IEEE’s Region 2 encompasses Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Northern Virginia, Southern New Jersey, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. Within the region, there are 11 PES chapters, including 3 PES/IAS joint chapters and 1 PES/IAS/PELS joint chapter.  The areas represented are Akron/Canton, Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Delaware Bay, Lehigh Valley, Northern Virginia/DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown.  Many of these chapters are very active in planning events for their members.  If you have a desire to volunteer, please don’t hesitate to contact the local chapter Chair!

Akron-Canton Chapter

http://site.ieee.org/akron/

Baltimore Chapter

http://ewh.ieee.org/r2/baltimore/baltimorepes/

This chapter is regrouping after a period of inactivity and a total leadership changeover.  A group of young and talented Engineers in the Baltimore area are preparing to deliver several outstanding events to their members in 2018, but they will need the support of additional volunteers.  Please consider contacting the chapter Chair and supporting their efforts!

Cleveland Chapter

http://www.clevelandieee.org/

For more information or to volunteer, please contact the chapter Chair at power@clevelandieee.org.

Columbus Chapter

http://site.ieee.org/columbus-pes/

The Columbus, Ohio Chapter had a very active 2017, with 7 events held, including: technical presentations (Substation Grounding Studies, Distributed Energy Resources, Electric Power Markets), facility tours (Ametek, AEP Microgrid test site) and professional development opportunities (Career Guidance, American Nuclear Society joint-event).  The Chapter partnered with the Ohio State University student chapter to spread awareness of IEEE Columbus activities and also utilized the Outstanding Engineer awards for the first time.  In addition, the chapter’s web presence was revamped through a new website and Facebook page.

September 2017 Tour at AEP

Looking into 2018, a number of diverse events are being planned for our members.  On March 19th, Schweitzer Engineering Labs (SEL) provided an interesting talk on Transmission Distance Protection, past, present, and future. A Professional Ethics seminar is scheduled on April 17th and a tour of Ohio State University’s nuclear research lab is set for May 11th.  Our goals for 2018 include finding ways to increase value for our roughly 200 PES members, utilizing the Outstanding Engineer award again, recruiting a new class of PES officers, and staying up-to-date on global IEEE PES initiatives and trends.

March 2018 SEL Event

Dayton PEAL (PE/IA/PEL) Chapter

http://site.ieee.org/dayton-peal/

This chapter continues to be active and draw attendees to technical talks.  As one of the most active chapters in the Dayton Section, they maintain a reputation for providing interesting events.  Their website continues to be a way to advertise upcoming events and be a means by which attendees can RSVP.  Five diverse events were offered in 2017; four technical talks that took place at the University of Dayton Research Institute building and a networking social at the Engineers’ Club of Dayton.  The events included:

  • Dynamic High Performance Electric Power and Drive Systems in Motorsports and Aerospace by Dr. Christoph Leser and Mr. Ramon Guitart of MTS
  • Solid State Battery and Hybrind Power Research at the University of Dayton by Dr. Jitendra Kumar
  • Transformer Design and Design Parameters by Mr. Ronnie Minhaz
  • Networking Social
  • Cost, Reliability and Compatibility: Targets for Isolated DC/DC Converter Design by Dr. Mark Scott and Mr. Alexander Isurin

In 2018, they are looking to offer more events, more opportunities to support local students and increase their interest in PES topics, as well as look into taking advantage of more PES resources.

Delaware Bay (PE/IA) Chapter

Building on the successes of the past several years, the Delaware Bay Section continued its sponsorship of “Delaware only” electrical events for both the middle school and high school Science Olympiad tournaments in Dover for 2018.

This support included providing two repetitive Workshop sessions for Div C high school students and another two for Div B middle school students in partnership with the University of Delaware Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in Evans Hall on the Newark campus.  The Workshops were held on all four Saturdays in January and were attended by a total of 50 students (27 middle school & 23 high school) along with a large number of parents and coaches.  The Workshop program was divided into presentations of electrical concepts followed by hands-on labs to demonstrate the concepts.  The 3 hour program was roughly divided 50/50 between the lectures and labs.  The students loved the labs.  Each session was attended by 5 – 7 Delaware Bay Section engineers who advised and mentored the students during the labs and provided personal electrical enthusiasm that filled the room.  Forty percent of the Workshop participants were female.  All Workshop participants received a free multimeter and instructions in its safe use.

Thanks to the following engineers who supported one or more of the workshop sessions and/or the March tournaments:

  • Carlos Mendoza & Aric Lu – the UD Workshop hosts
  • Wayne Lu
  • Doug Tipton
  • Bill Stewart
  • Rebekah Houser
  • Mark Colgan
  • Steve Steffel
  • Edgar Salazar
  • Charlie Boncelet
  • Gordon Lipscy

At the Delaware Science Olympiad High School Tournament on March 3, 2018 at Delaware State in Dover, forty teams competed in the Wonders of Electricity event out of 55 total teams attending.  Students who had attended the Workshops generally scored well above those who had not.  Delaware Bay Section volunteers again supported the proctoring and scoring of the event.

The Middle School Tournament was held at Delaware State on March 17 with our team of volunteers running its Wonders of Electricity event for thirty-three teams out 50 total teams attending.  The combined total of 73 teams (of two students each) resulted in almost 150 of Delaware’s smartest students becoming aware of the Wonders of Electricity and having fun doing it.

In the bigger picture, the national Science Olympiad is scheduled to bring electrical events back into both the high school and middle school rule books for the 2019 competitions.  In the past, these national electrical events rules have focused on a lot of the drudgery of circuit analysis at the expense of showing the wonders of electricity.  Thus, we want to get the IEEE oar in the water to make electricity look more inviting to the young folks doing Science Olympiad nation-wide.  Chapter Chair Gordon Lipscy, who is also a Co-Director of Delaware Science Olympiad will be attending the national Science Olympiad Tournament in Fort Collins, Colorado the weekend of May 19, 2018 representing Delaware and will be attending the rules development meeting for 2019.

Lehigh Valley Chapter

http://site.ieee.org/lv-pes/

With usage of vTools and no charge for meetings, the Lehigh Valley Chapter continues to do well with attendance.  Meetings are held on Tuesdays from 4-7 PM at the PPL Electric Utilities office in Allentown, PA.  Recently, nearly 60 attendees were engaged in a discussion on the history of grounding/earthing practices in the United States, but additional meetings are still being scheduled, including:

PDH certificates are available only for IEEE members, so don’t forget to renew your membership and register today!

Northern Virginia/D.C. Chapter

http://site.ieee.org/novadc-pes/

This joint chapter was able to hold three technical events in 2017, including:

  • Understanding Arc Flash Incident Energy
  • Development of a Return on Investment Model for Implementation of LIDAR on Wind Turbines
  • Project Planning and Design Considerations for Large New and Replacement Power Transformers

They are consistently looking for speakers and new meeting locations.  If you are interested in supporting their efforts, please consider contacting the chapter Chair.

Philadelphia (PE/IA) Chapter

http://www.ieeephiladelphia.org/

Pittsburgh (PE/IA) Chapter

https://webinabox.vtools.ieee.org/wibp_home/index/CH02085

Youngstown Chapter

https://webinabox.vtools.ieee.org/wibp_home/index/R20039

Matthew Stryjewski
IEEE PES Region 2 Representative
matthew.stryjewski@ieee.org