UMaine student group hosting IEEE Day Oct. 4

October 3, 2016 Economic Development, Outreach, Signature and Emerging Areas

The University of Maine’s Student Branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers will host IEEE Day on campus Oct. 4.

IEEE Day is a global event put on by the organization to promote collaboration and interaction between its student members and professionals. This will be the first year the UMaine group will take part.

“The event serves as a prime opportunity to stir up interest in STEM fields and careers,” according to Graham Van Goffrier, president of UMaine’s IEEE Student Branch.

The day will begin at 10:30 a.m. with team-building exercises for student members and faculty outside the Engineering Science Research Building.

At 11:30 a.m. Mark Ouellette, president and COO of Axiom Technologies, will speak about how the company is using emerging technology to serve existing broadband customers in Maine, and the 20,000 homes in the state that are not connected to the internet. Ouellette’s “Lunch and Learn” presentation will be held in Hill Auditorium, Barrows Hall.

The IEEE Student Branch will hold a chapter meeting at 4 p.m. in Hill Auditorium with guest Walter Rawle, an educator, engineer and entrepreneur who now serves as director of advanced projects and research at Ultra Electronics Flightline Systems in New York. Rawle will discuss the state of the aerospace industry regarding careers for electrical engineering graduates.

At 5:15 p.m. the student meeting will transition into a general meeting of the IEEE Maine section, which is composed of volunteer professionals from throughout the state.

The meeting, also in Hill Auditorium, will include a catered dinner by UMaine Dining and a presentation by Ali Abedi, a UMaine professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Lonnie Labonte, a UMaine graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering. The pair will discuss NASA projects they have been involved with.

The first two talks are free and open to the public, though specifically targeted at students. The final presentation and dinner meeting require registration and admission fees. Registration and more information is online.

Working with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Engineering Technology, UMaine’s IEEE Student Branch supports meetings and activities that contribute to the development of electrical and computer engineering and technology.

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. More about IEEE is online.