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Advancing Technology for Humanity

February 2012, Vol. 60, No. 2

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The IEEE New York Section Executive Committee (2012) Section chairs

Section chair: Balvinder Blah, Con Edison Co. Section vice chair (Chapter operations): Shu-Ping Chang, PhD: IBM Thomas J. Watson Center

Section vice chair (Section activities): Kai T. Chen, NYC Transit Section treasurer: Michael Haroutunian, NYC Transit

Section secretary: Wilson Milian, NYC Transit Past Section chairs: Darlene Rivera, McKissack & McKissack

David Horn: McKissack & McKissack ________________________________________________

Society chapter chairs Broadcast Technology: William C. Miller, Mitag Media Technology,LLC

Computational Intelligence: Alevoor Ravishankar Rao, PhD, IBM Computer: Sofia K. Georgiadis, NYC Transit Communications: Konal Kumar, NYC Transit

Technology Management: David M. Weiss, Systra Consulting, Inc. Engineering in Medicine and Biology: Matthew R. Irwin, Visual MD.com

Instrument and Measurement: Steven Giavasis, Polytechnic Institute Power and Energy / Industrial Applications: Arnold Wong, Consolidated Edison

Vehicular Technology: Patrick McGettigan, LTK & Associates, and Mark Woodward, CH2M Hill Solid State Circuits/Electron Devices: Harish Krishnaswamy, Columbia University

Affinity Group Chairs Graduates of the last decade (GOLD): Michael Haroutunian, NYC Transtit

Life Members: Ralph Mazzatto, Independent consultant Women in Engineering (WIE): Jean Redmond, Johnson Controls, Inc.

Consultants Network: Martin Izzak, Urban Engineers Section Committee chairs

Awards & Recognition: Wilson M. Milian, NYC Transit Operations & Procedures: William N.Coyne, Independent consultant

Career Guidance: Stanley Karoly, NYC Transit Chapter Organization/Society Liaison: Darlene E. Rivera, McKissack & McKissack

Conference Coordinator: Charles Rubenstein, PhD, Pratt Institute Education: Leon Nock, Independent consultant

Historian: Mel I. Olken, Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Power & Energy Magazine Long Range Planning: William Perlman, Independent consultant

Members-at-Large: Peter Mauzey, Independent consultant and Paul Sartori, Con Edison Co. Membership Development: Neil Weisenfeld, Con Edison Co.

Metro. Engineering Society Council: Michael Miller, Independent consultant Metro. Section Activities Council: Darlene E. Rivera, McKissack & McKissack

Professional Activities: Robert M. Pellegrino, Independent consultant Publications: Darlene E. Rivera, McKissack & McKissack

Publicity/Public Relations: Ken Vought, RT&T Consultants Special Events: Ralph Tapino, Independent consultant

Student Activities: Kim K. Smith, NYC College of Technology Tappan Zee Sub-Section: Robert M. Pellegrino, Independent consultant

Webmaster: Harold Ruchelman, Independent consultant

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IEEE New York

Monitor

February, 2012

Editor: Amitava Dutta-Roy, PhD, Life Fellow

CONTENTS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Posted separately (see the anchor page on the Web site)

Quotation of the month

A few words from the editor

Message from the chair Engineers Week

Numbers, numbers and more numbers Section activities

Future City competition What is it? Which school was the winner?

By Russ Holstein Award Dinner and Dance

Fellows and Awardees One more who left us

Review of Plantronics BackBeat 903 Stereo Headphones

Tidbits Efficiency and Organization

Grammy award

Collaborators: The Monitor thanks Jamie Moesch, Director of Member Strategy and Kuangyunn Chiu,

Member Data and Research Manager, both at MGA IEEE for giving us the membership numbers at such

a short notice. We thank Ken Vought, our Section’s chair of the publicity committee for sighting an in-

teresting Web site. We are also grateful to Mr. Russ Holstein of I.S. 318 Eugenio Maria De Hostes School,

Brooklyn, NY for contributing the report on the Future Cities competition. Furthermore, we thank all

new Fellows and the IEEE awardees for sending us their biographical notes and photographs. Finally, the

editor thanks our own Mel Olken, historian of the Section for checking parts of the contents and for his

suggestions.

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SIR ISAAC NEWTON, FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY

English philosopher, thinker, mathematician and scientist

25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727

“Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.”

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A few words from your editor

February has been a fest month all around the world. It was Mardi Gras in New Orleans, La., Carnival in

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Carnaval in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador and Recife) and

Fasching in Germany (Cologne and Munich). There probably were many other important fests in parts of

the world I am not familiar with.

For the last three weeks the radio spectrum had also been abuzz with gossips and speculation about the

84th gala of the Oscar Awards given by the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences that took

place on last Sunday. Should the engineers be professionally interested in motion pictures that seem to

be so distant from the traditional engineering disciplines? (Note the word “Sciences” above.) Then just

guess how many electrical engineers are employed in this sector! Now that digital technology can make

improbable seem probable I would say that the number of engineers who are adept in transforming this

magic come true, would come up to hundreds, if not thousands. That is why the Academy honors scien-

tific and technological achievements during that big event. Can anyone ignore the impact of Moog syn-

thesizer, Dolby system, MP3, smart phones, point-and-shoot cameras, movies Star War and Rio, and

animations by Steve Jobs’ Pixar on our lives? All of them are examples of seemingly “non-engineering”

engineering. A well designed and constructed Web site is an engineering marvel. These so-called soft

industries hold untold opportunities for engineer entrepreneurs and provide jobs some of the most tal-

ented electrical engineers and computer scientists.

