Membership News

New Cincinnati Section Senior Member
The Cincinnati Section would like to congratulate our newest Senior Member,

Theodore Roosevelt Stoner

whose upgrade application was recently approved.If you are interested in upgrading your membership to Senior Member, please contact any member of the Executive Committee.

The following individuals are IEEE members who are new to our Section:

Christopher Anderson

Bryon Bowman

Donald Boyd

Gregory Bucks

Bryan Butsch

Stephen Byers

Eric Capal

Woo-Hyuck Choi

Larry Christy

Will Constable

Timothy Ernst

John Evangelisti

Joe Fahrnbach

Charles Faulkner

Robert Fronk

Paul Gemin

Jason Gulley

Christopher Hall

Jonathan Hegman

Naveed Hingora

Chad Holbrook

Brian Hunt

Andrew Hyder

Eric Kreit

Tuan Le

David Mancino

Sujit Mandal

John McHenry

Ryan Miller

Ankur Mishra

George Ponchak II

Matthew Reams

Kevin Rohrbaugh

Jordan Rose

Brian Rutkowski

Rocke Saccone II

Perry Salyers

Brandon Schamer

James Sciarrino

Kevin Sharp

Bryan Sheppard

Steve Sparks

Sean Suttman

David Swecker

Jeffrey Tackett

Jede Thatcher

Kathrine Tormos

Michelle Warncke

Shawn Wetzel

Seth Whitecotton

Craig Wilson

Shu Yang

 

We wish to welcome these members to the Cincinnati Section!!!

 

IEEE News

IEEE-USA Engineering Mass Media Fellow Files Nine Sci-Tech Reports for Worldwide VOA Audiences

WASHINGTON (30 August 2010) — IEEE-USA   Engineering Mass Media Fellow Smitha Raghunathan filed nine science, engineering and technology-related reports for the Voice of America (VOA) worldwide audience on radio and online, as part of her 10-week internship this summer in Washington. VOA is an international multimedia broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government with an estimated global audience of 125 million.

Raghunathan’s reports included:

1) Computer model helps minimize water pollution
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Computer-Model-Helps-Minimize-Water-Pollution–99958364.html

2) Severely disabled use sniffing to control wheelchairs and computers
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Nosing-Your-Way-Around-99939379.html

3) Artificial intelligence may soon control robots performing routine medical procedures
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/When-Your-Surgeon-is-a-Robot-100345534.html

4) Science journalism is increasingly important in a technology driven world
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Making-Sense-of-Science-99098954.html

5) Eating white rice increases diabetes risk, while brown rice could reduce it http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/Eating-White-Rice-Increases-Diabetes-Risk-97165209.html  
 
IEEE-USA’s Engineering Mass Media Fellow summarized her VOA internship: “I found my technical skills were best used when researching a piece, helping me understand the subject matter and asking questions of the researchers,” Raghunathan said. “I discovered that my personal skills helped me when writing the piece, picturing in my mind how I would tell the story to the people I worked with. And this culminated in voicing a piece, which is an art in itself.

“This was the best part of working at the VOA: the story was not only written, it was told.”  

Raghunathan has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and is pursuing her master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences.

Since 2000, 13 U.S. IEEE undergraduate and graduate students have served as IEEE-USA Engineering Mass Media Fellows, helping print and broadcast journalists communicate authoritatively to the public about science, engineering and technology. IEEE-USA is the only engineering organization in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mass Media Fellows program.

IEEE-USA Cites Five Engineering Breakthroughs in Local TV News Reports, Also Online

WASHINGTON (19 August 2010) —  Five new 90-second reports on IEEE-related technologies and engineering breakthroughs were distributed in June, July and August to 83 subscribing U.S. television stations for broadcast on local television news, with support from IEEE-USA.

The engineering breakthroughs ranged from restoring a degree of eyesight to developing a new treatment for sudden cardiac arrest and performing 3-D jaw surgery. These reports can also be viewed on IEEE-USA’s dedicated Web site at http://www.aip.org/dbis/IEEE/.

Since 2005, IEEE-USA has (in partnership with the American Institute of Physics and other professional organizations) helped to underwrite more than 800 local TV news reports on engineering and science in English and Spanish. The latest reports have been carried on TV stations in the United States from Atlanta (WUVG) to West Palm Beach, Fla.(WPTV); and from Chicago (WFXT and WGBO) to Seattle (KING and KONG). The five engineering achievements are:

1. “Breakthroughs for Blindness,” in which ophthalmologists have restored a degree of sight to blind patients by creating an artificial retina that receives a wireless signal from a camera worn by the patient

2. “Shock to the Heart,” in which electrophysiologists have implanted a new kind of defibrillator for the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest that decreases the risks of complications associated with wires connecting the device to the heart

3. “Operating in 3-D,” in which plastic surgeons are using specialized software to visualize a patient’s surgical jaw alignment before they begin surgery — allowing surgeons to be more precise in the procedure and obtain more predictable outcomes (more…)

EMBS Chapter Hosting Two Seminars

In conjunction with the Communication Sciences Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Cincinnati Chapter of EMBS will be hosting two Seminars on September 13 and October 11.  Both are in the field of electrophysiological  measures in human hearing research. Notifications are attached. Cincinnati EMBS members and affiliates are welcome. See the following attached posters for complete details.

