CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB

www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org

NEXT WEEK (AT THE CELLAR)________________________________________________________

Monday, April 12, noon, The Cellar at the Tallan Building, Downtown

Topic:  “The UTC Engineering Design Experience” and “Vehicle Monitoring System” - Dr. Rick Keyser and UTC Engineering Design Team

Dr. Rick Keyser will discuss the UTC engineering design experience including the roles and responsibilities of the design team, industrial partner, and UTC faculty.  He will also review the presentation evaluation criteria to our membership and we will have the opportunity to contribute feedback to the students on their presentations.  After Dr. Keyser’s comments, a UTC design team will present the design of a vehicle monitoring and data acquisition system originally proposed for the United States Postal Service.  The system is designed to gather information while the vehicle is in operation and transmit the data for analysis.

Invocation/Pledge Chair for April:  Fisher Campbell

OUR PREVIOUS MEETING________________________________________________

Topic: "Research and Development in Unmanned Aircraft and Military Guidance Systems" - Mr. Bob Pap, Accurate Automation

Last week, we heard from Bob Pap from Accurate Automation.  Accurate Automation Corporation, founded in 1985, is a high-tech developer of unmanned aircraft and guided missiles.  Accurate is known for its expertise in intelligent control systems and signal processing technology and is a world leader in plasma aerodynamic research.  Their neural network hardware has been used around the world.  The Accurate facilities support UAV development and manufacturing.  Their ground stations support flight tests for jet-powered aircraft including LoFLYTE and the X-43A-LS.   See their web site at www.accurate-automation.com.

Bob's talk offered engineers ideas to energize the community to become a leader in technology development.  He mentioned that venture capital for new technology start up businesses is difficult to secure in Chattanooga.  Bankers need engineers as resources to review business proposals and function as new company board members.  Also discussed was the need to give awards at local schools to every science fair participant, because they are all winners.  The progress of these students should be followed since they will be the most likely resource of engineers for our community and we should try to encourage them, foster their technological development and try to keep them in the community when they are ready for employment.

NSF (National Science Foundation) grants have dropped in Tennessee.  He suggested that engineers consider offering to write a grant proposal with a local university on an idea or someone else's idea and offer to stay with the research project to the end as an advisor for a small percent of the grant money.

A worthwhile objective on the part of the CEC would be to develop a local resource list of technical people who were instrumental in the construction/design of some of the local dams, power plants, or critical buildings and communication systems in the county.  This list should be provided to Bill Tittle and Don Allen (http://www.hamiltontn.gov/HumanServices/contact.htm) to help them be prepared to recover from a local homeland security event.  They already have a great resource list from the medical community, but they lack information from the technical community.

Thanks to Judy Driggans for the meeting summary.

FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS_____________________________________________

April 19:  “An Interactive Arm-Wrestling Machine” and “Vinyl Covering Removal System” - Dr. Rick Keyser and UTC Engineering Design Team (will be at UTC)

April 26:  “New Technologies in PET/CT Scans” - Carlyle Reynolds, R&D Engineer, CPS Innovations

EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS__________________________________________________

The Chattanooga Engineers Club would like to begin allowing recipients of this email newsletter to have control over their account.  What this means is that you will be in charge of changing information about your email address as you see fit.  If you would like to start using another email address for these bulletins, you will need to subscribe a new email address and unsubscribe your old one.  The email server will be instructed to send out a password reminder email to each recipient.  We will send out monthly password reminders for approximately three months.  This email will contain instructions on how to log on and change your password (if you want).  This allows you to administer your own email account, and allows you to set a few preferences as well.

WHERE WE MEET _______________________________________________________

On April 5 and 12, we will be meeting at The Cellar Restaurant at the Tallan Building in downtown Chattanooga.  We may continue to park at the Days Inn on Carter Street (being sure to leave a notice on your dashboard that indicates you are attending the Chattanooga Engineers Club meeting).  For the April 19 meeting, we will meet at UTC in the Engineering, Math and Computer Science Building, Room 238, and lunch will be provided.  Lunch will be spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread and dessert.  Parking will be in the lot behind the new building and the cost will be included in the $10 lunch fee.

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS? ______________________________________________

If you have any questions or suggestions about program items please call Tiffany Gibby at 423-751-3168 or email her at tjgibby@tva.gov. You can find references to other Chattanooga Engineers Club members at our web site: www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org.