In the midst of the all the revelries of February how could we, the engineers, sit idle? Well, on last Sat-

urday we had our share of fests, the distinctive 2012 Award Dinner Dance where hardcore engineers

could let down their professional reserve, sip a favorite libation and munch on the delicious hors

d’oeuvres and chit chat with colleagues, old and new. Everybody was out there for a wonderful time to

be remembered. (Read more about it under “Section activities.”)

Have you noticed that out of 9 new 2012 Fellows six are at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center? And 2 out

of 6 recipients of IEEE Region 1 awards also work at the same place. It is no strange coincidence. Appar-

ently, Big Blue is still the employer of the largest number of PhDs anywhere in the world. I read it in a

February 15, 2012 essay I.B.M.: Big Data, Bigger Patterns by Quentin Hardy. The essay is on an interview

with Steve Mills, I.B.M.’s senior vice president for software and systems on big data, big patterns and

algorithms. Fascinating reading! Read it at: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/i-b-m-big-data-

bigger-patterns/. (I read somewhere that in 1943 the then IBM chairman Thomas Watson said: "I think

there is a world market for maybe five computers." What would he say if he were alive today?

Did you know about the Future City competition of which the IEEE is a co-sponsor? This competition en-

courages school children to come up with new ideas for planning an eco-friendly city. Our Section chair

Ms. Balvinder Blah was there and has written about it in her message. We also received a description of

the competition from Mr.Russ Holstein who directed the project in the winning school I.S. 318 Eugenio

Maria de Hostes in Brooklyn, NY. This is posted under the Section Activities.

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Under the Section activities we also have listed all new Fellows and award recipients, their short bios

and thumbnail photographs. All Fellows who came to the Award Dinner Dance promised that they

would contribute short articles on their work in language understood by the heterogeneous readership

of the Monitor. (And one of them has already sent me a draft of his article!) The idea of publishing these

articles are two-fold. First, they will let others — your family, friends, colleagues and community —

know what our members do for the advancing technology for the humanity. Second, they will encourage

younger people to learn how to communicate by submitting their thoughts to the Monitor. Most (if not

all) IEEE journals are written for specialized professionals and it is quite impossible for a high school stu-

dent to write something and get it published in any of them. Any rebuff may leave a young author frus-

trated, if not traumatized, for life. But the Monitor will welcome those essays from the students and

young graduate members. They would be encouraged to write more once they see their essays posted

alongside of those written by our distinguished Fellows and other specialists. It would add to their self

esteem and we are there to help them. This nation and the world at large need more scientists, mathe-

maticians and engineers to maintain our ecosystem, intellectually and physically. And if they know how

to communicate their ideas to the world, it would be so much the better for us.

Numbers, numbers and more numbers

Amitava Dutta-Roy

An important part of our annual Award Dinner Dance is to present IEEE Fellow certificates to the newly

elected Fellows. It is therefore appropriate to examine how one becomes a Fellow of the IEEE. As you all

may know the IEEE has various grades of membership. The highest of them is known as the Fellow

grade. The <ieee.org> page on the Fellow program states that “the IEEE Fellow is a distinction reserved

for select IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest

are deemed fitting of this prestigious grade elevation”. Review the sections on this page to learn about

the history of the IEEE Fellow grade, the arduous Ielevation process, and how the program evolved

through the years to become the program as it is today. The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the

Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of achievement in any of the IEEE fields

of interest. The total number selected in any one year may not exceed one-tenth of one percent of the

total voting Institute membership. Each new Fellow receives a beautifully matted and framed certificate

with the name of the Fellow and a brief citation describing the accomplishment, a congratulatory letter

from the incoming IEEE president and a gold sterling silver Fellow lapel pin with antique finish. Unlike for

other grades no member can apply for the Fellow grade. He or she must be nominated and the nomina-

tor must provide the names of at least five Fellows who are familiar with the professional work of the

person nominated for this high grade and who will serve as references for the nomination. Each nomina-

tion is evaluated by an IEEE Society chosen by the nominator as most qualified to judge and evaluate the

candidate. The evaluating Society then ranks the orders of its nominations and forwards that list to the

IEEE Fellow Committee that finally selects the successful candidates, limited by the “one-tenth of one

percent” rule. The final list of successful candidates is then presented to the IEEE Board of Directors,

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who formally certify the election of each year’s new Fellows. For more on this go to:

http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/fellows/DF_IEEE_MIG_MCT_73466.

As of December 31, the IEEE had 6,692 Fellows out of which the New York Section could boast of 136.

Since our Award ceremony the New Section has added 9 more Fellows making it a grand total of 145.

I then wanted to check how our Section is doing with reference to the IEEE as a whole. I was able to ob-

tain the latest breakdown the membership by category from the Member and Data Research Depart-

ment of the IEEE. The numbers have been organized in charts that are shown in the following pages

(Figs. 1 through 3). Incidentally, our Section is one of the larger such units in the worldwide IEEE foot-

prints. In the Region 1 that covers the Northeastern United States on December 31 of last year we had

4,046 members, second only to the Boston Section that has 8,544 members (274 Fellows).