EMBS Seminar 09-13-10

EMBS Seminar 10-11-10

May 2010 Section Meeting Information

MAY MEETING

STUDENT PROJECTS

 DATE: Thursday, May 27, 2010
PLACE : Raffel’s – 10160 Reading Road (see below for directions)
TIME : 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. –  Social Time
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. –  Dinner
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. –  Presentation

NOTE: DINNERS ARE ALWAYS OPTIONAL – YOU MAY ATTEND THE PROGRAM ONLY.

MENU SELECTIONS: Country Fried Chicken, Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce, Meatloaf served in Brown Gravy, Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes, Succotash, Caesar Salad, Fresh Fruit Salad, Buttermilk Biscuits, Coffee, Tea, Iced Tea, Soft Drinks. There is also a bar available for the purchase of alcoholic drinks.

LOCATION: Raffel’s is located at 10160 Reading Road, south of Glendale-Milford Road on the east side of Reading. Take I-75 to the Glendale-Milford Rd. Exit, go east on Glendale-Milford Road approximately ¾ of a mile to Reading Rd. and turn right on Reading.

RESERVATIONS: Please email Fred Nadeau for reservations at mailto:fnadeau1@earthlink.net (preferred) or call the Section Voice Mail at 513-629-9380 by Noon, Tuesday, May 25, 2010 if you plan to attend. Please leave your Name, IEEE Member Number, and a daytime telephone number.

PE CREDITS: Depending on the subject matter, attendance at IEEE Cincinnati Section Meetings now qualifies the attendee for Professional Development Hours towards renewal of Professional Engineers Licenses. Required documentation will be available following the meeting! The Section Meetings also provide a great opportunity to network with fellow engineers in the area.

 

ABOUT THE MEETING: Two college’s senior students at UC will give presentations at the meeting. The two colleges are College of Engineering and College of Applied Science. Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science (ECE & CS) programs are in the College of Engineering. Electrical and Computer Engineering TECHNOLOGY (ECET) programs are in the College of Applied Science.

In addition, in each spring quarter, seniors from UC College of Applied Science take their senior design projects to the public at Duke Energy Center and demonstrate their creative design, project management skills and eye-catching ingenuity. This annual senior design project exhibition is called “Tech Expo”. This year, Tech Expo 2010, was on May 4th, 2010, at the Duke Energy Center. For detailed information about Tech Expo 2010, please check it out at http://ceas.uc.edu/expo.html.

May 2010 Membership News

New Cincinnati Section Senior Member
The Cincinnati Section would like to congratulate our newest Senior Member,

Sudhir R. Kshirsagar

whose upgrade application was recently approved.

If you are interested in upgrading your membership to Senior Member, please contact any member of the Executive Committee.

NEW MEMBERS

The following individuals are IEEE members who are new to our Section:

Michael Bell Jarrod Newkirk
Brenda Collins Greg Nienaber
Sarjoun Doumit Travis Reed
Daniel Habes Nathan Ryan
Linda Harrell Eric Swegert
Khalid Hurayb Karl Thompson
Tyler Jenkins Daniel Thyen
Andy Keith Timothy Tolle
Caroline King Masayoshi Tsuchinaga
Steven Lambert Mark Webster
Tracy Lewis Herschel Weintraub
Greg Lewis Jeremy Wright
Joseph Merry Johnathon Yates

We wish to welcome these new members to the Cincinnati Section!!!

May 2010 History

Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past 

Submitted by Marc Bell, Editor

Copyright 1996 IEEE. Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, “Scanning the Past” which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 84, No. 10, October 1996.

John S. Stone and the Professionalization of Communications Engineering

Eighty years ago this month, the PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO ENGINEERS (IRE) included a paper by John Stone concerning oscillations in electric circuits. At the time he was a self-employed communications consultant in New York City and the immediate past president of the IRE. As one of the first practicing engineers to apply sophisticated mathematical analysis to the improvement of communications systems, Stone (See Fig. 1) played a significant role in the emergence of communications engineering as a profession.

Stone was born in Dover, VA, in 1869. He spent his childhood in Europe and Egypt, where his father, a former U.S. Army general, helped modernize the Egyptian Army. In 1886, Stone enrolled in the School of Mines at Columbia University, New York, but in 1888 he transferred to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, where he devoted two years to the study of physics and electrical engineering. He spent the summer of 1889 in Paris, France, in charge of an exhibit of the American Bell Telephone at the Paris Exposition.

                       2010_05-fig-1.JPG

Fig. 1. John S. Stone, a pioneer in wireless telegraphy, was a founder

of the Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers and a co-founder

of the IRE. (Reproduced from A Century of Electricals, IEEE Press, 1984.)

