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The President's Message
Jerry Hudgins, President, IEEE Power Electronics Society
Several new and exciting activities have occurred during the late summer months. At the summer Technical Activities Board (TAB) Meeting, Paolo Tenti, current President of the IEEE Industry Applications Society, and I had the opportunity to speak with Hiromasa Haneda and Robert Dent, the Presidents of the Industrial Electronics and the Power Engineering Societies, respectively. We discussed the possibilities of future joint activities, such as cosponsorship of technical meetings and chapters. One step toward closer cooperation was to try to collocate Executive (or AdCom) Committee Meetings of the four Societies at least once per year. This idea has grown from the successful kickoff of the joint PELS and IAS meetings begun formally last year at the APEC in Atlanta and to be continued at APEC in 1998. The IAS and PELS AdComs will have met together in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA at the Annual Meeting of the IAS by the time this article appears in print, as well. As of this writing, Professor Haneda has agreed to schedule the IES winter Executive Board Meeting in Anaheim, California, USA, at the time of the 1998 APEC. Mr. Dent has offered to send two to three of the PES Board members to Anaheim as well. This means that the governing bodies of the PELS, IAS, IES, and representatives of the PES will meet jointly, next February, to discuss cooperative activities and improved member services. I am happy to see the extended hand of cooperation from these other Societies and welcome future collaboration. I would also welcome any comments or ideas from the membership on this activity. Please send them by e-mail to hudgins@ece.sc.edu or FAX at +1-803-777-8045.
There has been a lack of sustained interest and activity in the Applied Superconductivity Committee (ASC) from the PELS. PELS was a founding member Society of the ASC, but has participated less and less in the activities and direction of the Committee in the past few years. Therefore, the PELS AdCom voted in June to withdraw Society membership from the ASC. This allows the ASC to move ahead toward its goals without the need for less than enthusiastic involvement from the PELS. The PELS wishes the best future success for the ASC in all its activities.
As part of the continuing effort to improve the operation of the PELS, a new standing committee was approved in June by the AdCom. It is the Long Range Planning Committee. The functions of the Long Range Planning Committee will be to: i) Propose five-year goals for the Society, ii) Propose a five-year plan for obtaining the goals adopted by the Society, and iii) Review, modify, and extend as necessary, the goals and long range plans (five years into the future) of the Society every two years. Action iii) is to occur in every odd-numbered year. Membership of the Committee will be geographically diverse so that broad issues and ideas can be incorporated into the Society goals. The exact makeup of the Committee membership will be decided at the fall AdCom meeting. It is my hope that a set of five-year goals and an action plan can be adopted on or before the fall of 1999. All members are invited to comment through contact with me or the Committee Chair at anytime. The Committee and its Chair will be publicized in the next Society Newsletter.
Jerry Hudgins, President, PELS
University of South Carolina
Dept. of Elect. and Comp. Engrg.
Columbia, SC 29208 USA
TEL: +1-803-777-5174
FAX: +1-803-777-8045
e-mail: hudgins@ece.sc.edu