Summer’s here, schools are out, vacations are being planned and taken, and sure as death and taxes, it’s getting hot and humid in Houston.  But, what a great place to live and practice our trades, right?  And, it’s great to be a part of the number one IEEE Section in the world, in so many categories.  To acknowledge our many accomplishments over the past year, as well as to celebrate our 75 years as a Section, we are planning an awards dinner for late summer.  Dates and times will be posted on our website as soon as they are firmed up.  It will be a fun night.

Speaking of awards, the Section is proud to sponsor a summer internship at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  The award this year went to Lily Banerjee, a very deserving high school senior from Clear Lake High School whose project was “Compound Eye: For Motion Detection & Discrimination”.  The award was based on recognition of the quality of the project as well as the communication skills she exhibited at the 2003 Houston Science and Engineer Fair.  Congratulations, Lily.  We are looking forward to meeting you personally at the awards dinner. 

We have been notified that our ComSoc Society Chapter has been recognized as one of only 6 Chapters in North America and 14 worldwide to receive the “Chapter Achievement Award”.  This award is given by the Membership Development Council to ComSoc Chapters that continuously provide their members with high-level programs and activities.  Congratulations to the Chapter and special recognition to its chair, Ransom Siler, for his outstanding leadership over the past years. 

A hearty welcome to our newest senior members:  Won-Jong Kim, Control Systems Society; Kevin Leigh , Communications Society; Erich W. Wolz, Computer Society; and Michael L. Walker, Power Engineering Society.  We have many more applications that have been submitted and are being processed.  Senior membership is important to the individual and the Section and I urge all who meet the qualifications to submit an application. 

In a previous column we gave a brief account on the Sections Congress 2002 held last October in Washington, DC.  The final report has now been published and is available on the web at http://www.ieee.org/sc.  Click on "SC2002" and then "Final Report" in the left menu bar.  Please note that this is a large PDF file, due to photos and charts included in the document.  If you are unable to access the PDF file, you can contact Donna McClelland with your name and address and she will print a copy and send it to you. 

Your ExCom will be meeting in late July to select the winners of the first annual IEEE-Houston scholarship award.  Call for nominations for the award are on the website.  Let’s make sure that all deserving candidates are nominated for consideration.  We’d like nothing better than having a long evening considering the many applications. 

Our call over the last months for volunteers didn’t go unheeded and we’re pleased to announce a couple of new positions:  Shannon Quadros will be leading the Section efforts in Engineering Council of Houston (ECH).  Among other fine programs, this organization drives the internships noted above.  Shannon has been attending our ExCom meetings for some time and has eagerly accepted the challenge of leading this effort. 

We also welcome Polo Gutierrez to lead the PACE program.  Polo has been a student branch president during 1992-1993 so brings some good leadership skills to this position and our branch. 

We appreciate all of our volunteers for their service, and recognize that things change in our personal and business lives that change the amount of time commitment we can make.  The Section strives to match the needs to the availabilities of our volunteers so when your situations change, give us a call so we can match time availability and interests with Section needs.  There’s always a place for everyone. 

Thanks to all who helped man the booth at the OTC in May.  The show continues to gain momentum in Houston, trying to get back to its prominence of the late 70’s, and is a great place for IEEE to gain exposure to the community and the world. 

Other Items of Interest:

• The IEEE Job Site has a valuable new revenue share program for IEEE Sections.  Our Section can receive a ten percent commission from the job posting fees of companies which we refer to the Job Site. Single job posts cost $175 for 30 days and multiple post contracts start at $570 for four postings annually.
  
  If your company would like to find qualified engineers from around the world we encourage them to enroll their recruitment managers for a free job posting at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jobsite/hrmanagerform/.  This form requires that a member indicate their local Section so that the referral can be tracked for revenue share purposes. 
  
  Of course we still have the FREE job postings here on our website which all companies and individuals should take advantage of. 
   
• When buying a new suit, we consider fit carefully but we often aren't as attentive when we consider how well our jobs fit us. People who do not fit well in their jobs often are stressed out, frustrated, and have to exert more energy when completing tasks that they do not find satisfying. Find out if your job is right for you at http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/toc.jsp?isno=05031
   

• IEEE Publishes Proceedings of Deans Summit II. 
  PISCATAWAY, N.J., May 30, 2003 - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has published the proceedings of "Deans Summit II: Fostering Campus Collaborations," a meeting and conference held in Miami from January 9 to 12, 2003.  The summit brought together 149 education and engineering deans and faculty to address campus initiatives for increasing technological literacy among pre-college educators and students.  For a copy of the proceedings contact:  Celeste Torres at c.torres@ieee.org or go to www.ieee.org/organizations/eab/fcc and click on "formal overview" at the bottom of the page.
   
• The candidates running for IEEE elective positions on this year's ballot have been selected. The list includes those running for board positions for the IEEE Standards Association, Technical Activities, and IEEE-USA. Read more about the candidates at http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/inst_art.jsp?isno=05031&arnumber=05031_5w.newselections&section=5
   
• PIECE – check their website for a myriad of programs coming to Houston.
   
• FIND CONFERENCES SCHEDULED TO BE HELD IN OUR SECTION GEOGRAPHY Opportunities may exist here in our section for enhancing technical capabilities.  The IEEE Conference Search Web Page can help identify such conferences.  Check http://www.ieee.org/conferencesearch/. 

Dwayne Lowry
Houston IEEE Section Chair