Our first Section meeting of the year will be held at the Hess Building on February 26.  Daleep C. Mohla will make a presentation titled "The IEEE Process for Developing Standards".  Mr. Mohla, who just recently retired from Dow Chemical after 27 years, will provide a step by step account of the requirements set by IEEE to generate one of their Standards.  It should be an interesting and informative session.

It was mentioned in this column a couple months back that the membership in the Houston Section grew by almost 10% in 2002 to over 4,000.  In discussing at our ExCom meeting we believe this growth is due, in no small measure, to the programs that our Chapters and Committees have implemented.  These groups have very strong leaders who are dedicated to providing programs and content that is of real value to our membership.  But when we submit the reports of our activities back to Corporate (which includes attendance) I’m struck by the number of members who are not taking full advantage of their membership.  And I have to wonder why?

The Houston Section has nine (9) Active Chapters:  Communications, Computer, Engineering & Medicine & Biology, Industry Applications, Multi-Group Electronics, Power Engineering, Signal Processing, A.M.L.G A&M, and Circuit & Systems.  Does your career or interest lie in one of these areas?  If it is I urge you to find out what’s going on in that area by checking their websites.  There are links to almost all of there websites from our website, http://www.ieee-houston.org.  And if you don’t find your interest in this group, go to http://www.ieee.org/organizations/tab/society.html and look through the other 28 IEEE Societies.  Then come and let us help you start a chapter in the Houston Section. There's money and people eager to help.  

It not too early to start making plans to attend the 2003 Region 5 Technical Conference and Leadership Workshop.  The meeting will be held in New Orleans April 11-13.  A special reminder to students, the deadline for completing your papers for the paper contest is March 1.  Details on all aspects of the the conference are  available on the R5 Conference website at http://www.ieee-neworleans.org/r5conf/index.htm.  It should be another outstanding event. 

At a Region 5 Executive Committee meeting I attended the first of February I was amazed to learn that the Central Texas Section nominated 80 senior members last year.  They have implemented a program which encourages, and makes it easy for Senior member candidates to complete the process.  Your ExCom will look at the possibility of adopting such a program in our Section, but in the meantime, please read the article on Senior Membership on the News Page of our website and if you're qualified, contact us now.  The benefits of Senior Membership are many:

• Professional recognition of your peers for technical and professional excellence.
• An attractive fine wood and bronze engraved Senior Member plaque to proudly display.
• Up to $25.00 gift certificate toward one new Society membership.
• A letter of commendation to your employer on the achievement of Senior member grade (upon the request of the newly elected Senior Member.)
• Announcement of elevation in Section/Society and/or local newsletters, newspapers and notices
• Eligibility to hold executive IEEE volunteer positions
• Can serve as Reference for Senior Member applicants
• Invited to be on the panel to review Senior Member applications.