Membership Benefits

Become a member of IEEE and enjoy the following benefits:

• Free Microsoft Software including Windows 7 Professional

• A subscription to IEEE Spectrum magazine (online and print versions monthly)

• An online subscription to IEEE Potentials magazine through IEEEXplore, published every other month.

• Email alias @ieee.org - instantly showing you are an IEEE member with virus protection and spam filtering

• myIEEE - members-only personalized gateway into IEEE membership with the latest release in April 2009.

• IEEE memberNet – IEEE’s online membership directory, connecting membership worldwide. Offered as an exclusive benefit of membership.

• IEEE.tv – internet-based broadcasting network delivering special-interest programming about technology and engineering

• IEEE Job site – locate opportunities for your next career move

Click here to learn more about these and other benefits of joining IEEE.

To become a member, click here.

Upcoming Events

The new semester has begun, and we're off to a busy start. We've got three events coming up in the next week.

1) The Student Organization Fair will take place on the East Patio next to the Union from 12 to 4 PM next Wednesday, September 2nd. Stop by and visit our booth to learn about IEEE and enjoy some free candy.

2) We're also having a picnic September 2nd from 5 to 7 PM in the courtyard between the engineering buildings, just north of the "Spaceship" building. We'll be serving free hamburgers and hot dogs off the grill.

3) Our first meeting will take place Thursday, September 3rd at 6 PM in the Construction Management Auditorium. Former NDSU graduate Scott Hoaby will speak on Strategic Product Innovation - how engineers succeed or fail in sustaining technology companies. We'll provide pop and cookies after the presentation.

Be sure to check out these activities next week, and don't forget to email us at ieee.ndsu@gmail.com if you have any questions.

DSP Fun

Last May we had an opportunity to hear Dr. Roger Green introduce the topic of digital signal processing through a fun and interactive presentation using MATLAB. Dr. Green started by revealing the "SIN-ful Secrets of DSP" through viewing signals in the frequency-domain. He then showed us how to sing like chipmunks by altering the sampling rate of a signal, and we attempted to identify the gender and age of several altered voices. We found that this task was much easier when we had the power of the Discrete Fourier Transform on our side. During the presentation we also got to experience the $10 Phone Number Challenge, altering time, and gender benders. We all agreed the presentation was a great time, and we hope to have more like it in the coming year.

If you'd like a copy of the presentation and/or the MATLAB code used, email us at ieee.ndsu@gmail.com

Spring Trip '09

Every year our student chapter undertakes a spring trip, during which we visit various companies from industry. These trips are very beneficial to our members. They allow us to see firsthand what engineers do and provide us with opportunities to network with future employers. This past spring nine students went on the trip. We chose to travel to Minneapolis/St. Paul where we toured five companies representing several different areas of electrical engineering.

Our first stop was a railway track maintenance company, Loram, where we were given a presentation about the company and a tour of the facilities. During the presentation we learned all about the responsibilities of the electrical engineers who work for the company, designing and maintaining various types of railway maintenance machinery. Then we were taken on a tour of the production areas where the machinery is constructed, and we were able to see firsthand the machines we had learned about during the presentation.

After departing Loram we made our way to Medtronic, a company specializing in medical technology. At Medtronic we met up with a former NDSU student, Nathan Grenz, who gave us a tour of part of the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management Department. We were also able to talk with some other engineers at the company who talked about their experiences working for Medtronic and other companies. They also showed us some pacemaker components which they were currently designing. Later, we ate lunch in the company’s cafeteria with a group of NDSU graduates who work at Medtronic. They shared their experiences and answered our questions about the company and engineering in general.

The Cummins Power Generation facility was our next stop, where we were given a presentation about the company and taken on a tour. During the tour we were shown many things, including the assembly areas where Cummins generators are built.

To finish the first day of our trip, we made our way to Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the United States. After checking in with the security guard in the main lobby, another former NDSU graduate, Sheldon Aldridge, took us on a tour of several different labs where he and his coworkers design and test various products for the government and military.

On the second and final day of our trip, we visited Goodrich, a leading supplier of systems and services to the aerospace and defense industry, where we met some electrical engineers who took us on a tour of the facilities. We were shown several different labs where aircraft sensors and other electrical components are designed and tested.

Overall, the trip was a success, and we're excited to start planning our next foray into the world of industry.