(more…)

May 2010 IEEE News (Updated through July)

 IEEE-USA Awards Nomination Deadline Extended to 25 August; Entries Sought to Recognize Service & Achievements of U.S. IEEE Members

WASHINGTON (29 July 2010) — IEEE-USA, seeking to recognize outstanding service and achievements of U.S. IEEE members, has extended the nomination deadline for its 2010 awards to 25 August.

IEEE-USA awards are presented in recognition of professional, technical, entrepreneurial and literary contributions to public awareness and understanding of engineering in the United States. 2010 award recipients will be honored during the 2011 IEEE-USA Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.

Nominations are sought in the following areas: Robert S. Walleigh Distinguished Contributions to Engineering Professionalism Award; Award for Distinguished Public Service; Citation of Honor; Precollege Education Committee Teacher-Engineer Partnership Award; Entrepreneur Achievement Award for Leadership in Entrepreneurial Spirit; Regional/Divisional Professional Leadership Award; Professional Achievement Award (for individuals and organizations); Harry Diamond Memorial Award; and the Electrotechnology Transfer Award.

In addition, IEEE-USA offers two literary awards: for furthering public understanding of the profession and for advancing engineering professionalism. Nominees for these awards and the public service award do not have to be IEEE members.

For more information and a description of each award, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/awards/index.html.

Nomination forms are available at http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/awards/forms.html.

IEEE Green Technologies Conference Seeks Technical Papers

WASHINGTON (29 July 2010) — IEEE Green Technologies Conference organizers are seeking technical papers on topics related to current and emerging renewable energy sources and energy-reduction technologies.

Accepted papers will be presented during the third-annual conference, 14-15 April 2011, at the Hilton Hotel in Baton Rouge, La. They will also be published in a conference proceedings CD and available through the digital library IEEE Xplore (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/guesthome.jsp).  

Contributed papers, particularly in the following areas, are solicited:

— Energy generation and storage technologies, including nuclear, wind, solar, water, geothermal,
biomass, energy harvesting and storage

— Energy usage reduction and conservation, including energy management, planning and
forecasting, home and commercial automation, innovative HVAC and lighting

— Architectural and engineering sustainable designs, including strategies for sustainability, performance evaluation, use of green building components and system management

— Environmental, legal, social, economic and political impacts, including emerging standards for
renewable and reduced carbon emission energy sources, safety and technologies for developed and underdeveloped countries

— Smart Grid communication and control, including evolution and integration of renewable and reduced emission energy sources

— Environmental protection, including oil spill prevention and control

PAPER SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

To submit a paper, go to http://edas.info, log in and use “GTC’11.” Submissions must describe original work not previously published or currently under review for publication in another conference or journal. Instructions can be found at  
(http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs/pubs/confpubcenter/pdfs/samplems.pdf). The paper template is accessible at http://www.ieee.org/web/publications/pubservices/confpub/AuthorTools/conferenceTemplates.html.

Papers must be submitted between 1 September and 1 November. Authors will be notified by 20 January 2011 whether their papers are accepted. For questions regarding paper submissions, contact technical program chairs Dr. Jorge Aravena at aravena@ece.lsu.edu or Dr. Hsiao-Chun Wu at wu@ece.lsu.edu.

Proposals for seminars and special sessions are also welcome and can be sent to Aravena at aravena@ece.lsu.edu.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The second IEEE Green Technologies Conference was held in Grapevine, Texas, in April. For an overview of the event, see http://www.todaysengineer.org/2010/Jul/Green.asp.  

Because of increasing concerns about fossil fuel costs, supplies and emissions, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs are more closely examining the commercial viability of renewable energy sources. The 2011 conference aims to look at solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, hydro and biomass technologies, among others, as well as alternative vehicle power sources such as fuel cells, gasoline and liquid natural gas electric hybrids and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

The 2011 IEEE Green Technologies Conference is sponsored by IEEE Region 5, the IEEE Baton Rouge Section and IEEE-USA, and supported by Louisiana State University and the city of Baton Rouge. For more information, see http://www.ieeegreentech.org.

Investigations into Unintended Acceleration Should Include Engineers

WASHINGTON (23 July 2010) — Because of the electronic complexity of modern passenger vehicles, investigations into sudden, unintended acceleration should draw upon the expertise of a broad array of electrical, electronics and software engineers and computer professionals.

A February 2009 IEEE Spectrum article, “This Car Runs on Code,” said that a modern premium-class automobile “probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code,” and “all that software executes on 70 to 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units networked throughout the body of your car.” By comparison, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner “requires about 6.5 million lines of code to operate its avionics and onboard support systems.”

“The skilled engineers and technical professionals who design and evaluate modern vehicle systems bring not only knowledge and expertise from their specific disciplines, but also their experience and lessons learned from integrating technology into these vehicles,” IEEE-USA President Evelyn Hirt said. “It goes beyond just having experience in a technology to understanding the complexity and application of that technology in its specific operating environment. This is frequently what is needed to assess why systems sometimes fail.”

