Society of Penn State Electrical Engineers
129 Electrical Engineering East
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
www.engr.psu.edu/SPSEE
Twenty-Third General Membership
Meeting
Friday October 18, 2002,
1:00pm, 202 Hammond
MINUTES
Mark opened the meeting at 1:00pm. He had an agenda with 5
topics.
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Topic 1. EE Departmental News
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Ken Jenkins updated the members on a number of departmental issues:
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current enrollment
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Undergrad 665
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Masters 150
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PhD 119
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research funds
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steadily increasing
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crossed $10 million level
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promotions
Doug Werner -- associate professor with tenure
faculty recruiting
Robert Nickel -- assistant professor, speech processing
Zhiwen Liu -- assistant professor, optical devices
Ram Narayan -- professor, remote sensing
still looking to hire 2 more positions -- mixed mode VLSI and materials
& devices
ABET
just finished 2002 accredition process
expect full 6-year accreditation
strategic growth areas
Electronic Materials and Devices (especially MEMs)
communications
environmental technology
EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Services)
Tim Wheeler -- program director
Ken Jenkins & John Lamancusa -- program coordinators
Other developments
implemented Montefiore Distinguished Lecture series -- will start FA02
departmental newsletter will be sent to EE department heads, visitors,
SPSEE members, others -- purpose is to disseminate information about the
EE department
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Topic 2. Undergraduate Recruiting
========================================
Harry Bell updated SPSEE about the undergraduate student recruiting
efforts:
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138 high school students contacted
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57 enrolled at PSU (41%) -- highest yield since the phone calling effort
began
-
in future years, each caller will be given 15 names. They will still
try to match zip codes, but that will be of secondary importance
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Topic 3. EPICS
========================================
Tim Wheeler spoke about the EPICS program (Engineering Projects in
Community Service)
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SP01 - 2 projects
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FA01 - 7 projects
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SP02 - 11 projects
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FA02 - 4 projects
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electrical power generation for lowcost housing in Jamaica
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Gator wheelchair loader
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adaptive seating
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walker for handicapped child
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Projects are important because
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they help fill void left by fewer # of industrial projects
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community service is important to students (according to class survey)
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it allows for student interaction at all levels
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it emphasizes teamwork skills
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Liability issue -- PA's law concerning liability is a concern
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Web page: http://www.lf.psu.edu/projects/ind_proj.htm
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Topic 4. Graduate Fellowship Fund Report
========================================
Mark Wharton updated the group on the SPSEE Graduate Fellowship Fund
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Topic 5. E-Ship Minor
========================================
Liz Kisenwether spoke about the new Entrepreneurship minor that was
recently developed (FA01). This minor is for Engineering and Business
students and is cross-disciplinary in nature. The goal of the minor
is to expose students in these fields to the "other half". For example,
Engineering students get exposed to finance, marketing, and intellectual
law and property. Business students get exposure to computer aided
design (CAD), and QMM.
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Web page: http://e-ship.ecsel.psu.edu
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IE and Civil Engineering are the 2 most popular majors
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core -- 12 credits; electives -- 6 credits. Engineering students
take their elective courses in business-related fields
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currently developing ENGR 496 -- E-ship team course
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product development (feasibility, prototyping, marketing)
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productization support for various PSU research activities (starter technologies)
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Topic 6. Wrap-up
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Mark Wharton mentioned the possibility of having some SPSEE meetings
on Saturdays so that members wouldn't have to miss work We will tentatively
try this for the SP03 meeting
Next meeting -- Saturday May 10, 2003
A.
David Salvia
SPSEE Secretary
10/27/02