Compass Nov 2006 - PSPE 2006.pdfScientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before —...

VALLEY FORGE CHAPTER

PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS P.O. BOX 585 WORCESTER, PA 19490-0585

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS

THE COMPASS Volume 41, Number 3 - November 2006

(Read the COMPASS on-line at www.pspe-vfc.org)

MEETING SCHEDULE Nov. 30, 2006 (Thur) PSPE Southeast Regional Meeting, hosted by the Chester County Chapter, at The

Inn at Chester Springs Hotel Conference Center. Presentation by Harve Hnatiuk, PE, President PSPE. RSVP by November 22, 2006 to Russ Daniels, PE at 610-692-9836, or Frank Stanton, PE at 215-497-1231 or [email protected]. For more information go to www.pspe.org/pdfs/se_meeting_113006.pdf.

Dec. 3, 2006 (Sun) Day at the Races, Philadelphia Park, Bensalem, PA. 12:30 PM on the 3rd floor in

the Terrace Dining Room. The 5th race of the day will be the "14th Annual Valley Forge PSPE Classic".

Dec. 12, 2006 (Tue) Board of Directors Meeting, McMahon, Fort Washington, PA; 6:00 PM Jan. 2007 Presentation on Historic Preservation, Green Building and Conservation. Details to

follow! Feb. 2007 MathCounts 2007!!! More information to come.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By Paul Dugan, P.E., VFC President Welcome to our November issue of the Compass. The VFC Board of Directors is busy lining up our spring schedule of events and we hope to put together on-going programs of interest to the majority of our membership. Details of upcoming events will be posted on the Compass, our VFC web site (www.pspe-vfc.org), and postcards to those without email as details become available. In October, members of several southeast chapters came out to our joint October meeting at Drexel University’s Bossone Center for our dinner and a presentation by Jonathan Spanier on the applications of nanotechnology, followed by a tour of the Drexel Nanotechnology Institute. Please plan on attending our PSPE Southeast Regional Meeting on November 30, 2006, hosted by the Chester County Chapter, at The Inn at Chester Springs Hotel Conference Center. Presentation to be given by Harve Hnatiuk, PE, President PSPE on the future direction of our society and a review of our PSPE Strategic Plan. December 3rd marks the “Day at the Races”, Philadelphia Park, Bensalem, PA. 12:30 PM on the 3rd floor in the Terrace Dining Room. The 5th race of the day will be the "14th Annual Valley Forge PSPE Classic". We are extending invitations to all new licensees in the Bucks County area to join us for this fun filled event and to encourage them to join our society. We are still looking for candidates to fill the VP slot on our BOD and any other potential board members should one of our existing board members wish to step up to the VP slot. On behalf of the VFC-BOD, we wish you a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday!

2006-07 Chapter Officers and Board of Directors

President Paul Dugan, PE 303 Valley Hunt Dr., Phoenixville, PA 19460 610-220-3820 [email protected] President-Elect Anthony Dougherty, PE 2500 E. High St., Ste 650, Pottstown, PA 19464 610-326-3100 [email protected] Vice President (Vacant) Treasurer Kurt Leininger, PE 920 Germantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 610-313-3100 [email protected] Secretary Lindsay Musselman, EIT PO Box 4, WP20-206, West Point, PA 19401 610-279-3015 [email protected] State Director Mike Moore, PE 1680 Deerfield Rd. Norristown, PA 19403 610-539-6251 [email protected] Past-President Rod Plourde, Ph.D, PE 425 Commerce Dr, Ft Washington, PA 19034 215-283-9444 [email protected] Chapter Director Karen O’Connell, EIT 425 Commerce Dr, Ft Washington, PA 19034 215-283-9444 [email protected] Chapter Director Mike Fischer, EIT 303 Valley Hunt Dr., Phoenixville, PA 19460 215-205-2130 [email protected] Chapter Director Anthony Handley, EIT 303 Valley Hunt Dr., Phoenixville, PA 19460 610-585-5889 [email protected] Chapter Director S. Rao Chitikela, Ph.D, PE 550 Pinetown Rd, Ft Washington, PA 19034 215-643-5466 [email protected] Chapter Director Keith Bergman, PE 550 Pinetown Rd, Ft Washington, PA 19034 215-641-1114 [email protected] Chapter Director Layne Blavier, PE 804 Division Ave, Willow Grove, PA 19090 215-357-5500 [email protected] SE Region PSPE Vice President Frank Stanton, PE 50 Fir Drive, Richboro PA 18954 215-497-1231 [email protected]

