Feb 2013

For 2013, our IEEE Dayton Section now celebrates 70 years, where it was established & founded in 1943 as the IRE Dayton Section. A strong reason for its’ formation was in part to the Radar research being done at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during World War II. The radar research brought several hundred engineers to the Dayton area. Before 1943, the IRE Cincinnati Section had been the only Section active for Southern Ohio with the University of Cincinnati leading the activities and meetings. During the initial formation of the Dayton Section at the Dayton Engineers Club, the National Aerospace and Electronics Conference (NAECON) was building its roots from our new Dayton Section members such as Charles F. Kettering and Colonel Edward Deeds (See photo below- 1948 NAECON Organizing Committee). NAECON is now the oldest and premier IEEE Conference presenting research in all aspects of theory, design, and applications of aerospace systems and sensors since 1948.

1948 NAECON Organizing Committee

The Pioneer Award has been given yearly since 1949. Created by NAECON in 1949, the Pioneer Award has recognized the numerous outstanding people for their contributions in the electrical and electronic fields. As NAECON grew, the IEEE Dayton Section and the IEEE and Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society became the co-sponsors for the conference and always honored the Pioneer Award winners at their gala banquet. The important of this award has grown to become the international premier award of the Aerospace Electronic Systems Society. This award is given for an accomplishment where the system/concept had initially been developed at least 20 years prior to the year of the award to ensure proper historical perspective.

Some of our local Dayton IEEE members have been very honored by the Pioneer Award, the following are the citations

1978 – Peter R. Murray – “Pilotless Aircraft”

1987 – Rudolph A. Stampfl (co-winner with Peter H. Werefels) – “Weather Satellite Automatic Picture Transmission”

1992 – William C. Eppers – “Laser Systems”

1993 – William F. Bahret – “Stealth Technology”

2003 – William M. Brown, William Russell Boario (with co- winner Jack L. Walker) – “Developments in Fine Resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar”

2004 – Erwin C. Gangl – “Multiplex Data Bus Standard” [i.e. Mil-Std-1553] 

In addition to the 2004 Pioneer Award, Erwin Gangl was just recently elected to IEEE Fellow (2013) for development of digital avionics intra-communication systems and Mil-Std-1553. Both of these awards are very significant and reflect an excellent career with major contributions to industry. Our IEEE Dayton Section is very proud of Erv Gangl’s achievements in addition to his long term involvement with NAECON!

Dayton IEEE Display Case On December 4th, 2012, the Dayton IEEE Section placed a Display Case at the Wright Brothers Institute Tech^Edge Innovation and Collaboration Center. The purpose of the display case is to highlight the many Dayton based IEEE member’s contributions to the field of electrical engineering. Mr. Les McFawn, the Director of the Wright Brothers Institute, welcomed attendees and gave a presentation highlighting the significant capabilities of the Innovation and Collaboration Center, a facility that aims to bring together diverse joint teams working toward rapid solutions to pressing national and regional needs. The purpose of the IEEE Display Case in the Tech^Edge lobby is to inspire the many Tec^Edge visitors to help further innovation in the engineering profession, and encourage STEM students to join and participate in an IEEE Student Section when attending college.

Left to right: Erwin Gangl, AESS Awards Chairman, Les McFawn, WBI Director, Dr. Robert Ewing, AESS Executive VP and Chair of the Dayton Section, and Dr. Steven Hary, Secretary Dayton Section

At our upcoming IEEE Dayton Section Awards Banquet on April 27th, our keynote speaker will be Vic Bonneau, president of Electrical Power for GE Aviation Systems. GE Aviation has built a new Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research and Development Center (EPISCENTER) on the University of Dayton campus in Dayton. The $51 million center is built on eight acres of the University of Dayton’s campus on River Park Drive. The University will work with CityWide Development Corp. to build the facility to GE’s specifications. “The center’s close proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the University of Dayton Research Institute is important in order to provide significant new support to the Air Force Research Labs and the University,” said Vic Bonneau. “The University’s researchers will work with GE to develop and deploy cutting-edge computer modeling, simulation and analysis of advanced, dynamic electric power systems design and controls”. “It’s rare for a global company of GE’s stature to locate a new research facility on a college campus, but this is the future for leading universities,” said Daniel J. Curran, president of the University of Dayton. “Dayton is establishing itself as a national center for aerospace research and development — and the University of Dayton is a significant contributor. Together, GE and University of Dayton researchers will create new advanced electrical power technologies. The applications are endless — from new power systems for aircraft to longer-range electric cars to smarter utility power grids for more efficient delivery of electricity. This is the bold kind of technology-based economic development initiative that this region and our state need.”

Finally, 2012 also marked the formation of the IEEE Dayton Section Power & Energy Society and Industry Applications Society and Power Electronics Society Joint Chapter. The Chairman of the PEAL is Dr. Hao Huang who is the Chief Technologist of GE Aviation Systems – Power. As Dr. Huang indicates, “The chapter executive committee members are: Vice Chair – Dr. Dan Schweickart (AFRL), Secretary – Dr. Xiaochuan Jia (GE), PACE Chair – Dr. Bang Tsao (UDRI), Membership Chair – William Feaster (), Treasurer – Kevin Yost (AFRL), GOLD Representative – Seana McNeal (AFRL), and Web Master – Alex Kavouras (WSU). The name of the chapter is called PEAL that comes from the selected key letters in the names of the three societies. The purpose of this chapter is to help the IEEE members of these three societies in the Dayton area and to assist the growth of the local electrification businesses. To date, the chapter has about 80 members.” The IEEE Dayton Section congratulates Dr. Huang and his leadership in the formation of the PEAL!

In summary our IEEE Dayton Section of 70 years is providing state-of-the art opportunities for our IEEE members. In representing state-of-the art opportunities, the IEEE Dayton Section was proud to host (in conjunction with the Cincinnati Section) the IEEE-USA 2012 meeting with Dr. Ewing as the General Chair. It was the first time in history that this meeting has come to southwest Ohio. The IEEE -USA Conference is a forum for IEEE students, (undergraduate and graduate), researchers and practitioners interested in collaborative exploration of theory, design and applications targeting innovative collaborative tools within the IEEE. The 2012 theme was “Innovation taking Flight”. Dr. Charles Camarda, a senior adviser for innovation to the Office of Chief Engineer at Johnson Space Center, discussed the NASA collaborations Dr. Camarda served as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-114) in 2005, the first flight after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. The Return to Flight astronauts docked with the International Space Station and evaluated new procedures for Shuttle safety, inspection and repair. The crew traveled through space for two weeks and 5.8 million miles before landing safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Our local Dayton Section, Deborah Anderson talked about her father, Joseph Desch, who as an electrical engineer for the National Cash Register Co. (NCR), led the top secret codebreaking operations in Dayton, Ohio, during World War II. His electronics laboratory designed and manufactured the advanced machine needed to read the encrypted communications of the German Navy’s Enigma machine. Desch and his colleagues kept the project secret for 50 years. http://www.daytoncodebreakers.org/

Dr. Chris Baker of Ohio State University discussed innovation between academics and industry. Dr. Hao Huang of General Electric talked about “Next Generation Power Systems – Vision for Midwest.”

Today, in the period of corporate mergers, downsizing, layoffs, re-assignments, increased hours and workloads, engineers are under more stress than usual and must work together and inspirer innovation (per Tec^Edge, IDCAST and GE). Our challenge in life is to continuously improve our ability to learn, know what is right and to have the courage to always do the right thing to inspire our future IEEE generations for the next 70 years! If you wish to serve on the IEEE Dayton Section Committee, please attend our Section meetings, with the next one being February 20th. It will give you a chance to make a difference for the Dayton area by inspiring and mentoring our future engineering students (IEEE Student Chapters) in building collaborative connections between industry, academics and government. Only IEEE can do this!

Feb 2012

We are actively updating the look and capability of our new IEEE Dayton Section Website! Rob Haller has been working with the Designer of the IEEE Dallas Web Site, along with Barb Moore for our Dayton website. Rob began the process of duplicating their layout and format. Should you want to view how their site works, you can view it here: http://r2.ieee.org/dallas/

In addition, Jeff Nainaparampil, who is a new IEEE student member, has begun working on the Calendar Events for our website, incorporating the IEEE Section Gmail Calendar. After this update, our Chapter Chairs should be able to post information to the shared Section Calendar. Jeff and Rob Haller are working together on the Calendar Events.

Dr. Phil Mumford from our IEEE Dayton Section is coordinating efforts with Mr. Lester McFawn, Direc-tor of the Wright Brothers Institute for an IEEE Display Case to be located in the facility. The use of the IEEE Display Case will be to house the names and history of the Noble, Russ and Pioneer Award winners. The Display Case will be located at Tec^Edge, on 5000 Springfield Street, Suite 100. The IEEE Dayton Section greatly appreciates the efforts of Mr. McFawn to make this happen, it is very important for our Dayton Section and the Dayton Community!

In terms of upcoming events and activities:

Unmanned Aerial Systems Conference Dayton is also having an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) event in April. This will be the First Annual Ohio UAS Conference – the premier gathering for Unmanned Aerial Systems. It will be held from 17 to 18 April 2012 at Sinclair Community College, Building 12, Dayton, Ohio. For more information, see www.ohioUASconference.com Highlights for the UAS Conference include: * Speakers from Industry, Government and Academia * 2012’s Best Networking Opportunity of the Year * Capacity is Limited to the First 440 — so Register Now!

