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NEWSLETTER OF THE EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA SECTION
INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS, INC
November 1992 Issue

"WAR and PEACE"

First of all, a thousand apologies for getting the date wrong on
the November joint meeting with ISHM.  It was simply a mental error
but one that should have been caught.  I promise we will get
better!

Those of you who missed the October 21 planning meeting at MCNC
missed a lively discussion.  As predicted, there are those who
reject outright the elimination of the old monthly meetings. 
Although they made up a minority of the members that showed up,
they had their say nonetheless and will be listened to.  A full
accounting of the meeting as well as some early results are
included in the writeup inside.  Meanwhile, here's YOUR chance to
have a voice in the planning of next year's IEEE activities:

PLANNING MEETING - OPEN TO ALL 
November 23, 1992
"1993 Activities - New Changes [Part II]" 
Shoney's Family Restaurant, Avent Ferry Road (behind Mission
Valley), Raleigh, NC

5:30 PM - 9:00 PM   (Order dinner from the regular menu.)

This will be a continuation of the strategic planning meeting held
earlier to discuss 1993 activities and all of the changes to our
operation.  All officers, including subsection and society chapter
officers must attend or send a representative, as budgets will be
worked out (no representative, no money in 1993 for that chapter). 
This meeting is also for all members who would like a say in how we
serve the members in the coming year(s) and/or those who would like
to help out in some capacity as an officer, organizer, or other
volunteer.  Positions are still open in almost all areas!  We plan
on holding conferences, symposia, and a possible job fair as well
as at least forty technical meetings, two social meetings, and who
knows what else.  Come get involved!!!

Stay current and don't miss out-
Renew your IEEE membership TODAY ! ! !                            

                  GIVING A DAMN
             by Charles J. Lord, PE

First of all, I am heartened by the turnout at MCNC last month. 
The newsletter was submitted to the post office three full weeks
before the meeting, yet some of you got your newsletter the day
before the meeting or later.  And still there was a group of about
30 to 40 of you at the planning meeting.  I had bought food for 20,
so if you didn't get enough to eat, please understand.  For many of
us, that lunch hour meeting became three hours long as we discussed
and debated what things we could do to better serve the members of
the IEEE and the profession in general.  Many things were resolved
by the executive committee, and what remains now is to organize the
people to carry this work out.  Three people will NOT do all the
work for the rest of you.  We cannot function unless at least one
percent of this group can get involved - that is only thirty
members!  We are well on our way, as about half that number signed
up at the MCNC meeting for committee or office positions.  What do
we need?  Consider the following:

BYLAWS: We went to the archives of IEEE and found that our section
does not have bylaws.  We were supposed to write those back in
1965.  It is about time we got to it.  We need a bylaws committee
to study other sections' bylaws, look at our goals and structure,
and put it all on paper.

PUBLICITY: What's the biggest complaint of our members? "I don't
get my newsletter on time to attend meetings!"  We need a publicity
committee to push the society chapters for meeting info and
thoroughly publicize all of our meetings before they occur.  The
newsletter will be a critical link in this, but must be printed six
weeks before the first of the meetings publicized to guarantee
delivery.  We also can use newspapers, email, the new voice mail
system, and company bulletin boards to get the word out.  The
publicity committee will be charged with publishing the newsletter
and getting the word out on time!  In the past we have dumped all
this on one person and it has been terribly unfair.  Working
together, engineers can solve problems without anyone having to
bear undue burdens!

CONFERENCES: Why are we here?  Why are you reading this?  We all
need information -the newest, the best, the "highest-tech."  One of
the best ways we can get that information is through technical
conferences, symposia, and trade shows.  You and I cannot afford to
go to New York, Boston, Orlando, and Los Angeles to get the needed
information.  We have a lot of the answers right here in RTP, and
all we need to do is bring the people together to share that
information.  That is why conferences - local conferences - are so
important to our members.  We are planning some of the biggest,
best, and brightest conferences for 1993 and beyond, but more help
is needed.  If you are willing to get involved, then the work load
is shared and nobody has too difficult a task.  The Conference
Committee needs YOU!