Faulty electronic throttle control systems have been cited as a possible cause of unintended vehicle acceleration incidents that have resulted in death and injury. The Toyota Motor Corp., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) National Research Council are each conducting separate studies into unintended acceleration.

NHTSA’s study has enlisted “NASA engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software integrity.” NAS’ 12-member panel has, according to The Washington Post, three electronics experts and is planning to add three more. Its study will review unintended acceleration across all automotive manufacturers and investigate “electronic vehicle controls, human error, mechanical failure and interference with accelerator systems.”

“There is no question that any effort to investigate these incidents will clearly benefit by including engineers with a firm grasp of the complex systems threaded through today’s automobiles,” said Doug Taggart, chair of the IEEE-USA Committee on Transportation and Aerospace Policy.

In a 6 April letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, IEEE-USA encouraged NHTSA to increase its number of electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers “to allow the agency perform the vital task of ensuring vehicle safety.” On 24 May, NHTSA replied that it is “in the process of hiring a large number of engineers in response to the increased activities of the Agency.”

Links:
“This Car Runs on Code”: http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/advanced-cars/this-car-runs-on-code
Toyota’s North American Quality Advisory Panel: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/leading-safety-and-quality-experts-157685.aspx
NHTSA announcing two investigations into unintended acceleration: http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/DOT-54-10
IEEE-USA’s 6 April letter to Ray LaHood: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2010/040610.pdf
NHTSA’s response to IEEE-USA letter: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2010/NHTSAReply.PDF

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, Department of Homeland Security Officials Headline Speakers at IEEE Homeland Security Conference

WASHINGTON (22 July 2010) — Howard A. Schmidt, national cybersecurity coordinator and special assistant to the U.S. president, will be a featured speaker at the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security (HST 10) in November.

Dr. Starnes E. Walker and Christopher Doyle of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) will join Schmidt as featured speakers.

HST 10 will be held at the Westin Waltham Boston in Waltham, Mass., USA, 8-10 November 2010. It will bring together global science and technology thought leaders to foster homeland security technology innovation. The conference features a technical advisory committee of leading S&T experts from academia, national laboratories, federally funded research and development centers, the federal government and industry.

The event will showcase selected technical papers highlighting emerging technologies in:

*Cybersecurity
*Land and maritime border security
*Counter-WMD techniques and critical infrastructure and key resources physical security
*Attack and disaster preparation, recovery and response

HST 10 is produced by IEEE with technical support from DHS S&T and the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society. IEEE-USA is providing organizational support.

More than 450 people attended the 2009 conference, including representatives from at least 10 foreign countries. Raytheon is the event platinum corporate sponsor. For more information, visit www.ieee-hst.org or contact Robert Alongi at information@ieee-hst.org or +1 781-245-5405.

IEEE-USA IN ACTION** IEEE-USA’s Latest Salary Survey & Consultants Fee Survey Profile Available as E-Books; Two Government Documents Free to IEEE Members

WASHINGTON (27 May 2010) — If you’re an electrotechnology professional and you’d like to know how your salary and benefits, or consultants fees, compare to your peers, two new publications from IEEE-USA E-Books can help.

Here’s a closer look at each one:

The 2009 IEEE-USA Salary & Fringe Benefits Survey is the 22nd compensation study IEEE-USA has published to provide timely information on current and long-term trends related to the income, salary and benefits of U.S. IEEE members. This information is critical for accurate understanding of compensation practices in the profession, including how those practices affect individual engineers. You can download the 2009 IEEE-USA Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey for the IEEE member price: $75.00. Nonmember Price is $99.00.

Members who responded to the salary survey receive five free uses of the IEEE-USA Salary Calculator, which uses data from the report. Go to http://salaryapp.ieeeusa.org/rt, log in and select the salary calculator tab.

As a consultant is preparing a proposal or negotiating a contract, one of the primary concerns is deciding how much to charge. To establish a fixed price or a fee that is both competitive and fair, the consultant needs to know what other consultants working in similar fields charge. In response to this need, the Alliance of IEEE Consultants Networks (AICN) conducts national fee surveys of its members. This report on the IEEE-USA 2009 Consultants Fee Survey provides the profile of typical self-employed and independent technical consultants, including their education, experience, business practices, median earnings and hourly fee. You can download the 2009 Profile of IEEE Consultants for the IEEE member price: $9.95.  Nonmember Price is $19.95.

Members who responded to the consultants fee survey can receive a free copy of the report by contacting Helen Hall at h.hall@ieee.org.
In addition, two government documents, Science and Engineering Indicators and Report and Recommendations from the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable are available for free.

Developed by the National Science Board and published in January, the 19th edition of Science and Engineering Indicators is designed to provide a broad base of quantitative information about U.S. science, engineering and technology for use by policymakers, researchers and the general public.