New IEEE Dayton Chapters Dr. Hao Huang, Chief Technologist for General Electric is organizing a new joint Dayton chapter cover-ing the three societies – Power Electronics (PEL35), Industry Applications (IA34), and Power & En-ergy (PE31). Dr. Huang is preparing the Petition to Form a Chapter now, and is looking for supporting emails. Please send me any emails of support, and I will forward this to Dr. Hung. There are 100 IEEE members in these three societies, a great intelligential contribution to our IEEE Dayton Section that can help our industry in Dayton Area to better leverage state-of-the-art technology. TechFest 2012 TechFest 2012 has 41 exhibits registered so far. This is the 10th anniversary of TechFest. This is a special year.

TechFest begins on Friday, February 17. If interested in helping in this event, our Dayton Section POC is Joseph Natarian.

IEEE Dayton Section Award Banquet On Saturday, 28th of April, we will hold our annual IEEE Dayton Section awards banquet at the Charity Early Auditorium at Sinclair Community College. David and Kathrine Perez are organizing the banquet, The IEEE Dayton Section Banquet is our most important event of the year and the support from our IEEE Dayton Section is critical and appreciated! Nomination for the Russ and Noble Professional Awards are still being accepted.

Dr. Robert L. Ewing, Chair

Jan 2011

First, my wishes to all the IEEE Dayton Section members the best for 2011! The IEEE Dayton Section will be sending three special delegates to two Science Day events occurring in March, the Montgomery County Science Fair and Western District Science Day. The IEEE Dayton Section delegates will select student projects that best advance the electrical engineering profession and honor them with a savings bond and dinner at our awards banquet on the 30th of April. Mr. Gary Lynch, gary.lynch@ieee.org, is organizing this event, please email him if you interested in helping! Since 2003, TechFest has served over 10,000 of our Dayton youth, where over seventy exhibitors present innovative technology. Our Student Chapters need to support a booth for TechFest 2011. We would like to see one of our IEEE student chapters develop a booth for February 19 and 20, 2011 in Buildings 12 and 13 of Sinclair Community College. Please contact Joseph Natarian.

New this year to the IEEE Dayton Section is the Dr. Daniel William Repperger Outstanding Paper Award,which will be given in memory of the late Dr. Repperger at the NAECON Conference in July 2011. At our IEEE Dayton Section Award’s banquet on Saturday, April 30, we will be recognizing Dr. Repperger’s wife and family in honor of this new award. Another highlight of our IEEE Dayton Section banquet will be a very significant and historical banquet speech entitled “The Dayton NCR WWII Codebreakers”, given by Deborah Anderson, daughter of Joseph Desch, who was the focus of the 2006 PBS documentary film The Dayton Codebreakers. Please make plans for attending our IEEE Dayton Section Banquet, only a few of the highlights have been indicated!

We welcome the addition of Ms. Jacqueline Toussaint-Barker of the Air Force Research Laboratory to our IEEE Dayton Section Committee. Ms. Toussaint-Barker will be organizing our Fall Banquet Lecture Series. This Lecture Series will be in its’ third season, Ms. Toussaint-Barker will be working both with the universities and the IEEE Keynote Speakers for the Fall Series. Finally, we would like to thank Mr. Larrell Walters, IDCAST, University of Dayton for helping the IEEE Dayton Section with its’ booth and exhibits that were recently moved from Sinclair Community College to the IDCAST facility. It is our hope to engage more of the local industry with the IEEE events with the help of IDCAST and the University of Dayton.

Robert Ewing, Chair

Mar 2010

IEEE Dayton Section Banquet will be on April 17 at the Charity Earley Auditorium at Sinclair. Dave and Kathy Perez will again be organizing and running the banquet. We (IEEE Dayton Section) greatly appreciate their help and time on this large event!! Questions can be addressed to dave.perez@ieee.org. For science fair winners, we will award plaques for first place winners and generate certificates for all IEEE selected winners with savings bonds. For RSVP, April 9 is the official respond date. ‘

This year, the IEEE Dayton Section is focusing on energy systems and energy engineering for our current and future engineers in the Dayton region. In keeping with this trend, our featured Keynote Speaker for the IEEE Dayton Section Banquet will be Dr. Krishna Shenai. His lecture is entitled, “Silicon Carbide – 21st Century Transformative Semiconductor for Energy, Space and Defense Electronics”. The silicon semiconductor transformed the 20th century global economy beginning with the invention of the transistor and leading to today’s “information” revolution. Energy and environment together will define and govern 21st century global economy. Unfortunately, silicon is unable to adequately meet many of the new key technological challenges including cost-effective generation and utilization of green energy, and advanced compact space and military electronics systems. Silicon Carbide (SiC) promises to break performance and reliability barriers of silicon because of its superior electrical and thermal properties. This talk will provide an in-depth overview of the current status and future opportunities in SiC material, device, and systems research in strategic areas of energy and military electronics.

Dr. Shenai’s background: Professor and former Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS0 department at The University of Toledo, OH. His current research is focused on developing advanced semiconductor technologies to make transformative impact on 21st century energy, military and medical electronics. In this research field, he has produced over three dozen graduate theses dissertations, authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications, holds 12 issued US patents and over 40 international patents, and edited 4 books and 8 book chapters. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of AAAS, a Fellow of IETE (India), a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE Electron Devices Society, a member of Yugoslavian Academy of Engineering, and a University Scholar of the University of Illinois. TechFest 2010: The 8th annual TechFest was a resounding success! We had 70 exhibits, of which 10 were new, and 33 presentations by 12 speakers. Your participation and commitment to the Affiliate Societies Council’s goal of opening up the worlds of STEM to our youth made our success possible. The TechFest Team thanks you!! We recorded a total of 2,539 registered youths over the two days, which breaks down to 1,433 on Saturday and 1,106 on Sunday. Of the total, 1,514 attended for the first time. Since these numbers do not include parents or other adults, we can safely estimate that about 4,000 people attended TechFest 2010. Dr. Perry Yaney (University of Dayton) extends his personal thanks to you, your colleagues and students who worked hard to make your exhibits so much fun and great learning experiences for our youth. A mother told a friend of mine the following story: “The kids did have a great, great time – they’re ready to go back already! During one of the snow days from school this week, the little one said, Mommy, since we don’t have to go anywhere, can we go to TechFest again? Ha, ha……..I told him it was closed until next year.” TechFest has become part of the culture of the Miami Valley and you helped make it so.

Dr. Robert Ewing

Feb 2010

We are working to set up a scholarship book fund with the University of Dayton for Professor Krishna Pasala. He was a technology leader, and an educational inspiration to many of our Dayton Section engineers. With the help of his fellow co-workers Dr. John Malas, Dr. Gary Thiele, Dr. Guru Subramanyam and the help of Dr. Pasala’s family funds will be collected. We will discuss the scholarship funding at our next Section Meeting.

The Air Force Institute of Technology will have two internationally known guest speakers on Radar applications on Thurs 11 march. The first will be at noon on theory, the second will be at 3 pm on applications. The general topic is SAR imaging.

We are hosting a student Paper Competition on 20th of March 2010, from 11 AM to 4PM for both lunch and student paper presentations. The IEEE Dayton section will be sending three special delegates to two Science Day events (Montgomery Co. Science Fair, March 6, 2010 and Western District Science Day) from which we select student projects that best advance the electrical engineering profession and honor them with a savings bond and dinner at our awards banquet on April17th. (POC: Gary Lynch)

Dayton Section Volunteers for NAECON 2010, where they are able to attend the conference at no cost. The Conference Dates 14-16 July 2010 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, Dayton/Fairborn (across from Wright State University). NAECON (National Aerospace and Electronics Conference) is the oldest and premier IEEE Conference presenting aerospace research in all aspects of theory, design, and applications of systems & sensors.

This year the Grand Challenge project is a Smart Vest for Dogs. This technology, when developed can and will help save the lives of both dog and man. It is needed now. Case in point- NAECON 2010 Grand Challenge. The following events which occurred in Afghanistan show why we need to get a communication vest for the dog. If a smart vest had been in place, the separation between man & dog may have made a difference.

Recently, two K9 teams went on a mission to check out a reported ‘bomb manufacturing” compound. Team 1 entered the compound and began to search the interior as Team 2 searched the exterior of the compound. Unfortunately, both teams had to enter with the wind at their backs. Team 2’s handler then began to notice a change in behavior in his K9 partner and the K9 then started to bracket in an effort to isolate the source of the odor. He then called an “alert” and yelled to the other team to freeze. At that time, due to the wind direction, Team 2’s dog, Chucky began to bracket back towards him. Chucky’s handler stepped back and left onto a pressure plate initiating the IED. The IED was in a daisy chain configuration and only half had exploded. The handler was evacuated to the hospital at Kandahar Air Field unconscious. He had lost his left leg below the knee and has severe lacerations to his right triceps area and right forearm. Initially, the doctors were concerned that the damage to his right leg might be too extensive to repair, and he would lose that one as well. As a result of the severe injuries received in the explosion, it was necessary to euthanize Chucky.