MEMBERSHIP DATA AS ON DECEMBER 31, 2012

IEEE Worldwide New York Section

Grade of Membership Total number Percentage of

global total in %

Total number Percentage of

NY total in %

Honorary 32 0.0 1 0.0

Fellow 6,692 1.6 136 3.4

Senior Members 33,749 8.1 429 10.6

Members 251,842 60.5 2,574 63.6

Associate Members 15,862 3.8 241 6.0

Graduate Student Members 39,895 9.6 297 7.3

Student Members 67,917 16.3 368 9.1

Total 415,989 100.0 4,046 100.0

Fig. 1 IEEE membership distribution by grade

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Fig. 2 IEEE membership distribution in pie charts

0% 2%

8%

60%

4%

10%

16%

IEEE GLOBAL

H F SM M AM GSM StM

0% 3%

11%

64%

6%

7%

9%

New York Section

H F SM M AM GSM StM

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Fig. 3 Bar chart shows New York Section’s membership distribution in percentages of the IEEE total membership

Note: The New York Section has 0.973 percent of the total global IEEE membership but can boast of

2.17 percent of the total number of Fellows.

Engineers Week

Amitava Dutta-Roy

For a long time every year we have had the National Doctors’ Day (March 30), the UN Administrative

Professionals’ Day (April 25), aka Secretary’s Day, and International (UN) Teachers’ Day (October 5). So,

it was fitting that the National Society of Professional Engineers declared the third full week of February

as National Engineers Week in the United States to coincide with the observance of the birthday of Pres-

ident George Washington. The choice of the week was prudent, since the first president was a land sur-

veyor and engineer before he occupied the highest office of this country. It was in 1951 that the first

Engineers Week observed for the first time. Since then the Engineers Week has regularly been observed

in various parts of the country including in the nation’s capital.

0.000 0.500 1.000 1.500 2.000 2.500 3.000 3.500

H

F

SM

M

AM

GSM

StM

Total

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In New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has also recognized and proclaimed the third week of February

as the Engineers week. See a replica of the proclamation below. For a larger image please go to:

http://www.nysspe.org/pdfs/BloombergProclamation2011E%20Week.pdf.

(Continued below . . . )

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The Metropolitan Engineering Societies Council (MESC) that is a federation of most of the engineering

professionals’ societies active in New York and the NYU-Poly arranged for a reception on Februrary16 to

herald the Engineers Week. Being a part of the IEEE and hence of the MESC the New York Section was

also represented by our Section chair Balvinder Blah. Please read her comments on this event in her

message to the Section members in this edition of the Monitor.

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A message from the NY Section chair

Balvinder Blah

The week of February 19-25, 2012 was the Engineer’s Week, so it is fitting that I start this column by

congratulating engineers of all disciplines and all over the world! Being an engineer (first) and a New

York resident (second), I eagerly grabbed the opportunity to be a part of the EW celebration. The Engi-

neers Week Reception organized by Metropolitan Engineering Societies Council (MESC) at NYU-Poly was

a huge success. Engineers from different disciplines met there to share their ideas and do some net-

working in general. At this event, Mayor’s Proclamation of Engineer’s Week was also presented. This

was followed by a seminar on ‘Flood and Storm Surge Modeling’ which discussed different models stud-

ied during Hurricane Irene. The principal speaker Colonel John R. Boule II, District Commander, US Army

Corps of Engineers – NY District gave an excellent presentation on New York City’s preparedness during

Hurricane Irene and how the models helped us determine the evacuation zones.

Another event that I look forward to attending every year is the NY section’s Awards Dinner Dance at NY

Hilton on Saturday, February 25, 2012. This formal event honors the new Fellows and the recipients of

awards bestowed by the IEEE. The event recognizes all engineers for their service to the profession as

well as to the IEEE. You can read all about it and see some interesting photos in the ADD special of the

Monitor that will be posted immediately after the event of 2012.

Lastly, I would like to mention that in January last I had attended the Future Cities Competition, another

event that IEEE-NY co-sponsored. This competition is always near and dear to me because it encourages

middle school students to become interested in the field of engineering. They present their ambitious

ideas that they would like to realize in the creation of innovative cities. I also acted as a judge in this

year’s competition among these imaginary cities on their communication systems some of which were

unique and innovative. At the end of the competition, IEEE-NY presented a special award, Best Commu-

nication System to The City of Longview designed by Eugenio Maria DeHostos, 318K of Brooklyn, NY.

I would encourage you to attending such wonderful events and get involved in volunteering. To know

about such opportunities please visit our website (http://ewh.ieee.org/r1/new_york/ ).

Thank you.

Balvinder Blah

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The Future City competition and the I.S. 318

Russ Holstein*

The I.S. 318 Eugenio Maria de Hastos School in Brooklyn,

NY has been involved with the Future City competition

over the last six years under the direction of its technol-

ogy educator, Russ Holstein. Each year has brought a

special award, “Most Creative Use of Materials” (Janu-

ary, 2007), “Best Infrastructure” (January, 2008), “Saf-

est City” (January, 2009), the 3rd Place (January, 2010),

“Most Creative Transportation System within a City”

(January, 2011), and this year brought "Most Energy Ef-

ficient City," and "Best Communication System."