The Report and Recommendations from the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable comes from the House Science and Technology Committee, in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which convened a roundtable to examine the current state of scholarly publishing and develop consensus recommendations for expanding public access to journal articles arising from research funded by U.S. government agencies. Government documents are free to IEEE members.

You can access these and other IEEE-USA E-Books at www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks.

 July 9, 2010

 Income of Electrotechnology, IT Professionals Shows Twofold Percentage Increase, IEEE-USA Salary Survey Reveals

WASHINGTON (8 July 2010) — Median income for electrotechnology and information technology professionals showed a twofold percentage increase from the previous year, according to the latest IEEE-USA Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey.

Median incomes from primary sources — base pay plus commissions, bonuses and net self-employment income — for U.S. IEEE members working full-time in their primary area of technical competence went from $110,610 in the 2007 tax year to $116,000 in 2008. The 4.9 percent increase more than doubled the 2.4 percent rise from the previous survey.

Of the 12,119 U.S. IEEE members who participated in the Internet-based survey, 10,177 were employed full-time in their primary area of technical competence, or job specialty. The five largest job specialties were — in descending order — computers, energy and power engineering, circuits and devices, communications technology and systems and control.

The IEEE-USA Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey, 2009 Edition, is the 22nd compensation survey the organization has conducted since the first one in 1972. The results are valuable to employers seeking to know what type of compensation package they should put together to attract and retain electrotechnology and IT professionals, and to employees seeking to benchmark their salary and benefits.

The 82-page survey is available electronically at http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks/.

IEEE members who responded to the salary survey receive five free uses of the IEEE-USA Salary Calculator, which uses data from the report. Go to http://salaryapp.ieeeusa.org/rt , log in and select the salary calculator tab.

IEEE-USA just completed its 2010 survey with a record 14,724 responses. That report will be released in September.

FOX 5 Reporter, NAE Program Officer to Receive IEEE-USA Engineering Journalism Awards

WASHINGTON (6 July 2010) — IEEE-USA will honor two Washington journalists who have added to greater public understanding of the contributions of engineers and computer professionals to society Wednesday.

Holly Morris, a live reporter for Washington’s FOX 5 Morning News; and Randy Atkins, senior program officer for media/public relations at the National Academy of Engineering, will share the IEEE-USA Award for Literary Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession. Their awards include a $1,500 honorarium.

Morris, who has a degree in civil and environmental engineering, will be recognized for her live coverage of last year’s National Engineers Week Future City Competition National Finals. Morris has served as co-emcee of the February 2009 and 2010 events and provided reports for FOX 5 television and Internet viewers.

To see Morris’ reports highlighting Discover Engineering Family Day, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/eweek/default.asp.

Atkins is being honored for his “Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series” on Washington’s WTOP FM and Federal News Radio, WFED AM. These one-minute weekly radio features highlight engineering innovations and stories that add technical context to issues in the news.

Atkins’ stories, archived to 2003, are accessible at http://www.nae.edu/radio.

The awards will be presented during a luncheon for sci-tech journalists at Washington’s Restaurant Nora.

IEEE-USA is accepting nominations for both of its engineering journalism awards, including one furthering engineering professionalism, until 31 July. See http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/awards/forms.html.

 

IEEE-USA Pleased that Supreme Court’s Ruling Preserves Software Patents

WASHINGTON (29 June 2010) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that a new method of doing business can be patented, and that the ability to patent software should not be limited.

In Bilski v. Kappos, the high court ruled that passing the “machine or transformation” test is not the sole test for determining whether a business process is patentable. Abstract ideas, however, cannot be patented.

IEEE-USA was party to an amici curiae brief filed with the court.

“We are generally pleased that the Supreme Court did not introduce rules that would limit the scope of ideas available for patent protection in our current information age,” IEEE-USA Intellectual Property Committee Chair Keith Grzelak said. “We are disappointed, however, that the court’s decision did not provide a clearer standard for determination of patentability. The court cited a trilogy of cases that basically say patents should not be granted for abstract ideas. By ruling that Bilski’s business method was too abstract, the Supreme Court essentially provided lower federal courts a you’ll-know-it-when-you-see-it legal standard to follow.

“Applicants attempting to protect business methods will now be left to guess what is and is not abstract. Inconsistent determination by patent examiners and courts could lead to years of costly litigation, something we warned against in our brief.”

Bernard Bilksi and Rand Warsaw, petitioners in the case, attempted in 1997 to patent a hedging system to protect consumers and utilities from major swings in energy prices and demand. The U.S. Patent Office denied the application and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision. Associate Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, called Bilski and Warsaw’s system an “unpatentable abstract idea.”

IEEE-USA seeks to ensure that U.S. patent and copyright law promotes the progress of science and the useful arts consistent with the principles set forth by our nation’s founders.

To see the amici curiae brief that University of Utah Professor of Computer Science Lee Hollaar and IEEE-USA and filed in this case, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/POLICY/2009/090109.pdf.

