ExCom Minutes
June 2021 Meeting
6:15 Secretary starts meeting and notes attendees
6:30 Chair calls the meeting to order
6:35 Approval of Past Minutes and status of previous action items
Adoption of Agenda
6:40 Chair’s Report: Nothing to report, no communications from Region 6
6:45 Vice-Chair’s Report Not present.
6:50 Treasurer’s Report; Balance: $112,500. Are switching over to the NextGen finance. Lee has control of the account. John P. signed up yesterday.
NextGen Finance for all Chairs and Treasurers. E-mail sent
Session 1: June 9th at 0500 or June 16th at 1500 PPT
Session 2: June 9th at 1500 or June 17th at 0500
Session 3: June 10th at 0700 or June 22nd at 0500
Action: All Chapter Chairs and Treasures are expected to attend.
6:55 Secretary’s Report; Summer Social August 7th 7pm. Confirmed—remaining cost to the Section is $1,550 due July 27th. Is $10 per person, and $20 for up to a family of 4 ok? That gets you a ticket and a voucher for Hamburger or hot dog, chips and a drink or vegetarian equivalent. I will set up the vTools registration, though I may need help—Ed, any word on whether that’s working now?
Action: Web site Passwords: Dan Engel sent the instructions to Dan G.
Action: Dan to ask Diwakar if he is sending out his monthly e-mail. Complete
7:00 Chapter Reports (5 minutes Each)
WIE: Not present
Solid State Circuits: Not present
Signal Processing Society: Not present
Nanotech: No updates.
Professional Activities: Rick Smith: Nothing to report.
Computer Society: Sohrab Aftabjahani: Two meetings planned in the summer.
PES: Action—David to address financial registration so that we can get funding. Status David or Lee? Per Lee, once the NexGen accounting is complete, then the $590 will be transferred to the Chapter, as well as the annual $250. Action: Lee anticipates this will happen within 2 weeks or so.
RAS: Ed Epp:
Comsoc: Not Present.
Student Activities: Ugonna Chikezie: Nothing to report. Rick Smith asked about reimbursing students for the Rising Stars. Per Lee, we did send one check for $50. Are there more?
Webmaster Daniel Engel: Annual GoDaddy fee $300 is due the first week in July. Action: Lee and Daniel will work together on this; Daniel will e-mail Lee.
7:35 Focus Presentation: Not tonight.
7:50 New Business
TEMS Chapter sponsorship PICMET of 1% has been approved by John P.
Action: John will reach out to Oregon Section Chapters to discuss increased engagement, and will contact the Region as well. With online meetings, it allows for us to have joint meetings with other Sections.
7:55 Reading of Action Items
7:58 Next Meeting July 13th
8:00 Adjourn Adjourned at 7:40pm
Attendees: Daniel Goodrich, Daniel Engel, Ed Epp, Lee Oien, David Silver, Sohrab Aftabjahani, Ugonna Chikezie, John Prohodsky, Rick Smith.
May 2021 Meeting
6:15 Secretary starts meeting and notes attendees
6:30 Chair calls the meeting to order
6:35 Approval of Past Minutes and status of previous action items
Adoption of Agenda
6:40 Chair’s Report Chair not present.
6:45 Vice-Chair’s Report Vice Chair not present.
6:50 Treasurer’s Report;
6:55 Secretary’s Report; Summer Social August 7th 7pm Action: Dan to ask Diwakar if he is sending out his monthly e-mail.
7:00 Chapter Reports (5 minutes Each)
WIE/Heidi: Meeting tonight, “Working in Public”, then “Atomic Habits” The meetings are scheduled in vTools. They use Meetup.
Solid State Circuits Society/Richard D. April 28th joint meeting. Next presentation is June 24th UCSD, more details coming in vTools.
Signal Processing Society/Jinsub: Met April 23rd, 12 attendees. No meeting scheduled yet, but they are looking for speakers.
