NEXT MEETING – MONDAY, August 1 (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, August 1: "Nuclear Reactor Systems for Space Propulsion and Power - Project Prometheus" - Ron Porter, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Robotic and human space exploration beyond Earth orbit need more powerful propulsion systems. A nuclear-powered propulsion system could triple the speed of current space travel making it possible to reach Mars in as little as two months. Nuclear Fission power systems are already being planned to further explore Jupiter within a decade. Ron Porter, manager of the Nuclear Systems Office within the Space Transportation Programs and Projects Office at NASA’s MSFC, will tell us about the high-powered space propulsion systems being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center. His work is related to Project Prometheus that began as a joint effort between NASA and DOE called the Nuclear Systems Initiative. The name was changed to contain meanings related to the project goals. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the wisest of the Titans, and he gave the powerful gift of fire to humanity. The knowledge resulting from the technologies developed by Project Prometheus will also be a powerful gift as NASA begins the peaceful exploration of the solar system hoping to discover the origin of life in the universe.

Invocation: Jack Anderson

Menu: A buffet lunch for $11 will be available for attendees beginning at 11:30 a.m. Lunch will include a salad, chicken casserole, green beans, broccoli casserole, cherry cobbler and a roll. Reservations are not required, and guests are welcome. For more information, call Judy Driggans at 751-7616 or Stephen Smith at 843-1815.

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 _____________________________________________________________

Last Monday the Club voted to increase the amount collected for lunch from $10 to $11. Stephen R. Smith was elected 2nd Vice President (Membership Chairperson). We will begin planning three joint meetings in the fall with the Student Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society. These meetings will be held at UTC in September and October in the weeks the CEC would not have met because of a Monday holiday. The date in November may be on a Monday in place of our regular meeting.

PREVIOUS MEETING __________________________________________________________

Monday, July 25: "UTC's New Graduate Program In Computational Engineering" Dr. Roger Briley

Dr. Briley explained the importance of having the SimCenter research activities available to support the PhD studies at UTC in Computational Engineering. In the Fall of 2004, the first Computational Engineering Doctorate was awarded to a student at UTC. Dr. Briley projects that the number of PhD graduates will continue to increase and may be as high as 8 in the Fall of 2009. The computers solving these big engineering modeling problems at UTC include 856 off-the-shelf PCs grouped to work together to solve complex problems. This grouped computer has been ranked as the 129th largest computer and it cost less than $1M. It is the largest non government computer in Tennessee. They will soon be adding additional PCs along with another air conditioning system to keep the equipment cool. If you have a B.S. or M.S. in engineering, computer science, mathematics, or one of the physical sciences and you are looking for a change, a challenge, or some more interesting work then take a look at the UTC Computational Engineering Doctorate program. Each student's program of study including possible prerequisite requirements, is tailored to his or her background and research goals.

FUTURE MEETINGS ________________________________________________________
(noon in the Tallan Cellar Restaurant at 2 Union Square, unless another location is indicated)

Monday, August 8: "Low-Cost Battery-Less Sensors On High Voltage Conductors" - Joe Graziano, Tennessee Valley Authority

Monday, August 15: "Tennessee Riverwalk--Engineering Hurdles and Highlights" - Mike Howard, Hamilton County Engineer

Monday, August 22: "Power Systems Developments in China" - Dr. Mo-Shing Chen, University of Texas at Arlington

Monday, August 29: "Where Did All Those Old Tires Go?" - Fred Weinhold, GreenMan Technologies, Inc.