 

                  **IEEE-USA IN ACTION** New E-Book Helps Engineers Strategize, Prepare and Plan Effective Technical Presentations
 
WASHINGTON (28 June 2010) — You’ve got a great idea for a new product or service. But unless you can convince your executives and potential clients of your idea’s merits, it’s not going to go anywhere.

Technical Presentations Book 1: Strategy — Preparation & Planning, a new release from IEEE-USA E-Books, is the first in a four-part series to help engineers prepare, write and deliver effective technical presentations.

Author Nita K. Patel, a practicing systems/software engineer, active IEEE volunteer and Distinguished Toastmaster, shares her expertise in delivering technical presentations and includes plenty of strategizing, preparing and planning examples.
 
“A technical expert must know and understand technical facts, but to ensure that others interpret that complex data in the same way, the facts must be presented through clear, concise and correct speech,” Patel writes. “If your audience does not understand, they will not accept your idea.”

You can purchase your copy of Technical Presentations Book 1: Strategy — Preparation & Planning at www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks for the IEEE member price: $9.95. Nonmember price is $19.95.

IEEE members can purchase other IEEE-USA E-Books at deeply discounted member prices — and download some free e-books at www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks.

 

June 23, 2010 

Second of Five-Part IEEE-USA Webinar Series on Financing for Entrepreneurs Continues Thursday

WASHINGTON (23 June 2010) — Dr. Dileep Rao’s IEEE-USA webinar series for future and seasoned entrepreneurs continues Thursday. Focusing on strategies that minimize the need for venture capital, Rao will present, “From Financing Needs to the Right Financial Structure” from 2 to 3 p.m. EDT.

Webinar registrants will receive a copy of Rao’s book, “Bootstrap to Billions.” In it, he shows entrepreneurs and managers of entrepreneurial companies how many large businesses have used alternative financing options to grow. He says that 80 percent of them never received venture capital.

Rao, a financial adviser, adjunct professor and author, has financed more than 450 start-ups, growing businesses and real estate projects. He advises governments, Fortune 1000 corporations, development finance institutions and entrepreneurs on business development and financing.

Rao has taught courses in MBA and executive MBA programs in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and was recognized three times as its Outstanding MBA Teacher.

Rao is an entrepreneurial finance columnist for Forbes.com and authored “Handbook of Business Finance & Capital Sources” and “Business Financing: 25 Keys to Raising Money.” He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s in industrial engineering and a Ph.D. in business administration.

The complete webinar series is:

20 May — “Link Your Business Plan to Your Financing Needs”
24 June — “From Financing Needs to the Right Financial Structure”
22 July — “Fine-Tuning Financing: Find the Right Sources/Instruments”
19 August — “Reduce the Agony: Learn How to Find Financing”
16 September — “After the Financing: Better Decisions & Control”

The cost for the remaining four presentations is $109 for IEEE members and $205 for nonmembers. For an individual webinar, the cost is $69 for members and $99 for nonmembers. For more information and to register, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/careers/webinars/2010/Bootstrap-to-Billions.html

IEEE-USA Engineering Mass Media Fellow Begins Reporting on Sci-Tech at Voice of America in Washington

 WASHINGTON (18 June 2010) — IEEE-USA Engineering Mass Media Fellow Smitha Raghunathan has begun her 10-week media internship preparing news stories on science, engineering and technology in Washington at the Voice of America.

Raghunathan has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. She served this past year as social chair of Wake Forest’s IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society student branch.

Raghunathan has “a natural gift for communication and social interaction,” wrote Dr. Jessica Sparks, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech-Wake Forest, in her recommendation letter for her student’s Mass Media Fellow application.

Raghunathan has spoken on her graduate research into liver tissue modeling as a volunteer at high schools near Winston-Salem, N.C. She also volunteers at an animal adoption and rescue organization.

Since 2000, 13 U.S. IEEE undergraduate and graduate students have served as IEEE-USA Mass Media Fellows, helping journalists in print and broadcast fields communicate authoritatively to the public about science, engineering and technology.

IEEE-USA is the only engineering organization in the Mass Media Fellows program, which is administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2009, 12 AAAS Fellows produced more than 285 original sci-tech stories in print and broadcast media.

For more information on IEEE-USA involvement, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/massmedia.asp.
 

 June 9, 2010 

 IEEE-USA President Urges Senate to Pass Innovation Legislation

WASHINGTON (9 June 2010) — IEEE-USA President Evelyn Hirt urges the Senate to pass the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. The House of Representatives passed the bill on May 28.

The legislation, similar to the America COMPETES Act that was signed into law in 2007, invests in science, education, innovation and competitiveness. It is designed to help the United States maintain its global leadership in science and technology and create new jobs.

“This bill will help create a new generation of innovators, ensure sustained commitment to research and development, strengthen our energy independence, improve math and science education and fuel economic development,” Hirt said. “In addition, programs will be established or extended to strengthen U.S. manufacturers.”

