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This Issue's Content:

News of Interest
   - IEEE Canada Board
     of Directors
   - Your News
   - Students' Corner
   - Our Members in the
     Spotlight
   - Call for Papers
   - Conferences
   - Features, Views and
     Analysis
Upcoming Events
   - New Brunswick
   - Montreal
   - Ottawa
   - Toronto
   - Winnipeg
   - Calgary
   - Other
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Issue: September 2008                                                        IEEE Canada News Central

 

 

News of Interest

 

Ø      IEEE Canada Board of Directors

-     Section Congress 2008 Welcome Message
-     OCEANS 2008 MTS/IEEE Conference Co-Chair's Message

 

Ø      Your News

-     Toronto Section Registers First Cardiac Pacemaker as IEEE Milestone
-     Newfoundland and Labrador Section holds NECEC 2008
-     Ottawa Section holds LEOS Symposium on Recent Advancements in Photonics
-     Toronto Communications Society receives Chapter Achievement Award

 

Ø      Students' Corner

-     The Second Annual Think Engineering Networking Event

 

Ø      Our Members in the Spotlight

-     Newly elevated IEEE Canada members to Senior Status

 

Ø      Call for Papers

-     IEEE Systems Journal
-     2nd Climate Change Technology Conference (May 12-15, 2009)

 

Ø      Conferences

-     Upcoming IEEE Conferences in Canada
-     All IEEE Conferences in Canada
-     IEEE Canada - Electrical Power and Energy Conference 2008 (EPEC 2008)
-     5th Annual Product Safety Engineering Symposium

 

Ø      Features, Views and Analysis

-     IEEE memberNet a member's experience

 

 







News of Interest

 

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Ø     IEEE Canada Board of Directors

Section Congress 2008 Welcome Message

I note with pride that IEEE-Canada (R 7) hosted the memorable Section Congress 1990 in Toronto. Once again we are very proud to host the memorable Section Congress 2008 and the prestigious 2008 IEEE Honor Awards Ceremony in Quebec City. Let us share the celebration and congratulate all of the awards winners for their proud achievements in Quebec City.

Section Congress 2008 theme is "Celebrating Volunteer Achievements Worldwide, " and the Congress features a program that has been developed over the last three years from the responses from the 2005 Sections Congress and a survey of Section Chairs conducted in 2006. The results were reviewed by the Program Committee who identified 35 topics to be included in 74 breakout sessions. Highly ranked sessions are repeated to allow participants to attend as many relevant sessions as possible.

The highlight activity at Sections Congress is when the delegates develop and vote on recommendations that the IEEE will address in order to best serve the needs of its members for the next few years. The Program Committee has modified the recommendation process to address past concerns. All Region Committees have been asked to develop their recommendations prior to the official start of SC'08. This pre-Congress activity aims to have broad-based discussions of IEEE issues, filter out those where the needed actions are not of a global nature, local, educate the primary delegates on the issues and understand the priorities within the region for these various issues. SC'08 will start with a Region Caucus (for each Region) which will result in four issues/recommendations from each Region being forwarded to the Congress participants for consideration.

All recommendations will be reported to the Congress and grouped into Issue Caucuses. The Issue Caucuses will take place on Sunday afternoon, but there will be a computer-based forum on each of the established caucuses. IEEE volunteers and staff, as well as all delegates, may participate in the forums to provide information about "prior art" related to the issue as well as activities underway.

Participants will attend an Issue Caucus of their choice and participate in turning the issues into well-formed recommendations for consideration by the Congress. There will potentially be 20 recommendations for the Congress to consider and be prioritized by vote on Monday. The Congress will then report the top ten recommendations in priority order and report the other recommendations as a pool.

I wish to thank the Sections Congress 2008 Organizing Committee Members for their excellent work that makes this Congress a show case for all.

We hope that participants will have a memorable experience at Sections Congress 2008 as well as enjoy the beautiful Quebec City that is celebrating its 400th year anniversary in 2008.

