared to answer a board audit. Because an additional item of documentation demonstrating attendance may be part of the board’s March implementation, IEEE-HR will soon begin issuing certificates of attendance after meeting completion. If you have a suggested topic or speaker (or might want to present something yourself) please speak with me or any IEEE officer about this. I look forward to seeing you in January!
Regards,
Kurt J. Clemente, PE
2007 Chair
Hampton Roads Section
kurt.clemente@ieee.org

IEEE Hampton Roads Annual Elections—Last Call

As with all sections and chapters in IEEE the elected positions are: Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary. As of November 2008 meeting the nominees for the 2009 Hampton Roads Section are:

• Chair—James Bolitho
• Vice-chair
• Treasurer—James Childers
• Secretary

Send in your nominations now to William LaBelle [w.labelle@ieee.org ] or William Clayton [w.clayton@ieee.org ]. The election will be held at the January Meeting.

Special Alert - Beware of Bogus IEEE Emails

For the latest alerts, please visit www.ieee.org/alias

The IEEE has learned that IEEE email alias users may have received messages that appear to be from a legitimate IEEE source asking for confirmation of authentication information or credentials.

These email messages are not from the IEEE and are suspected to be phishing scams, please delete them. If included in the messages, please do not open any attachments or click on any URLs.

These types of email messages typically attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive member information by claiming that such information is required for account verification, to prevent account termination or some other course of action in connection with IEEE services.

As a policy, the IEEE will never ask its members to provide or confirm sensitive information via email.

To read some example of bogus email messages, please visit eleccomm.ieee.org/Special_Alert.shtml

Hampton Roads Future City Competition

Donations Needed
Please consider donating to this great cause. This competition is an investment in our future and a great opportunity to get young people involved in STEM related activities.
You can donate by registering for the event from this page and clicking whatever registration (donation) amount that you wish. Please note that this does NOT mean that you are registered to attend. This is simply to donate much needed funds to the effort. If you wish to attend the event, attendance is open to the public.
SAIC has already kindly paid for a sponsorship and we are grateful for their efforts. The competition now needs only $1250 more dollars to put on an excellent competition. Now is the time for us all to come together as a region and announce that we support such wonderful initiatives.
Nine schools from across the state (including Hampton) are already signed up for this competition. We are also currently looking for a location to hold the event. If you or someone you know may be able to provide such a venue, please contact Selena Griffett at sgriffett@hampton.gov .
Future City Competition
The 2008 National Engineers Week Future City Competition is here!! The Future City Competition challenges teams of seventh and eighth grade students, working with a volunteer Engineer mentor, to design a city of the future using SimCity software (provided by Maxis). The students then build a scale model of their city, write an essay about an assigned engineering related topic, and make an oral presentation of their project to a panel of judges.
The Future City Competition is an exciting program for the public and private middle schools of Hampton Roads, and it promotes engineering, architecture, and planning as a career path for our children. In addition, it can also be used to enhance several SOL areas.
We hope you will consider sponsoring this event. As an event sponsor, your company will be associated with an exciting educational event that is a win-win situation. Sponsors will receive good public relations exposure and are able to positively impact the students involved.
We would appreciate any level of sponsorship and are hopeful your company can participate! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Selena Griffett at sgriffett@hampton. gov or (757) 728-2038.
Selena Griffett is looking for volunteer judges for the Future City Competition – Hampton Roads Region. Judges must be planners, engineers, or architects. All judging/scoring materials will be provided as will refreshments and lunch. You can learn more about this program at www.futurecity. org. Please contact Selena (sgriffett@hampton. gov) if you or anyone on your staff who might be interested, or if you know someone who might be interested in being a judge!
Register by Saturday 17-Jan-09 8:00 AM EST
Before 17-Jan-09
Non-Member: $25.00
Student Non-Member: $50.00
Individual: $100.00
Donation: $200.00
Donation: $250.00
Point of Contact Selena Griffett at 757.728.2038, sgriffett@hampton.gov
www.futurecity.org

Critical Mass High Tech Happy Hour - December

Event Begins: December 18, 2008 5:30 PM
Event Ends: December 18, 2008 7:30 PM
Description: Join HRTC's Critical Mass networking event at Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro. HRTC's monthly happy hour event that draws the best of
the technology crowd. Join us for drinks, networking and great conversation! The cost for this event is $10. Register by Thursday 18-Dec-08 3:30 PM EST
Pricing
Before 18-Dec-08
Member: $10.00
Non-Member: $10.00
Venue:
Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro
189 Central Park Avenue
Virginia Beach, VA
Organization: Hampton Roads Technology Council
Point of Contact Jennifer Barker at 757.645.2447, jbarker@hrtc.org