2006-07 VFC Committees

Committee Primary Contact Secondary Contact Audit Frank Stanton, PE Rao Chitikela, PhD, PE Awards Lindsay Musselman, EIT Mike Moore, PE By-Laws Kurt Leininger, PE Frank Stanton, PE Engineers Week Anthony Handley, EIT Joe Habboush, PE Ethics Paul Dugan, PE Layne Blavier, PE Legislative/Gov’t Paul Dugan, PE Frank Stanton, PE Mathcounts Karen O’Connell, EIT Keith Bergman, PE Membership Lindsay Musselman, EIT Mike Fischer, EIT Nominating Rod Plourde, PhD, PE Tony Dougherty, PE Programs Tony Dougherty, PE Layne Blavier, PE Publications Kurt Leininger, PE Anthony Handley, EIT Scholarship Lindsey Musselman, EIT Karen O’Connell, EIT Science Fair Tony Dougherty, PE Frank Stanton, PE VFC Website Mike Fischer, EIT Anthony Handley, EIT Practice Division Contact PEPP Paul Dugan, PE PEC Keith Bergman, PE PEG Rod Plourde, PhD, PE PEI Lindsay Musselman, EIT PEE Kurt Leininger, PE (Note – The above committee positions were determined by those who attended the September Board of Directors meeting.)

FUTURE CITY 2007 – MENTORS NEEDED! Less than two weeks until registration closes and schools continue to sign up. Out of 31 schools registered, 10 still need mentors. Here is the current list: Barkalow Middle School Freehold, NJ CCA Baldi Middle School Philadelphia (Far Northeast) GA Stetson Middle School West Chester, PA St. Bernard School Philadelphia (Mayfair) St. Joseph the Worker Orefield, PA St. Paul School Wilmington, DE St. Thomas School Wilmington, DE Sulzberger Middle School Philadelphia (West Phila) Thomas Jefferson Middle School Rockaway, NJ Thurgood Marshall Middle School Philadelphia (Olney) How much has your ability to ask the right question helped you in your career? Just imagine how much someone with your experience can help a team of students ask the right questions and build a better city! Just 1 or 2 hours a week can make a huge difference in both the learning process and the team’s finished product. Please let me know if you are interesting in working with any of the schools above. Please visit our website at www.futurecityphilly.org for more information. There you can see all the schools registered and also sign up to be a preliminary or essay judge or a general volunteer for the 2007 competition (which has been confirmed for Saturday, January 27 at Villanova University). Also, I could use a few volunteers to help get the word out about Future City and hopefully find some potential mentors. If you think you can help out please let me know. If you’ve already volunteered this year, thank you. You will continue to receive these volunteer e-mails in hopes that you can spread the word about this great program. Jennifer Philadelphia Regional Volunteer Coordinator [email protected] SCIENTISTS CREATE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY By Randolph E. Schmid, AP Science Writer, October 2006 Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before — to develop a Cloak of Invisibility. It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt. James T. Kirk or to disguise Harry Potter, but it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs. In this first successful experiment, researchers from the United States and England were able to cloak a copper cylinder. It's like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky. "We have built an artificial mirage that can hide something from would-be observers in any direction," said cloak designer David Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department. For their first attempt, the researchers designed a cloak that prevents microwaves from detecting objects. Like light and radar waves, microwaves usually bounce off objects, making them visible to instruments and creating a shadow that can be detected.

Cloaking used special materials to deflect radar or light or other waves around an object, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream. It differs from stealth technology, which does not make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track. The new work points the way for an improved version that could hide people and objects from visible light. Conceptually, the chance of adapting the concept to visible light is good, Schurig said in a telephone interview. But, he added, "From an engineering point of view it is very challenging."

Reuters Photo: A photo of the 'metamaterial' cloak, released to Reuters on October 19, 2006.