The third place in 2010 gained that team's students a

$2,000 scholarship toward attending Polytechnic Institute of NYU. (Note that the teams are awarded 1st

through 3rd place and then there are a number of special

awards.)

The competition is made up of three different parts. It begins

with a computer model that is created using the SIM City com-

puter game and teaches students the logistics necessary in run-

ning a successful, viable city. The second, and most intensive

part, focuses a research theme around a particular topic. This

year's topic was fueling the future and got students thinking

about the best way to remove our dependence from non-

renewable fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable forms of energy. As students research their ideas they

must also integrate them into the entire infrastructure that composes a city's inner workings. Finally,

students take their ideas and create a physical model built to scale that represents a portion of their fu-

ture city. The model is constrained by a $100 budget and so most parts are created from recycled mate-

rials.

This year, I.S. 318 had a junior team composed of only sixth grad-

ers who submitted Middle Waters that won the special award of

the "Most Energy Efficient City." Their ideas led to the creation of

a city on the shores of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela that was de-

veloping more sustainable uses of coal and lignite by utilizing by-

products of coffee and cacao crops in the area. Ultimately, the city

was expected to reach full biofuel capability entirely eliminating

the harmful effects of burning coal. The students had a predefined

timeline and a viable plan of moving from fossil fuel to renewable energy. The veteran team of seventh

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and eighth graders submitted the City of Longview, in the Dominican Republic. They focused their ener-

gies on this area of the world because of the trip one of them took during

which he witnessed the extreme poverty in which so many people live.

Although this competition is based loosely around technologies that

might become a reality one day, the concepts studied and design process

necessary to navigate their course all the way to a successful showing at

the competition exposes students to real trials and tribulations that scien-

tists and engineers deal with each and every day. It sets the children

thinking in a broader context and allows them to view the complexities of

the real world. Each year these children get excited and deeply involved

in this activity, and it all starts with the introduction of a game. It's a way

towards the future and many of these children will become the inventors

and innovators of the next generation. With relationships like these between professionals, imagina-

tion, and children, the sky's the limit!

_________________________________

*Russ Holstein has been teaching technology at I.S. 318 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the last six years.

Prior to his present assignment he taught science, grades K-7 for 13 years, mostly in a small elementary

school in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Seven years ago he was introduced to FIRST LEGO League. Upon joining

the faculty at I.S. 318, he continued with this venture that led him to became involved in the Future City

competition sponsored by ASCE. His relationship with Polytechnic Institute of NYU, in different grant

programs, over the last four years has spurred his passion for teaching STEM education and getting stu-

dents excited about pursuing careers in science and engineering. He originally began his undergraduate

career with aspirations of becoming an engineer, initially studying physics, however ultimately graduat-

ing with a degree in business. Thereafter, he was introduced to teaching in 1993, pursued his Master’s

in Educational Technology, and has re-immersed himself in engineering related pursuits.

Award Dinner Dance of 2012 of the IEEE New York Section

As expected, the triumvirate of co-hosts David Horn, Ralph Tapino and William Perlman, meticulously

planned and organized the event held in Hilton Hotel and Towers, Avenue of the Americas, New York on

Saturday, February 25. From my past experience in putting together such events elsewhere I could guess

how much time and effort went into making the event so successful. On behalf of its readers the Moni-

tor conveys thanks to all three of them. Congratulations and may you continue!

It was indeed a happy occasion. All who came were well groomed, well attired, ladies in colorful dresses

and some gentlemen in black ties. The new Fellows, recipients of awards and members of the executive

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committee members were given roses for their buttonholes, ladies received wrist band bouquets (the

respective spouses were offered appropriate ornaments).

Co-host David Horn, being the senior past chairman, also acted as the Master of Ceremony and wel-

comed all members and their guests. Sometime during the dinner he called upon Life Fellow and Sec-

tion’s well respected Historian Mel Olken to introduce the new 2012 Fellows. Mr. Olken made a brief

speech explaining the esteem of the Fellow grade and the formidable process of the election of a mem-

ber to that grade. Then he proceeded to call on the new Fellows and deliver the Fellow certificates to

them.

Next, David Horn called on the recipients of the IEEE Region 1 awards and introduced them to the gath-

ering. Mr. Matt Lester (he was the co-chair of the VTS chapter in 2011) delivered the VTS award to Mr.

Motoki Nagano. Ms. Darlene Rivera, 2011 Section chair introduced the youngest award winner Samuel

Duchovni of Bronx High School for Science.

The music was good, and it was a beautiful sight to see engineers and their partners showing off their

dancing skills. Overall grade: 10/10!

We cannot wait till the next year’s event!!

2012 IEEE Fellows

Dakshi Agrawal, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Hawthorne, NY

— For contributions to theory, analysis and design efficient and secure and privacy-preserving com-

munications systems

Dr. Agrawal is a Master Inventor at IBM where his work has been recognized by sever-

al awards including two IBM Outstanding Innovation Awards and two IBM Outstand-

ing Technical Achievement Awards. He is currently an editor of the IEEE/ACM Transac-

tions on Networking and the US Program Director for International Technology Alli-

ance in Network and Information Sciences, a research consortium formed from twen-

ty three US and UK industrial and academic members. Dakshi Agrawal received the

BTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, India, his MS and PhD

degrees from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, all in electrical engineering.