Nanotech/Ed Perkins: Nothing scheduled right now. Same for EPS. Regarding SUSTECH, vTools does not allow registrations that require payment, but Boise was able to do it. Perhaps the Webmaster knows.
Professional Activities/Rick Smith: Last week was STEM week. Be sure to log any volunteer hours.
Computer Society/Sohrab: Technical Session April 29th, about 25 attendees. He is struggling to get announcements for meetings out to a wider audience, especially from other sections such as Seattle or the national Computer Society web site.
PES: Next meeting May 18th, then off for summer. Action—David to address financial registration so that we can get funding.
RAS/Ed: Found a contact Dawn Schwartz regarding pre-university STEM work and the Tech Challenge Machine Learning seminars.
Next week is the fourth build for turtlebot, six people actively involved. Next meeting on sharing images back and forth.
Comsoc/Russ: Met April 29th on wireless from a person from Intel. Nothing scheduled yet.
7:35 Focus Presentation: Not tonight. No volunteers for next month yet.
7:50 New Business
Congressional Visits Day, Jeff Drummond, Ed Perkins, an OSU Professor, and Brian Berg. They talked to Wyden (privacy and cybersecurity), Merkely, Bon Amici, DeFazio, Cliff Bents. “Endless frontier act”, will rename NSF to the NSTF (T for Technology). Another act, AB-5 in California regarding gig workers, consultants and contractors.
Sohrab asked about giving a gift card or equivalent to guest speakers. You can purchase a gift (for example from the Oregon Store). Set up a Concur IEEE account (not the same name as your work) and the section can reimburse you.
7:55 Reading of Action Items
7:58 Next Meeting June 8th
8:00 Adjourn Adjourned at 7:15pm
April 2021 Meeting
Action Items:
- SUSTECH; last in Portland in 2014. We should bring it back to Portland, perhaps in 2023. Action: Ed Perkins will send an e-mail with a list of what resources will be needed. org.
- Dan G. to sent IEEE Survey info to John P. that was discussed at the Sections Congress. The e-mail address is shown at https://mga.ieee.org/resources-operations/geographic-unit/vitality/surveying-members Complete
- INCOSE (Herb Milligor at PSU) e-mail Action: Promote it on vTools. Was someone supposed to supply info to the Secretary? John will pursue. John sent an e-mail out and will follow up.
- Dan G. to work with Daniel E. and exchange critical site passwords. Dan G. sent e-mail.
- John P: To summarize ways to increase attendance and engagement at ExComm meeting and send out an e-mail.
6:15 Secretary starts meeting and notes attendees
6:30 Chair calls the meeting to order
6:35 Approval of Past Minutes and status of previous action items
Adoption of Agenda
6:40 Chair’s Report IEEE Sections Congress was last weekend. John and Dan G. attended. John will make more contacts. Big emphasis on pre-college STEM activities. John will report back and we want to try doing something in September. Go to
https://sections-congress.ieee.org/program-schedule/ to see the videos.
6:45 Vice-Chair’s Report Nothing new to report.
6:50 Treasurer’s Report; IEEE NextGen Finance: Upcoming Changes in NetSuite and CBRS Do a search on “NextGen Accounting” on the IEEE site to learn how to update your Chapter’s financial transactions. This does not impact Concur.
6:55 Secretary’s Report; did everyone get the invite on April 8th or 9th? IEEE Sections Congress
7:00 Chapter Reports (5 minutes Each)
WIE/Eve: Recently joined with the Women in Code book club, next meeting May 11th, 6-8. “Working in Public: The making and maintenance…” They will meet every other month.
Solid State Circuits Society/Farhana: Tech talks scheduled, April 28 4:30pm, Intel; June 24th is also confirmed.
Signal Processing Society/Jinsub: Two meetings in April. Next meeting April 23rd.
