Tina Ellson is a student member of the Section, and chairman of the UAH Student Chapter. She is a EE major and a math minor at UAH, and also takes extracurricular courses such as classical guitar, fencing, and dance. She is a member of the UAH Math Club and of M.A.R.S. (Mobile Autonomous Robot Society). Currently, she is doing further research for publication of an interdisciplinary technical paper, with the recommendation of an English professor. Using both literary theory and medical facts to support her thesis, she is radically challenging the accepted scholarly interpretation of a 19th century Robert Browning poem, as well as presenting a new perspective to present-day medical humanities.

Prior to enrollment at UAH in 1998, Tina enjoyed her second primary career of wife and mother. As a "stay at home" housewife for 15 years, she was active in the PTA, and volunteered as a teachers' assistant and music teacher. She was her children's Girl Scouts co-leader for several years, but as they grew, Tina joined women's clubs and raised funds for Alabama's public libraries. She was a Committee Chairperson while a member of the Coordinating Council of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation 1994-96. She was Madison's first Meals-On-Wheels volunteer driver for the Madison Senior Center 1995-96. Moreover, she was a member of the MBA's Christmas in Madison Committee 1995-97. Noticing the "refinement," Tina's husband enrolled her in Kung Fu classes where she continues to advance in four different disciplines of the Choy Li Fut and Tai Chi Chuan Chinese Martial Arts. In these classes, "real-time" meant a man running full speed at you with a real knife.

But before all that, in the early 80's, Tina attended the University of Hawaii at Oahu as a biology major. During that time she was employed as a student assistant at UHA's Biomedical Center where she conducted experiments for biochemists researching the absorption of iron in the human body. Moreover, she was a NAUI-certified scuba diver, and dove with a biochemist collecting marine samples from the Hawaiian ocean floor to research for new medicines. The certification was well earned, as Tina was a survivor of a non-rescuible ordeal due to natural disaster during her last required ledge dive. In 1981, and at the age of 19, she became the first female and the youngest certified scuba diver from her small island nation nearby.

Tina was born in 1961 and raised in the Mariana Islands, which were then a Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and now a Commonwealth of the United States of America. She accomplished her first 12 years of studies at a parochial school, which hired teachers from the United States, Europe, and Asia. With local and "imported" teachers world-over, Tina is multi-lingual and received a multi-cultural education in music, dance, and the fine arts. She was in the girls' High School football, soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. As a product of the matriarchal-patrilineal society and the policies of her educational institution, Tina's early education also included "gender-blindness."

At the age of 16 and a junior, she was given the sole assignment of photographing and documenting the joint post-WW-II clean-up project conducted by the governments of the United States and Japan. Tina was the only local student and female to accompany U.S. military personnel stationed out of Hawaii during the collection and detonation of live WW II bombs and other explosives found throughout the island's jungles. She traveled to the island of Tinian where two bomb pits had stored the atomic bombs later dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tina met and talked with WW II American and Japanese veterans who fought this war. Indeed, this academic assignment provided a lasting impression of the historical deeds of world powers, both destructive and humane, not to mention the non-biased mindset instilled by the foresight and wisdom of her educators in the 1960's and 70's.

Today, Tina is happily married nearly 18 years and delights in raising her two teenagers. In her free time she enjoys target shooting competition, hunting, needlework, and reading Isaac Asimov's non-fiction. Some of her collections include teddy bears, Matchbox/Hot Wheel cars, and Noah's Ark figurines. UAH is Tina's third career and IEEE her fourth involvement with a traditionally male oriented field.

She has this to say: "I am excited with the new challenge of restructuring the UAH IEEE Student Branch with very enthusiastic young people. The most fun I have is going to the monthly Huntsville Section meetings, as the IEEE professionals are as fabulous as the multiple buffet at the restaurant. Mine has been an interesting life so far, and I know there will be more extraordinary encounters and unique experiences. But through it all has been my love for people from all over and admiration for the qualities they possess. When someone asks what I do best, I answer without hesitation, 'I do my best with everything that comes my way.' "

Tina, with her husband, will eventually return to her island home and to her family. With an EE degree she may work at the island's radar station if she has time from her primary responsibilities with family affairs. She invites all her IEEE friends to come visit her in the islands during her retirement years.