The cloaking of a cylinder from microwaves comes just five months after Schurig and colleagues published their theory that it should be possible. Their work is reported in a paper in Friday's issue of the journal Science. "We did this work very quickly ... and that led to a cloak that is not optimal," said co-author David R. Smith, also of Duke. "We know how to make a much better one." The first working cloak was in only two dimensions and did cast a small shadow, Smith said. The next step is to go for three dimensions and to eliminate any shadow. Viewers can see things because objects scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye. "The cloak reduces both an object's reflection and its shadow, either of which would enable its detection," Smith said. The cloak is made of metamaterials, which are mixtures of metal and circuit board materials such as ceramic, Teflon or fiber composite. In an ideal situation, the cloak and the item it is hiding would be invisible. An observer would see whatever is beyond them, with no evidence the cloaked item exists. "Since we do not have a perfect cloak at this point, there is some reflection and some shadow, meaning that the background would still be visible just darkened somewhat. ... We now just need to improve the performance of cloaking structures." In a very speculative application, he added, "one could imagine 'cloaking' acoustic waves, so as to shield a region from vibration or seismic activity." Natalia M. Litchinitser, a researcher at the University of Michigan department of electrical engineering and computer science who was not part of the research team, said the ideas raised by the work "represent a first step toward the development of functional materials for a wide spectrum of civil and military applications." Joining Schurig and Smith in the project were researchers at Imperial College in London and SensorMetrix, a materials and technology company in San Diego. The research was supported by the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program and the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_sc/cloak_of_invisibility_5

MILLENNIUM ENGINEERING ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD CERTIFICATIONS By Mike Fischer, VFC Chapter Director

On October 17, Paul Dugan (VFC President) and Mike Fischer (VFC Chapter Director) of Millennium Engineering, P.C. visited a 500’ smokestack which contains a FM broadcast antenna to certify compliance with the FCC exposure limits and guidelines. Measurements were performed at ground level and on three occupational worker platforms to document electromagnetic field exposure and craft a RF (radiofrequency) safety plan for plant employees. Escorted by a plant employee, Mike rode the stack elevator to each of the stack’s three platforms (243’, 349’, 469’) and performed exposure measurements with a Narda meter/probe instrument to formulate a safety plan for the workers who occasionally visit the stack platforms for routine maintenance of the smokestack. The Narda meter and probe measures the percentage of the FCC allowable maximum permissible exposure in the location the measurement is taken. Close to 500 whole body spatial average measurements were taken at 500 random locations for a thorough mapping of existing RF exposure levels in all accessible areas. Shown to the left is a picture of Mike on the top stack platform performing one of these measurements. Due to height phobia, Paul bravely volunteered for the ground level measurements while

Mike performed the elevated field work in heavy wind and rain.

For the second straight year, the PSPE Foursome (Harry Garman, PE, PLS; Frank Stanton, PE; Harve Hnatiuk, PE, FNSPE; and Paul Dugan, PE) participated in the Delaware Valley Engineers

Week Council's Golf Outing. The foursome reports that their score at Island Green Golf Club on October 13th did not endanger the course record.

BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S MEETING MINUTES Meeting Date

November 7, 2006 Those in Attendance: Anthony Handley, E.I.T. Paul Dugan, P.E.

Kurt Leininger, P.E. Rod Plourde, P.E. Mike Fischer, E.I.T. Tony Dougherty, P.E. Lindsay Musselman, E.I.T.

Meeting Called to Order 5:42 PM

Minutes from May Meeting

Accepted. Reports of Officers President’s report:

Web site has been updated with new revisions including pictures of historic VF Park and VFC banner. President-Elect’s report:

PEPP Professional Seminars being offered – Ft. Washington, Nov 7 – PennDOT Permitting.

Vice President’s report: Vacant.

Treasure’s report:

$3389 checking, $1000 removed from CD, $90 from dues. Secretary’s Report:

Nothing to report. State Director’s Report:

Not present. SE Regional VP:

Not present. Committee Reports:

Communications Compass: Distribution by end of week. Notifications: Postcards needed announcing November and December meetings. Webmaster: Photos of Valley Forge Park and VFC banner added.

MathCounts:

Not present.

Membership: 1 new member – Michelle Eve, 5 delinquent members, 1 moved member.

Programs:

November – SE Regional Meeting – Inn at Chester Springs. December – Day at the Races. January – Historic Preservation/Green Building with Chester County. Possibly at Baxter's in Great Valley. February – Need ideas. March – MathCounts banquet. Need ideas. Possibly at William Penn Inn.

Unfinished Business:

None. New Business:

VP vacancy since Layne Blavier stepped down. Director vacancy filled – Layne Blavier.

A.O.B

Future Cities Competition – board approved $200 to sponsor special award. Adjournment:

6:23 PM Next meeting December 12, 6:00pm, McMahon.




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Compass Nov 2006 - PSPE 2006.pdfScientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before —...

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