On another Afghanistan mission, a handler and his K9 were on a combat patrol with a Canadian military unit. They were working out in front of the Canadian troops when the dog hit some odor and began to pull towards its source. While moving forward with his K9, the handler and the Canadian troops came under gunfire. They returned fire, and a firefight ensued. When the shooting stopped, they moved to where the gunfire came from and found one insurgent dead. The recently deceased bad guy was wearing the dog tags of a U.S. Army soldier who had been killed in a similar ambush yesterday. The handler and his K9 then moved forward, completed the sweep they had started prior to the ambush. The K9 partner found a very large IED.

In addition to these events, we await further details on other finds. They range from confirmed residual hits that have resulted in the apprehension of IED facilitators, to IEDs. The number of finds thus far by these teams in such a short period of time has saved the lives of countless Canadian and U.S. Military personnel. To find an IED is to save the lives of at least 6 soldiers traveling in a common LAV or Hum V. To capture an IED facilitator is to save at least 10 times that number. NAECON 2010 has the chance to help those facing extreme dangers in their deployment as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. If anyone wants a prototype vest evaluated, please contact the NAECON website (www.naecon.org). Dr. Robert Ewing

Sep 2009 NAECON ’09 Update

On 21-23 July 2009, IEEE Dayton Section and the IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Society hosted the National Aerospace Electronics Conference at the Holiday Inn in Fairborn, Ohio. NAECON, started in 1948, is the oldest and premier IEEE Conference representing research in all aspects of theory, design, and applications of aerospace systems and sensors. With 71 paper presentations and over 150 people in attendance, NAECON 2009’s theme was Next Generation Optics, Innovative Aerospace Technology, and Sensory Technology, including Biological Signals.

Highlights of NAECON 2009

  • Keynote NAECON Speaker: Dr. Paul McManamon on the topic, “Conformal EO Aperture Array Based Sensing and High Energy Lasers”. Dr. McManamon will address developing multidiscriminate electro-optical sensors, including multifunction laser radar technology, novel electro-optical countermeasure systems and optical phased-array beam steering technology.
  • Keynote NAECON Speaker: Dr. John Frazier on the topic, “Biomolecular Command and Control”. Highlights the concepts that cells are extremely complex, high-performance systems, biomolecular networks (biochemical reaction networks) are dominated by feedback/feed-forward loops, and perturbations can have catastrophic consequences on systems without robust control mechanisms. Therefore, evolution has explored and exploited a wide spectrum of novel approaches to biochemical control systems.
  • Panel Discussion: “Issues of Building Cross Domain Sensor Applications using Distributed Sensing” Panel Session Chair: Steve Benning, Panel members are: Mike Nowak, AFRL; Dr. Robert Ewing; AFRL; Terry Rapoch, President and CEO DaytaOhio
  • Collaborations Briefing- University/Government/Industry: Dr Bart Barthelemy covered WBI/Tec^Edge, ICC/Tec^Edge Works; experiences with university/government/industry collaborations; and experiences with “Summer at the Edge” Intern Program. Larrell Walters, Director of Technology Partnerships for IDCAST, covered new areas of research and new facilities. Dr. Robert Ewing covered DAGSI’s research, Dr. Misoon Mah, AFOSR, covered BAA research areas.
  • Banquet Keynote speaker was Dr. Milton Chang, on the topic, “Crossing the chasm between technology and commercialization”. Dr. Chang is Managing Director of Incubic LLC. He is semi-retired, working with portfolio companies and mentoring entrepreneurs. He was CEO and President of Newport Corporation and New Focus, Inc. and prior to forming Incubic, he participated in funding about a dozen start-up companies as an angel investor.
  • NAECON 2009 Research Visionary Award for Research Excellence winner was DR. Constantine H. Houpis, Air Force Institute of Technology -For the outstanding research visionary contribution to the education of undergraduate and graduate students in both control theory and robust multivariable control systems.
  • NAECON 2008 Grand Challenge Award (last year’s Grand Challenge) winner was Dr. Erik Blasch, Wright State University, “Using Audio-Video Fusion”.
  • Plenary SPEAKERS: Dr. Hoda Abdel-Aty-Zohdy and Jacob Allen, on topic: “Cognitive Processing Using Spiking Neural Networks Applications: “Electronic Nose, Medical, Radar and Rapid HDL”.
  • Tutorials included “Air Force Technology Readiness Assessment Course” by Dr. Keith W. Jones from AFIT and Innovative Technologies Corporation, “Bio-Inspired Systems” by Dr. Hoda S. Abdel-Aty-Zohdy from Oakland University and “Trust Management in Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks” by Dr. Bin Wang from Wright State University;
  • Featured a talk on Calamityville, which is a multimillion dollar disaster response training center that will be located in Fairborn, Ohio. Additionally, Ron Allen, President and Chief Operating Officer of AMDETECH, gave an overview of his company, which is an international provider of protective detection services to governments and businesses. They specialize in explosives, narcotics, chemical and contraband detection.
  • NAECON Executive Steering Committee met to review plans for NAECON 2010 (July 14-17, 2010), The General Chair of the Steering Committee is Maj General (Ret) Lou Ferraro. Dayton Coalition with Steering Committee Members; Elizabeth Downie, Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute, General (Ret) Everett Odgers, Greentree Group, Tim Gaffney, Aviation Consultant, Shane Imwalle, Woolpert LLP, Bob May, Senior Executive Service Board of Trustees, Larrell Walters, Director of Technology Partnerships for IDCAST, and Joe Zeis, Dayton Development Coalition and Misoon Mah, AFOSR.

 NAECON Session Chairs: Robert Ewing, AFRL, Hoda Abdel-Aty-Zohdy, Oakland University and Barbara Frantom, AFRL, were the General Co-Chairs. Gary Lamont, AFIT and Chris Papachristou, Case Western University, were the Technical Co-chairs

  • Collaborative & Cognitive Processing : Bill McQuay, AFRL
  • Image & Radar Processing : Yuan Zheng, The Ohio State University
  • Information Fusion: Eric Blasch, AFRL
  • RF Computational Modeling: Seng Hong, AFRL & Bob Penno, University of Dayton
  • Innovative Sensing : Nikolaos Bourbakis, Wright State University
  • Photonics: Ken Hopkins, AFRL and Jim Grote, AFRL
  • RF Adaptive Circuits and Subsystems: Charles Cerny, AFRL
  • Reconfigurable: Kerry Hill and Al Scarpelli, AFRL
  • Publication: Ronald Brower, AFRL
  • Tutorial: Felicia Harlow, AFRL
  • Local Arrangements: April Ratliff, AFRL
  • Finance & IEEE Liaison: John Woods, AFRL
  • Grand Challenge: Erik Blasch, AFRL and Joanne DeGroat, The Ohio State University

NAECON Banquet Highlights- Wednesday Evening

NAECON Banquet featured Celtic music and Czechoslovakian and Scottish dancers, Catty Wampus is a fusion of Scotch-Irish and American roots music. They play for many Scottish dances as well as for pubs and parties. Featuring Scott Saville on guitar and vocals, Dave Morgan on bass and whistles and Mareeta Alden on fiddle and flute. Beseda Dancers – The American Czechoslovakian Club (ACC) of Dayton promotes and preserves the music, dancing, culture, traditions, and heritage of the Czech, Slovak, and Moravian (Moor a vian) people. Though Czechoslovakia was only a country for 75 years and was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, local descendants of that heritage remain united. The goal of the Beseda Dancers is to keep the tradition of the folk dance of the Czech, Slovak, and Moravian people alive for generations to come and the costumes worn in the folk dancing are the center of that tradition. The Dancers span in age from 6 to 70! Dancers wore donated and homemade costumes from 1976 until 1985 when a grant from the Ohio Arts Council proved funds for the basic costumes. Club women embroidered and beaded these costumes which are still worn today by now the 3rd generation of Beseda Dancers. In 2007, the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District through Culture Works granted the Beseda Dancers money to replace the womens blouses. The Beseda Dancers were a 2008 award recipient of the Czech Embassy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs cultural development program, and are applying this grant to design and construct new costumes representing the historical regions of some of their dancers. The Beseda Dancers are under the direction of Barbara and Charles Cerny. The dancers are Barbara Cerny, Charles Cerny, Oksana Cerny, Audra Cerny, Jenny Dean, Zach Dean, Kimmy Dean, Caleb Dean, Lindsey Folda, Helena Gerrard, Ryan Kline, Heather Kline, DJ Kline, Allison Kline, Kyle Kline.