Nanotech/Ed Perkins: No meetings scheduled, but they will be soon. Webinar on Air Quality; see the Nanotechnology council site. https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/265997 . CPMT has had a few meetings.
SUSTECH starts next week, 95 attendees signed up. Members can attend for $75. NWSE is looking for general judges; Regeneron is the new sponsor of the International Science Fair (it was Intel).
Professional Activities/Rick Smith: Might help with pre-college project; will work with John P.
Computer Society/Sohrab: Is arranging a webinar on supply chain, professor from U of Florida, April 29th or a few weeks later. https://tttc-vts.org/public_html/new/2021/ https://tttc-vts.org/public_html/new/2021/sponsors/
7:35 Focus Presentation: Ed Epp presented on activities by the Robotics and Automation Society.
7:50 New Business
MOU for a conference PICMET at Doubletree. We will decide whether to approve next month.
From IEEE Sections Congress: There are funds available to for COVID-related products. John will pursue further.
John: We should revive our Newsletter. Ed P: What is our outreach? Where will we get content? Santa Clara Valley has one. Ed P and John might pursue this further.
Ed: SUSTECH; last in Portland in 2014. We should bring it back to Portland, perhaps in 2023. Action: Ed will send an e-mail with a list of what resources will be needed. Ieeesustech.org.
7:55 Reading of Action Items
7:58 Next Meeting May 11th
8:00 Adjourn Adjourned at 8:33pm
March 2021 Meeting
5:30 Jeffrey A. Von Arx (Java), Ph..D., the Senior Director of Systems, Technology, and Platform Development at Biotronik/MSEI, gave a fascinating presentation on "TECHNOLOGIES AND TRENDS IN IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICES".
6:30 Chair calls the meeting to order
6:35 Approval of Past Minutes Approved and status of previous action items Completed.
Adoption of Agenda Approved.
6:40 Chair’s Report. No NW Area meeting scheduled for Region 6; John P. will follow up.
Let’s start focusing on what the Section can do to help Chapters, and encourage them to attend ExComm. Per Ed Perkins, Region activity has not been high; he will reach out.
6:45 Vice-Chair’s Report Justin not present. His new e-mail is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
6:50 Treasurer’s Report Unofficial balance $112,573. Chapters have been receiving support once their financial report is submitted. Chapters should have received the e-mail (Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer get the e-mail).
6:55 Secretary’s Report
7:00 Chapter Reports (5 minutes Each max)
Ed Epp: Artificial Intelligence/Robotics are the top two future industries. They met yesterday.
Farhana: Solid State Circuits—they have an invitee list. First presentations will start this month. They may host a PSU short course on AI Hardware, and would like to coordinate with the PSU Student Chapter. Their biggest challenge is attendance at events.
Jinsub: No meetings yet, but two technical meetings in March and April scheduled. Topics are optimization and signal processing communication.
Mirella:
Ed Perkins: Nanotechnology Council. 25 attendees at the last meeting on 3D and quantum computers. The next Chapter meeting is scheduled for March 16th at 1pm.
Russ M: Communications Society. Last met February 25th on AI in vehicles, about 75 people attended. Pradeep organized the event.
The Women In Engineering. will have their monthly book club meeting—see vTools for details.
Sohrab: Computer Society had a joint meeting with the Phoenix chapter, with 20 or so attendees from Oregon. EventBrite was used successfully.
Dan G: PES is meeting Tuesday, March 16th at 12:30—see vTools for details.
7:35 Focus Presentation Done at 5:30
7:50 New Business
Ed Perkins: SUSTECH conference program is nearly completed. April 22-24, virtual. Info is on the Region 6 Linkedin site. Student member $25, IEEE member $50 for all 3 days. $150 for IOT webinar, and you get hardware. About 20 entrants in the poster competition. The Los Angeles area will run it next year, but since our Section supplies 50% of the funds (the Region the other 50%), the plan is to try and meet in Portland.
The Virtual Sections conference is open for registration, and is free of charge.