Highlights of the bill include:

* Keeps basic research programs on a path to doubling authorized funding levels over 10 years at the Department of Energy Office of Science, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

* Reauthorizes the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, which supports high-risk, high-reward energy technology development

* Authorizes Energy Innovation Hubs to advance promising areas of energy science and engineering from early-stage research to the point where it can be delivered to the private sector

* Supports local efforts to form Regional Innovation Clusters to strengthen regional economies

* Creates Innovative Technology Federal Loan Guarantees to help small and mid-size manufacturers receive capital to become more efficient and stay competitive

* Assists industry by ensuring that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program at NIST provides companies with services and access to resources that enhance growth, improve productivity and expand capacity

* Reorganizes NIST laboratories to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of technology and better meet the needs of industry
 
* Reauthorizes the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to encourage science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors and professionals to become K-12 math and science teachers

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act passed the House by a vote of 262 to 150. House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) sponsored the bill, which had 101 cosponsors.

“If we are to reverse the trend of the last twenty years, where our country’s technology edge in the world has diminished, we must make the investments necessary today,” Gordon said in a statement. “The path is simple. Research and education lead to innovation. Innovation leads to economic development and good paying jobs and the revenue to pay for more research. And as private firms under-invest in research and development because the returns are too far off in the future, there is a clear and necessary role of government to help our nation keep pace with the rest of the world.”

Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), co-chair of the Congressional Research and Development Caucus, characterized the bill as “an investment in scientific advancement with proven economic returns for many years to come.”

IEEE-USA was one of more than 750 organizations to endorse the legislation.

IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 210,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE. http://www.ieeeusa.org

 May 14, 2010

2010 IEEE President and CEO Moshe Kam presented the IEEE Presidents’ Scholarship Thursday evening during the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). The ISEF, the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, was held was held in San Jose, CA, from May 9-14. James Sinclair Popper an 18-year old senior of Marlborough College, Marlborough, Wiltshire, United Kingdom won the Scholarship for his CookerSmart Project. Students must compete in the Intel ISEF competitions beginning at the state/local level and advance onto the international competition, held annually in May.

The IEEE Foundation established the IEEE Presidents’ Scholarship Fund in order to accept contributions that can support the award. Contributions made to the IEEE Presidents’ Scholarship provide the financial resources students need to pursue their engineering dreams.
Related Links:
http://www.ieee.org/education_careers/education/preuniversity/

scholarship.html  

http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/http://www.ieee.org/

organizations/foundation/2005news.html#13
Karen Kaufman
Development Communications Manager
IEEE Foundation
445 Hoes Lane – Piscataway, NJ 08854-1331
+1 732 981 3436
k.m.kaufman@ieee.org
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Ultrasound Pioneer to Receive Highest Award in Engineering Profession; Among Six Honored with AAES National Engineering Awards

WASHINGTON (19 April 2010) — Ultrasound pioneer Gerald J. Posakony will be honored with the John Fritz Medal — the highest award in the engineering profession — tonight by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES).Posakony’s pioneering contributions to the fields of ultrasonics, medical diagnostic ultrasound and nondestructive evaluation technologies will be recognized during AAES’ 31st annual awards ceremony at the Great Hall of the National Academy of Engineering. He is one of six engineers being honored.Posakony’s work on medical ultrasound technology began in the early 1950s when he was the lead engineer on an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for investigating human disease processes. His efforts, particularly in the development of ultrasonic transducers — the “eyes” of an ultrasound system — have contributed greatly to modern ultrasound technology. The medical imaging of muscles, tendons and internal organs is used to gauge their size and structure and determine if pathological lesions are present. Obstetric sonography is important in monitoring the health of a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. (more…)

April 2010 Section Meeting Information

The UC Robotics Team

DATE: Thursday, April 22, 2010
PLACE : Raffel’s – 10160 Reading Road (see below for directions)
TIME : 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. –  Social Time
            6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. –  Dinner
            7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. –  Presentation
COST FOR DINNER: $10.00 per person – Regardless of Membership or Membership Grade!

NOTE:  DINNERS ARE ALWAYS OPTIONAL – YOU MAY ATTEND THE PROGRAM ONLY. 

MENU SELECTIONS:   Asparagus Spears in a fresh cream sauce served on toast points, Hot Sliced Roast Beef in Gravy, Parmesan Chicken Breast, Zucchini Carrot Dressing, Buttered Noodles, Sautéed Vegetables, Tossed Salad, Dinner Rolls and Butter.  There is also a bar available for the purchase of alcoholic drinks.

LOCATION:  Raffel’s is located at 10160 Reading Road, south of Glendale-Milford Road on the east side of Reading. Take I-75 to the Glendale-Milford Rd. Exit, go east on Glendale-Milford Road approximately ¾ of a mile to Reading Rd. and turn right on Reading.

RESERVATIONS:  Please email Fred Nadeau for reservations at Reservations@ieeeCincinnati.org (preferred) or call the Section Voice Mail at 513-629-9380 by Noon, Tuesday, April 20, 2010 if you plan to attend. Please leave your Name, IEEE Member Number, and a daytime telephone number.