“Scottish Country Dancing is the social and ballroom dance of Scotland, currently enjoyed worldwide. Coming into its present form in 18th century Scotland, it has continued in popularity through the ensuing centuries. Established in 2001, the Flying Ghillies Scottish Country Dancers are the Dayton, Ohio “twig” of the Cincinnati Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. Like those in our neighboring groups, we are not performance or competition dancers, just a group of friends that share a love and enthusiasm for Scottish Country Dancing. Any and all are welcome to join us and give Scottish Country Dancing a try. All you need are a pair of soft-soled shoes, comfortable clothes, and a fun-loving spirit. No experience required, you don’t need a partner, you don’t need to be Scottish, and beginners are always welcome! (And no, you don’t have to wear a kilt!)”. Several of the IEEE members will be attending the Flying Ghillies dance sessions starting in Sept. The cost is $4 dollars per session; See the webpage for the Flying Ghillies at http://www.rscdscincinnati.org/FlyingGhillies/Index.htm. If interested, please attend! Classes meet on Monday evenings throughout the year from 7:30 P.M. – 9:30 P.M. They meet at the Mangan Banquet Center, 1585 Grange Hall Road, Beavercreek, OH. This is a newly renovated facility with a beautiful wood floor. First visit is free. Two levels of classes are offered, Fundamentals and General

NAECON Banquet Awards

  • NAECON 2008 Grand Challenge Award (last year’s Grand Challenge) winner was Dr. Erik Blasch, Wright State University, “Using Audio-Video Fusion” The IEEE NAECON Conference resumed with zeal in 2008 with a host of conference activities, including a Grand Challenge competition. The competition supplied audio and video from disparate-views and asked the team entries to assess the data for interesting information. Engineering challenge problems (CP) are important for many reasons. The CP definition fosters creativity not envisioned by the designers of the research area. Second, the competitive spirit drives groups of individuals to derive and implement solutions at a faster rate. Third, there is a defined set of goals and metrics from which the solutions can be compared against. Another aspect is that the fixed deadline of the competition determines the end solution. Since the competition comes with minimal support, solutions are cheap as the reward is the status of winning the competition. Together CPs enable an efficient, effective solution that adheres to these standard metrics Timeliness: Fixed Deadline, Accurate: Determined by the evaluation criteria, Confidence: Evaluators compare the results, Throughput:, Cost – Cheap The IEEE National Aerospace Conference 2008 (NAECON08) designed a challenge problem to foster the Competition over an area of interest to sensors technology
  • NAECON 2009 Research Visionary Award for Research Excellence winner was Dr. Constantine H. Houpis, Air Force Institute of Technology -For the outstanding research visionary contribution to the education of undergraduate and graduate students in both control theory and robust multivariable control systems. Dr. Houpis graduated from University of Illinois, with both his B.S and M.S in the field of Electrical Engineering. His PhD was from the University of Wyoming, also in Electrical Engineering. Dr. Houpis is an IEEE Fellow. Dr. Houpis has been a professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology for over four decades, with previous research and teaching positions at Battelle Memorial Institute, Wayne State University, Babcock and Wilcox Company, and University of Illinois. His numerous books include Feedback Control System Analysis and Design, McGraw-Hill, First Edition 1960, Second Edition 1966, translated into Spanish and Portuguese editions, still in print, co-authored with J. J. D’Azzo. Linear Control System Analysis and Design, McGraw-Hill, 1st ed. 1975, 2nd ed. 1981, 3rd ed. 1988, 4th ed. 1995. Translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Portuguese editions; co-authored with J. J. D’Azzo. Linear Control System Analysis and Digital control Systems: Theory, Hardware, Software, McGraw-Hill, 1st ed. 1985, 2nd ed. 1992. Translated into Spanish and Portuguese editions; co-authored with G. B. Lamont. Pulse Circuits, Simon and Schuster, 1st ed. 1966, 2nd ed. 1970. Translated into Korean edition; out of print, co-authored with J. Lubelfeld. Principles of Electrical Engineering, Charles Merrill, 1968, out-of-print, co-authored with J. J. D’Azzo. Applied Digital Control, Chapter 5, “SISO Digitization Design Techniques”, North Holland, (Book), 1985. The Control Handbook, CRC Press, Inc. Jan. 1996. Several authors: author of one chapter, and co-author of two other chapters. Quantitative Feedback Theory – Fundamentals and Applications, Marcel Dekker, 1999, co-authored with S. J. Rasmussen.

Feb 2009

Since 2003, TechFest has served over 10,000 of our Dayton youth, where over sixty exhibitor’s present innovative technology. The IEEE Dayton Section and the help of the WSU IEEE student chapter developed an IEEE booth for TechFest 2008, Tech- Fest 2009 to be held at Sinclair Community College on February 14 & 15, ‘09. This program is organized and carried out by volunteer members of the Affiliate Societies Council (ASC) of Dayton, a nonprofit org. WSU developed a poster board or backdrop for the booth as well as to construct several ‘follow the wire path’ games. The follow the wire path game consists of a curved wire attached to battery and light/ buzzer, the other lead of the battery goes to a wire loop. The goal of the game was to maneuver the loop around the wire curves without activating the light/buzzer.

Mr. Matthew Shuman has started the steps to form a new IEEE Dayton Chapter in Communications, with the help of Dr. Bin Wang, they will have monthly meetings at Wright State University and a kick-off meeting this month (February). Please note that they need more signatures from members of the Communication Society!

IEEE Dayton section will be sending three special delegates to two Science Day events (Montgomery County Science Fair, March 7, ‘09 and Western District Science Day) from which we select student projects that best advance the electrical engineering profession and honor them with a savings bond and dinner at our awards banquet on the 25th of April, 2009. POC: Gary Lynch, gary.lynch@ieee.org

IEEE Dayton Section & AES are sponsoring the National Aerospace and Electronics Conference (NAECON). NAECON is the oldest and premier IEEE Conference presenting research in all aspects of theory, design, and applications of aerospace systems and sensors. For 2009, NAECON is exploring new research and contributions for core intelligent aerospace sensor integration in the following areas; Innovative Aerospace Technology, Intelligent Sensory Exploitation and Wireless & Information Interoperability. The conference will continue a series of, “NAECON Grand Challenge Problems”, this year being “Signals of Opportunity. Teams for the NAECON Grand Challenge will present research at The Ohio Innovation Summit OIS 09 (Formerly Ohio Nanotechnology Summit) on April 22, 2009 at the Dayton Convention Center. Three finalists will be chosen for NAECON 2009 presentations, with final papers being due for the NAECON conference. NAECON Conference date is 21-23 July 2009, at the Holiday Inn, Fairborn. See www.naecon.org.

IEEE Dayton Section Student Paper Winners will be invited to the conference. Conference Paper Due (IEEE format, 8 page max) – May 4, 09, Notification of Acceptance – May 18, Submission of camera-ready paper – June 19.

Dr. Paul McManamon has agreed to be the IEEE Dayton Section Fellow Nomination Chair, appointed by the Section Chair. Dr. McManamon will kept abreast of the Fellow nomination schedule and process, convened meetings of the Fellow Nomination Committee (comprised of the Fellows in the section and a few other committee members like the Section Chair, identified Senior Members eligible for nomination to Fellow grade, and seek out nominators to “shepherd” the nomination process for each nominee (recruit references and endorsers, make contact, provide nomination material, call to remind about deadlines, check with IEEE HQ to ensure packages were submitted on time, etc.

Bill Baldygo and Erik Blasch have agreed to start up and thus bring back to Dayton, an Aerospace and Electronic Systems (AES) Society Chapter.

Ms. Felicia Harlow will be attending the 2009 IEEE-USA Annual Meeting: “Engineering the Alternative Energy Debate” which is on 26 February – 1 March 2009 at the Salt Lake City Marriott City Center in Salt Lake City, Utah for the IEEE Dayton Section and Region 2. Material will be collected for a Fall IEEE Dayton Section Lecture on “Alternative Energy”.

Robert Ewing, Chairman

JAN 2009

I would like to thank Dr. Nikolaos Bourbakis, Wright State University for stepping up to be the Chairman of the EMBS-SMC Chapter and for Dr. Michael Haas moving to Chair the Signal Processing Chapter to help focus more activities with that Chapter. Mr. Matthew Shuman has started the steps to form a new IEEE Dayton Chapter in Communications, with the help of Dr. Bin Wang, they will have monthly meetings at Wright State University and a kick-off meeting this month (January). Dr. Wang served as our Section Secretary for two years and decided to step down from that position at the end of this year. We would like to thank Dr. Wang for his faithful Section support and active service, and welcome his involvement in the newly forming Communications Chapter.

Ms. Felicia Harlow is the new IEEE Dayton Section Secretary. Ms. Harlow works at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Sensors Directorate, in the “Distributed Collaborative Sensor System Technology Branch”. Her work involves the development of methodologies, techniques, and architectures for trusted distributed heterogeneous sensing systems to support the Layered Sensing vision. This includes the development of technologies to monitor and manage secure exchange of critical sensor data to assure collaborative operations.

On January 13th, we will have our IEEE Dayton Section meeting at Panera, 2751 Fairfield Commons, Beavercreek, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. We need only need 24 hours notice with our order, so let me know if you wish to attend, by the 11th ! Plan to see you there!! We really would like to see more involvement from our local industries, so please come, get involved!

As 2010 moves closer in time, our Dayton area thru Wright Patterson Air Force Base will be the research center for “Layered Sensing” for the Air Force, and this focus will likewise involve the support of small local high tech companies. Some of this new research has moved here from both Boston, MA and Rome, NY. Keeping this in mind, here are some new courses of interest- Radar Courses at Wright State University: Winter, Spring, and Summer Quarters and two new faculty positions at the Air Force Institute of Technology (details listed below) that should be of interest to our Dayton Section Electrical and Computer Science engineers.

