Region 3 Members,

This is your Monthly Member Communication – March 2021 Edition

The weather has warmed up, and it is in the 60’s in my local area. Wherever you are, I hope that you are taking some time out of your busy schedules to enjoy the fresh air.  Lots of technical interchange has been buzzing in my inbox, so listed below are some of the many cool things happening in Region 3. Please browse through these virtual meetings, attend a couple and hopefully share the invites with a few of your friends and colleagues!

March 2021 – Region 3 Upcoming Virtual Meetings & Announcements

Announcement: The Region 3 Section Support Committee (SSC), in conjunction with the Projects sub-committee is considering funding of additional Region 3 projects.  In the Fall of 2020, Region 3 funded 7 projects. Find the project descriptions and current status at: https://bit.ly/3qEEYrv

If you have an interest or an idea for a new project, please check out the following information and survey: bit.ly/37MyMXm

Section based projects increase member engagement, section activities, and IEEE involvement in our communities.   https://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/ For questions, please contact Grayson Randall  g.randall@ieee.org

Announcement: IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC)/IEEE SIGHT have announced the first funding opportunity of 2021! The Call for Proposals is being offered to support IEEE member grassroots humanitarian technology and sustainable development projects that utilize technology to address the COVID-19 situation in our community.  Please note that the deadline is March 1st, 2021.

Find all the details at:  https://hac.ieee.org/funding-opportunities/covid-19-projects/

 

Monday – March 1st, 2021 (4:00pm – 5:00pm CST) Alabama Section

Bankhead Dam Virtual Tour, By: David Tait, Engineer at Alabama Power Company

David will present a virtual tour of Alabama Power’s Bankhead Hydroelectric Generation plant.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/261008

Virtual Meeting Link: Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.

 

Friday – March 5th, 2021 (4:00pm – 6:00pm EST) Florida West Coast Section

NuScale Power SMR Design Overview and Licensing Status, By: Steven Mirsky of NuScale Power

Mr. Mirsky will present the history of NuScale Power with respect to the development and licensing of its unique SMR. This SMR design concept and safety case will then be described.  Key innovative systems, structures, and components will be presented.  Mr. Mirsky will discuss nontraditional applications of the NuScale SMR in comparison to the current operating fleet of commercial nuclear power plants.  Finally, he will provide information on the U.S. nuclear power plant licensing of the NuScale SMR along with near term deployment plans and opportunities.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/260972

Virtual Meeting: Virtual Info will be sent 4 hours in advance of the actual event start time. Kindly check your Spam folders and contact organizer via email if not received. We typically use Webex for our technical meetings/seminars. This meeting will be recorded. By joining, you automatically consent to recording Cyber City United States 48309 Building: Virtual Room Number: Digital

 

Wednesday – March 10th, 2021 (12:00pm – 1:10pm EST) Region 3 Section Support Committee

IEEE 2020 Member Segmentation Study (A Members-Only Briefing), By: Michael Kriesberg

MGA’s Senior Director of Member Experience will present the 2020 findings of the 2020 Member Segmentation Survey, diving down into specific Region 3 highlights.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/264182

Virtual Meeting Link: (Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.)

 

Wednesday – March 10th, 2021 (8:00pm – 9:10pm EST) Region 3 Section Support Committee

IEEE 2020 Member Segmentation Study (A Members-Only Briefing), By: Michael Kriesberg

MGA’s Senior Director of Member Experience will present the 2020 findings of the 2020 Member Segmentation Survey, diving down into specific Region 3 highlights. (RECORDING REPLAY)

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/264183

Virtual Meeting Link: (Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.)

 

Wednesday – March 10th – 14th, 2021 (All Day Events) Region 3 Conference

SoutheastCon 2021: Engineers connecting the World

Register is now open for the 2021 SoutheastCon.  SoutheastCon 2021 has moved to a fully virtual platform! The planning committee is working hard to give you the BEST virtual experience that 2021 has to offer.  The conference will have many of the same tracks you’ve seen and love, as well as some innovative new items hosted on a virtual platform.  Since this year’s event is virtual, you may share this invitation with others in your Section. For a schedule of the Region 3 Meetings for Saturday and Sunday, email: theresa.brunasso@ieee.org

Registration Website Link: https://attend.ieee.org/southeastcon-2021/

 