_________________

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Wilfried Haensch, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, NY

— For contributions to metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor device scaling and physics

Wilfried Haensch received his PhD from the Technical University in Berlin in the

field of Theoretical Physics. In his early career Haensch worked on high field

transport phenomena in MOSFET at the Corporate Research Lab of Siemens AG in

Munich. In 1988 he got engaged in the DRAM development for the 1Mb projects

that brought him to the US to work in a joint development effort with IBM. From

1996 to 2001 Dr. Haensch was responsible for technology transfer and wafer

yield at Infineon’s DRAM manufacturing site in Richmond VA. He joined IBM’s re-

search team in Yorktown Heights in 2001, were he is currently responsible to ex-

plore the physics and materials for logic and communications.

_______________

Ching-Yung Lin, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Hawthorne, NY

— For contributions to network science and multimedia security and retrieval

Dr. Ching-Yung Lin is the Principal Investigator of Social Network Analytics in IBM

Research. He joined IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in 2000. He is also an Ad-

junct Professor at Columbia University and a former Affiliate Assistant/Associate

Professor at the University of Washington. His professional interest is focused on

fundamental research in multimodality signal analysis, complex network analysis,

and computational social and cognitive sciences. He leads a group of more than

35 PhD researchers at IBM Watson Research Center and IBM Worldwide Research Labs in San Jose,

Cambridge, India and China to advance fundamental research on social network analytics, as well as its

applications on collaboration, security, and commerce. Ching-Yung Lin received his Ph.D. in EE from Co-

lumbia University.

_________________

Oleg Mukhanov, PhD: HYPRES, Inc., Elmsford, NY

— For leadership in research and development of superconducting digital electronics

Dr. Oleg Mukhanov was a researcher in Moscow State University until he joined HYPRES, Inc., Elmsford,

NY in 1991 to initiate the development of superconductor electronics based on single

flux quantum technology. At HYPRES, Dr. Mukhanov went from a circuit designer to

become Senior Vice President and General Manager responsible for coordination of

integrated circuit design, test, fabrication, cryopackaging, and system integration. His

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work focuses on single flux quantum electronics for energy-efficient processor and memory for compu-

ting, wide-band radio-frequency systems, compact antennas, and cryogenic system integration. Oleg

Mukhanov received his BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Moscow Engineering Physics Institute

in 1983 and his PhD in Physics from Moscow State University.

________________

Sharath Pankanti, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Hawthorne, NY

— For contributions to biometrics and surveillance systems

Sharath Pankanti is at Research Staff Member and Manager with Exploratory Computer Vision Group at

IBM T J Watson Research Center. Pankanti has published over 100 peer-reviewed

publications and has contributed to over 50 inventions related to biometrics, priva-

cy, object detection, and recognition. His experience spans a number of safety-,

productivity-, and security-focused projects involving biometrics, multi-sensor sur-

veillance, and driver assistance technologies. Sharath Pankanti received his BS de-

gree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from College of Engineering, Pune,

India, MTech in Computer Science from Hyderabad Central University and PhD degree in Computer

Science from the Michigan State University.

________________

Valentina Salapura, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, NY

— For contributions to the architecture and design of multiprocessor systems

Dr. Valentina Salapura is an IBM Master Inventor and System Architect at the IBM T.J. Watson Research

Center where she is helping IBM to realize the value of cloud computing in Ser-

vices Innovation Lab. In 2010, Dr. Salapura served as co-lead for the Global Tech-

nical Outlook with the IBM Research Strategy and Worldwide Operations team to

define IBM’s future research agenda and strategy working with the worldwide

IBM research organizations. Previously, Dr. Salapura was a computer architect

and a technical leader for the Power8 processor definition team, and for the Blue

Gene program since its inception. She has contributed to the architecture and

implementation of several generations of Blue Gene Systems focusing on multiprocessor interconnect

and synchronization and multithreaded, multicore architecture design and evaluation. Dr. Salapura is

the recipient of the 2006 ACM Gordon Bell Prize for Special Achievements for the Blue Gene/L super-

computer and Quantum Chromodynamics. She is the author of over 60 papers and over 80 patents on

processor architecture and high-performance computing. She received her PhD degree from Technische

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Universität Wien in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Salapura is an ACM Distinguished Speaker and a member of the

IBM Academy of Technology.

________________

James Warnock, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, NY

— For contributions to circuit design of high-performance multiprocessors

Dr. James Warnock is with IBM in Yorktown Heights, NY, where he has worked on high-

speed microprocessors including IBM’s S/390 G4, POWER4, the Cell Broadband Engine,

POWER7 and the zEnterprise 196. He is a Distinguished Engineer in IBM’s Systems and

Technology Group and a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. James Warnock

received the BSc degree from Ottawa University, Canada, and the PhD degree in physics

from MIT.

________________

Paul Sajda, PhD: Columbia University, New York, NY

— For development brain-machine interfaces for image and media search

In 1994 Dr. Paul Sajda joined the David Sarnoff Research Center where he went on to

become the Head of the Adaptive Image and Signal Processing Group. He is currently

an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at Columbia University

where he is Director of the Laboratory for Intelligent Imaging and Neural Computing

(LIINC). His research focuses on neural engineering, neuroimaging, computational neu-

ral modeling and machine learning applied to image understanding. Paul Sajda re-

ceived his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT (1989) and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from

the University of Pennsylvania (1992, 1994).

