SIOUXLAND SIGNAL
Volume 8, Number 3 IEEE
SIOUXLAND SECTION NEWSLETTER November, 1996
NOVEMBER MEETING
WAPA CONTROL CENTER TOUR
WHEN: Thursday evening, November 21
WHERE: Meet at Steak and Buffet Restaurant, Watertown, SD. The tour will be at the Westem Area Power Administration Control Center.
ACTIVITIES: 5:30 PM, Socializing
about 6:00 PM, Dinner, all you can eat steak buffet.
About 7:00 PM, Speaker and tour. For the tour we will drive to the WAPA control center. Directions will be provided at the restaurant.
RESERVATIONS: Reservations are not required. The dinner will cost about $7.00. Please pay the restaurant at the door for the buffet dinner. Upon entrance to the restaurant student members with IEEE ID will receive a 1/2 price rebate from Siouxland IEEE. There will be a full rebate for any regular member who brings a guest who fills out a membership application and writes a dues check at the meeting.
DIRECTIONS: Directions: Take 1-29 to the Highway 212 exit at Watertown and go into town (West). Go to Highway 20 (which is at a traffic light, and almost all the way across town.) Highway 20 only goes North so take a right and go about 2 blocks to Steak and Buffet (on the right).
Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) markets and transmits
reliable, low-cost electric power, provides related services and
encourages energy efficient management in an environmentally
sound manner. Hydroelectric power is marketed from 55 powerpi
ants operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The Watertown Operations Office of WAPA supervises the dispatch
of power in South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana. The dispatch
center has been recently remodeled. Our speaker and tour guide,
Darrick Moe, does Systems planning system protection (relaying)
and operations support work for the Watertown Operations Office.
In addition to the tour, our speaker will give a talk on the role
of the Watertown Operations Center and on current challenges
facing WAPA and other utilities including the issue of utility
restructuring.
(WAPA has a web site for those interested. Use URL http://www.wapa.gov)
CHAIRPERSON'S COMMENTS
Our October Siouxland Section meeting was held near Sioux
City, IA. The activity for this meeting was a guided tour of
Gateway 2000. This was an outstanding tour. I would like to
extend my thanks to the Gateway people in the Siouxland
membership who helped make this tour possible. Thanks also for
the hospitality offered.
Due to the large membership call-in for reservations to the
Gateway tour, we had to turn a number of people away. We have not
had to turn people away from our meetings in a long time. This is
a problem that I think is nice to have once in a while. For those
people turned away, I am coordinating another possible tour for
sometime in December - I will keep you posted by phone.
During the meeting, a request was made for the IEEE National
membership requirements. They are detailed on the back side of
this page. Membership in the Siouxiand Section is automatic for
IEEE members who live in the Siouxland region. Use the
description of the requirements for membership to help you in
possible recruiting activities that may come up in your future.
Another request made at the October meeting was for a list of
Siouxiand IEEE members that we could distribute among ourselves.
We are now planning to hand out such a list at Section meetings
starting with the January meeting. This list will be given to any
interested member who requests one. The list will contain only
your name and city. Many members are curious to know who the
other IEEE members that live near them are. If you have an
objection to being included in this list, be sure to inform the
newsletter editor so that your record will be omitted (see
~Officers~ on the last page of this newsletter for contact
information).
Finally, please consider attending the November meeting announced
above. We always look forward to seeing new faces.
Remember, if you can bring in a new recruit and get them to fill
out an application at the meeting we will give you a free meal.
Some of the action items we will be discussing over dinner are:
Annexation of area, section filing system, report by attendees
to the this years sections congress, section bylaws revision, and
the section's home page development. See you on Nov.21!