Winter Quarter: EE 675 – Introduction to Radar Systems

Introductory study of the radar equation, antenna patterns, target cross sections and system losses, radar measurements, pulse doppler and coherent techniques, detection probability and signal-to-noise ratio, sidelobe clutter, synthetic arrays, and pulse compression techniques. Instructor: Dr. Brian Rigling

Spring Quarter: EE 733 – Modern Radar Theory

Application of probability and random process to the performance characterization of range/doppler radar. Development of the concepts of resolution, S/N, ambiguity function, and pulse compression, and their applications to radar systems design. Consideration is also given to coherent imaging radar. Instructor: TBD

Summer Quarter: EE 680 – Synthetic Aperture Radar Signal and Image Processing

Analyze a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system in terms of range, resolution, footprint, and SNR performance. Understand and implement models for SAR data collection. Understand and implement algorithms for SAR image formation such as polar format (PFA), backprojection, range migration (RMA). Understand signal phase coherency requirements for a SAR system. Understand algorithms for motion compensation and autofocus of SAR Understand available computing technology for real-time SAR data processing and exploitation. Finally, contemporary SAR research such as Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI), Change Detection(CD), Wide Angle Imaging, Sparse Aperture Imaging will be introduced. Instructor: TBD

Likewise, due to the “Layered Sensing” focus at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Two New Faculty Positions are available at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology. (1) Microelectronics and (2) Radar Faculty Positions in Electrical Engineering Background Information: The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Dayton, Ohio is seeking applicants for tenure track faculty positions in electrical engineering. Applicants will be considered at all academic levels.

The department is particularly interested in receiving applications from individuals with strong backgrounds in 1) microelectronics, to include nanotechnology, MEMS, and device fabrication, or 2) radar signal processing, to include multi-channel monostatic and bistatic applications. Applicant Qualifications: Applicants must have an earned doctorate in electrical engineering or closely related discipline. They must be committed to excellence in graduate-level education, to include teaching and research mentorship. They must be able to establish sponsored research projects or, as a research team member, expand upon existing projects within the department.

Candidates for the rank of Assistant Professor should have a strong potential for both teaching and research. Candidates for senior positions should possess distinguished records in research and a demonstrated ability to lead programs at the graduate level. Applicants must be United States citizens and eligible to gain a secret security clearance. Applicants in the microelectronics area should have a background in:

*Nanotechnology (growing and testing single and multi walled carbon nanotube structures)

*Broad technical knowledge of micro and nano fabrication and analysis tools to include:

o Standard UV/Deep UV photolithography, Laser lithography and Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) processes and techniques
o Thin film deposition (RF and DC sputtering, evaporation, electroplating, and pulsed laser)
o Wet and dry etching, Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) and Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) experience
o Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Scanning White Light Interferometry (SWLI) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipment experience to include: operation, basic troubleshooting, repairing and maintenance

*Device test experience in high vacuum (HV) environments Applicants in the radar signal processing area should have a background in:
*Radar Analysis, Modeling and Simulation
*Digital Signal/Image Processing
*Statistical Detection Theory
*Target/Pattern Recognition
*System Design
*and have related experience and interest in supporting Phased Array, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP), Multiple-Input Multi-Output (MIMO), and Noise Technology Radar (NTR) applications.

The Department: The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of six departments in the Graduate School of Engineering and Management. The department offers M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs in electrical and computer engineering and computer science. In addition, it also has MS degrees in cyber operations and cyber warfare. The degree programs are accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges. The electrical and computer engineering degrees are also accredited at the Masters level by ABET.

The department has a strong record of publication and externally funded research with particular emphasis on defense-related issues. The department has an equivalent annual research budget of $12-15M, of which, external sponsors provide over $4.5M to support specific research projects. Virtually all of our students attend under one of several fellowship or assistantship programs, which increases their availability to conduct research. The department maintains its own microelectronics clean room/fabrication lab and has ready access to world-class fabrication facilities at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) co-located at Wright-Patterson AFB. Research sponsors include AFRL, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, DARPA, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, National Reconnaissance Office, and Air Force Cyber Command. The faculty participates extensively in professional activities at all levels. The department has 35 full-time faculty members and over 175 M.S. and Ph.D. students. Enrollment is open to both military and civilian students.

Visit the website http://www.afit.edu/en/eng for more details on AFIT’s department, and its academic programs, and research specialties.

Robert Ewing, IEEE Dayton Section Chair

Nov 2008

Our 2nd annual Fall Lecture Series was at Dayton Engineers Club on 18th November from 7:00 pm -9:00pm. Dr. Krishna Shenai, Professor and Chair, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, The University of Toledo was the keynote speaker and presented his talk entitled “Smart Sensors and Intelligent Wireless Networks: Powering the 21st Century Global Economy”. Our thanks to Dr. Kenneth Hopkinson, Air Force Institute of Technology, Student Branch Advisor for his selection of an excellent keynote speaker. Dr. Shenai presented a novel cognitive information management framework and its implementation using a behavioral modeling approach with logical deduction and formal specification methods. He then demonstrated novel smart soil and environmental sensors and their integration within this framework. These sensors are specifically designed for large-scale applications in agriculture manufacturing, environmental monitoring and control, and management of water, energy, and healthcare systems. He concluded with other potential applications of this technology in key military, space and commercial sectors. We hosted the Expert Now modules at the University of Dayton on November 22 from 12:00pm to 5:00pm.

Our thanks to Christopher McGuinness, Student Chapter Chair, and other IEEE student members of the University of Dayton for organizing this event. The Dayton Section supplied the pizza and refreshments to an excellent turn-out of students and professional engineers. Three Expert Now Modules were: Terahertz Sensing Technology Biometrics: Solutions for Security and Authentication Information Theoretic Learning in the Artificial Intelligence.

We have only a few more weeks that we can offer the Expert Now modules. Please let us know your interest in seeing another “Hosting of Expert Now Modules at the University of Dayton”. Just email Rob Ewing your interest.

SEP 2008

The IEEE Dayton Section hosted a successful “kick-off” for the first of a series of the “Expert Now modules” for the May Day Festival at Wright State University. We have currently 39 modules to choose from, which will only be free this year to the IEEE Dayton Section. Please note that in 2009, we will have to pay for these short courses, per person attending. We plan to start presenting new modules both at Wright State University and the University of Dayton, starting the first week in October and continuing until December. Information will be available on the IEEE Dayton Section website. We are sending two IEEE Dayton Section representatives to the IEEE Sections Congress, hosted by Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on 19 – 22 September. The IEEE Sections Congress 2008 is a triennial gathering of section leadership sponsored by the Member and Geographic Activities Board. It is the only major IEEE meeting that convenes the IEEE’s grassroots leadership to share ideas, concerns, and solutions. Dr. Erik Blasch (Air Force Research Laboratory) and Dr. Kenneth Hopkinson (AF Inst. of Technology) will be attending.

MAY 2008

We had an excellent IEEE Dayton Section Banquet, my congratulations to our committee members, organizers, and our IEEE Dayton Chapters. Specific thanks go to Dave Perez, Barbara Moore and Frank Palazzo. Maj General (retired) Louis Ferrano presented an exceptional insight into leadership skills versus management skills, keeping the audience on the edge of their chairs (in terms of interest) during his presentation with strong question interaction at the end. We had a really nice turn-out for the Science Fair and Day winners, with a keen interest in their projects from our Dayton Section members, we again wish to thank the students for their efforts and academic endeavors over this last year, to represent the Dayton area with such a strong display of talent. Our IEEE scholarship winners represented each of our local universities, and our student paper contest winners, were dominated by the University of Dayton, for all categories. Finally, our Harrell B. Noble Award winner, Dr. Frank Scarpino (University of Dayton) and our Fritz J. Russ Bio-Engineering Award winner, Dr. Gary Lamont (Air Force Institute of Technology) both strongly represented the technology development and professional characteristics that represents our highest awards from the IEEE Dayton Section. It was a very special night in the history of the IEEE Dayton Section Awards Banquet 2008 for all of us in all stages of our careers. Moving on the future, our start of the IEEE mentored video courses began at Wright State University this last Friday 2 May, during the May Day Festive. We sponsored two video courses, one on Wireless Networks and Sensor Technology and the other on Hybrid Engines. We had an excellent turnout, and wish to thank Joseph Natarian, Nicholas Baine and Anoop Hanchinamane Ramakrishna, along with others from the WSU IEEE Student Chapter for pioneering this sequence. The response was so positive; we will continue this IEEE Dayton Section offering during the late summer and fall. It is open to all and everyone that is interested, with upcoming details being posted on the IEEE Dayton Section Website. Last item of interest, our own NAECON conference is returning in full form this July 2008. We’re expecting a large turn-out from our local universities and industry. Visit the NAECON website at www.naecon.org. We’re lining up some well known keynote speakers, along with hopefully one from the aviation hall of fame. We’re currently working these issues and will have full details by the end of May.

MARCH 2008

It is with great sadness that we note that Dr. Pasala pasted away suddenly last month (January). He was a technology leader, and an educational inspiration to many of our Dayton Section engineers. I knew him and worked with him for over twenty years, where he always displayed a natural talent for viewing difficult (both technical and practical) problems with great insight, clarity and honestly. A memorial note was written with the help of his fellow co-workers Dr. John Malas, Dr. Gary Thiele, Dr. Guru Subramanyam and the help of Dr. Pasala’s family and has been included in this edition of the mini-Conductor. Memorial funds may be directed to: American Heart Association or Children’s Medical Center of Dayton. Dr. Pasala made a sufficient technology difference in our Dayton area by his keen devotion and I believe his positive influence will continue for many, many years both at the University of Dayton and at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He will be greatly missed by us all in the Dayton Section.