________________

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Stefano Galli, PhD: Assia,Inc., New York, NY

— For contributions to theory, practice and standardization of power line communication networks

Dr. Stefano Galli is currently the Director of Technology Strategy at ASSIA. Prior

to this position, he held the role of Director of Energy Solutions R&D for Pana-

sonic Corporation and was a Senior Scientist at Bellcore. Dr. Galli is as an elected

Member-at-Large of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Board of Gov-

ernors, chair of the IEEE ComSoc Ad-Hoc Committee on Smart Grid Communica-

tions, director of Smart Grid activities for the IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee

on Power Line Communications, member of the Energy and Policy Committee of

IEEE-USA, and the Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications. He holds twenty issued and

pending patents, has published over 90 peer-reviewed papers, has co-authored two book chapters, and

has made contributions relating to standards in smart grid technology. He received the 2011 IEEE

ComSoc Donald W. McLellan Meritorious Service Award, the 2011 Outstanding Service Award from the

IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on PLC, the 2010 IEEE ISPLC Best Paper Award, and the 2010

SGIP/NIST Certificate of Appreciation for his role in the SGIP/NIST PAP 15. Stefano Galli graduated in

Electrical Engineering at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy).

IEEE MEMBERSHIP AND GEOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES (MGA)

GOLD ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Balvinder Blah: Con Edison, NY

— For extraordinary contributions to GOLD, Student Activities, Section, and Chapter level activities

that encourage and engage the next generation of IEEE members and

leaders

The 2012 chair of the New York section Balvinder Blah has been volunteer-

ing at the IEEE for over ten years. Her volunteer positions have included:

Student Activities’ chair; Section secretary; Section treasurer; Section vice

chair; and Industry Application Society Chapter Awards Chair. In 2008 Ms.

Blah was bestowed with the Outstanding Engineer Award by the IEEE Pow-

er & Energy Society. She is especially interested is in helping recent engi-

neering graduates in developing into multidisciplinary top-class professionals and in encouraging them

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to learn soft skills such as better communications, and drawing them into community and humanitarian

work. “I would feel very happy if our Section is even partly successful in this noble mission.” Ms. Blah

obtained the degree of bachelor in electrical engineering from City College of New York and an MBA

from Fordham University, also of New York. She also has a Project Management Certification and cur-

rently is a manager at Consolidated Edison Company of NY.

________________

LEADERSHIP AWARD

Darlene E. Rivera: – McKissack & McKissack, NY

— For innovative, influential leadership, encouraging member engagement and development in the

IEEE NY Section.

Darlene Rivera is the immediate past chair of New York Section of the IEEE and cur-

rently she is active in the Section through several other roles. She chairs the Section’s

publications committee and oversees all its publications including the Monitor. Ms.

Rivera is also the Section’s liaison for chapter organization/society and the Section’s

representative to the IEEE’s Metropolitan Section Activities Council (METSAC), NY. Her

association with the IEEE dates back to 2004. In 2006, Ms. Rivera chaired the awards

committee of the IEEE’s Women in Engineering Affinity Group that won the IEEE’s Af-

finity Group of the Year. For her dedication to the IEEE she received the IEEE MGA Leadership Award

(2011) and the IEEE-USA Regional Professional leadership Award (2009). Ms. Rivera is a New York state-

licensed professional engineer (PE) with 20 years of experience and now works at the consulting engi-

neering company McKissack and McKissack in New York. She obtained two masters’ degrees, one in

electrical engineering and the other in computer engineering, both from Manhattan College in

Riverdale, NY.

21

IEEE REGION 1 AWARDS

Sukumar Alampur: URS Corporation, NY

— For leadership and program development for the NY Section

Sukumar Alampur is a licensed electrical professional engineer (PE) with more

than 30 years of experience of power systems. Presently, he is the Lead Electrical

Engineer in URS Corporation, NY. Alampur graduated in Electrical Engineering

Power Systems from Hyderabad, India and has a Master’s degree in Computer

Science from Pace University, New York.

He is a senior member of the IEEE and has been the Past Chair of IEEE/PES/IAS,

NYC Chapter, and the chair of the chapter’s Technical Discussion Group for the last 8 years.

________________

Alexandre Eichenberger, PhD: IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, NY

— For contributions to compiler exploitation of fine-grain parallelism in microprocessors.

Alexandre E. Eichenberger is at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights,

NY. His research focus is on the interaction of compiler technology and microarchitec-

ture design. Dr. Eichenberger’s interests include efficient support for nested parallel-

ism, compiler technology for parallelization and SIMD code generation, and efficient

scheduling algorithms. Eichenberger has a Diploma in Computer Engineering from the

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland and a PhD from the Uni-

versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His hobbies are skiing, mountain biking, and sailing.

__________________

Thomas Li: Parsons Brinckerhoff, NY

— For leadership and development of educational programming for the NY Section

Thomas Li has extensive professional experience in the field of electrical engineering

gained in the United States of America, South America, United Kingdom, and Hong

Kong. He has performed engineering designs for electrical systems on a variety of

22

transportation and commercial projects and computer simulation operation for modeling both train op-

erations and traction power systems.

________________

William Montgomery: Consultant, New York

— For leadership and promotion of Section and Chapter activities in the NY Section.

William F Montgomery, has given 40 Years Volunteer Service to the IEEE NY PES/IAS

Joint Chapter at the New York Section. He recently retired after 37 years of work

with Consolidated Edison Company of New York.