PE CREDITS: Depending on the subject matter, attendance at IEEE Cincinnati Section Meetings now qualifies the attendee for Professional Development Hours towards renewal of Professional Engineers Licenses. Required documentation will be available following the meeting!  The Section Meetings also provide a great opportunity to network with fellow engineers in the area.

ABOUT THE MEETING:  The Robotics Team of the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Sciences will be competing in two events this year: the 18th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition and the 7th Annual ION Robot Lawn Mower Competition.  Mark McCrate, a graduate student studying Mechanical Engineering, and Josh Casey, a senior studying Computer Science, will give a presentation about the Robotics Team and their entries in the two competitions.  Hardware related topics will include building the robot, design iterations, laser scanners, stereo vision, GPS, and E-Stop designs.  Software related topics will include Kalman filtering, cell decomposition, dynamic obstacle avoidance, path planning and computer interfacing.  Depending on time constraints, other team/club activities and projects will be presented as well.  Your questions are welcomed during this highly interactive presentation. 

Note: the Section has provided $250 towards the UC Foundation Urban Challenge Fund which helps fund the activities of the Robotics Team.

April 2010 Membership News

NEW MEMBERS
The following individuals are IEEE members who are new to our Section:

Michael Bell 
Robert Brown 
Eric Glossner 
Daniel J. Habes 
Mathew D. Jenkins 
Andy Keith 
David W. Leech 
Hao Luan
Tao Ma
Jamie N. McGlothin
James Murphy
Rick Salem
George M. Shiekh
Elizabeth A. Spurlock
Joshua Terrel
Brain Waring

We wish to welcome these new members to the Cincinnati Section!!!

April 2010 History

Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past
Submitted by Marc Bell, Editor

Copyright 1996 IEEE. Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, “Scanning the Past” which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 84, No. 9, September 1996.

Sergei A. Schelkunoff and Antenna Theory

Fifty-five years ago this month, the PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO ENGINEERS (IRE) included a paper by Sergei A. Schelkunoff on the theory of antennas. At the time, he was a member of the research staff at the Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) where he worked for about three decades. (See Fig. 1.) Schelkunoff made important contributions to the theory of coaxial cables and wave guides as well as to antennas.

Schelkunoff was born in Samara, Russia, in 1897. He was a student at the University of Moscow when his education was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He served in the Russian Army during the War before corning to the United States by way of Manchuria and Japan in 1921. He learned English and received both the B.A. and M.A. degrees in mathematics at the State College of Washington (now Washington University), Seattle. He worked in the Engineering Department of the Western Electric Company during 1923-1925 and spent a few months at the BTL in 1926. He taught at the State College of Washington from 1926-1929 and received the Ph.D. degree in mathematics at Columbia University in 1928 before returning to research at BTL.

2010_04-fig-1.JPG
Fig. 1.  Schelkunoff studying waveguide transmission in the early
1930’s.   (Reprinted from P. C. Mahon, Mission Communications:
 The Story of Bell Laboratories, 1975.)

One of Schelkunoffs early assignments was to investigate the theory of coaxial transmission lines. He published a paper on this topic in the Bell System Technical Journal in 1934. Subsequently, he studied the electromagnetic theory of wave guides for rnicrowaves and was coauthor with John R. Carson and Sallie P. Mead of a paper on that subject in the BSTJ in 1936. Schelkunoff s first IRE paper was on applications of the Summerfeld integral and appeared in the October 1936 PROCEEDINGS. He authored another IRE paper “Transrnission Theory of Pure Electromagnetic Waves,” published in November 1937. He treated the theory of spherical waves in a 1938 paper in the Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and followed this with a 1939 IRE paper on the induced electromotive force method of computing radiation from antennas. In his September 1941 IRE paper, Schelkunoff addressed the ambitious topic of the “theory of antennas of arbitrary size and shape.” He explained that his mathematical analysis of antennas was “precisely the analysis appropriate to wave guides and electric horns.” He observed that:

We may also think of the antennas as the wall of an electric horn with an aperture so wide that one can hardly see the horn itself-just like a Cheshire cat: only the grin can be seen.

Schelkunoff suggested that the physical picture which emerged from his mathematical analysis was “attractive to an engineer.” He began his analysis with Maxwell’s equations and hypothetical conical antennas and went on to show how to apply the results to antennas of other shapes although they were “definitely more complicated.” He concluded that he believed that “the antenna theory is in such a shape that accurate results can be calculated if all visible factors such as base capacitance and antenna shapes are taken into consideration.”

Schelkunoff was awarded the Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize by the IRE in 1942 and was elected a Fellow of IRE in 1944. During World War ll, he served as a technical consultant to the National Defense Research Committee and to the U.S. Navy. He authored Electromagnetic Waves (1943), Applied Mathematics for Engineers and Scientists (1948), and Advanced Antenna Theory (1952). He retired from BTL in 1960 and subsequently taught electrical engineering at Columbia University. He died in 1992 at age 95.

James E. Brittain
School of History , Technology and Society
Georgia Institute of Technology