February 2008

Finally, NAECON 2008 (http://www.naecon.org) website is online and ready for abstracts for the April 15 timeframe! Barbara Moore created the NAECON website and now manages both our IEEE Dayton Section and NAECON. The NAECON website will be used to update, archive and provide an on-line reference for a public release venue of material. The conference is jointly sponsored by Dayton Section IEEE and The Aerospace & Electronics Systems Society (AESS) and will be hosted from the 16-18 July in Dayton at the Holiday Inn, Fairborn (across from Wright State University). A permanent NAECON steering committee is being organized to guide the technology focus areas of the conference for the future. The uniqueness of having New Mexico as part of NAECON’s Conference brings together the aspects of collaboration and distributed system integration, two very critical threads for addressing futuristic engineering trends. Last year, we indicated that the IEEE Dayton Section is responding to the uphill knowledge tend and the regional collaboration that is needed between institutes to address the new frontier of integrated systems, devices, and energy technology, thus NAECON 2008 has put the action behind the words written in 2007’s IEEE MiniConductor.

For the IEEE Dayton Section Awards Banquet, we have retired Major General Louis C. Ferrano, Jr. as the keynote speaker, highlighting work from his recent book. Maj General (retired) Ferrano is the author of the book, “The Right Side of Leadership”, which is rooted in personal right and good core values and character. It is a way of life. The Right Side of Leadership shows us how we can have solid core values as the foundation for all our choices and actions. Based on years of data gathering, study and experience, The Right Side of Leadership sheds light on how right and good decisions can be made consistently. His keynote speech contains the information needed to challenge, fine-tune, and strengthen your leadership values and skills. Basic management fundamentals and educational information impacting today’s leaders will be analyzed. An in depth analysis of historical changes in American culture that impacts individual core values, character, and decision making processes of leaders will be the focus of the talk. At Cornell University, during his undergraduate studies, he was one of the rare athletes who participated in both football and crew. His freshman crew was National Champions. He started Ferraro Consulting in 2003 and is active in community affairs in the Dayton Region in Ohio. He has long been interested in leadership. See where you and your IEEE leadership exist within the Ferraro’s framework of The Right Side of Leadership. Please attend our IEEE Dayton Section Awards Banquet in April 2008 to honor our Dayton Section members and stude

NOV 2007

Our first Fall IEEE Dayton Section Seminar Series was a very successful kick-off on the 25th October with Dr. Eric K. Walton with the topic, “Radar Signal Processing” at Dayton Engineers Club. Dr. Walton gave an excellent insightful and informative presentation. This topic was sent out to the IDCAST (Institute for the Development and Commericalization of Advanced Sensor Technology) to encourage academic and industrial endeavors for advanced radar sensors. Dr. Walton is a Senior Research Scientist at the ElectroScience Laboratory of the Ohio State University. Dr. Walton has a strong ongoing program in ground penetrating radar and building wall penetration radar.  Wall penetration radar combined with (stealthy) noise radar techniques has yielded new concepts for imaging the inside of buildings for the detection and classification of humans and objects inside the buildings. The target of interest may be far away (mountains on Mars) or close (human blood vessels).  Specific design of the two waveforms is possible so that the cross correlation coefficient forms an optimized peak for a particular target or class of targets, or it may be optimized to maximize the difference in the response between clutter and targets of interest Dr. Walton also presented material on innovative multi-function antenna systems.  He has been involved with the development of conformal/invisible automotive antennas, low-visual-profile DF antennas, mutually transparent array antennas and pixel-based programmable function antenna arrays. The concept is to build patch arrays using individual controllable pixels.  The aperture of the system is made up of a large array of small pixels.  Each pixel is a small piston made up of a metal top, a dielectric shaft, and a metal base. Dr. Walton was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1994 and was elected president of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association for 1989, having served as vice chairman in 1987 and 1988.  He was chosen as an IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Distinguished Lecturer for the years 2000 to 2002.  He also served as secretary (1979), vice chairman (1980) and chairman (1981) of the Columbus, Ohio section of the Antennas and Propagation Society of the IEEE.  He is now serving as chairman of the IEEE Standards Committee for “Radar Cross Section Measurement Techniques.” Please attend our next Section Meeting, since next year’s activities will involve both the leadership and support of our IEEE Dayton Section members.

Robert L. Ewing

MAY 2007

An excellent turnout for the Dayton Section IEEE Awards Banquet 2007, and my congratulations to the award nominees, students, and IEEE Dayton Section members! The student exhibits and projects were excellent!

The Dayton Section of the IEEE again thanks LTC Barbara Timpte, for her exceptional keynote speech at the Awards Banquet. Her recent deployment and experience in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom gave her a unique perspective and ability to bring this experience to an audience of IEEE members, students from surrounding colleges and universities, and family members.

Issues:

As a reminder to those of you with professional engineering (PE) licenses, this is the year to record, attend, service, or publish work related technology to acquire the needed 15 credits for license renewal.

National Aerospace and Electronics Conference (NAECON)- Mr. Erwin C. Gangl of our Dayton Section has offered to help solicit corporate and IEEE AESS national support as well as authorization of using NAECON trademark. We recently had a meeting with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Cruse, where it was further discussed that an appropriate theme of NAECON’08 is important to help develop the scope of the NAECON grand challenge problem with the Air Force Research Laboratory for the Dayton area. To this end, an executive committee is being formed to oversee the NAECON conference committee, where involvement from the Dayton Coalition and IDCAST will take place. Draft Agenda for NAECON 2008

To my knowledge, NAECON is the oldest conference established here in Dayton in 1948, it represents and has displayed many of the regional’s technology advancements during the ages. It is important to bring this back to Dayton in 2008!

Lecture/Banquet Series 2007 – We will begin this in the Fall of 2007 (October), with an IEEE Southern Ohio IEEE Section Meeting with keynote speakers, with the theme -“Biophotonics and Hybrid InfoSystems”.

Please join us every Monday evening for Celtic/Scottish dancing. Practice for NAECON 2008, where we’ll have a live band! Location: The Mangan Banquet Center, 1585 Grange Hall Road, Beavercreek, OH (NW-Intersection of Grange Hall & Dayton-Xenia Road) Scheduled time is 7:30 pm -9:30 pm, Individual Cost: $4http://www.rscdscincinnati.org/FlyingGhillies/ContactUs.htm

Robert L. Ewing

APRIL 2007

The NAECON (National Aerospace and Electronics Conference) Grand Challenge Problem will be in the area of surveillance involving dynamic imaging and acoustics. The Ohio region will be working in collaboration with New Mexico’s universities and government organizations. Dr. Steven C. Suddarth is the POC for the New Mexico collaboration effort. The platform and instrumentation specifications for the Grand Challenge Problem will be released in May 2007. Interest, ideas, thoughts and inputs from the Dayton IEEE members should be presented to the IEEE Dayton Section Committee members during this month of April. So, please let us know now. The “call for papers” will be released in August 2007, based on topic areas selected by the conference committee members and inputs from IEEE members. Inputs for the Pioneer Award, which is part of NAECON, should be submitted to the Dayton Section by December 30, 2007. The Pioneer Award, honors international pioneering effects in basic concepts, systems, designs and technical ideas that have led to a major new US military capability. The Pioneer Awards started in 1948, with the concept of the NAECON Conference. We are looking at currently July 23-25, 2008 for hosting the NAECON conference in Dayton, Ohio. This time will be finalized in May 2007. Suggestions, recommendations, committee member selection and a location site for the conference are being evaluated during the month of April. We welcome your inputs and help for NAECON 2008.

Also, please join us on the 21st of April for the IEEE Dayton Awards Banquet!

Robert L. Ewing, Chairman

MARCH 2007

Chair’s Editorial The substance of our current IEEE Dayton Section was molded by support of the Dayton region, universities, and Wright-Patterson AFB over the last 64 years. On December 15, 2006 the University of Dayton was awarded $28 million to establish a worldwide center of excellence in sensor technology in Dayton, Ohio called IDCAST (Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology).

IDCAST provides funding in two distinct areas of development and marketing: ” Funds for equipment to develop next generation sensor technology ” Operating Funds to bring technology to market

The academic collaborators who are working with IDCAST are: ” University of Dayton, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, University of Toledo, Miami University, and Wright State University

Industrial collaboration (still growing) coupled with university members form the overall IDCAST commercialization team.

Current discussions within the state of Ohio highlighted the focused need of IDCAST research in such areas of integrated sensing, remote sensing and CBRNE (Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear-Explosive) sensing to address the commercial markets of:
o Safety and security
o Environmental
o Bio-medical
o Aerospace

Key issues to be explored by IDCAST involves design integration methodology, along with the technology strives in the technical physics of fabrication of hybrid and nano devices, making it highly desirable that industry or government should have rapid design facilities, integration and test metrics for the future devices. Within IDCAST, are two specialized programs dealing with companies and university funding. These two programs are called the OSCAR and MOST, descriptions of these programs and their focus areas are as follows:

The OSCAR Program – Ohio Sensor Company Assisted Research Program
o Funding to address Ohio sensor company market pull research at IDCAST universities.

The MOST Program – Mobilizing Ohio Sensor Technology Program
o Funding to address Ohio sensor technology that needs additional investment to be commercialized.

Why is IDCAST important for Dayton? The next century will see the incorporation of nano computer architectures into every avenue of technology design, simply by the industrial economical need and concept of multifunctional image sensing and analysis. The thought of one integrated hybrid chip design that has a million different configurations has much the same ring as integrated chip and laser development of the 1950 and 60s in which Dayton historically led this innovative research through work at NCR and Wright-Patterson AFB.