Increasing Attendance at ExComm: How can we get 80% participation at the ExComm? Require Chapter updates to be given in order to get the funding from the Section? The report can be just one paragraph (who your officers are, and 3 things you will be doing the next year)—perhaps require 2x per year update to get funding. Should we use social media, like Twitter? Personal outreach also works, as well as making sure what resources are available to the Chapters.
Should we have a virtual Chapter Chairs symposium?
Ed talked about spatial.chat, a virtual room kind of like “Second Life”. The Region plans to do something with this.
7:55 Reading of Action Items
7:58 Next Meeting April 13th at 6:30pm
8:00 Adjourn Adjourned at 7:55pm
Action Items:
All: Find a permanent Chair and Vice-Chair volunteer. Carry over to next meeting.
Lee: 2021 budget—completed
Lee: Find a speaker for the next meeting—completed
All: Recruit folks for future focus presentation. Ed Epp is speaking in April
John P: How are we perceived by our members? He will contact IEEE staff about assistance with the survey, and then form a committee of 4 or 5 folks to move forward. Carry over to next meeting.
INCOSE (Herb Milligor at PSU) e-mail Action: Promote it on vTools. Was someone supposed to supply info to the Secretary? John will pursue.
Dan G: Update of Officer on Section web site: Provide information to Daniel E. (completed), and he can update. Completed, except for a photo of John and a group photo.
Dan G: to get web site passwords from Daniel E. and store them, as well as the GoDaddy account. Carry over to next meeting.
Ed Epp: Creating a forum/message board that don’t cost a high monthly fee—to discuss with Russ and Daniel E. Ed contacted Daniel E., has not heard back from others on IEEE tools. Ed Perkins suggested Slack; the robotics team uses it; it limits the total number of messages at 10,000. Ed Epp reports using e-mail is easier to manage with the small number of weekly e-mails they are receiving, for now.
Ugonna: Provide contact info for Student Officers to Dan G. Carry over.
John P: Gather e-mail addresses and provide to Dan G. to store and send out meeting notices. John will send the list March 10th.
Sohrab: Either find a Treasurer and set up a concentration account, or track the funds himself to be sure the funds don’t get lost year to year. Rick Smith offered to help with a tracking sheet. Carry over to the next meeting.
Ed Epp: To provide a focus presentation on RAS at the April meeting.
John P: To summarize ways to increase attendance and engagement at ExComm meeting and send out an e-mail.
Dan G. to go over vTools events that have not been filed and will send out an e-mail.
Dan G. to set up a time for the four officers to meet monthly, perhaps 3rd or 4th Tuesday at 6pm. Send John P. the webex password info.
Attendees: John Prohodsky, Lee Oien, Daniel Goodrich, Ed Epp, Ed Perkins, Rick Smith, Russ Mickiewicz, Sohrab Aftabjahani, Farhana Sheikh, Jinsub Kim, Mirella.
February 2021 Meeting
Minutes by Daniel Goodrich, Secretary
6:30 Welcome and Introductions
6:33 Last meeting action items:
Find a permanent Chair and Vice-Chair volunteer—None yet Action: Recruit!
Dan G. to reserve Summer Social event for August 7th. Complete.
Is there a 2021 budget? John P. to contact Lee O.—Not one yet; the 2020 financials have been sent and accepted. Lee needs major expenditures, donations so that he can develop the budget. Action: Send information to Lee.
Future focus presentation. Ed Epp offered to give a 15 minute report in April. Action: All attendees to suggest names. Lee offered to find a speaker, possibly in March or May (45 minutes). John P. will contact another section like Seattle to help with a focus presentation.
6:35 Chair’s report (John P)
How is the Section perceived by its members, and what are the needs of the members? Perhaps conduct a survey; how will it be executed? E-mails haven’t worked in the past.
Action: John P will contact IEEE staff about assistance with the survey, and then form a committee of 4 or 5 folks to move forward.
