IEEE Central Indiana Section

1. We had a number of members join us:  for this meeting including a former section chair, Niusha Rostamkolai. Also, in attendance were Brian Davin, Dick Hildreth, Yuhui Shi, Yiaohui Hu, Chris Bonham and Valerie Sharp. The support is appreciated, we invite everyone to continue attending and encourage getting involved in section activities.
2. Treasurer's report:  section's account balance of $49,640.40 as of the last meeting. The L50 financial report forms were completed and submitted to IEEE before the Feb 20 deadline. We have a very financially sound section.
3. Secretary's report:  minutes from last month's meeting had been sent to the executive committee for review. No comments or corrections were received prior to this meeting. Therefore, minutes were approved and will be sent to Bob to be posted on the web. The L31 meeting activity reports for last year were completed and submitted to IEEE prior to the early deadline of Feb 20. Meeting counts were signal processing society twelve, computer society two, engineering in medicine and biology three, power engineering and industrial applications society fourteen and central Indiana section twenty four. All societies and section met minimum activity requirements with a grand total of 56 meetings held last year.
4. Chair's report:  Alan and Bob attended the Region 4 Ex Comm meeting in Feb to represent the section. 20 of the 23 sections in Region 4 were represented. Many of the activities were centered around the "How to" of section management. This included recruiting volunteers and communicating with members including a presentation on the SAMI database. These topics were generated by feedback from last Oct's meeting and the question: region 4 can help me most by? Alan utilized the SAMI database "alias list" to send out the meeting notice for this ex comm with what appears to be very good success. National engineer's week activities are in full swing at the time of this meeting. The chili bowl was held on Wed with CIS banner and brochure; EIT2003 pens, lanyards and brief cases to support event. Friday pizza and open laboratory event planned for high school seniors, expect about 75 in attendance. CIS supported the chili bowl and Fri events financially also. The first printing of brochures was about 150 with cost of $200 for design and $380 for printing.
5. Vice-chair's report:  Jose plans to have a control society speaker for a spring PACE type event. Also, planning courses to prepare for the Fundamentals of Engineering and Professional Engineer's exams. These reviews could be held on Saturdays. The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) mini conference is being supported. This is a one day event on the Purdue, West Lafayette campus for May 1st. Details should be available on the CIS website shortly. IUPUI student chapter meeting was held last week in the ECET building and the next meeting is planned for the Butler university campus all in an attempt to reach out to other engineering/technical students in the Indianapolis area. A membership drive is getting under way with a mass mailing campaign planned additionally targeting students in other engineering disciplines ( biomedical, information technology, etc.).
6. Committee reports:  Dan indicated a possible future tour of Inframe (an internet provider) for the computer society. The computer society also plans to send out a survey of topics and to implement a seminar series for the second half of the year. Dan also ask for feedback on the preference of having activities during the day or in the evening, members in attendance indicated evening because of work commitments during the day. The EMB society has had day time activities for the last two years with most of their attendance appearing to be from students and faculty. PACE (Professional Activities Committee for Engineers) activities - Mar 19 - 21 is PACE conference with Alan and Jose planning to attend. Ken indicated that Prof Bill Conrad of the IUPUI ECET department won the award for Outstanding Pre College Activity which will be awarded at the PACE conference. Congrats to Prof Conrad.
7. Plans for this year :  What worked and what didn't from last year. Baseball game, banquet, quality/number of meetings, post card reminders, EIT 2003, food at ex comm meetings, increasing number of activities, tours, phone bridge all considered positive. Notices for meetings, engineering award info, involvement of student branches, general timeliness of information, lack of volunteers, responses for meeting attendance all need improvement. Activities - joint meetings with student chapters/societies, continuing education/short courses initiative, money is available to support all these things. April activity - support INCOSE mini conference at Purdue, West Lafayette. May activity - at the track, potentially team with PES/IAS or other organizations. September activity - potential to get a speaker to come from NASA (astronaut).
8. Reporter report:  Next issue will go to Bob tomorrow for posting on the website. Anything of interest is acceptable, send material to Shelly Born, Reporter editor.
9. Senior members:  Senior member initiative continues. Possible senior member rodeo/roundup in June.
10. Student chapters report:  Chapters at IUPUI, Purdue, Rose Hulman, and ITT Tech. Jose Ramos and Ken Reid serve as liaison with IUPUI student branch. Purdue, Rose-Hulman and ITT Tech liaisons remain open.
11. EIT 2004 Conference:  support money pledged
12. Website development:  info from and links to student chapters, info from societies and a new look targeted for Eng Wk.
13. EMPHASIZE THAT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS:  ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE AND TENATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR THE FOURTH THURSDAY OF THE MONTH AT 6 PM IN ET 209 ON IUPUI CAMPUS.
14. Old business:  Scholarship money, still waiting for names and addresses of winners to send out checks. Start thinking about awards for this year, info on the CIS website, need nominees for member and engineer of the year and potentially some new categories coming soon.
15. New business:  $25 allocated to purchase a book about volunteer organizations. No event for July yet, Niusha suggested that his might be a good time to plan for following year. Norbert requested that we look into getting a tour of a TV station with the installment of HDTV equipment and the proposed change over in 2006 being the driving force. Norbert also volunteered a Water Company tour as a possible event. Dick Hildreth mentioned a 80 MW peak shaving power plant coming on line in Anderson on May 1 as a possible tour site. Rose Hulman ventures had been a possible tour host in the past and could be followed up for this year. Trying to get a astronaut from NASA as a Sept/Oct speaker, could be a big event.
16. Next meeting:  scheduled for Thursday Mar 25^th, IUPUI ET 209 at 6PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Thomas N. Bishop
CIS-IEEE Secretary 2004