Nanotechnology is changing traditional engineering with many new areas appearing. As such was the case in electrical engineering was a course offered in civil engineering in the early 20th century, we are seeing that nano, biotronics and hybrids are the current new emerging disciplines of nanocomputing for the 21st century. Nano Architectures, in terms of top-down design, are at a higher level of parallel hierarchy, then just serial configurations. The general architecture of nanocomputing can be classified into the following statement: Stop thinking that the universe is best described by Boolean order operations, consider the world of biotronics (bio & electronics). The idea in exploring the multidimensional characteristics of biotronics systems involves multilevel logic interaction with hybrid digital systems (bio/digital/analog systems). In the biotronics world, all models are multilevel and nonlinear exponential in nature. These biotronic systems are linearized by boundary limited frequency, time response and dimensional ranges. The multilevel model and its correct development is probably the most difficult aspect for biotronic computing issues. Previous computing models were not dealing with 2 and 3 dimensional models, while the current models are now faced with high frequency design, due to the emergence of bio-nanodevices. These future biotronic devices will be biophotonic holographic, fluidic 3-D display systems, optical switches, nanoactuators, self-repairing polymorphic computing systems, cognitive processors and biorobotics. We will start our Fall IEEE Dayton Lecture series on “Biophotonic and Hybrid Devices”. Now you know “why” we are developing a Fall Lecture series, see you there!

IEEE Dayton Chair Banquet: On the 24th of February at the Solomon Pavilion in Kettering, we hosted the IEEE Dayton Chair Banquet with a wonderful introduction to Scottish Country dancing by the Flying Ghillies Scottish Country Dancers of Dayton, Ohio. We had an excellent turn-out of membership. Several of the IEEE members will be attending the Flying Ghillies dance sessions starting in April. The cost is $4 dollars per session; See the webpage for the Flying Ghillies at http://www.rscdscincinnati.org/FlyingGhillies/Index.htm. If interested, please attend! Classes meet on Monday evenings throughout the year from 7:30 P.M. – 9:30 P.M. They meet at the Mangan Banquet Center, 1585 Grange Hall Road, Beavercreek, OH. This is a newly renovated facility with a beautiful wood floor. First visit is free. Two levels of classes are offered, Fundamentals and General

The world is moving towards higher technology, which Dayton has been leading in many areas for the last century. For the continuation of technical excellence, the Dayton Section will focus on the upcoming events: Awards Banquet, NAECON 2008, Lecture/Banquet Series 2007, 65th year history of the Dayton Section Publication, 2008, and finally the Student Paper Competition.

Wright State University site of IEEE Student Paper Competition: Please attend the IEEE Active Chapter Presentations and Student Paper Competition (21st and 22nd of March, in Room 145RC, Russ Engineering Hall, Wright State University): Annual Student Paper Competition on March 22nd 2007 at Wright State University from 9:00 AM to 5:00PM. This is in conjunction with the active chapter and engineering career presentations on March 21st from 12:00PM to 5:00PM. Please encourage all IEEE students to attend this event. The winner of the student paper competition will represent the Dayton Section in the Region 2 Student Paper Competition on March 30th – April 1st 2007.

NAECON 2008 – The initial committee meeting was rescheduled from the original February timeframe (due to weather) to 10 April at 7:00, in the Kettering Center (WSU-Downtown Location). The NAECON Grand Challenge Problem will be in the area of surveillance involving dynamic imaging and acoustics. The platform and instrumentation will be specified, and actual details will be released in May 2007. The “call for papers” will be released in August 2007, based on topics areas from the conference committee and inputs from IEEE members.

65th year Dayton IEEE Section Publication (2008) – Documentation of IEEE Dayton history, photo archives, NAECON pictures, etc will be done for the upcoming 65th year celebration. Photos need to be digitized and documented. Students from different universities will be hired to help digitize the photos, and document the IEEE Dayton history. Lecture/Banquet Series 2007: We will begin this in October 2007 (October), the IEEE Southwest Ohio Section Meeting with keynote speakers, with the theme -“Biophotonics and Hybrid InfoSystems”.

Awards Banquet: Please join us on the 21st of April for the IEEE Dayton Awards Banquet.

Robert L. Ewing

FEB 2007

Chairman’s Reception Lets have a big turnout for the reception!

NAECON We are planning for a 2008 NAECON Conference

IEEE Photo Archives We have several volunteers who led the IEEE and NAECON events in the past contact us, indicating that they can narrate the photos. But we still need student or university volunteers to help convert the photos to electronic format. Please volunteer! We need student or university volunteers to help convert the photos to electronic format.

Lecture/Banquet Series 2007 Individuals have expressed interest to form new IEEE chapters. We need to bring the Computer chapter into active status. We will begin this in the Fall of 2007 (October), with an IEEE Southern Ohio IEEE Section Meeting. The Lecture/Banquet Series 2007 will serve to provide an opportunity for those who are active in education. The topics addressed in the Lecture Series concern initial and continuing education in information systems and nanoelectronics, with an emphasis on: · Industrial outlook · Industrial projects · Emerging fields in design & technology · New concepts in teaching · Multimedia using Integrated Systems · Design innovations, · Technological innovations · Industrial roadmaps & hybrid Information Systems · BioPhotonics in the future.

JAN 2007

The new year brings an increasing importance of innovative technology for the Dayton region. Consortiums, business collations, State funded institutes, universities, government and industry are responding. Likewise, the IEEE is responding to the uphill knowledge trend.

The Chairman’s Reception is scheduled for 24 Feb 2007 from 6 to 9PM at the Michael Solomon Pavilion is in the parking lot of the Community Golf Course in Kettering. Enjoy the Reception and an introduction to Celtic/Scottish dancing. Scheduled time is 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Individual Cost: $12 (Spouses & Family Invited) The Michael Solomon Pavilion, 2917 Berkley St., Kettering, OH 45409-1656, phone number 294-9357 and the regional collaboration that is needed between institutes to address the new frontier of integrated systems, devices, and energy technology.

Also, as a reminder to those of you with professional engineering (PE) licenses, this is the year to record, attend, service, or publish work related technology to acquire the needed credits for license renewal.

The world is moving towards higher technology, which Dayton has been leading in many areas for the last century, but are we continuing this trend? Let’s examine several issues that the IEEE Dayton Section will address for this year.

Issues:

NAECON – To my knowledge, one of the oldest conferences established here in Dayton represents and displayed many of the regional’s technology advancements during the ages. Many of us grew up with this conference and it represents a history of Dayton. We wish to re-establish this conference for the spring of 2008. We need volunteers from the local universities, government, and industry to form the conference committee.

IEEE Photo Archives – The IEEE Dayton Section has boxes full of undocumented photos going back many, many years. We need to document these photos, many of NAECON events and banquets. Ideally, we need to record the rich history of the IEEE Dayton section from the time of Kettering, Deeds, and the Wright Brothers. We need volunteers to develop this pamphlet to give credit to Dayton for innovations, and for some of you, this might be past relatives. So, we need your help and the committee to make this happen. Please volunteer.

Lecture/Banquet Series 2007 – Currently, individual IEEE chapters have invited guest speakers. This is good, but we need to take these events to the next level. As indicated in the recent survey, many of you are very interested in this type of forum. We will begin this in the Fall of 2007 (October), with an IEEE Southern Ohio IEEE Section Meeting with keynote speakers, with the theme –“Biophotonics and Hybrid InfoSystems”.

Please join us on 24 February at the Solomon Pavilion (founded in 1911) in Kettering for an IEEE Dayton Chair Banquet and an introduction to Celtic/ Scottish dancing. Scheduled time is 6:00 pm -9:00 pm, Individual Cost: $12 (Spouses & Family Invited)

Robert L. Ewing



Richard Thomas

Dec 2006

I am very excited to report the planning of new technical symposium to occur in March 2007. The new symposium will be a forum for all fields of electrical engineering. Special thanks to Dr. Erik Blasch for his leadership and diligent work in realizing this symposium.

Congratulations to the incoming 2007 IEEE Dayton Section officers! I am sure that 2007 will be a great year for the IEEE Dayton Section under the very capable leadership of the incoming officers! The new officers and their positions are:

  • Dr. Robert L. Ewing, Chair
  • Mr. John Harshbarger. Vice-Chair
  • Dr. Samuel SanGregory, Treasurer
  • Dr. Bin Wang, Secretary

Dr. Ewing serves as Technical Advisor for the AFRL Information Directorate and Director for the AFRL Computer Engineering Research Consortium. Additionally, Dr. Ewing is also serves as Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering at both Wright State University and the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Mr. Harshbarger is President and General Manager of Video Instruments, LLC in Xenia, OH.

Dr. SanGregory is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Cedarville University as well as Chair of the Cedarville University Department of Engineering.

Dr. Wang serves as Associate Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Wright State University.

Please join me in welcoming our incoming Dayton Section officers!