________________

Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan (Computers, NY): IBM Thomas Watson Laboratory, Yorktown Heights, NY

— For contributions to memory hierarchy power and performance optimization.

Viji Srinivasan is a Research Staff Member at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center

in Yorktown Heights, NY. Her research interests are in computer architecture,

with particular focus on processor microarchitecture, and multi-

core/multiprocessor memory systems. She has received an IBM Outstanding

Technical Achievement Award for her work on power-aware microarchitectures,

an IBM Technical Group Award for her contribution to the PERCS architecture,

and is an inventor on 12 granted US patents. She joined IBM in 2001 after com-

pleting her PhD at the University of Michigan. She is a senior member of IEEE.

23

Arnold Wong: Consolidated Edison, NY

— For leadership and program development for the NY Section.

Arnold D. Wong is a Project Manager responsible for design, construction and

management of high voltage cable and overhead lines systems. He is presently

employed by the Consolidated Edison Company and is involved with several

major interconnection projects to bring additional power to NYC. He is a gradu-

ate of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn with a BSEE. He is presently a Senior

IEEE member and the Chapter Chair of the IEEE Joint PES IAS Chapter of the

New York Section.

EEE NEW YORK SECTION AWARDS

High Potential Student Award

Samuel Duchovni: Bronx High School of Science, NY

— For demonstrating notable talents and high potential for academic and leadership success in pursu-

ing an engineering-related higher education and technical career

Samuel Duchovni is a student in his 11th grade at the Bronx High School of Sci-

ence. He says that his favorite subjects are mathematics and computer science.

Duchovni also enjoys working on electronics and robotics projects with the

Arduino platform. He is interested in a career

in computer engineering. We wish Samuel the very best of luck.

24

Vehicular Technology Society

Electrical Engineer of the Year Award

Motoki Nagano: Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., NY

— In recognition of outstanding contribution and dedication in vehicular technology engineering

Mr. Motoki Nagano lives in Kobe, Japan and is Deputy Senior Manager of System

Engineering Department, Engineering Division, Rolling Stock Company, Kawasaki

Heavy Industries, LTD (KHI). He graduated Mechanical Engineering Class of Osaka

University in Japan and learned Electrical Systems Controls and Integration in KHI's

course. After his experience in car body design and systems design for several do-

mestic Japanese projects, he joined Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc. in 1999 and lived in New

York area for more than 12 years till August, 2011. He was involved in several rail-

car projects, such as NYCT's R142A, R143, R160, R188 and MNR/CDOT M8 during his stay in New York,

and still continues to support the projects from KHI Japan.

Women in Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group

Engineer of the Year Award

Eleanor Baum, PhD: Cooper Union, New York

— For promoting leadership excellence for women engineers and the engineering profession at large

Dr. Eleanor Baum was the Dean of Engineering at Cooper Union, New York

(1987 – 2010). Before that she taught at the Pratt Institute. Dr. Baum has

the distinction to be the first female dean of an engineering institution in

this country. She has worked in the aerospace industry and now consults

for both government and industry. Past chair of the New York Academy of

Science, Dr. Baum is also a former president of the American Society for

Engineering Education and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Tech-

nology (ABET). She chaired the Washington Accord and the Committee for

the Graduate Record Examination and was also on the Board of the Order of the Engineer. Dr. Baum is a

25

Fellow of the IEEE, ABET, ASEE and SWE. She was the national chairman of the Engineering Deans Coun-

cil. Dr. Baum has been a trustee of the Webb Institute and Embry Riddle University and is a member of

the IEEE Foundation Board. Dr. Baum received her undergraduate education at City University of New

York and PhD degree from Polytechnic University, New York. She won numerous awards and honorary

doctorate degrees for her professional contributions to our community.

_______________

One more to leave us

Roger Pollard (1 June 1946 – 3 December 2011)

Remember reading about Dr. Roger Pollard who was IEEE presidential contestant in

2011? He lost the race to Dr. Peter Staecker who will become our president in 2013.

Sadly we have to report that Dr. Pollard left us on December 3, 2011. The 2011 IEEE

president Prof. Moshe Kam has written an eloquent eulogy highlighting Dr. Pollard’s

contribution to the IEEE in the London Monitor. Below we reproduce that piece. —

Editor

_______________________________________

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great sadness that I have to report the untimely death of Roger Pollard, 65, a prominent British

engineer and educator, who was a long-time volunteer of IEEE. Dr. Pollard died on Saturday, 3 Decem-

ber having been diagnosed with a terminal disease in October this year. At the time of his death, Dr. Pol-

lard was the Secretary of IEEE and Member of the IEEE Board of Directors.

Dr. Pollard had served as Chair of the Technical Activities Board (2010) and as leader in several key IEEE

volunteer position — within the Microwaves Theory and Techniques Society (of which he was President

26

in 1998), the United Kingdom and Ireland Section (Chair, 1996-1999), Region 8, the IEEE Awards Board,

the IEEE Finance Committee, the IEEE Strategic Planning Committee, and the IEEE Publications Services

and Products Board. In 2010 he was recommended by the IEEE Board of Directors to the membership as

one of the candidates for 2012 President-elect.