6:45 Vice-Chair's Report (Justin W). Justin is not present.
6:50 Treasurer's Report (Lee O.). Bank account is very strong, about $114,085 in the account. Typically our budget is about $30k. Next month he will start sending out their 2021 allotment, $250 per chapter, $500 for joint accounts. Action: The $590 allocation from PES for high performing chapter will be transferred to the PES account.
6:50 Secretary's Report and Social/Awards (Daniel G.)
Need to coordinate with Lee to mail out plaques from Awards ceremony in December
INCOSE e-mail Action: Promote it on vTools.
Plaque commemorating first high tension power line in Oregon City—Dan to chair committee for IEEE Milestone. Ed Perkins will assist. Ugonna will also join us.
Any needs for Webex meeting reservations? Action: Add a reminder e-mail to the series, as well as an updated agenda.
New photo, update info on other parts of the web site Action: Dan G to Provide information to Daniel E., and he can update.
Action: Dan G. to get web site passwords from Daniel E. and store them, as well as the GoDaddy account.
7:00 Region Meeting Update (Ed Perkins): Student memberships are half off for 2021, see https://ieee-region6.org/2021/student-membership-discount/ . Congressional visits day will be virtual this year on March 29th; usually you have to travel to Washington DC.
7:05 Chapter Updates (Max 5 minutes per chapter)
Communications (Russ) 2/25 5pm seminar
Solid State Circuits (Richard D): They are working on career-oriented events and a distinguished lecturer
Sohrab—He is the only remaining officer for his chapter, but he is working on recruiting others.
PES—David Silver, next meeting February 16th. All offices are filled. Scholarship to be awarded this year.
Jinsub Kim—Have not met yet. Some events are being planned.
Souma—Young Professionals (with Jay), nothing formally planned yet for this year.
Robotics—(Ed Epp), Seminar 2/10 at lunch time, “open bot” open source robot. Robot workshops for high school students, using GitHub. Around 165 views on the youtube that Ed created. There was also a virtual interactive event with a teacher and students in Hood River.
Ed Epp asked: Are there ways of creating a forum/message board that don’t cost a high monthly fee? Per Daniel Engel, we could host at the section level, but we would need a moderator. Slack is another idea. Action: Ed will discuss further with Russ and Daniel E.
Student Activities—(Ugonna) He sent out an e-mail to students, waiting on a response. None of the local student branches list officers in vTools. Action: Provide contact info to Dan G.
Nanotech: Ed Perkins. Met January 28th, Distinguished lecturer Kingzang from Singapore. The EPS chapter met January 21st, Flexible Hybrid Electronics, and on Feb 25th there will be another Distinguished lecturer from Singapore on quantum computing.
Rick Smith: Not much to update.
WIE (Eve Klopf by e-mail): We had one book club meeting. Heidi and I also met with the book club organizers for the Women Who Code; we're planning on joining forces with them and co-hosting a single book club going forward. I'll be sending out an announcement to the folks on our book club e-mail list about the change.
7:30 Tonight's Focus (Do we have one? Future focus?) None tonight.
7:35 New Business/Final Issues
Update Roster (See John’s Excel Sheet) Action: John P will get the e-mail addresses.
Sohrab asked how to get allocated funds into the concentration account. He is the Chair, but cannot find a Treasurer, and he cannot be both. Action: Sohrab can either find a Treasurer and set up a concentration account, or track the funds himself to be sure the funds don’t get lost year to year. Rick Smith offered to help with a tracking sheet.
Go over action items
7:40 Adjourn Adjourned at 8:10pm.
Attendees: John Prohodsky, Diwakar, David Silver, Jinsub Kim, Lee Oien, Richard Dorrance, Ed Epp, Russ Mickiewicz, Daniel Engel, Rick Smith, Sohrab Aftabjahani, Ugonna Chikezie, Souma, Ed Perkins, Daniel Goodrich