We owe a debt of gratitude to John Harshbarger for his commitment and dedication in leading the Survey Committee. We can attribute a great deal of the success of the 2006 Survey to John’s leadership and industry. Thanks also to the other 2006 Survey Committee members: Rich Burns, Dave Perez, Frank Palazzo, Dr. Mohamed Abbas and Dr. Charles Cerny. Thanks also for input from Rob Haller and Ken Normand. We also appreciate the post-survey compilation work by the Cedarville University students: Luke Snider (Student Chapter Chair), Randall S. Plate, Emily M. Von Vliet, John T Hagen and Nathan E. Hinks. Thanks also to Dr. Sam SanGregory for arranging the student’s compilation effort. Please begin considering potential nominees for the Russ Award and Noble Award (submission deadline is Feb 15).

Note that the award criteria for the Noble Award have been recently revised!

2006 Year in Review (with notable persons):

Chairman’s Reception at WSU, with basketball game, Feb 4 (Dr. Kuldip Rattan)
Student Paper Contest, Mar 18 (Dr. Charles Cerny, Dr. Kuldip Rattan, Dr. Dan Repperger)
Annual Awards Banquet, Apr 22 (Mr. Lloyd Tripp, Keynote speaker)
Office space migration, Mar-Nov (Dr.Surinder Jain)
SMC/EMBS Joint Chapter creation, Aug-Sep (Dr. Michael Haas, Founding Chair)
Membership Survey, Jan-present (Mr. John Harshbarger, Survey Committee, Dr. Sam SanGregory and CU students)
Noble Award Revision, May-Oct (Dr. Charles Cerny, Dr. Dan Repperger)
Technical Symposium, Aug-present, (Dr. Erik Blaush)

Addtionally, there have been notable IEEE Dayton Section position changes in 2006: Dick Moff: retirement from Awards Chair position after decades of dedicated service.

Dr. Kuldip Rattan, Past Chair: acceptance of Awards Chair position. Dr. Daniel Repperger: acceptance of PACE Chair position.

Serving as the Dayton Section Chair has been a rich and rewarding leadership experience. I would encourage others to serve as either a Dayton Section officer or within one of the appointed Dayton Section positions.

Richard Thomas

Nov 2006

We have extended the deadline to Friday, Nov 10 for 2007 Dayton Section officer nominations (Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary). Presently, we don’t have any nominees for the offices of Chair or Treasurer. We need nominees! Candidates should be Dayton area IEEE members with an interest in advancing our profession. Please submit nominations to one of the 2006 Dayton Section Officers (Richard Thomas, Chair; John Harshbarger, Vice-Chair; Richard Burns, Treasurer; Sam SanGregory, Secretary). Self nominations are permitted. Consider taking on a leadership role in the Dayton Section! The finalized list of 2007 Dayton Section officer nominees will be published on the Dayton Section website (http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r2/dayton/).

Thanks to all the members who have responded to the recent IEEE Dayton Section survey. We are in the process of reviewing the surveys and will soon publish the compiled results. Thanks for your input regarding the direction of the Dayton Section! We are looking forward to our annual Senior Member Upgrade event occuring from 11:00am to 1:00pm on November 30 in room 142 of the Russ Engineering Bldg at WSU. Thanks to Dr. Kuldip Rattan for arranging facilities to host this event. This year, we will also support new member applications. Please mention this event to your colleagues who are not IEEE members. Members should bring an updated resume and take advantage of the benefits of upgrading to Senior Member! If you been in the profession for while, you are very likely eligible for the upgrade to Senior Member! More information about IEEE Membership can be found at:

Senior Membership http://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/md/smprogram.html

Join IEEE http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/join/join.html
Membership Qualificationshttp://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/membership/rep/membershipqualifications.html
Understanding IEEE Membershiphttp://www.ieee.org/portal/site/mainsite/menuitem.818c0c39e85ef176fb2275875bac26c8/index.jsp?&pName
=corp_level1&path=membership&file=understanding.xml&xsl=generic.xsl 

Yours for the profession,
Richard Thomas 
IEEE Dayton Section Chair
r.j.thomas@ieee.org

Sept 2006

I am very pleased to report that Dr. Jain and I met on the morning Friday, 04 Aug, to transfer the NAECON
Proceedings and Booth Materials from our office in the Eastown Shopping Center to Sinclair Community College.
These valuable Section assets are now safely stored at Sinclair in a space that is under Dr. Jain’s authority. So
very kindly, Dr. Jain assures that the Executive Committee can access to the materials whenever the Section may
have need of them. Thanks to Dr. Jain for his support of the IEEE Dayton Section by arranging storage of these
important Section assets! Thanks also to all who supported the identification and preparation of the NAECON
Proceedings and Booth Materials for transfter to Sinclair! The executive committee is putting together a survey
that will soon be sent to Dayton area IEEE members. We are looking forward to the useful and constructive
feedback we will receive. When the survey arrives, please take a few moments to complete the survey (either
via mail or website). Your input is very important to the Section! We are presently accepting nominations for
2007 Dayton Section officer positions (Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary). Candidates should be Dayton
area IEEE members with an interest in advancing our profession. Please submit nominations to the Executive Committee.

May 2006

Our annual Awards Banquet was held on Saturday, April 22 at the Sinclair Community College Ponitz Center.
Mr. Lloyd Tripp started our special evening with an intriguing presentation on the topic on human factors
engineering as related to space missions to Mars. Subsequently, we recognized many for their outstanding
accomplishments to the electrical engineering profession.

Special congratulations to the following awardees:
• Dr. James G. Grote – Russ Award
• Mr. Richard Moff – Extended Service Award
• Dr. Kuldip Rattan- 2005 Dayton Section Chair and Service Appreciation Award
• Dr. Charles Cerny – Service Appreciation Award

Congratulations also to the outstanding student awardees, student paper contest awardees and the science
fair awardees. You all have truly earned your recognition! Thanks again to all for their contributions that
make the Awards Banquet possible. Special thanks to Frank Palazzo, Dave Perez, Dr. Daniel Repperger,
Dr. Charles Cerny and Dr. Kulip Rattan. Presently, we are reviewing the documents and property we possess
within the IEEE Dayton Section office. Some items will be retained while other items will be reallocated.
We will be meeting Saturday, May 6 at the office at 9:00am to review and organize the contents of the
Dayton Section office. Anyone interested in contributing to this effort is invited to contact me as how you
can support this process. As a reminder, we always have opportunities available for new volunteers within
the IEEE Dayton Section. We welcome new ideas and energy! Please send us an email or come and attend
an event or a meeting!

Yours for the profession,
Richard Thomas
IEEE Dayton Section Chair
r.j.thomas@ieee.org

Feb 2006

Thanks to all who organized the February 4 Chairman’s Reception at the Wright State University Nutter
Center. It was a great time of professional fellowship and networking. I appreciated our informal discussions
of new and exciting ideas for future Section activities. It was a pleasure for us to meet Senior Member
candidates David Forrai and Patti Ryan. During the reception, we also announced Don Scarpero as our
new Industry Representative.

Congratulations Don! We are looking forward to upcoming events; the Section’s Student Paper Contest on
March 18 and our annual Awards Banquet on April 22. The Student Paper Contest will occur at Wright State
University; the winner will go on to represent the Dayton Section in Region 2 competition. The Awards Banquet
will occur at Sinclair Community College; awards will be granted to awardees ranging from Science Fair
participants to Doctorates. All are welcome to come and participate in these special events!

As a final note, I want to extend my personal invitation to the IEEE Dayton membership at large to consider
taking an active role the Dayton Section. New ideas and energy are welcome! Send us an email or come and
attend an event or meeting!

Yours for the profession,
Richard Thomas
IEEE Dayton Section Chair
r.j.thomas@ieee.org

Jan 2006

Congratulations Richard Thomas, 2006 Chair.

Happy New Year! Last month, December 13, we held the IEEE Dayton Section Executive Committee meeting
at the Russ Engineering Center at Wright State University. Our next meeting will also occur at this same location
on January 10. The Chair’s Reception will occur on February 4. You can always check our website for details
on upcoming events and activities. We are looking forward to another year of IEEE activity. I personally am looking
forward to serving as Chair and the privilege of working with our strong core of Dayton Section supporters and participants.

To name a few:
• Vice Chair: Mr. John Harshbarger
• Treasurer: Mr. Rich Burns
• Secretary: Dr. Samuel SanGregory
• Membership Director: Dr. Mohamad Abbas
• PACE Chair: Mr. Mark Franklin
• Communication Director: Mr. Robert Haller
• Publication Director: Mr. Frank Palazzo
• Industry Representative: Mr. Phillip Verret
• Banquet Chair: Mr. Dave Perez
• Student Activities: Dr. Charles Cerney
• Mailing List Coordinator: Mr. Robert Cooper

A key theme this year will be the strengthening of the relationship between the IEEE Dayton Section and
Dayton area IEEE members. We all have a vested interest in the development and evolution of our profession.
As we consider what changes may be advantageous to IEEE (both world-wide and within the Dayton Section),
I especially want to encourage the Dayton area IEEE membership to provide their thoughts and ideas regarding
the future direction of IEEE. This can be accomplished by responding to a survey, contacting a Dayton Section
officer, or by attending a Dayton Section Executive Committee meeting. The Dayton Section Executive Committee
needs member input! Are there activities or support functions that the Dayton Section should implement? Are there
public policy issues that the Section should engage? Finally, I would encourage members to consider taking an
active role within the Dayton Section. Our Section meets monthly on the second Tuesday of each month. Come
to a meeting and see what goes on! Your participation is welcome!!

Yours for the profession,
Richard Thomas
IEEE Dayton Section Chair