Electrical Apparatus: Associations, societies, & government activities

Engineers Week joining 'Engineers Without Borders'

The 2005 version of Engineers Week, an annual projeet first established in 1951, will have the support of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and will support Engineers Without Borders in its international efforts to serve some of the depressed areas of the world.

Typical of EWB work are the efforts of University of New Hampshire engineering students who will return this month to a Burma village where students have worked for three years to develop better water supplies.

"Students use and refine developing technical skills to tackle problems and achieve immediate results," said Victoria Rockwell, a mechanical engineer and an Engineers Week member.

Electrical Manufacturing show readying October plans

A "Call for Papers" has gone out to prospective speakers, panelists, and workshop participants for the 2005 EMCW Association Conference, to be held Oct. 24-26 at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis.

"We're especially interested in hands-on success stories that can help attendeesspecial projects that you've seen through to completion, technological innovations, industry updates, and solutions to industrywide problems," Charles E. Thurman, executive director of the Electrical Manufacturing & Coil Winding Association, the show's sponsors, announced.

Abstracts of 200 words or less, or complete manuscripts, should be sent by Jan. 15 to Thurman at EMCWA, P.O. Box 278, Imperial Beach, Calif. 91933-9967. Complete papers are due June 1. Information is available from (619) 435-3629, fax (619) 435=3639, and e-mail cthurman®emcwa oorg.

Electrical distributors join U.S. energy program

The National Association of Electrical Distributors has become a partner with "Energy Star," a voluntary public-private partnership co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. According to NAED, 56% of Americans recognize the Energy Star trademark, mainly due to its annual "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, running this year from October to December, encouraging the public to make home energy efficient.

NAED states that the 2003 PSA campaign generated more than $17 million in equivalent advertising value with more than 70,000 airings. Information about joining the program is available from Jeff Schwartz, ICF Consulting, jschwartz@icfconsulting.com.

NAED's Education & Research Foundation also announced that it has received a $500,000 commitment by Hubbell, Inc., Orange, Connecticut. The donation will become part of an endowment fund for the foundation.

Annual PEARL Convention next month in Las Vegas

The Professional Electrical Apparatus Recyclers League annual conference and trade show will be held Feb. 27 to March 1 at the MGM Grand hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Speakers will include Dr. George Kramerich, professor of electrical engineering, Cleveland State University, the keynoter; Jim White, Shermco Industries, Inc., whose topic is "Testing trip devices and reading and interpreting time curves"; Mike Nightingale, Voyten Electric, who will describe the "Introduction of new standards and what standards to tackle next" and "Insulation resistance testing, reasoning, methods and technique."

Also on the program are Gray Alexander, Surplus Equipment Consortium Network, who will speak on "Moving to the next level in surplus equipment"; Brian Corekin, Monster Fuses, whose topics will be "Fuses-tackling this difficult and important standard"; and Craig Volpe, Pacific Coast Breaker, who will talk about "Labeling-picking up from last year."

Registration information is available from (800) 929-9411.

Safety engineers protest health program elimination

Pacific Northeast members of the American Society of Safety Engineers are alarmed that officials in the state of Oregon are considering eliminating the environmental, health, and safety program at Mt. Hood Community College, the only program of its type in the state, according to ASSE headquarters in Des Plaines, 111.

"It makes little sense to end a program that prepares students for careers in a field where there are ample, well-paid career opportunities," ASSE president Gene Barfield wrote Robert Silverman, president of Mt. Hood. "The graduates of this program are not only in demand in the Pacific Northwest, but nationally and internationally."

ASSE last month also announced a risk impacts safety and health program. "Using Risk Principles for Safety and Health Decisions" that will feature Dr. Oren Harari, NASA Space Shuttle Program's Safety and Mission Assurance Integration Specialist, along with other authorities on risk assessment tools and methods to understand the cost of risk. Information: (847) 699-2929.

Edited by the EA staff