Bienvenue à Québec et au Canada.
Welcome to IEEE Canada ( www.ieee.ca)

Dr. Ferial El-Hawary, P.Eng., F.IEEE, F.EIC, F.MTS
President of IEEE - Canada (2008 -2009)
Director of Region 7 (2008 -2009)

OCEANS 2008 MTS/IEEE Conference Co-Chair's Message

Quebec City, Sept. 14-18, 2008

I note with pride that IEEE Canada (IEEE Region 7) has hosted the prestigious IEEE/OCEANS Conference and Exhibition a number of times over the years. This Conference was held in Halifax and Victoria more than once; OCEANS 2007 MTS/IEEE was in Vancouver, and its next edition will be this Fall in Quebec City (see http://www.oceans08mtsieeequebec.org) with the theme "Oceans, Poles and Climate: Technological Challenges".

I am honoured to serve as General Co-Chair for the conference and to lead the superb team of the Organizing Committee Members with their fine volunteer work. I invite you to join us in this experience in exploration and learning.

In addition to OCEANS traditional technical papers, this event will offer presentations that highlight significant technological challenges involved in Remote Sensing and studying the polar seas, the profound changes affecting the climate and the future of the biosphere.

A series of plenary, keynote and technical papers will focus on the 'Challenges' theme and cover a comprehensive and diverse range of topics. They will highlight the advances and innovations being made in all aspects of oceanic technology and how these enhance our knowledge and understanding of this unique and precious environment. This Conference features a wide variety of related Tutorials Topics designed to upgrade participants' engineering knowledge and a well organized Student Poster Program and Competition. Its Exhibits Program will have over 100 booths showcasing the Marine Industry at its best.

Quebec City is having a Historical Celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the City. We are looking forward to have you all in Quebec City in 2008 to share with us this remarkable celebration.

Dr. Ferial El-Hawary, P.Eng., F.IEEE, F.EIC, F.MTS
General Co-Chair of OCEANS'08 MTS/IEEE Quebec

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Ø     Your News

Toronto Section Registers First Cardiac Pacemaker as IEEE Milestone

Figure 1: Dr. Hopps testing the first prototype of Cardiac Pacemaker
It is 1950 and Drs. Wilfred Binglow and John Callaghan are studying open heart surgery in Banting and Best Institute laboratory in Toronto. They intent to slow the heart rate to make a surgery possible. But, they wonder how could they restart the heart in the event it were to stop. Working with the two physicians is John Hopps, P.Eng, and his team. They find that applying a gentle electrical stimulus to the heart duplicates the normal body nerve stimulation. In addition they find that this method can start a stopped heart and it can increase or decrease the heart rate as desired.

This work lead to Dr. Hopps' invention of the first cardiac pacemaker. The cardiac pacemaker is considered a major contribution to the improvement of millions of human lives around the world. It constitutes the first time technology was applied to medicine and thus the advent of biomedical engineering.

To mark the importance of this Canadian invention, executive members of IEEE Toronto Section Life Affinity Group, Pelle Westlind and Patrick Finnigan, under the leadership of Toronto Section Chair, Alex Botchkarev, have been working hard to register it as IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing. The nomination has been accepted by the IEEE History Committee and IEEE Executive Committee!

Achievements call for celebrations; and this achievement is far greater to be noted in one event. In promoting this invention, that has saved and improved millions of lives, Toronto Section volunteers will come together to organize various events through out 2008-2009, starting with Section AGM 2008 with guest speaker Neil Fraser, VP of Medtronic Canada. Medtronic developed the first wearable external cardiac pacemakers in 1957 and manufactured the first reliable long-term implantable pacing system in 1960.

Newfoundland and Labrador Section holds 18th Annual NECEC (NECEC 2008)

Thursday November 6, 2008
Holiday Inn
180 Portugal Cove Road
St. John's Newfoundland

Newfoundland Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference is a forum where professionals in electrical, electronic and computer engineering as well as information technologies can present their work to the growing technical community within the province. The conference will focus on technical concepts, innovations implementations.

