Madison Section Newsletter

Vol. 25, No. 1             Serving IEEE Members of South Central Wisconsin              Jan/Feb/Mar 2022

Newsletters are archived online at IEEE-Madison

Upcoming Meetings

Election Results and Chair Message

Review of Past Meetings

Madison Section News

Upcoming Meetings

IEEE-Madison  LMAG Meeting:
"KidWind"

• Tuesday, March 8th, 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
• Talk By Allison Bender of Wisconsin Energy Institute
      and Dick Anderson, KidWind Advisor
• Location: 
        On-Line via Zoom
        (Zoom link will be sent to all who register at  Registration Page)
• Please Register at the KidWind Talk  event page.

Talk:  KidWind is a nonprofit organization that helps teachers and students creatively explore the science, technology and implications of a world powered by renewable energy. We will learn more about the KidWind mission and approach to developing interest among students. Presenters will tell us about the KidWind energy curriculum and the role of wind and solar energy project competitions. They will describe the roles of coaches and other volunteers. Audience members are encouraged to contribute ideas to support and improve the program.

Bios:   Allison Bender joined the Wisconsin Energy Institute in 2018 as Outreach and Events Coordinator. She has a background in environmental education and has worked as a naturalist in state parks across Wisconsin and Minnesota. After completing a B.A. in environmental studies at St. Olaf College in 2017, she served as an AmeriCorps Member in the Minnesota GreenCorps program conducting watershed outreach and education at Whitewater State Park in Minnesota’s Driftless Region and state-wide. At WEI, Allison coordinates a wide variety of educational programming and works with scientists and researchers to translate their work into hands-on activities, lessons, and events for learners of all ages.

Dick Anderson is the Wisconsin KidWind advisor. He connects with educators across the state to support instruction in wind energy and co-leads educator workshops.  He helps organize the annual Wisconsin KidWind Challenge. The Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) awarded Dick Anderson “2020 Energy Educator of the Year” for his dedication to the Wisconsin KidWind Challenge. Prior to his work with KidWind, Anderson was a technical education teacher at the Darlington Wisconsin School District for several decades. He started teaching his high school students about energy in Power Mechanics in 1972.

IEEE-Madison Engineers in Medicine and Biology Chapter:
"Immuno-Autonomics: A Sea Change in Clinical Care"

• Thursday, May 19th, 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM
• Talk by Dr, Andrew Holman, CEO of Inmedix, Inc.
• Location: 
        TBD
• Please Register at the Vtools Event page  here.

Abstract:  Twenty years after the launch of biologic treatments for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it has become increasingly apparent that only 25% of these patients treated achieve adequate success regardless of the immune target addressed.  The solution forced immunologists to seek answers in unexpected places and to rely on technology completely foreign to them.  The immune system is regulated by the brain, specifically the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which modulates fight-or-flight adrenaline and recovery phases.  It is measured best by heart rate variability (HRV) - a techniques used to quantify stress in over 50,000 peer-review studies.  In addition, the software, hardware, and firmware engineering of HRV has been significantly upgraded to enhance its precision.

This 5-min, next-generation HRV supports patients with autoimmune disease by applying a cardiovascular platform (ECG) to assess a brain function (ANS) to solve a clinical immunology problem.  It is first to predict 52-wk biologic outcome in RA with 90% sensitivity and 95.7% specificity in a prospective, double-blind trial.  Of equal importance, optimizing adverse (fight-or-flight predominant) ANS profile increased RA remission from 25% to 79%.  The new concept, called immuno-autonomics, represents a sea change in clinical care.

Bio: Dr. Holman is the founding rheumatologist at Pacific Rheumatology Associates Inc PS, Director of Research at Pacific Rheumatology Research Inc., a former President of the Northwest Rheumatism Society (2005) and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington.   He has 25 year clinical and 19 year rheumatology research career experience with 16 lead author published papers, 25 lead author published abstracts.   For Inmedix, he has designed, completed and published 15 clinical studies, including FDA negotiations, involving nearly 1500 patients.

Research highlights include discovering and licensing use of dopamine agonists as a treatment of  fibromyalgia, applying autonomic nervous system (ANS) analysis with heart rate variability (HRV) to elevate treatment remission rates in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, and broadening understanding of pain in patients with PC3 (positional cervical cord compression) using dynamic cervical magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI).

IEEE-Madison 2022 Officer Election Results

Review of Past Meetings

LMAG WEMPEC Presentation

On December 14^th, UW Professor, Giri Venkataramanan spoke to a Zoom audience about the Wisconsin Electric Machinery and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC). The event was sponsored by the Life Member Affinity Group. Giri joined the WEMPEC faculty in 1999 and became Co-Director with Professor Thomas Jahns in February of 2021. Professor Jahns retired in June of 2021.

Giri described WEMPEC’s mission and approach to providing education in electric machines and power electronics starting with “The Wisconsin Idea” of Charles van Hise. He went on to describe WEMPEC the faculty, students, corporate sponsors and program budget. Giri also described the WEMPEC research and teaching laboratories and the research and technology transfer programs. A question and discussion session followed the presentation.

