The Region 5 Technical and Leadership Conference was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 2 – 4 and provided a great opportunity to network with the Section Leadership from the other 23 Sections in the Region and the full Region 5 leadership team. These conferences have always proven beneficial to learn as well as share ideas with the other Sections. There were several recurring themes from each Section: (1) how to attract and keep good volunteers (2) more communication and involvement with the student branches and (3) creating programs that provide more benefit to the membership. We did pick up some ideas, but would welcome suggestions from any of you.

Several awards were presented at the Region 5 Conference. I am pleased to announce our very own University of Houston won a fair share of them. They racked up several awards at the Region 5 Conference: (1) Outstanding student branch presented to IEEE UH student Branch, (2) Outstanding student member presented to Nnamdi Nnabuihe, (3) Outstanding educator presented to Dr. Dave Shattuck and (4) Outstanding Branch counselor presented to Dr. Ovidiu Crisan. In addition, University of Houston was represented by three (3) student teams in the Robotics competition. All three (3) teams made it to the final round, placing second, fourth, and sixth, respectively. Congratulations University of Houston!!!

Unfortunately, when there is good news, there is frequently also bad news to report. At our last EXCOM meeting, Dr. Peri Ktonas announced he was resigning from the University of Houston and will be transitioning his duties as chairman of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS). While we are saddened by this news, I am sure Peri’s successor will continue to build on the successes of the EMBS. Peri has been a very active and dedicated IEEE member for more than twenty (20) years. His contributions to IEEE are unsurpassed, and we will miss him dearly. Please join me in wishing Peri the very best as he spends his retirement in Greece.

May looks to be a busy month. There are several important events you need to mark on your calendar. The IEEE Power Engineering Society will be having their spring meeting on Thursday, May 20, 7PM, at the Powell Electrical Facility. Jim Bowen, Chief Engineer of Powell, will make a presentation entitled, “MV Switchgear and Circuit Breaker Ratings.” You will receive Professional Development Hours Certification as well as a free dinner. If you are interested in attending, please give Paul Barrett 713-290-1151, Paul Ingamells 713-948-4992, John Lionberger/Allen Xi a call at 713-622-0227. The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) will be on May 3-6 at the Reliant Center. The Houston Section will be manning two (2) booths, so be sure to drop by and say hello. Last, but not least, our next EXCOM meeting will be Thursday, May 27th at the Hess building. Make sure to visit the IEEE Houston Section website for more details. We hope to see you at these events.