Dr. Pollard always considered his most important IEEE achievement to be his contribution as Chair of the

TAB/PAB Electronic Products Committee that led to the creation and launch of the online IEEE Xplore

platform. His work as Chair resulted in IEEE acquiring a leading position as a source of online authorita-

tive technical information, and made IEEE’s intellectual property available to millions worldwide.

Until September 2010, Dr. Pollard served as the Agilent Technologies Chair in High Frequency Measure-

ments and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Leeds. He was previously the Head of

the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, where he had been a faculty member since 1974. He

was an active member of the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics, and a well-known researcher of

microwave passive and active devices. His personal research interests were in microwave network

measurements, calibration and error correction, microwave and millimeter-wave circuits, terahertz

technology, and large-signal and non-linear characterization. In these areas he had contributed to 10

books, authored over 120 refereed publications, and was awarded 3 patents. His activity had significant

industrial collaboration; he served as consultant to many industrial companies, most notably since 1981

to Agilent Technologies (previously Hewlett-Packard Company) in Santa Rosa, CA. For his scientific and

engineering contributions Roger Pollard was elevated to IEEE Fellow (1997) and was elected to the UK

Royal Academy of Engineering (2005). He was also a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of

Engineering and Technology (IET; formerly the IEE).

To his friends in IEEE, Roger Pollard exemplified the dedicated and fully committed IEEE volunteer. He

has given to the organization of his time and intellectual effort, generously and consistently, for more

than 25 years. He was a well read and broadly educated man, and very often raised the level of conver-

sation with his wide knowledge of literature, language and the arts, and with his substantial understand-

ing of law, political history, and economics. He was known as a passionate advocate of the organization-

al units which he served, and of the ideas and causes he favored. He was a highly eloquent and persua-

sive speaker, not shying away from expressing strong opinions and decisive plans that often flew in the

face of conventional wisdom and challenged the existing order. Yet he was open to persuasion and to

hearing and learning from individuals of different opinions, and was frequently the architect of com-

promises that resulted in widely-supported decisions based on consensus. He was a strong proponent of

globalization of IEEE, and supported structural reforms in the way IEEE is organized — to increase the

organization’s effectiveness and diversity. Of special note in this regard are his contributions to the 2009

and 2010 ad hoc committees on IEEE Board Transformation, for which he worked indefatigably.

We express our heartfelt condolences to Roger Pollard’s family, colleagues and friends over their great

loss. We take some solace in the many initiatives and projects he had led to success, and whose sub-

stantial and positive impact will continue to benefit IEEE and its constituents for many years to come.

Moshe Kam

27

Review: Plantronix BackBeat 903+ BlueTooth Stereo Headphones

Amitava Dutta-Roy

In the November issue of the Monitor I wrote about my experience

with Motorola Roadster, a very useful accessory in cars that have no

built-in BlueTooth communications. The Plantronix BackBeat903+

phones are addressed more to the homebound people. These

phones are ideal for the folks who like to remain connected to their

BlueTooth- enabled mobile phones and at the same time want to

listen to stereo music played by MP3 devices in these phones,

hands-free at that. These are not those earring type devices with blinking lights. Instead, the BlackBeat

903+ has two ear buds connected by a flexible but rugged (rubberized?) head band. The built-in battery

can be charged using the charger that comes with it. It plays music and at the same time alerts you

when you are called on the phone. You just tap on a button and switch the mode to take that call. While

playing MP3 it is possible to pause, fast forward or backward. The battery charge status is indicated by

tiny LEDs. The pairing process is also quite easy. I found the phones quite handy especially when I work

on my computer or walk briskly in a park track or inside a gym. I will not, however, use it inside a car or

while walking on a city street. There is the danger of getting your car hit or getting run over just because

both of your ears are engaged and you cannot hear any audio alert signal such as a siren or even a sim-

ple auto horn. The shortcoming of this gadget is that one can give dial commands only if the party you

are calling happens to be in your telephone address book. For some reason, the device will not accept

commands like: dial 212 123 4567. Sometimes, that can be frustrating. The MSRP of the set is almost

$80. But it is easy to get it for much less from online discounters.

DISCLAIMER: THE REVIEWER IS NOT AN EMPLOYEE OF THE VENDOR COMPANY NOR HAS HE ANY FI-

NANCIAL INTEREST IN THE SALE OF THE ITEM REVIEWED.

Tidbits

101 of how to be efficient and organized

How far can you go with miniaturization and automation in the name of efficiency? Here is a funny in-

terpretation of all this provided by Ken Vought, our chair of publicity and public relations. See it at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHGasFFjQa4

****************

28

A Grammy for Opera Dr. Atomic

Amitava Dutta-Roy

In March of last year in the pages of the Monitor I wrote about an opera that I saw at the Met summer

outdoor event: Dr. Atomic, an opera by the American composer John Adams that narrated the critical

few days in the lives of physicist Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty before the first ever an

atomic explosion of the Manhattan project in Los Alamos, NM during the WWII. It was very moving to

say the least. The readers may be interested to know that Dr. Atomic won the Best Opera Recording at

this year's Grammy Awards. The Sony DVD recording was of Penny Woolcock's 2008 production at the

Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Alan Gilbert with a cast that included Gerald Finley in the title role.

You can read all about it at:

http://www.culturekiosque.com/klassik/news/grammy2012_classical697.html

This is the end of the

Award Dinner Dance

Special Edition (February 2012) of the Monitor

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