CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB
www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org
P.O. Box 4031, Chattanooga, TN  37405
 

NEXT MEETINGMONDAY, JULY 18 (noon to 1:00 pm) ____________________________
(Cellar Restaurant at 2 Union Square in the basement of the Tallan Building at M.L. King and Carter Street)
 
Monday, July 18:  "Innovation in Educating and Training a Competitive Workforce"  Bill Brock, Chairman of Bridges Learning Systems
 
Our meeting will be the kickoff event for Innovation Week in Chattanooga.  Bill Brock, our speaker, is a Kruesi family member who will talk to us about innovations in education and training of our workforce.  He is founder and Chairman of Bridges Learning Systems in Annapolis, MD.  The Bridges program has been a lifelong dream for Bill Brock who is also a former United States Congressman, Senator and Secretary of Labor.  In the Bridges system, they assess and develop 26 cognitive abilities and 17 perceptual skills.  They assess the level of a learner's knowledge and skill and create a plan to bring the learner to the level they will need for the training to be mastered.  Over 600 schools in 27 states are using Bridges programs.
 
Invocation:  Ron Cox
 
Menu:  A buffet lunch for $10 will be available for attendees beginning at 11:30 a.m.  Lunch will include a salad, chicken and dumplings, fried okra, sweet potato soufflé, and cherry cobbler.  Reservations are not required, and guests are welcome.  For more information, call Tiffany Gibby at 751-3168 or Brad Baucom at 751-4696.
 
Parking:  Free parking (for those who leave a notice on their dash indicating they are with the Chattanooga Engineers Club) is available for attendees at the Days Inn on Carter Street.  There is also a parking garage behind the Tallan Building.
 
CLUB BUSINESS _____________________________________________________________
 
The Cellar Restaurant would like to raise their lunch price for us from $10 to $10.50.  The club may consider in a vote on July 25, raising the amount collected from $10 to $11 for lunch to help cover this increase by the Cellar and also to help pay for lunches of our guest speakers.
 
Nominations for 2nd Vice President (Membership Chairperson) are still being taken by Tiffany Gibby (
tjgibby@tva.gov or 751-3168) and may be presented to the club on July 18.  The club will hold a special election on July 25 to fill this club officer position.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING __________________________________________________________
 
Monday, July 11: Tour of Chattanooga Group, Inc., a local manufacturer of medical equipment and a division of Encore Medical Corp.  
 
The Chattanooga Group manufactures many products used for rehabilitation, has about 325 employees, is located in Hixson, TN, and expects to have about $70 million in sales this year.  The company started 58 years ago making heating pads for the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team.  Their moist heating pad was called a Hydrocollator® Steam Pack® and was the first of its kind for the application of moist heat.  Since its invention, the Hydrocollator Steam Pack has become the most commonly used product in physical medicine.  During our tour, we saw them cutting and stitching the terry fabric for these.
 
The Chattanooga Group began as the Chattanooga Pharmacal Company in 1947.  Founded by a local athletic trainer named Lee Jensen and his business partner, Jack Walker.
 
If you have had knee surgery recently, the hospital may have had you exercising that knee in a continuous passive movement device that may have been manufactured by the Chattanooga Group.  The Chattanooga Group sells their products through distributors of medical suppliers of rehabilitation equipment.  Two products without competition, so far, are the VitalStim and Dry Heat Therapy systems.  VitalStim is the only dysphagia therapy backed by compelling clinical data and cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  It uses electrical stimulation of certain muscles to help people re-learn how to swallow.  The Dry Heat Therapy allows a clinician to manipulate a patient’s limb in dry heat that reduces pain and increases circulation and range of motion.  We saw them assembling and testing some of their electrotherapy products.  For more information about The Chattanooga Group, visit http://www.chattgroup.com/.
 
FUTURE MEETINGS ________________________________________________________
(noon in the Tallan Cellar Restaurant at 2 Union Square, unless another location is indicated)
 
Monday, July 25:  "UTC's New Graduate Program In Computational Engineering"  Dr. Roger Briley
Entrance into the Computational Engineering Doctorate program is available to qualified B.S. or M.S. graduates of recognized curricula in engineering, computer science, mathematics, or one of the physical sciences. Each student's program of study including possible prerequisite requirements, is tailored to his or her background and research goals.
 
Monday, August 1:  "Project Prometheus" NASA Scientist
 
Monday, August 8:  "Low-Cost Battery-Less Sensors On High Voltage Conductors"  Joe Graziano, Tennessee Valley Authority
 
Monday, August 15:  TBA
 
Monday, August 22:  "Power Systems Developments in China"  Dr. Mo-Shing Chen, University of Texas at Arlington
 
QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS? _________________________________________________
 
If you have any questions or suggestions about program items please contact Judy Driggans at 423-751-7616 or by email at
jdriggans@comcast.net. You can find references to other Chattanooga Engineers Club members at our web site: www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org.