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IN THIS ISSUE 03.09> Backscatter: The Global Engineer
> Spotlight: IEEE-USA President Gordon Day
> Students’ Voice: Voting Technology
> World Bytes: Individualized Benefits
THE U.S. IEEE MEMBERS’ DIGEST FOR BUILDING CAREERS AND SHAPING PUBLIC POLICY WWW.TODAYSENGINEER.ORG
IEEE RFID 2009 Goes to Disney World
Join Mickey and his friends for IEEE
RFID 2009 in Orlando, Fla., 27-28 April.
Co-sponsored by IEEE-USA, the third-annual
conference will address the technical and
policy challenges of RFID technologies,
featuring keynote speakers, panel discussions
and presentations from RFID thought leaders.
IEEE RFID 2009 is co-located with the RFID
Journal Live! tradeshow and conference.
Go to http://www.ieee-rfid.org/2009
IEEE-USA, Region 5 Go Green
Cosponsored by IEEE-USA, the first IEEE
Green Technology Conference will examine
alternative energy sources and energy-
reduction technologies, and their potential
for helping the world meet its growing
demand for clean energy. Slated for 16-17
April in Lubbock, Texas, the event will
precede IEEE”s Annual Region 5 meeting.
See http://www.ieeegreentech.org.
IEEE-USA Co-Sponsors IEEE Homeland Security Conference
The 2009 IEEE International Conference
on Technologies for Homeland Security
is scheduled for the 11-13 May in Waltham,
Mass.. Sponsored by the IEEE’s Boston
Section and co-sponsored by IEEE-USA,
keynote speakers will include members of
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Science and Technology Directorate. http://
www.ieeehomelandsecurityconference.org.
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digestieee•usa today’s engineer
continued on back page
For the full article, go to
http://www.todaysengineer.org.
George McClure is Technology Policy
Editor for IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer and
a member of IEEE-USA’s Committee on
Transportation and Aerospace policy
Energy Fixes: Considering Smart Grid, Nuclear Plants
As oil nudged $140 per barrel in 2008, a
ground swell of interest in more offshore
drilling spouted, but when it comes to
ensuring our U.S. energy supply, we should
consider improving the reliability of the
electric grid to avoid more blackouts,
and expanding the use of nuclear power.
The Smart Grid is one response to the need for
greater energy distribution reliability. IBM has
joined the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI)
IntelliGrid® program to help create the enabling
technology and methodologies for the smart power
grid. The smart grid overlays the electricity network
with communications and computer control.
Well beyond simply assisting operators in taking
preventive or corrective measures, is using Wide
Area Measurement System (WAMS) data to make
such decisions. Computers with WAMS-based
software would handle system operation, including
heroic actions to prevent cascading blackouts.
This solution will assimilate thousands of such pieces
of data to identify grid problems, responding to them
by changing power flows and reducing load, where
necessary [http://www.my.epri.com].
Continuing research into fuel reprocessing promises
to reduce the amount of radioactive waste
[http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/feb07]. A very small
carbon footprint for nuclear power is an advantage
over the use of other fossil fuels. Since there is no
combustion, operational CO2 emissions account for
less than one percent of the total. Most emissions
occur during uranium mining, enrichment and fuel
fabrication [http://www.parliament.uk]. More than
130 new nuclear power plants are planned or under
construction worldwide.
In its new position statement (January) on National
Energy Policy Recommendations, IEEE-USA is urging
federal, state and local governments to work toward
improving energy efficiency.
IEEE-USA also supported passing federal legislation
empowering the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to create a self-regulating reliability
organization, the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO)
with authority to set and enforce mandatory standards
for reliability of the North American electric system.
In November 2008, IEEE-USA’s BOD passed a
position statement on “Reliability of the Bulk Power
Electric System,” developed by IEEE-USA’s Energy
Policy Committee. [http://www.ieeeusa.org].
By George Mcclure
Greetings fellow IEEE members, engineers and policy-
makers! I’m Sarah Rovito, and I will be taking over the
Student’s Voice column. During the summer of 2007,
IEEE sponsored me to participate in the Washington
Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) program
in Washington, D.C. I came to our nation’s capital nerdy,
naïve and passionate about electronic voting machines.
Surely the problems in my native Cuyahoga County
had to be caused by some glitch in computer hardware
or software!
I spent the summer researching the impact of technology
on elections. I learned that Americans in 2006 voted
using five different kinds of technologies: paper ballots,
lever machines, punchcards, optically-scanned ballots,
and direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems.
I learned of the security vulnerabilities and reliability
concerns present in computerized voting before
concluding that the only way to make sure that
every vote counts in the digital era is to mandate the
use of voter-verified paper ballots. Going one step
further, I learned that few standards exist to regulate
electronic voting.
