The Future of IEEE

by Jon Scalera

As all great leaders know, it is important to first look to the past before planning for the future. It is this very important concept that will be employed by the new IEEE officers so that the great achievements of the previous year's officers can not only be reproduced, but also surpassed. This wonderful group of elected officers consists of a few new faces as well as many dedicated individuals who are already quite familiar to the IEEE. Kash Kapadia, Daren Keller, Mark Sinclair, Kevin Meyer, Angel Jia, Eric Lynskey and I will be serving as vice-president, secretary, treasurer, activities coordinator, senior class representative, junior class representative, and president, respectively, for the 1998-99 school year.

Considering last year's faculty advisor will be on leave this coming semester, the UNH IEEE student branch will also be welcoming a new advisor to the team, Dr. Richard Messner. Although Messner receives the title "new" faculty advisor, in no way is he unfamiliar to the workings of the IEEE; in fact, he has served in this position many times in the past, as well as held multiple positions in the state section of the IEEE. With this experience, Professor Messner is an ideal individual to guide and advise the IEEE through the next year and he will certainly aid the organization in achieving its goal of surpassing the former year's accomplishments.

Although it is planned to continue the traditional social events, including picnics and parties, it is hoped that the professional aspect of the IEEE will be emphasized more this year. This goal will be accomplished by continuing professional lectures, planning more visits to industry, as well as organizing an engineer mentor day. Finally, improvements to the chapter's web page will be made to bring it up to date and a possible engineering design contest is in the works. Finally, the most important and difficult task of the IEEE officers of this coming year will be to increase student membership and to encourage more student involvement. I look forward to welcoming many new students as well as working with Dr. Messner and the returning IEEE members, and envision a very productive and successful year.