Thursday – March 11th, 2021 (6:00pm – 7:30pm EST) Florida West Coast Section

Google Page Rank and Beyond, By: Michael A. Mayor, MSE, PE

This presentation covers the science of search engine rankings developed by Google. This is a multinational, publicly traded, company very well known in the Internet, built around the hugely successful search engine. In fact, the search engine and particularly the mathematics behind it, is one of the reasons of Google’s huge success in the Internet arena.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/255668

Virtual Meeting Link: (Meeting Link will be provided online)

 

Sunday – March 14th, 2021 (12:00pm – 1:10pm EST) Region 3 Section Support Committee

IEEE 2020 Member Segmentation Study (A Members-Only Briefing), By: Michael Kriesberg

MGA’s Senior Director of Member Experience will present the 2020 findings of the 2020 Member Segmentation Survey, diving down into specific Region 3 highlights. (RECORDING REPLAY)

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/264187

Virtual Meeting Link: (Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.)

 

Thursday – March 18th, 2021 (6:30pm – 8:15pm PT) Atlanta ComSoc

IEEE COMSOC Chapter Tech Talk: The ABCs of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Part I, By: Dr. B. Sklar

This is Part I of a Two Part Talk on OFDM. The abstract below is for both Part I and II:

The main benefit of OFDM is its ability to cope with severe multipath channel conditions without the need for complex equalization filters.  How does it accomplish this?  The short answer:  by “dividing and conquering.”  It partitions a high-data-rate signal into smaller low-data-rate signals so that the data can be sent over many low-rate sub-channels.

The Time/Frequency relationships are presented with a figure that facilitates a straightforward understanding of the OFDM partitioning process.  We emphasize the important role of the cyclic prefix (CP).  We show how it allows us to change linear convolution into circular convolution, thereby purging any transients, which helps to maintain waveform orthogonality at the receiver.

OFDM waveform synthesis is covered in detail.  Also, the spectral properties of Real and Imaginary signals are reviewed.  We further consider the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in OFDM, and how the desire for small PAPR has given rise to a special variant of OFDM called single-carrier OFDM (SC-OFDM).  Finally, we illustrate applications of this elegant technology in standards such as 802.11 and LTE.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/262902

Virtual Meeting: https://www.ieee-bv.org/meet/2021-03-com-part1

 

Tuesday – March 16th, 2021 (10:00am – 12:00pm EST) Region 3 and IEEE USA

MOVE Town Hall – 5th Anniversary, By: MOVE Volunteers

Want to know more about MOVE disaster relief effort?  Come join us for our 5th anniversary update and hear about the activities we have accomplished in the past 5 years.  Future plans will be discussed.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/263759

Virtual Meeting Link: (Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.)

 

Wednesday – March 17th, 2021 (8:00pm – 10:00pm EST) Region 3 and IEEE USA

MOVE Town Hall – 5th Anniversary, By: MOVE Volunteers

Want to know more about MOVE disaster relief effort?  Come join us for our 5th anniversary update and hear about the activities we have accomplished in the past 5 years. Future plans discussed. Session replays of previous day’s event.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/263762

Virtual Meeting Link: (Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.)

 

Thursday – March 18th, 2021 (11:55pm – 1:30pm EST) Jacksonville Section

AI & A/IS Quality: Ethical Frameworks for AI Operations By: Robert Hobbs

Multiple countries and organizations are working on Ethical Frameworks. The IEEE has published its guide for “Ethically Aligned Design” and continues work on a series for standards under P7000. The European Union convened a High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. The HLEG has published its Guide for “Trustworthy AI” to solicit feedback. The EU intends to formalize the Trustworthy AI guide into a regulation similar to the General Data Protection Rights (GDPR). Other countries including the US, Germany, Australia, India, and Malaysia. Countries with operations or just customers in these regions will need to consider how they will comply with diverse regional guides.

Registration Website Link: https://www.meetup.com/Machine-Learning-AI-Sponsor-IEEE-Jacksonville/events/276632391/

Virtual Meeting Link: https://meet.google.com/oyd-dwft-mww

 

Monday – March 22nd, 2021 (7:00pm – 8:00pm EST) Richmond Section

What Every Software Developer Should Know About Cybersecurity, By: Panel of 4 Cybersecurity Professionals

Many people who develop software have little or no formal training in cybersecurity. Software, especially Internet-connected software, is becoming more and more critical to the operation of our world, but high-profile hacking events keep revealing the risks of recurring cybersecurity shortcomings. Join with this panel of four cybersecurity professionals as they discuss the problems that they repeatedly see and what they wish every software developer knew about cybersecurity. Most of the meeting time will be reserved for an interactive Q&A session with meeting attendees.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/264076

Virtual Meeting Link: (Meeting link will be emailed 24 hours before the event to all registrants.)