Besides uncovering paper as the only true way to ensure
election integrity, the WISE program bestowed upon me
invaluable knowledge of Congress and the influence (or
lack thereof) of engineers on the policy process. Not only
do we need more engineers, as emphasized by Thomas
Friedman in The World is Flat, we need more engineers
taking an active role in politics and policy.
For the full article, go to http://www.todaysengineer.org.
Sarah Rovito is IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer Students’
Voice Editor and a graduate student at The George
Washington University. Comments may be submitted to
IEEE-USA Board Approves New Position Statements
At its final meeting of 2008, IEEE-USA’s Board of
Directors adopted, along with others, these new
position statements:
Saving the Arecibo Observatory
The Arecibo Observatory, located in Puerto Rico, has
the world’s largest and most sensitive radio-radar
telescope. Scheduled to be phased out over the next
few years, IEEE-USA is calling upon Congress and
the administration to maintain the Arecibo, supporting
the congressionally-mandated NASA NEO mission
by providing funding for the continued operation
and maintenance of the Arecibo facility at its present
activity level; directing the National Science
Foundation to initiate and/or extend programs
activities to sustain the NASA mission; and
encouraging NASA’s continued use of Arecibo
to carry out the mission
Patient Safety: The Role of Information Technology
in Reducing Medical Errors
The federal government, working collaboratively with
health care providers and other interested parties
should take proactive steps to enhance the utilization
of information technology in health care delivery.
IEEE-USA recommends implementing the National
Individualized BenefitsThe national and global economic challenges
we face today are causing many employers
to lower initial salary offers and delay or defer
annual raises. But all is not lost. You might
consider trying to negotiate with your
manager about individualized benefit
alternatives. Negotiate for a win-win — you
are both interested in receiving the maximum
benefit from the final agreement. Plan,
research, strategize and communicate the
possibilities effectively.
Alternatives you might consider include:
• Flexible Schedules: Compressed scheduling, family-friendly flexible time, working at home. Prove to your employer that productivity will not be compromised.
• Health and Wellness: Support with fitness center memberships or rebates on purchase of fitness equipment. On-site access to fitness equipment. Healthy food choices at the worksite. Show your employer how a healthy lifestyle contributes to increased productivity from employees.
• Education Enhancement: Time off for professional development, and tuition reimbursement. Illustrate how your employer will benefit from your new learning.
• Time Off: Additional vacation, unpaid time off, sabbaticals, special days (e.g., birthdays). Develop a plan for how the work will be completed during your absence.
• Family Benefits: Benefits for marriage partners and children. Support for tuition, help with school supplies, or sponsorship for youth athletics.
These are just a few suggestions. For the full article, go to http://www.todaysengineer.org.
Terrance Malkinson is a communications specialist,
business analyst and futurist, and Editor-in-Chief
of IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer Digest.
Opinion: On Voting Technology By Sarah Rovito
students’ voice
terrance malkinson’s world bytes
IEEE•USA TODAY’S ENGINEER DIGEST 03.09
Health Information Network (NHIN) and online
Electronic Health Records (EHRs), improving patient
identification through interoperable, secure and
private lifetime EHRs; creating an integrated national
information database of medical errors; promoting
research funding for analysis of errors in outpatient,
long-term care, home-health agency, and self-care
settings; and electronic prescriptions to offer immediate
access to possible drug interactions.
Reliability of the Bulk Power Electric System
IEEE-USA notes that a decline in the quality and
reliability of electric power can seriously impact the
nation’s economy. It urges industry leaders, legislators
and regulators to fully implement recommendations
contained in the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage
Task Force Final Report on the August 14 Blackout
in the United States and Canada; to develop a more
in-depth understanding of the statistics and risk of
outages, periodically adjust regional operation and
planning processes to assure reliability is maintained;
and to refine the regulatory framework to support
continued reliable development of the electric system
and related infrastructure.
To see more IEEE-USA position statements,
go to: http://www/ieeeusa.org/policy/positions.
— Sharon Richardson, IEEE-USA Communications Assistant
eye on washington
spotlight
read TE onlinehttp://www.todaysengineer.org
IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer (TE) is
available online to IEEE members.
Go to www.todaysengineer.org, and
under ARCHIVES, click on Career
Articles or Policy Articles, to see these
career and policy related articles:
Mass Media Fellow Finds the Right Words
Maddalena Jackson spent last summer
as a science reporter for two reasons.
The first was to test a hypothesis she had
formulated about applying the engineering
mentality to non-engineering problems.
The second reason was because she found
herself at a loss for words at cruising
altitude somewhere over Texas on her way
home from Los Angeles.
U.S. Companies Pumping Money into Schools to Augment Government Efforts Aimed at Bolstering STEM Education
While Congress prepares a renewed focus
on government programs to assist science,
technology, engineering and mathematics
education, several major American
corporations are pumping sizeable
amounts of money into schools around
the country to provide further support for
initiatives to strengthen STEM education.