Proceeds from this event and past conferences are used to sponsor IEEE Scholarships, which are awarded to students in Terms IV and VI of Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering program at Memorial University Newfoundland.

Submissions are invited on projects and activities completed in all areas of electro-technology:

Power Generation and Distribution

  Power Electronics and Drives

Electrical Design and Installation

  Instrumentation and Control Systems

Sensors, Acoustics and Remote Sensing

  Biomedical Devices

Electronics, VLSI and Microprocessors

  Opto-electronics

Signal Processing

  Multimedia Software Development

Computer and Software Engineering

  Communication Systems

Wireless Technologies

  Internet Developments

Project Management

  Robotics

Important Dates:

Septemeber 5 - Deadline for receipt of abstract
September 15 - Notification of acceptance
October 3 - Deadline for paper submission
November 6 - NECEC 2008 presentation day

Ottawa Section holds LEOS Symposium on Recent Advancements in Photonics

LEOS Distinguished Lecturer, Professor Silvano Donati, IEEE Fellow, will speak about Coupling Dynamics in Semiconductor Lasers and Applications to Self-Mixing Interferometry and Chaotic Cryptography. Also at this event, you can hear John C. Cartledge, P.Eng, will speak about Optical and Electronic Signal Processing for Fiber-Optic Communications.

This event is organized by IEEE LEOS Ottawa Chapter.

Toronto Communications Society receives Chapter Achievement Award

Toronto Communications Society has been selected winner of the CAA award 2008. Under the leadership of Dr. Xavier Fernando the chapter has been recognized for its excellence in its operations and for furthering the objectives of the Society.

To be selected from amongst 170 ComSoc Chapters worldwide, the Chapter has to demonstrate membership growth, encourage member advancements/awards, and hold technical meetings/activities on communication issues. The Chapter activities should advance the profession and be directed towards current and perspective engineers.

Bravo to Xavier and his team on a well earned recognition!

 

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Ø     Students' Corner

The Second Annual Think Engineering Networking Event

Thursday, October 9, 2008
Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside
1133 West Hastings Street Vancouver, BC

The IEEE Student branches of the University of British Columbia (UBC), British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), and Simon Fraser University (SFU) will be hosting the second Annual "Think Engineering" Networking Event. This event will bring together students, industry leaders and academic researchers for a day of professional development and networking. Keynote speeches will be given by corporate leaders and successful entrepreneurs on their inspirational personal success stories.

 

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Ø     Our Members in the Spotlight

Newly elevated IEEE Canada members to Senior Status

 

IEEE Canada Congratulates its 9 newly elevated members to Senior Member Grade at the July 2008 A&A meeting!

Mohamed Youssef

Kingston Section

Maarouf Saad

Montreal Section

Horacio Marquez

Northern Canada Section

Atid Shamaie

Ottawa Section

Thayananthan Thayaparan

Ottawa Section

Gabreil Wainer

Ottawa Section

Jean Larocque

Peterborough Section

Gustavo A Brunello

Toronto Section

Athula Rajapakse

Winnipeg Section

For more information and to apply visit Senior Member place on the IEEE portal.

 

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Ø     Call for Papers

IEEE Systems Journal

The IEEE Systems Journal publishes peer-reviewed technical papers dealing with many shared aspects and attributes of systems and system-of-systems across the many domains and applications, in particular: complexity, dynamics, integration, interoperability, adaptability, completeness, effectiveness, modeling, analysis, simulation, engineering, science, human factors, management, operations, communications, applications, ethics, education, and much more. The journal seeks papers which address solution to problems of national and global significance.

Typical domains include: disaster response, energy, environmental monitoring and control, exploratory exploration (space, terrestrial, underwater), global earth observation & prediction, Earth science, human health and life science, medical systems and applications, autonomous vehicles and systems, intermodal transportation systems, logistics, manufacturing and factory automation, agricultural systems, biological applications, communications, national defenses security, organizational internal, privacy & security, social and political systems, socio-economic (including trade & banking systems), educational systems, and many others in which the system perspective is fundamental.

