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