Vancouver Section is moving quickly on several exciting initiatives:

IEEE Continuing Education

Starting in Spring 2010, IEEE members may apply to audit SFU Engineering Science and UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate courses through Vancouver Section. We will collect the tuition fee, forward a bulk tuition payment to each school once per term, and issue a Continuing Education Certificate to the member upon successful completion of the course. Dr. Nikola Stanchev, the Section’s new Continuing Education Chair, will administer the program.

This arrangement will allow IEEE members:

1. to satisfy personal or professional interests,
2. to satisfy the Continuing Professional Development requirements of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists, or
3. to sample campus life and decide whether to seek admission to a full graduate program.

For more information, please contact Dave Michelson, dmichelson at ieee.org or Nikola Stanchev stanchev_n at ieee.org.

Vancouver Section is LinkedIn

If you use the LinkedIn professional networking service, please be sure to join the new IEEE Vancouver Section group. Display an IEEE Vancouver icon on your public profile, get late breaking news concerning Section activities and connect to other members of the Section. To join the group, click the logo or visit http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2377330

For more information, please contact Dave Michelson, dmichelson at ieee.org or Kyle Siversten k.sivertsen at ieee.org.

IEEE Okanagan Subsection

IEEE Vancouver Section has approved a request by 35 members in the Okanagan to form an IEEE Okanagan Subsection. Members of the subsection organizing committee include Prof. Dave Michelson (IEEE Vancouver Section), Prof. Julian Cheng (UBC Okanagan) and Prof. Jonathan Holzman (UBC Okanagan). Final approval by IEEE Canada and IEEE MGA is expected in a few weeks.

Rationale: The Okanagan Valley is emerging as a major technology centre within the Province of British Columbia, as demonstrated by the establishment of the Okanagan Campus of the University of British Columbia (UBCO), the Okanagan Research & Innovation Centre (ORIC), the Okanagan Science & Technology Council (OSTEC), and a nascent technology sector commonly referred to as the Silicon Vineyard. The population of the area is approaching 300,000.

Because the distance from the Okanagan Valley to Vancouver is 400 kms (250 miles), it is difficult for IEEE members in the Okanagan to participate in the majority of activities that are organized by Vancouver Section. The proposed Subsection will bring together the 90+ IEEE members in and adjacent to the Okanagan Valley to:

1. host IEEE technical presentations,
2. organize IEEE social events,
3. recruit new IEEE members and
4. provide local support to the proposed Student Branch at UBCO.

The proposed territorial limits of the Okanagan Subsection include the areas in and adjacent to the Okanagan Valley including those areas designated by the following postal code prefixes: V0E, V0H, V1B, V1H, V1P, V1T, V1V, V1W, V1X, V1Y, V1Z, V4T, V4V, V2A. For more information, please contact Dave Michelson, dmichelson at ieee.org, Julian Cheng julian.cheng at ubc.ca or Jonathan Holzman jonathan.holzman at ubc.ca.

Section History Committee

IEEE Vancouver Section is inviting members to join our newly formed History Committee. The IEEE Global History Network is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of innovation in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and computing, and all their related fields. They have invited Vancouver Section to form a History Committee that will prepare contributions for the IEEE Milestones program, IEEE GHN website and the assemble materials to be used in displays or presentations during the Section Centennial in 2011.

If you would like to join the committee or would like more information, please contact Dave Michelson, dmichelson at ieee.org

IEEE Milestones Program

IEEE Vancouver Section has been invited to submit full nominations for two British Columbia sites for possible recognition as IEEE Milestones. If the nominations are successful, IEEE will install commemorative bronze plaques at each site in Fall 2010. Here are the proposed milestones and the corresponding citations.

First Television Broadcast in Western Canada, 1953

On 16 December 1953, the first television broadcast in Western Canada was transmitted from this site by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s CBUT Channel two. The engineering experience gained here was instrumental in the subsequent establishment of the over 1000 public and private television broadcasting sites that serve Western Canada today. (CBC Broadcasting Site, Mount Seymour, North Vancouver, BC)

First Radio Astronomical Observations Using VLBI, 1967

In the early morning of 17 April 1967, radio astronomers at this site collaborated with the Algonquin radio observatory located 3074 km away to make the first successful radio astronomical observations using Very Long Baseline Interferometry. Today, VLBI networks span the globe, extend into space and are routinely used for both radio astronomy and geodesy. (Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, near Penticton, BC)

For more information, please contact Dave Michelson, dmichelson at ieee.org