IP Corner: Using the Internet to Promote Progress in Science and Technology
President Obama’s successful use of the
Internet to connect with the public during
his campaign has left the public wanting
more from the modern presidency and
the government. The Peer to Patent
project is one such initiative that is using
the Internet to open up and improve
a long-closed government process by
harnessing the collective knowledge of
Internet users, and making it accessible
to patent examiners.
Meet the FCC’s New Chief Technologist
Over the next few years, the United States
will face tough questions regarding the
future of telecommunications, including
spectrum sharing, broadband Internet,
delivering services to rural areas, and
the impact of peer-to-peer networks.
One man helping to answer these and
other questions is IEEE member:
Prof. Jon M. Peha, the FCC’s new
chief technologist.
— Georgia C. Stelluto,
IEEE-USA Publishing Manager
Q: Why did you decide to become an engineer?
A: I don’t remember deciding. I grew up on a small farm in one of the most rural parts of Illinois. I’m pretty
sure that none of the 50 students in my high school class had ever met an engineer when we graduated,
but somehow three of us managed to collect seven engineering degrees.
Q: Electrical engineering is a pretty broad field. What’s your specialty?
A: When I was in college, lasers were new toys for many electrical engineers. I spent graduate school building
various types and trying to understand how they worked. Shortly after arriving at The National Bureau of
Standards, I worked on a new measurement of the speed of light obtained by separately determining the
frequency and wavelength of a very stable laser. After that, every new opportunity that came along also
involved optics and measurements. Then, I managed the NIST Optoelectronics Division for nine years
before retiring.
Q: Tell us about your family.
A: Katherine and I recently celebrated our 40th anniversary. She’s a science reference librarian, now retired.
Her brother is also an electrical engineer. As a young woman, Katherine was determined that she would
not marry one, but she eventually wised up. We have two children — a daughter and a son, and three
grandsons, ranging in age from five months to six years.
Q: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A: Spending time with our grandchildren.
Q: What else do you do for fun?
A: When we have time, Katherine and I both work on family genealogy. We like to travel. We have stacks of books waiting to be read. And in the past few years I’ve been working on my woodturning skills.
Q: Why do you volunteer for the IEEE?
A: Most of my prior IEEE volunteer roles have been in Technical Activities. I worked on publications, then conferences, then Society management, and eventually had the privilege of being a Society President. In each case, the experience made me a better engineer and a more valuable employee.
Q: What is your greatest hope for your year as IEEE-USA President in 2009?
A: IEEE-USA is a unique and impressive organization, created and paid for by U.S. members to support their
professional interests. I hope that the fresh eyes and ideas I bring to the organization can help it continue
to grow in effectiveness. We are in the midst of important national conversations about jobs, energy, the
environment, communications, intellectual property, and health care, among others. Our members care
deeply about these issues, and we have the expertise to make important contributions.
Q: Anything else you’d like to say to our members?
A: Yes. Thank you for giving me the honor and privilege of leading IEEE-USA this year.
For the full article, go to http://www.todaysengineer.org. — Georgia C. Stelluto, IEEE-USA Publishing Manager
terrance malkinson’s world bytes
On Gordon Day,
2009 IEEE-USA
President
2009 FellowsThe IEEE-USA 2009 Government Fellows paused
from their orientation on Veteran’s Day 2008
to visit the “Lone Solider” statue in downtown
Washington, D.C. (left-right): Congressional Fellows
Thomas Lee and Ken Lutz and State Department
Fellow Tom Tierney.
IEEE•USA TODAY’S ENGINEER DIGEST 03.09
Photo: Marvin Jones
Katherine and Gordon Day, on Capitol Hill with
Illinois Senators Durbin and Obama, July 2005.
donald christiansen’s backscatter
Here’s how globalization is supposed to work.
All jobs that can be done sitting at a keyboard will
move to the global location, where those who are
competent to do the job at the lowest going wage
reside. Then, eventually, wages will equalize and so
will the global standard of living. Everyone will benefit.
As wages and employment rise in once-poor areas of
the world, the previously disadvantaged populace will
become customers for goods and services produced
both in their own and other countries. With labor costs
no longer a prevailing issue, product success will be
determined principally by good design, high quality
workmanship, and productivity gains.
Wow! If such a utopia is achievable, even in part, the
road will be long and tortuous.
Those in Favor
McKinsey Global Institute suggested that offshoring
can be a win-win game. In 2004, Institute Director
Diane Farrell cited the positive advantages to U.S.
firms: sending X-rays to India for analysis reduces the
cost of health care, she noted, and can free money
for medical innovation.
