IEEE Student Branch at The University of Texas at Austin

The IEEE Student Branch at The University of Texas at Austin held its first general meeting today and we had a great turnout: more than 130 people! We actually had to turn a lot of people away because we filled RLM 4.102 to capacity.

We elected four new officers:

• Erik Eyberg, Chair
• Charis Poag, IT Director
• Lisa Maria, Fundraising Director
• Simeon Duong, Freshman SEC Representative

We expect to have a great semester! Check this web page frequently for updates about events and activities.

If you missed the meeting, the presentation (as well as the three Society presentations) are attached.

Being Young, Being Digital: Some Observations on Young People's Use of Social Media

You're invited!

Here is a YouTube video discussing the topic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLc2qkLM2E

Joint Circuits and Systems/Solid-State Circuits
http://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ssc_css/
Topic/Title

Being Young, Being Digital: Some Observations on Young People's Use of Social Media
Speaker:
S. Craig Watkins
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Radio-Television-Film

Abstract:
From the moment new communication technologies began to infiltrate American homes, young people have been among the early explorers and early adopters of computers and the Internet. Today, teens and young adults are credited for the ascent of social media platforms like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. The social web has been variously characterized as empowering, participatory, and communal. Drawing from original research including survey data and in-depth interviews this talk considers the rise and use of social media. Designed more as a public discussion about the steadily evolving role of social media technologies in our lives the paper considers three questions. First, how dominant is social media in young people's lives? Second, what are young people doing with new communication technologies? The third question considers the social impact and consequences of social media.
Date/Time

Tuesday September 8th, 6:30pm
Cost
none

Reservations
not required

Location
AVAYA Auditorium (ACE 2.302) on UT Campus

Notes
S. Craig Watkins teaches in the departments of Radio-Television-Film and Sociology and the Center for African and African American Studies at the _University of Texas at Austin. His new book, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future (Beacon) explores young people's dynamic engagement with social media, online games, and mobile phones. Watkins participated in the MacArthur Foundation Series on Youth, Digital Media and Learning. He has been invited to be a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford). Currently, he is launching a new digital media research initiative that focuses on the use and evolution of social media platforms.
The joint Circuits & Systems/Solid State Circuits Societies normally meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. This meeting is open to the public and interested parties. Additional details will be posted at the website. If you have any questions about this meeting or this group, please contact seningen@ieee.org or dferguson@ieee.org

Interested in solar technology? Want to find out the latest information on printing of solar skin for buildings?

If the answer is yes, you will want to consider attending the Central Texas Section 2nd Annual Solar Technology Workshop.

This one day workshop will be held September 18 at Freescale Semiconductor. Please see the following URL for details.

http://ieee.org/stw/

Early registration ends in 4 days!

UPDATE: Large discount for IEEE Student members :)

For those of you who may wish to run for a vacant officer position, we have set up a convenient form for you to fill out: http://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/officerapp.

Please also review the Branch Constitution under http://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/branch and the vacant positions at http://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/officers

Bryan has had to respectfully withdraw from his position as Chair for the upcoming 2009-2010 year due to personal reasons.
Per the IEEE constitution, Erik Eyberg has taken over as Acting Chair until the first meeting of the fall semester, September 3rd, when elections will be held.
All other officer positions remain unchanged.

If you are interested in running for a vacant officer position ( http://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/officers ) please contact either chair@ieee.ece.utexas.edu or internal.vicechair@ieee.ece.utexas.edu

Are you doing a power systems-related senior design project or research project during the fall? If so, we have an opportunity for you!

The Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) and IEEE Region 5 are sponsoring the Second Annual Student Design Competition. The competition topic is "designing a direct current delivery system for use in residential applications". There are a total of $5000 in prizes, plus two team members could win a free trip to the Region 5 Annual Meeting in April 2010. You must be a registered member of an IEEE Student Branch in Region 5 (like ours) to participate. For more information, please visit http://www.ieeecontest.com.

The IEEE website Drupal core has been upgraded to version 6.12. All should have gone well, though any broken pages should be reported to it.director [at] ieee.ece.utexas.edu

The IEEE website Drupal core has been upgraded to version 6.11. All should have gone well, though any broken pages should be reported to it.director [at] ieee.ece.utexas.edu

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the IEEE. In celebration, parties, technology and engineering showcases, and general celebrations are being organized around the world. Austin is lucky enough to be hosting one of the few celebrations in the US and every single IEEE member is invited to come! This includes all Student Branch members!

The celebration will include a technology showcase, along with a panel discussion about 'The Engineer of 2020." One of the speakers on this panel will be our own department chair - Dr. Ambler. After the showcase there will be an honest-to-goodness party - the Brain Party. So to RSVP for this event, email vsegna@austinchamber.com and let her know that you are a student branch member and then bring your student ID along when you come to the party. For more information: http://www.austinhumancapital.com/brainparty.html

Event Details:
Technology Showcase
11AM-4PM
RSVP: http://door64.com/techfair

The Engineer of 2020
430-530PM

UT ECE Demos
6-9PM

Brain Party
6-9PM

If you have any questions: internal.vicechair [at] ieee.ece.utexas.edu or chair [at] ieee.ece.utexas.edu

We hope to see you there!

Congratulations to the new IEEE Officers!
Your officers for 2009-10 are

• Chair: Bryan Sierra
• External Vicechair: Erik Eyberg
• Internal Vicechair: Donny Owen
• Corporate Liaison: Thien-An Nguyen
• Treasurer: Francis Israel
• Member Resources: Carolyn Gjertsen
• Programs Director: Aaron Sanchez
• Recording Secretary: Huai Shih
• Membership Director: Ashley Nelson
• Partsbin Director: Jimmy Beecham
• Security Director: Russell Norton
• Outreach Chair: Lee Watson
• SEC Representatives: Simeon Bochev and Jeff Wang
• Counselor: Professor Sriram Vishwanath