SOCIETY CHAPTERS:  Currently, we have 4 society chapters
representing six societies: 

Computer Society

Power Engineering Society
with 
Industrial Applications Society

Communications Society
with
Information Theory Society

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

For the most part, these chapters need more people to get involved
to help put on technical meetings.  If you are a member of one of
these societies and haven't been involved because you haven't seen
a program that interested you, THEY NEED YOU to get them pointed in
the right direction and help them get the programs you want to see. 
If you are a member of any of the other 30 societies and want to
see technical meetings, come to the meeting at Shoney's and I'll
personally show you how to start a society chapter - AND HELP YOU
DO IT.  Our goal is to have 10 chapters by mid-1993.  Some proposed
chapters are:

Signal Processing Society

Electron Devices Society

and the following joint Chapters:

Antennas and Propagation Society
Vehicular Technology Society
Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society
Microwave Theory

Circuits and Systems Society
Components, Hybrids, and Manufacturing Technology Society

Engineering Management Society
Professional Communication Society
Reliability Society

Instrumentation and Measurement Society
Industrial Electronics Society
Control System Society
Robotics and Automation Society
Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society
Power Electronics Society


Come get involved!  You will have fun, and may possibly even learn
something in the process!

WHO TO CONTACT: The person responsible for all these crazy ideas
is:     Charles Lord, 108 Huntington Circle, Cary, NC  27513
Home: 469-9682   Fax: 781-8148  email:cjl@ecsvax.uncecs.edu 

                SOME ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

The main concerns that were voiced by the opponents to the Orlando
Plan fell into three main categories.  I would like to address each
concern here:

1) "Don't abandon the newsletter!" - This was the biggest error in
the original plan.  As was pointed out in the meeting, this
newsletter will become more important, not less, as we increase the
number of meetings each month.  We will solve the old time/
workload issues by letting a publicity committee publish this,
rather than a single grossly overworked individual.  We are still
going ahead with the voicemail system, and it should provide a nice
complementary form of information.

2) "You are abandoning the students!" - I should say not!  I want
to personally assure the 500+ students reading this newsletter that
the new plan will benefit you as much, possibly more than the old
system.  Yes, you may have to drive or ride to a meeting in RTP or
elsewhere; however, you will have a choice of not one but four or
more technical meetings to choose from each month.  Chances are
that you will find meetings more to your interests each time, too. 
Fulfilling your technical meeting requirements for graduation will
become much easier!

3) "You are removing a social opportunity from my life!" - I stand
accused.  I am willing to offer a compromise if we can work out the
details - and you need to help.  We can modify the plan as was
suggested by an attendee at MCNC to make one of the chapter
meetings each month the "official Section joint meeting" of the
month.  We may even be able to make it a regular time (say, second
Tuesday) each month at a place like Ballentine's.  This will allow
those who want to socialize to get together for a drink and chat
before the meeting.  The room will be much smaller than McKimmon
#2, so we cannot have 150 students show up at the door.  But then
again, they will have four or more meetings to choose from already. 
And, we are not spending all of our rebate for a big, half-empty
room.

My answers are not perfect, but the members cry out for change and
we are working to give you the changes YOU have asked for.

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society - December Meeting
The EMBS Chapter will be meeting over the MCNC network with the
Duke ERC in Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies:
Time:  12:30 - 1:30 PM          Date:  December 7, 1992
Speaker:  James Lindsey, Ph.D. Student at UNC-CH
Topic:  Design, Fabrication, and Development of an Electrochemical
Lactate Sensor Based on TCNQ Meldola's Blue Midified Surfaces

Locations:    Duke: North Building Room 130A
              UNC-CH:  Peabody Hall Room 08
              NCSU:  Park Shops Room 108
For more information, contact Troy Nagle at NCSU (515-3578) or
Richard Lucuc at Duke (660-5143)

           *           *           *           *           *

Ballot - 1993 Officers for IEEE Eastern NC Section

Please vote for one person for each office.  Write-in votes may be
made in the spaces given.  Mail ballot to be received by December
10, 1992 to:
                        Ben Harrell
                        7508 Mine Shaft Road
                        Raleigh, NC  27615

Or send by email to:

or bring ballot and deposit in ballot box at December 15th meeting.

Chairman:
Charles J. Lord   ______         _________________  _____
(currently Vice Chairman)

Vice Chairman:
John L. Furlani   ______         _________________  _____
(currently Treasurer)

Treasurer:
Jim Coats         ______         _________________  _____
(currently V. Chair, EMBS)

Secretary:
Mike Stember      ______         _________________  _____
(currently Acting Secretary)


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