Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had an enjoyable summer, and are ready to ramp up the fall with some great technical meetings. Our Executive Committee (ExCom) has been planning interesting topics and speakers for our members, so we hope that you all take advantage of these career enhancement opportunities. We usually schedule our meetings during lunch, so that we can maximize our attendance. We understand that everyone has busy schedules, so hopefully our lunchtime meetings are convenient for you.

Tragic Loss

It is with heavy heart that the ExCom announces the pending loss of a good colleague and long term supporter. For those who are not aware, we are at the eve of the passing of Someone Else. Someone Else has always been there to help the IEEE. Someone Else attended the monthly ExCom meetings, arranged periodic technical presentations, generated meeting reports for the national IEEE, coordinated elections, and supported our local conferences. Someone Else put out the extra effort to benefit, not only the local engineering community, but the engineering community nation wide. We could always depend on Someone Else to pitch in. I think Someone once said, "If we all do a little, then nobody has to do a lot." Because of these efforts, Someone Else received awards and recognition, and became well known through the IEEE.

With the passing of Someone Else, the ExCom is asking it members to full fill Someone's last request. Take a moment and consider how you can fill the void that is going to be left by Someone Else. Over the next couple of months, the Executive Committee and several of the local Chapters will be seeking nominations for their officers. We cannot afford to have Nobody Else being nominated for the various offices. As we all know, we cannot depend on Nobody Else. If you can help, please contact the Section’s Nominating Committee, or one of the Chapter Chairs, and find out how you can help maintain the quality we all expect out of IEEE.

The Section Nominating Committee is currently meeting to come up with a slate of officers for next year. If you are interested in running for a position, please email Woody Williams (Committee Chair) at woody@imagefactorsouth.com You may also click on the contacts link on our home page http://www.ieee-huntsville.org/ to see the current list of officers, and the positions that we have on the ExCom. This year, we are offering an incentive for 2005 officers. The Section will give a $100 rebate towards the dues of all elected section officers and chapter chairs. Hopefully, this will encourage more people to get involved in the management of the section.

New Chapter

Our newest Chapter has been formed! On July 19th, IEEE Headquarters informed us that our Engineering Management Society (EMS) Chapter has been officially approved. We had much response from members who were interested in this Society and wanted to activate it locally. A planning meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Aug 18th, at 11:15am in the Holiday Inn Research Park - Hopper’s Grill. Lunch will be $7.99 plus tax. Discussion will include: Elections, Meeting times and location, possible speakers, and topics. If you are interested in joining this Chapter, or will be in attendance at this planning meeting, please email me at Sonya.L.Hutchinson@nasa.gov I will be acting as Chair until an official election has been held.

The IEEE Huntsville Section is looking forward to seeing you soon at our upcoming events!

Sincerely,
Sonya Hutchinson
2004 IEEE Huntsville Section Chair