Madison Section Newsletter

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Section News

• IEEE-Madison Section Elections

  It is time for the Annual IEEE-Madison Section Elections.  This November, you will be receiving an e-mail ballot request.  PLEASE do vote.  To vote, you will have to login with your IEEE Member account.  If you have not done so in a while, or have forgotten you password, you can get login information at this link. At this time, we have no candidates for Secretary -- if you are interested in running for the Secretary position, please contact Steve Schultheis via email at ss-at-ieee.org.

• September and October Meeting Reviews

  Hidden Markov Chain Analysis: Dr. James Tripp presented a fascinating summary of modern Markov chain analyses to decode the chemical pathways for the SAR11 bacteria.  Though not discovered until 1990, the SAR11 bacteria exceeds 30% of the bacterial count in the ocean and represents a mass equivalent to all species of fish in the ocean.   His analysis helped to decode the function of this previously unknown organism.  Dr. Tripp also spoke of his transformation from a database programmer to scientist at 50 years old, turning a lifelong interest into an exciting career. 
  
  Magnetic Materials in Medicine: Dr. St. Pierre gave an excellent, well organized talk on new developments in magnetic materials used in medicine.  He talked of both naturally occurring magnetic materials, such a iron in red blood cells, and of man-made additives, such as finely ground magnetic materials with drugs bonded to them.  One interesting use of the materials is to identify sentinal lymph nodes to biopsy for breast cancer detection.  Nano particles of iron are injected into the breast and flow though the lymph ducts to collect in the sentinel cells, allowing a simple magnetic field probe to locate the sentinel nodes for removal.  It is safer and more accurate than using x-ray techniques.  On a personal note, Tim had been traveling for three months as a Distinguished Lecturer when he arrived in Madison so when I proposed kayaking on Lake Wingra, he jumped at the chance.  It was an enjoyable afternoon and Dr. St. Pierre was left with a good feeling about Madison.
  
  Blue Tooth Product Development: Bob Baddely gave a detailed talk on the steps he went through when developing the DigiTally product.  It was quite informative and included an in depth discussion of eight or more types of technology that he explored on the way to the final solution.  Bob's knowledge of problems in designing, fabricating, and certifying products with RF connections was useful to a number of the attendees.
  
  

• eLearning and PDH/CEU Credits Continue

  September also included an eLearning talk on LTE -- "Long Term Evolution" hosted at ACS, Inc. in Middleton.  There was no eLearning talk in October, but we are back on schedule with a November talk on "Power Quality".   In addition, both the September and October Section Meetings had heavy technical content and attendees got CEU/PDH credit for attending.  The practice of awarding CEU/PDH credits for meetings will continue for both the eLearning and Section meetings in November.
  

• Volunteers and Sponsors Needed
  

  SLC:  The UW-Madison IEEE Student Chapter has been selected to plan and host the 2015 Region 4 Student Leadership Conference on the weekend of February 7-8th, 2015.  The conference organizers (students!) need sponsors to help pay for the event.  If your company is interested in accessing the engineering leaders of tomorrow and supporting the IEEE, please get in touch with Maggie White, Student Conference Organizer via email at mawhite6-at-wisc.edu.
  
  Young Professionals: New Professional members of IEEE, previously called "GOLD" are now called Young Professionals and cover those who have graduated in the last 15 years.  The IEEE-Madison Section now has over 140 members who are cosidered "Young Professionals".   Are you interested in getting together with others to plan social, professional, job fair, and mentoring events?   Would you like to help organize a Young Professionals Affinity group here in Madison?   Please let me know (tjkaminski-at-ieee.org).

Life Members: I have recently transitioned to "Life Member" (age over 65 and age+years-of-IEEE-service greater than 100), having been a member for 46 years -- no more dues and free Society publications! There are currently 67 Life (and Life Fellow) members of the Madison Section and all it takes is 6 members to petition the IEEE to form a Life Member Affinity group here in Madison with immediate financial benefit of $1000 for lunches, transportation services and other activities.  Look for a solicitation email from me for those interested in helping start this affinity group.


• Madison Section New Executive Committee Members

  Scott Olsen joined the group Chair of Industrial Outreach.  Scott is also a member of ASHRAE where he served as a Membership Development chair.  Scott works at MG&E where he helps customers work toward efficient equipment, mostly in the HVAC and Building Controls areas.  Scott is organizing a few hour IEEE-Madison event on Lighting Technology, possibly with a facilities tour. Ann Thompson has also joined the Executive Committee as Educational Activities Chair. Ann is co-lead instructor for the Electrical Engineering Technology Program at Madison College and was formerly Treasurer of Badgerbots.  In addition to coaching a First Lego League team, Ann is the tournament organizer for the FLL event at Madison College, November 8th and 9th.  She needs volunteer judges -- contact her at AEThompson2-at-madisoncollege.edu.  Dennis Bahr agreed to Chair the IEEE-Madison EMB18 Engineers in Medicine and Biology Chapter.  He plans to sponsor joint activities with the UW-Madison Bomedical Engineering Department.  That department is growing rapidly and Dennis hopes to capitalize on its growth.

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