Among those looking at the bright side of
globalization, Jarad Pincin of Freedom Works wrote
that the American labor force is one of the most
flexible in the world, noting that during the economic
expansion in 1999, the economy shed 2.5 million jobs
but recorded a net job gain of 1.13 million. Restricting
offshoring will cut American jobs and economic
growth, and will raise operating costs for U.S.
businesses struggling to compete in a global
marketplace, he concluded.
Jagdish Bhagivati, author of In Defense of Globalization, wrote that “…firms that forego cheaper
suppliers of services are doomed to lose markets,
and hence production. And companies that die out,
of course, do not employ people.”
The Downside
When Fortune’s David Kirkpatrick quoted Farrell and
McKinsey’s dismissal of the downside of offshoring,
he concluded that displaced workers have legitimate
gripes. “What they ought to be demanding,” he said,
“is not an end to offshoring but better education and
retraining to compete in a global marketplace, as well
as social programs to cushion the blow of inevitable
job losses.”
Not long ago, a career counselor writing online at
careerplanners.com advised that those who wish to
safeguard their careers from offshoring should choose
one from a list he provided. It included civil engineer,
bartender, dentist, security guard, plumber, and roofer.
High-risk jobs, have already started to move offshore,
including automotive engineer, computer systems
analyst, hardware engineer, network engineer, reliability
engineer, and software developer. Jobs at extreme risk
include industrial engineer quality assurance engineer
and reverse-engineering specialist.
It seems that offshoring and global engineering are
here to stay and inevitably will accelerate, and that,
in aggregate, the populations of many countries will
benefit. It is also a certainty that the phenomenon
will impact many highly trained professionals in the
United States, and perhaps elsewhere, as their jobs
are transferred.
While politicians and pundits are giving more
attention than ever to the topic of globalization, little
is devoted to its effects on individual U.S. engineers,
the engineering profession itself, and the role that
engineers play in the technological leadership and
competitiveness of the nation.
Globalization in its many aspects will be in contention
for decades.
For the full column, go to http://www.todaysengineer.org.
Donald Christiansen is the former Editor and Publisher of
IEEE Spectrum and an independent publishing consultant.
He can be reached at [email protected].
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IEEE•USA TODAY’S ENGINEER DIGEST 03.09
www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks/mar
on
Launching Your Career
seriesGOLDthe
ieee-usa e-books presents
Salary Service Provides Value to High-Tech Employers
IEEE-USA’s Salary Service offers employers
sophisticated tools for accurately
benchmarking technical professionals’
compensation. Available in three packages
– Economy, Standard and Premium – the
database uses salary information gleaned
from IEEE-USA’s Salary and Fringe Benefits
Survey. Member discounts are now available
for the first time on Premium Packages.
Go to https://salaryapp.ieeeusa.org/rt/
salary_database/shop, log in with your IEEE
Web account and click on “Compensation.”
IEEE-USA Helps Consultants Maximize Their Fees
If you work as a technical consultant, IEEE-
USA’s Consultants Fee Survey, a national
survey of IEEE Alliance of IEEE Consultants
Networks members, can help by telling you
what other consultants working in similar
fields charge. The survey provides profiles of
typical self-employed consultants, including
education, experience, business practices,
median earnings and hourly fee. See https://
salaryapp.ieeeusa.org/rt/salary_database/
shop; log in with your IEEE Web account, and
click on “Consulting.”
Discover Your Innovation Style
IEEE-USA offers members Innovation Styles,
an online evaluation, feedback and coaching
system designed to boost innovation for
individuals and organizations. The Innovation
Styles Profile shows you how to use four
approaches to innovation, and will help you
optimize your creativity. Go to http://www.
ieeeusa.org/careers/Webinars/webinar-11-
17-08.html for a free Webinar.
ieee•usa today’s engineer
Editor–in–ChiefTerrance J. [email protected]
Editors, Member ServicesAbby [email protected] [email protected]
Editors, Government RelationsGeorge [email protected] [email protected]
Editor, Professional Activities/Students’ VoiceSarah Rovito [email protected]
IEEE–USA Publishing Office
Publishing Manager,Managing EditorGeorgia C. [email protected]
Senior Associate EditorGreg Hill
Contributing EditorChris McManes
Editorial AssistantSharon Richardson
IEEE–USA Associate Managing DirectorScott D. Grayson
IEEE–USA Board of Directors
Gordon Day Gary Blank Leonard Bond Don Bramlett Peter Eckstein Evelyn Hirt James Howard Jim Jeffries Paul Kostek Russell Lefevre Howard Michel David Pierce William Ratcliff Emily Sopensky John Twitchell William Walsh Peter Winokur Ralph Wyndrum Chris Brantley
2001 L Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036+1 202 785 0017 phone +1 202 785 0835 [email protected]
The Global Engineer
continued from front page
— Chris McManes,
IEEE-USA Public Relations Manager