Hello Everyone,

I hope you've all had a wonderfully relaxing holiday season. I'm sure the time off gave you much time to enjoy with friends and family. Personally, I had time to reflect on the past and plan on the events of the future. With that said, it times to get back to work! As your newly rejuvenated IEEE Huntsville Section Chair, there are many things that I plan on implementing while I'm in office. If you know anything about our IEEE elections, that means I'll be around for a long time (or at least until someone else wants the job). :)

2002 was a very good year for our Section. We accomplished so many things last year, that we are seeking a regional Section of the Year award. In order to keep the momentum going, I'd like to focus on the following three words: New, Renew, and Continue.

New - The year 2003 has brought our organization a new Chair, and two wonderful new officers! I'd like to introduce you all to Willy Fitzpatrick, our new Secretary and William Bishop, our new Member-At-Large. (William is not actually new, but he's new to me. He used to be active in IEEE many moons ago.) We'll have to spotlight them both in future issues of The LiveWire, so you all can get to know them. Our Section loves new blood, so we welcome you all to get involved and actively join us!

Renew - There are at least two things that I would like to renew this year. The first thing is our support and collaboration with the A&M Student Branch. I would like to increase our support of the Branch so that it is equal with that of the UAH Student Branch. In order to do this, I will need constant and consistent collaboration from the A&M Branch officers. This includes attending business meetings and giving status reports. The second thing I would like to renew is the GOLD program. That is Graduates Of the Last Decade program. This program's main focus is to bridge the gap between those members who have just started their careers, and those more "seasoned" professionals. I want to make sure that our GOLD members are benefiting from our section and make sure they do not fall by the wayside. Membership retention is the lifeblood of the IEEE, thus GOLD will help us to achieve this goal.

Continue - Since our previous Chair did such a great job, I'd like to continue implementing all the successful programs. This includes all our active Society Chapters (Computer, Controls, AES, and JCAM). We will continue to support the UAH Student Branch and their very successful design competition teams. We will continue to support local IEEE conferences. Last year we hosted AUTOTESTCON 2002, and this year from May 5th-8th we will host RADARCON 2003 at the Huntsville Marriott. Please stay tuned to The LiveWire for more information on this conference. We will continue to support our Regional and State Science Fairs. We will continue to annually recognize local engineers for their outstanding efforts and expertise. We will continue to bring you interesting technical & educational lunch-n-learn seminars at our local Papa Lovetti's Restaurant. Please come out to stimulate your mind and your stomach during these events.

This November is the Golden anniversary for our Section's founding. We are in the process of planning the activities to celebrate this joyous occasion. I look forward to meeting and greeting you all throughout this year at any of our business, technical or social events. My wish for our Section and all of you is to have the most prosperous year imaginable!

Sincerely,

Sonya Hutchinson
2003 IEEE Huntsville Section Chair
sonya.hutchinson@ieee.org