Typical disciplines, processes, and skills include: automation & control, decision making and optimization, management of large-scale systems, control and automation, mission assurance, modeling and simulation, nanotechnology in system-of-systems, self-configuration and adaptation, product life cycle, regulatory compliance, reliability & availability, safety maintainability, quality, risk management, scholarship of systems engineering, systems engineering processes, systems-of-systems, and many other related to the analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance of complex systems.

The IEEE Systems Journal is intended to stimulate awareness, appreciation and utilization of systems thinking and the supporting systems engineering disciplines. This journal aims to be an archival publication for professional from industry, researchers, educators, and students, who are sharing a strong interest in complex systems and the system thinking perspective.

This journal will publish also special issues on hot topics with the systems thinking perspective. The following special issues are in progress: GEOSS: Creating a Global System of Systems, Grid Resource Management, Resilience Engineering, System Research on Service Systems, and Biometric Systems.

For further information please visit: http://www.systemsjournal.org
Or connect with Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Mo Jamshidi, the University of Texas, San Antonio, TX, USA, isj@wacong.or

2nd Climate Change Technology Conference (May 12-15, 2009)

Deadline: September 18, 2008
www.cctc2009.ca

Papers are sought on the topics of Impacts, Monitoring, Modeling, Mitigation, Adaptation, Bio-refining, Education, Standards, Policy and Regulation.

Interested authors/panellists are invited to submit a proposal in English or French for a paper, poster paper or presentation. Paper manuscripts will be subject to peer review. Proposals should include:

1. The title and an abstract (< 400 words) providing a synopsis of the central theme
2. The author's preferred topic category, see list above
3. A list of full names, affiliations and contact information for the authors or panelists
4. A designated primary contact with full contact information.

Proposals should be submitted, by September 15, 2008, via the Conference website at www.cctc2009.ca or sent by mail, Fax or e-mail to:

Mr. Eric Williams
Technical Subcommittee Chair,
care of Canoe-About Inc.,
16 Brookview Crescent,
RR#2 Tiverton, Ontario, N0G 2T0
fax: 519-396-6926
e-mail: info@canoe-about.ca
phone: 519-396-8844

 

 

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Ø     Conferences

Upcoming IEEE Conferences in Canada

EMBC 2008 - 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
August 20-25, 2008
Vancouver, BC

ICWCUCA 2008- 2nd International Conference on Wireless on Communications in Underground and Confined Areas
Aug 25-27, 2008
The Forestel Hotel Vald-'Or, QC

OCEANS 2008
September 14-19, 2008
Quebec, QC

VTC 2008 - IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference
September 21-24, 2008
Mariott Hotel, Calgary, AB

North American Power Symposium (NAPS)
September 28-30, 2008
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Contact: William Rosehart
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
Tel: 1-403-220-5005
Fax:1-403-282-6855
E-mail: rosehart@ucalgary.ca
Web: http://www.naps2008.net

EPEC 2008
October 6-7, 2008
Renaissance Harbourside Hotel
Vancouver, BC

All IEEE Conferences in Canada


Find information about these and all IEEE Conferences in Canada here.

IEEE Canada - Electrical Power and Energy Conference 2008 (EPEC 2008)

October 6-7, 2008
Renaissance Harbourside Hotel
Vancouver, BC

The paper submissions process is now closed after a larger-than-expected number of papers was submitted covering the conference theme (Energy Innovation). The abstracts are now being reviewed and authors will be notified shortly. Several distinguished speakers have been confirmed for the panel sessions. British Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) and BC Hydro are the main conference sponsors. Bob Reid, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BCTC, is the keynote speaker. Events such as the BC Hydro Powersmart Technology Showcase are being organized to complement the conference topic tracks. The conference organizers and the IEEE Vancouver Section are working together to ensure a successful event for all participants. Conference registration is open. Please register early to take advantage of early registration and hotel accommodation fees.