The presentation is available for viewing on IEEE.tv at:
https://ieeetv.ieee.org/video/wisconsin-electric-machines-power-electronics-consortium

It is also on the IEEE Region 4 YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrmXRmXl5W

ECN Discussion: "New Energy Producing Devices – Open Discussions"

On December 9^th, Leonardo Corporation disclosed their latest pair of devices, the Ecat SKLed (a light)  and Ecat SKLep (a 100 Watt Power Source).  On December ¹⁴th, Tom Kaminski started the discussion with a review of past LENR activities and introduced some new activities showing that "Cold Fusion" research, what was once called "Junk Science", is now accepted by the scientific community.  Rossi's SKLed device was quickly criticized and based on feedback he received, was dropped.  Many felt that the Rossi presentation was quite amateur and left out a lot of details.  The presentation also revealed a technical report done by Professor Levi of the University of Bologna. It showed that the SKLep device produced over 100 watts of roughly 12 VDC electrical power at a power density that exceeds the best known battery technology. The measurements left out a critical independent current measurement, stating that the power was calculated by measuring the voltage across a 1 ohm, 100Watt resistor load.

Since the initial presentation, Rossi stated that the  SKLep device will be produced when he receives 1,000,000 pre-orders.  Currently he has received 800,000 orders, many of them from large commercial buyers.  He has now added a 1 Megawatt and 2 Megawatt 1/2 and full sized shipping container for sale.  He also says that any serious customer (committing to 10K units purchased) may test the device at his facility under strict non-disclosure.

The slides and other reports referenced are available on links at the updated Vtools Event listing for the meeting here.

Note:  Since the December 14th meeting, NASA has published new research data on LENR, The IEEE Spectrum February Issue has an article titled “NASA’s New Shortcut to Fusion Power". The article can be accessed at this link.

IEEE Section Madison News

Future Meetings Planned

IAQ Meeting: We now know that one of the primary ways covid-19 virus spreads is by air-borne droplets. Driplet propagation is related to Indoor Air Quality. We have planned a virtual meeting on Indoor Air Quality in Commercial Buildings will cover the latest thoughts on the topic.  The meeting will be held on Wednesday April 13th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Tim Bertram, UW Madison Department of Chemistry, Profession of Chemistry and Matt Strebe P.E. of Sustainable Energy Savings in the Twin Cities will present.

Summer Social: In a break with tradition, the Madison Section is investigating the possibility of having our annual social event in the summer instead of winter. High on the list is a group trip to a Madison Mallards (baseball) home game. If this is chosen, it would be a family-friendly event. Also, since it would be outdoors, it would be a low risk for COVID transmission. Stay tuned for more information. If you have another suggestion for a family-friendly outdoor social event, please pass it along to the Section Vice Chair ( michael.stemper at gmail).

Member Elevation Activities: Congratulations to  Gaurav Anand who has recently been elevated to Senior Member.  Gaurav initially contacted IEEE-Madison officers via the IEEE-Madison Slack Channel.

Maydm Donation: At the February Executive Meeting, IEEE-Madison voted to give a $1000 donation to Maydm, Inc. (see this link).  Maydm wrote a nice thank you note you can see below.  We hope they can use the money to keep up their great work.

ACIL Award for DLS Electronic Systems: DLS has been a long time supporter of the IEEE Madison Section through ads placed in the Newsletter.  Marilyn Sweeney wrote to report that the company founder and her husband, Don, passed away in May.  Despite the loss, DLS finished 2021 in good stead with Corey (Marilyn and Don's son) as the company President. They look forward to a good year in 2022. 

On December 9th, 2021, D.L.S Electronic Systems, Inc. received three Quality Service Awards from the Washington, DC based American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL). Details about the award can be found here. We wish them all the best in the future.

IEEE-Madison Slack Channel Established and Open to IEEE Members

• What is Slack?: Slack is a messaging application that works on most modern computing platforms, including cell phones.  Many organizations use slack to quickly connect with people and conduct business. You can share files and create sub-channels for discussion. IEEE-Madison is using the free version of slack that has limited features.
• Executive Committee Presence: Members of the IEEE-Madison Executive Committee have joined a Slack Channel and will be available to discuss issues you might bring up.
• For more:  See this YouTube Video on Slack.
  Also see this site: What is Slack?
• Get an Invitation to Join the IEEE-Madison Slack Channel: at Slack Channel.
• Access it here: IEEE Madison Slack Channel

IEEE Madison Leadership

• Section Chair – Scott Olsen
• Section Vice Chair – Mike Stemper
• Section Treasurer – Matt Nowick
• Section Secretary – Tom Kaminski
• Webmaster – Nate Toth, Hugh Schmidt
• Membership Development Chair – Hugh Schmidt
• PES/IAS Chair – Mike Stemper
• PES/IAS Vice Chair – Dan Ludois
• PES/IAS Secretary/Treasurer- VACANT
• EMB Chapter Chair – Dennis Bahr
• Life Member Affinity Group Chair – San Rotter
• Life Member Affinity Group Vice Chair – Charles Cowie
• ECN Chair – Matt Nowick
• Young Professionals Chair – Thomas Murphy
• Section Student Activities Chair -- Hugh Schmidt
• Members at Large: Nate Toth, Clark Johnson, Craig Heilman, Dennis Bahr

Membership Upgrades

Those interested in upgrading their IEEE membership level should be aware that the process has been streamlined with much of it on-line.  The application process can start with your application as described on line here. You will have to provide the names and IEEE numbers for three Senior Members in your field.  The Madison Section Chair (Scott Olsen: olsens93@gmail.com) can help, or attend the informal networking portion of the monthly Section meetings to meet the Section Board members and discuss your intention to elevate.

About IEEE

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