 

Thursday – March 25th, 2021 (6:30pm – 7:30pm EST) Coastal South Carolina Section

Understanding Our Software Supply Chain, By: Derik Pack

This is a presentation and a discussion about software supply chains and the threats that impact our software products through the software supply chain. Do you acquire software for your organization? Do you develop software? Come gain an understanding of what you can do to manage your risks related to your software products.

Registration Website Link: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/263492

Virtual Meeting Link: (Meeting link will be emailed in advance of the event to all registrants.)

 

Thursday – March 25th, 2021 (6:30pm – 8:30pm PT) Atlanta ComSoc

IEEE COMSOC Chapter Tech Talk: The ABCs of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Part II, By: Dr. B. Sklar

This is Part I of a Two Part Talk on OFDM. The abstract below is for both Part I and II:

The main benefit of OFDM is its ability to cope with severe multipath channel conditions without the need for complex equalization filters.  How does it accomplish this?  The short answer:  by “dividing and conquering.”  It partitions a high-data-rate signal into smaller low-data-rate signals so that the data can be sent over many low-rate sub-channels.

The Time/Frequency relationships are presented with a figure that facilitates a straightforward understanding of the OFDM partitioning process.  We emphasize the important role of the cyclic prefix (CP).  We show how it allows us to change linear convolution into circular convolution, thereby purging any transients, which helps to maintain waveform orthogonality at the receiver.

OFDM waveform synthesis is covered in detail.  Also, the spectral properties of Real and Imaginary signals are reviewed.  We further consider the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in OFDM, and how the desire for small PAPR has given rise to a special variant of OFDM called single-carrier OFDM (SC-OFDM).  Finally, we illustrate applications of this elegant technology in standards such as 802.11 and LTE.

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/263739

Virtual Meeting: https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/onstage/g.php?MTID=ef1bd85ef8e9d4f7db9bbdb07c87ee8f6

 

Monday – March 29th, 2021 (8:00pm – 9:10pm EST) Region 3 Section Support Committee

IEEE 2020 Member Segmentation Study (A Members-Only Briefing), By: Michael Kriesberg

MGA’s Senior Director of Member Experience will present the 2020 findings of the 2020 Member Segmentation Survey, diving down into specific Region 3 highlights. (RECORDING REPLAY)

Registration Website Link: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/264185

Virtual Meeting Link: (Link will be located in the meeting registration confirmation.)

 

Thursday – April 1st, 2021 (11:55am – 1:10pm EST) Jacksonville Section

AI & A/IS Quality: Integrating Development Methodology & Ethics Processes, By: Robert Hobbs

Previously, we identified Ethical frameworks and their benefits to development.  Today we will outline an approach to integrate an ethical framework into an Agile methodology. Including ethical requirements with functional requirements allows the product owner to review diverse requirements to prioritize development needs for the business properly. Including bias issues and other ethics bugs with features allows the teams to have visibility of all issues to include how they may interact. While Ethical compliance does mandate some additional processes and roles, minimizing the ethics-specific items maximizes the team’s ability to maintain signs of all the issues and weaknesses associated with the A/IS efforts.

Registration Website Link: https://www.meetup.com/Machine-Learning-AI-Sponsor-IEEE-Jacksonville/events/276633471

Virtual Meeting Link: https://meet.google.com/oyd-dwft-mww

 

Thursday – April 15th, 2021 (11:55am – 1:10pm EST) Jacksonville Section

AI & A/IS Quality: Demonstration of Applying an Ethical Framework to Face Recognition By: Robert Hobbs

After the earlier presentations on Ethics Frameworks and integration with Agile, today we will demonstrate an approach using an Ethical framework in an Agile development methodology. We will step through an ethical framework and development methodology for a notional Face Recognition application for consumer smartphones. We will work through the processes to select a framework, identify stakeholders, and determine the organizational changes required.

Within the teams’ Agile development methodologies, the ethical factors will drive additional product features and testing requirements. The presentation will show how a team could use Jira to provide visibility and accountability throughout the A/IS lifecycle.

Registration Website Link: https://www.meetup.com/Machine-Learning-AI-Sponsor-IEEE-Jacksonville/events/276633691/

Virtual Meeting Link: https://meet.google.com/oyd-dwft-mww

 

Looking forward to seeing you all at these meetings.  Continue to stay safe!

Sincerely,

Sonya Dillard, Chair

R3 Member Communications Committee