Chattanooga Engineers Club

Monday, October 12 - NO MEETING - In Observance of Columbus Day

NEXT MEETING____________________________

Monday, October 19 - Noon – DOUBLETREE HOTEL, Second Floor, Inspiration Room (407 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402)

"Micro Chemical Processing Technology for Production of Biodiesel Fuel" - Trip Dacus and Jennifer Lewis

Alternatives to petroleum-based fuels must be commercialized to ensure our nation’s energy security, but profitable, clean, carbon-neutral energy sources have proven difficult to develop. Trip Dacus and Jennifer Lewis, UTC chemical engineering students, are working together to develop a novel technology to produce biodiesel fuels using microfluidics.

On November 9, 2009, Trip and Jennifer will present their research results at the AIChE Annual Conference in Nashville, TN.

FUTURE MEETINGS________________________

Monday, October 26 – Noon – “World-Wide Web-Based Engineering Student Laboratories”

Speakers: Dr. Jim Henry, UTC Professor of chemical and environmental engineering; Alan Voss, TVA Retiree

Monday, November 2 – Noon – “Rethinking the Nature and Fate of Our Universe”

Speaker: Dr. Robert Marlowe, UTC Professor of Physics

Monday, November 9 – Noon – “Air Permitting Process for the New Volkswagen Plant”

Speakers: Bob Colby, Director, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau (CHCAPCB); Alan Frazier, Engineer, CHCAPCB ; Cynthia McDaniel, EIT, CHCAPCB

Monday, November 16 – Noon – “A Kingston, TN, Disaster: The Coal Ash Spill”

Speaker: Mike Scott, Project Co-ordinator, TVA, Kingston, TN

Monday, November 23 – Noon – “New Events and Activities at Creative Discovery Museum”

Speaker: Henry Schulson, Director at Creative Discovery Museum

Monday, November 30 - Noon – To be determined.

Monday, December 7 – Noon – “Are Lithium Batteries the Answer for Advanced Vehicles?”

Speaker: Mark Hairr, UTC CETE Research Program Director

Monday, December 14 – Noon – To be determined.

Monday, December 21 – NO MEETING

Monday, December 28 – NO MEETING

PREVIOUS MEETING_______________________

Dr. Alan Stevens, formerly with the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), TVA, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), and the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Secretariat, explained how the GSDI helps co-ordinate mapping data from nations and organizations worldwide.

Dr. Stevens reviewed the details from several different map sources for the same area and described how data sources normally do not appear on common maps. Sharing and downloading information from several sources is a challenging task. The NSDI (domestically) and the GSDI (globally) were established to allow many different users to share data. Metadata identifies data sources and details. Dr. Stevens defined Interoperability and explained the complexities of data format and data transfer.

GSDI, which began in 1996, encourages the international exchange of geospatial data. The GSDI Association started formal meetings in Bonn, Germany, with 60 invited participants. The most recent meeting was in The Netherlands with over 1200 participants representing 80 nations. The next meeting will be in Singapore in 2010. GSDI publishes monthly electronic newsletters for 4 regions of the world in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.

NSDI provides a cookbook to train new mapping organizations to use FGDC and GSDI services. Funding for the FGDC comes from several U.S. agencies and from grants.

ITEMS OF INTEREST_______________________

The Chattanooga Engineer's Club meets at the DOUBLETREE HOTEL, CHATTANOOGA, Second Floor, Inspiration Room (407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402). Free parking is available in the gated parking lot on the south side of the Hotel. The gate will be open from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Plan to arrive at about 11:30 a.m., if you intend to park in the limited space available. No additional parking is available in the pit east of the Hotel on Chestnut Street.

Looking for details on a local society meeting? Links to local engineering societies are available to you at: http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/engineer

CHATTANOOGA ASQ SECTION 1101

Monday, October 12, 2009 - 10:00am - Plant Tour of Accucast (1911 Crutchfield Street, Chattanooga, TN 37406)

Presented by : John Marty – Operation/Quality

Accu-Cast, Inc., a precision investment casting foundry, is a job shop serving most commercial markets domestically and overseas. Accu-Cast is an ISO certified company.

No meals will be provided. Reservations are required by Thursday, October 9, 2009. To make reservations, please contact Ted Alexander at 875-6001 (email: twjralexander@bellsouth.net) or Chris Harper at 309-1335 (email: chris.harper@sulzer.com)

QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS______________

If you have any questions, items that would be of interest to the Chattanooga Engineers Club, or suggestions for future programs, please contact Joe Robbins by e-mail at jrobbins@robbinsbohr.com or by phone at 423-756-4430. You can find membership application forms, references to future programs, historical data, and other info at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org. To receive future meeting announcements by email, join the Chattanooga Technology Organization mailing list at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/email.