Jayme Huber, Section Chairperson
Vol.8 No.3, November 1996 Siouxland Signal page
2
GRADE DETERMINATION
(as per IEEE Bylaws)
All members except students pay the same membership dues and
receive the same IEEE membership benefits and services (although
Associate members may not vote in IEEE elections or hold some
offices)
| Grade & Method of Election | Qualifications | Education | Experience | References |
| Senior Member: self-application or nomination; new members may apply directly for this grade; current members may apply for elevation to this grade. | Recognizes expenence reflectmg professional matrrity. Candidate shall be an engineer, scientist educator, technical executive or originator in IEEE designated fields*; in professional practice at least 10 years with significant performance over a period of at least 5 of those years. Recognizes those individuals who have demonstrated professional competence in IEEE designated fields through education, professional experience, or a combination of both. | |||
| Member: New members may apply directly for this grade; current associates may apply for elevation to this grade; student members may be elevated automatically to this grade upon graduation. | ||||
| Associate: New members may apply directly for this grade; student members may be elevated to this grade upon graduation. | Designed for technical or non- technical applicants who do not presently meet the qualifications for member grade, but who would benefit through membership and participation in the IEEE and for those who are progressing, through continuing education and work experience, towards the qualifications for Member grade. | Degree from non-REP Degree in non-related field Associates Degree Continuing Education No Degree |
Work not of professional engineering
character required for member grade (e.g. technician) Working in field towards member grade qualifications |
1 Fellow, Senior Member, Member or Honorary Member |
*The IEEE designated fields of interest include electrical
engineering, electronics, computer engineering and computer
sciences, and the allied branches of engineering and related arts
and sciences.
The term "REP" (recognized educational program) refers
to programs in IEEE designated fields at schools which are part
of a university, university system or a college (including bona
fide junior and community colleges or technical institutes) and
which meet accreditation standards of the appropriate national,
regional or professional accrediting bodies.
Vol.8 No.3, November 1996 Siouxland Signal page 3
1996-1997 OPERATING YEAR SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
| September 17 1996 | Genter for Power System Studies Annual meeting on SDSU campus in Brookings, SD. |
| October 17 1996 | Gateway 2000 Guided Tour, Sioux City, IA |
| November 21,1996 | WAPA Control Center Tour, Watertown, SD |
| January 21, 1997 | Hutchinson -robotics, Sioux Falls, SD |
| February 20, 1997 | (To be Announced) Brookings, SD |
| March 20,1997 | (To be Announced) Sioux City, IA |
| April 15,1997 | SDSU Spring Awards Banquet Brookings, SD |
| May 15,1997 | Officer elections (Program to be
Announced), Yankton SD |
| July 12,1997 | Summer Social Lewis and Clark Park, Yankton, SD |
MARK YOUR 1997 CALENDAR FOR
FULL ACCESS ROBOTICS
On the evening of January 21 we will meet In Sioux Falls for a
presentation by Jim Worlie of Hutchinson Technology Inc. He will
discuss robotics including full access robotics, pick and place
robotics, small pneumatic systems, laser welding, PLC's
and motion control.
WHITE HOUSE ASKED TO ACT
YEAR 2000 PROBLEM FOR COMPUTERS
Time does indeed march on and the year 2000 is just around the
corner The question of whether computers will go bump in the
night is a hot topic these days in several federal and state
executive and legislative agencies.
The House Science Committee has described the problem as follows:
"The vast majority of computer software in use today employs
two-digit date fields (i.e., 1996 is coded as '96). consequently,
at the tum of the century, computer sofiware will be unable to
differentiate between the years 1900
and 2000. If this software problem is not addressed promptty, it
will render the vast majority of date sensitive computer
formation obsolete and unusable."
The problem 'vas explored in joint hearings of the House Science
and Government Reform committees, most recently on Sept.10; the
commonweaith of Pennsylvania has set up a comprehensive program
to deal with it; and a major study by the congressional Research
Service has
been forwarded to the White House.
On July31, Sen. Pat Moynihan (0-N.Y.), who commissioned the CRS
study, wrote the President saying the study "substantiates
the worst fears of the naysayers." The three issues he cites
are these:
1. costs of reviewing and rewriting codes for Federal and state govemments~stimated at billions of dollars over the next three years.
2. Range of time available for making corrections, the problems at the IRS and the Social Security Administration being particularly
important; and the effect on the economy.
Moynihan asked the President to designate a special assistant
to be responsible for assuring that all Federal agencies "be
Y2K compliant' by Jan. 1, 1999, as well as all commercial and
industrial firms that do business with the Goverment.
Congress has also directed the Office of Management and Budget
(via language in the FY 1997 Treasury, Postal Appropriations
bill) to report to congress by Nov. 1 with a strategy,
timetable, and projected cost of correcting the
Year 2000 problem in each federal agency.
(the end)