Topics of interest to the conference include the following:

Topics

Subtopics

Extending the Limits of Transmission and Distribution

         Physical Assets Monitoring

         Real-Time Operation

         Power Flow Control

         Continuity of Supply

 

Expanding Generation and Alternative Energy

         Large Generation Expansion

         Distributed Generation

         Energy Storage

         Impact and Operation of Distributed Generation

 

Intelligent Grid Technologies

         Data Gathering and Information Flow

         Wide-Area Operation and Control

         Distributed Networks

         Cyber Security in the Automated Grid

 

Conservation and Energy Efficient Technologies

         Energy Conservation Measures

         Energy Efficient Loads

         Power Factor Correction and Power Quality

 


General Conference Chair is Dr. Ebrahim Vaahedi P.Eng., FIEEE.

5th Annual Product Safety Engineering Symposium

October 20-22, 2008
Austin, Texas

Product designers and regulatory engineers - come and join your colleagues at the Fifth Annual Product Safety Engineering Symposium in beautiful Austin, Texas! Update your knowledge of regulatory issues and meet other engineers solving tough product safety problems on a daily basis. Take the iNARTE certification examination, or attend UL University's Hazard Based Safety Engineering course at the sessions following the symposium.

Exhibitors will be showcasing safety products and services including product test services, instrumentation and certification, as well as consulting and engineering services. Exhibition space is limited, contact us as soon as possible for a booth!

For more information or to register, please visit the Symposium web site:http:www.ieee-pses.org/symposium/

 

 


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Ø     Features, Views and Analysis

 

IEEE memberNet a member's experiencel

Given that Sections Congress is just around the corner, September 19 - 22, I thought it be a good time to give the new IEEE service memberNet a try. With hope to get acquainted to individuals who will be attending prior to the congress, I logged in to myAccount from IEEE main portal, www.ieee.org. I logged in to my account just to (unfortunately) find out that I am many clicks away from what I had hoped to achieve.

The first thing I noticed was memberNet launched in a pop-up window. Given that many of us have set our browser preferences to block pop-ups, I consider this a design flaw.

The search criteria appear in two formats; clickable links on the right hand side which are based on my technical interests, educational and professional information that I opt-in to share and a selectable list on the left hand side.

The search results appear ordered by alphabetical order with no visible method of ordering results in any other format. This could limit users' ability (and patience) to narrow the result further down. I was not able to find a way to send a note to the individuals I was interested to connect with from within the tool. Given the number of spam filters that many of us have set up on our inbox, the e-mail that I send using the e-mail information provided for the member may or may not be received/noticed.

Motivated to have someone at IEEE memberNet design team hear my rant, I submitted my feedback via "submit feedback" option provided on the myIEEE portal.

The next thing I know is I am sitting in on a livemeeting session with Brian Pratz IEEE memberNet Product Manager who unfolds in front of me the iterations to improve and consolidate the myIEEE + memberNet tools into the one stop shop. What Brian presents is the road plan, based on a concept document created by IEEE staff and volunteers. The road map is comprehensive and takes into account feedback from users as well as vision of product manager, developers and staff team who share a common goal which is: To make myIEEE the place that more than 360000 IEEE members connect with all resources this world leading professional association has to offer.

I hope this article encourages you to give memberNet a try and take part in this collaborative effort.

 

 

 

 

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Upcoming Events


Many IEEE Canada sections maintain their own listings of upcoming events:

Canadian Atlantic

Kitchener-Waterloo

London

Montreal

Newfoundland and Labrador

New Brunswick

Ottawa

Southern Alberta

Toronto

Vancouver

Winnipeg

 

 

Submission Information

I look forward to receiving news/article(s) from your sections and/or yours or other IEEE colleagues' achievements for the newsletter. Please forward any such correspondence by the 20th of the month to the Editor at
newsletter@ieee.ca

 

 

 

 


 IEEE Canada Newsletter – September 2008                Bulletin de IEEE Canada – Septembre 2008

Last update /2008.09.04 dernière mise à jour

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