IEEE Northern VA Section Newsletter for April 2016

 

In This Issue

• Section Report
• Acknowledgements
• Upcoming Events
• Contest Winner and Survey

 

Section Report

In March our section awarded over $2000 to 21 students at four regional science fairs to encourage their EE-related pursuits. This year many winners like “Development of a Collect-O-Bot: The Object Collection Robot”, “Passive Acoustic Detection of a Quadcopter Drone”, and “Drone Traffic Management” involved robotics and unmanned vehicles. “Guided Wheelchair Steering System Using Pupil Movement” and “BCI Integrated Device to Recognize Brain Speech Patterns Using an EEG” spanned robotics and human-computer interaction, while software projects like “Gear Up: An App for Outdoor Enthusiasts” and “FreshFood – Tracking Food Usage to Reduce Waste” encouraged health and sustainability. Several of the first place winners plan to display their projects at the 2016 National Capital Area Awards Banquet on April 2 in Washington, DC.

 

Also last month representatives from most of its 20 sections met in Pittsburgh for the IEEE Region 2 Committee meeting. A portion of the one and a half day event was spent on the formal business of the section like nominating two candidates, Wolfram Betterman and Murty Polavarapu, for the Region 2 Director Elect position to be voted on later this year. However the majority of the time was used to learn about the organization and resources, and to exchange ideas for member activities – discussions that will continue through the year.

 

The next few months bring many more special events to our section, including Rock Stars of Risk-Based Security on April 12 in Leesburg. Featuring CEO’s, CIO’s, and VP’s from well-known companies in the security space, Northern VA section members can attend at the special price of $89 by entering code RBSE-89. Visit https://www.computer.org/web/rock-stars/risk-based-security-dc for details.

 

On April 13, IEEE members and other professionals from across the US will go to Capital Hill for the Science, Engineering and Technology Congressional Visits Day to highlight the importance of STEM to the economy and quality of life. Though registration is closed you can read more about it at http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/cvd/.

 

Three days later attention turns from legislation to education at the USA Science & Engineering Festival April 16 and 17 at the Washington Convention Center. The shows, exhibits, presentations, and other activities convey the importance of and stimulate interest in science and technology. Bring your children, or just bring yourself, and stop by the IEEE-USA’s booth to play the laser Theremin. For details visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.

 

On May 7, Region 2 will hold a Conference Leadership Workshop in Arlington, VA. If you ever wondered what it takes to make each of IEEE’s 1600 annual conferences and meetings happen or thought about chairing one yourself, you’ll want to attend. Registration is free to members; see https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/38882. For more technical talks and section events see the list of upcoming events below or visit the section web site http://sites.ieee.org/nova/.

 

                                                Marty Schulman

                                                2016 IEEE Northern VA Chair

 

 

Acknowledgements

While rewarding, being a science fair judge also involves a fair amount of effort. We are grateful for our experienced judges that return again and again, and this year we offer special thanks to first-time judge Arezou Edalati, and to David Kane and Paul V. Whalen for each handling a science fair by themself.

 

 

Upcoming Events

Following is a list of events in April brought to our attention that may be of interest to members. Inclusion in this list does not imply section involvement and registration may be required. Follow the link for details.

 

Wednesday, April 6, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

            Navigation Sensors and Systems in GNSS Degraded and Denied Environments

            Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/38669

 

Thursday, April 7, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

            Dispatching Distributed Energy Resources for Bulk Electric System Reliability

            RBC South Conference Center, Baltimore, MD

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/39148

 

Thursday, April 7 – Saturday, April 9

            FIRST Chesapeake District Championship

            XFINITY Center, College Park, MD

            https://www.firstchesapeake.org/events/district-championship

 

Wednesday, April 13, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

            Northern VA Section AdCom

            Teqcorner, McLean, VA

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/38930

 

Friday, April 15, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

            Assimilating Surface PM2.5 and Satellite AOD

            Commerce Building, Fairfax, VA

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/39217

 

Sunday, April 17, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

            Robot Challenge

            Baltimore Museum of Industry, Baltimore, MD

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/38278

 

Tuesday, April 19, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

            Instantaneous Frequency and Time-frequency Analysis

            National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, MD

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/38145

 

Wednesday, April 20, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

            Gyros – Accelerometers – Aerospace Platform Stability

            Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/38771

 

Thursday, April 21, 6:30 – 8:00 pm

            Changing Global Requirements for Cybersecurity

            MITRE 2 Building, McLean, VA

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/37632

 

Tuesday, April 26, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

            The IT Infrastructure Library

            MITRE-2, McLean, VA

            https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/37611

 

 

Contest Winner and Survey

Last month you were asked to submit a haiku with an electrical engineering theme. The winner John Houldsworth penned an elegant and very timely verse about LIGO:

 

Stretching and squeezing

A gravitational wave

Revealed by light beams

 

In recognition of Congressional Visits Day, this month we want to know what issues matter to you. Please complete the anonymous survey by April 10; if there are enough responses results and further questions on topics of interest will be published in next month’s newsletter.

 

http://ieee.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/R20049/2016-april-member-survey/