Section Meeting Minutes
For digital flipbooks, see image below to enlarge. Then left click anywhere on a page to obtain a larger page.
Squishy Circuits
- Leadership content at the Young Professional minisite: Young (YP) Professional | IEEE Pikes Peak Section.
- At YP minisite are links as a resource to come up with your own idea of STEM/STEAM topics
- For video tutorials on Squishy Circuits, Sample Lessons, PhET Simulations and other resources please visit the Squishy-Circuits | IEEE Pikes Peak Section
USAF Academy Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), 19 November 2024
Dr. Dan Baker gave a workshop on the Practical AI Applications for Your Workflow and Classroom. The hands-on workshop offers participants to take a deep dive on Generative AI (GenAI). Enhance your creativity, productivity, and problem solving.
Region 5 Published News Articles on Thought Experiments
- Blockchain Technology and Voting Systems – IEEE Region 5
- Engineering a Better Economy: Why KEYSTONE-Based Technologies Matter More Than Ever – IEEE Region 5
- Reimagining Global Stability: How Decentralized Technology Could Usher in a New Era of Peace and Sustainability – IEEE Region 5
- The Mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto: A Humble Engineer or STEAM-Driven Collective And Philanthropist – IEEE Region 5
Article Ideas for IEEE*USA
Since the above posted ideas result in paradigm shifts and cognitive dissonance for those who are not familiar with blockchain/bitcoin technologies, maybe a series of tutorial short articles on blockchain/bitcoin tutorials as one possible approach. For example, here is a series of short articles for each week of the eight following weeks:
Week 1–4: Foundations of Bitcoin
Week 1: “The Seed of Value”
Metaphor: A seed grows into a tree over time, just as Bitcoin starts small but has exponential potential.
Concept: Introduction to Bitcoin as a store of value and financial revolution.
Week 2: “The Honeybee and Decentralization”
Metaphor: Bees collaborate in decentralized hives to create value (honey).
Concept: Bitcoin’s decentralized network and why it’s important.
Week 3: “Mountains and Immutability”
Metaphor: Mountains stand unchanged for millennia, just like Bitcoin’s blockchain ledger.
Concept: Bitcoin as an immutable, transparent ledger.
Week 4: “The Roots of Trust”
Metaphor: Deep roots anchor trees securely, similar to Bitcoin’s Proof of Work ensuring trust.
Concept: How Bitcoin replaces trust in institutions with cryptographic proof.
Week 5–8: Understanding Bitcoin’s Mechanics
Week 5: “Energy and Photosynthesis”
Metaphor: Plants convert sunlight into energy, like Bitcoin converts energy into digital scarcity.
Concept: Proof of Work and energy consumption.
Week 6: “The Water Cycle and Value Flow”
Metaphor: Water cycles through the ecosystem, ensuring life continues; Bitcoin cycles value globally.
Concept: How Bitcoin enables seamless value transfer worldwide.
Week 7: “The DNA of Money”
Metaphor: DNA codes for life, and Bitcoin’s protocol codes for fair money.
Concept: Bitcoin’s code, its open-source nature, and its immutability.
Week 8: “Survival of the Fittest Currency”
Metaphor: Nature evolves through competition, and Bitcoin competes as the most robust form of money.
Concept: Bitcoin’s resilience and anti-fragility.
AI Topics
Based on my limited experience on AI with 2024 IEEE Education Week, we can do some of these as short articles based on stuff found at:
https://r5.ieee.org/pikespeak/2024-ieee-education-week/.
Non-Techie: Superskills
With regards to aligning with Region 5 priorities and non-techie stuff, we can do the following:
Leadership Pipeline & STEM/STEAM Outreach
We can talk about the leadership content at the Young Professional minisite: https://r5.ieee.org/pikespeak/young-professional/ to increase the Young Professional (YP) pipeline for engaging through with IEEE Student Branches, given the recent purchase of Squishy Circuits found at:
https://r5.ieee.org/pikespeak/squishy-circuits/
to increase leadership vitality where ideally: LMAG member mentors YP members, YP members mentor IEEE student branches, IEEE student members mentor k-12 and their parents.
Partnership with Industry and Educational Outreach
For increased engagement/outreach with industry and the community, we can have them engage with future STEM/STEAM projects starting with Squishy Circuits and then to more advanced student STEM/STEAM activities/projects based on my past experience with IEEE CTU Student Branch as Branch Advisor.
STEM/STEAM Events
Here is an overview of the organizations and events in Colorado Springs, along with anticipated dates for 2025:
1. What IF… Festival of Innovation & Imagination
The What IF… Festival is a vibrant celebration of creativity and innovation, engaging over 25,000 participants across six city blocks in downtown Colorado Springs. Attendees experience interactive presentations, hands-on demonstrations, exhibitions, and performances that highlight the region’s technological and artistic advancements.
Estimated 2025 Date: Historically held in mid-September, the festival is likely to occur around Saturday, September 13, 2025.
2. Imagination Celebration
Imagination Celebration is dedicated to expanding minds through arts and education, offering programs that foster creativity across the community. They are integral to organizing the What IF… Festival, which showcases innovation and imagination in the Pikes Peak Region.
Estimated 2025 Date: Aligned with the What IF… Festival, anticipated around September 13, 2025.
3. Cool Science
Cool Science aims to make science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) engaging for children through interactive demonstrations and hands-on activities. They host the annual Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival, featuring numerous events that showcase STEAM throughout the region.
Estimated 2025 Date: The festival typically spans 16 days in late September to early October. For 2025, it may run from September 27 to October 12, with the Cool Science Carnival Day likely on Saturday, September 27, 2025.
4. Space Foundation Discovery Center
The Space Foundation Discovery Center is a premier space, science, and technology attraction offering exhibits, interactive labs, and educational programs. It serves as a hub for students, educators, and the community to explore space and science.
Ongoing Events: The center hosts various events, including Family Star Parties, Homeschool Days, and Tesla’s Toolbox workshops. Specific 2025 dates are to be announced; it’s recommended to check their official website
5. National Museum of World War II Aviation
This museum documents the role of military aviation in World War II, featuring restored aircraft, exhibits, and educational programs. It offers guided tours and hosts special events throughout the year.
Ongoing Events: Open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM. Special events and programs are scheduled regularly; for the latest information, refer to their official website.
**6. Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD)*PPLD provides extensive resources, programs, and services across multiple library locations, including educational classes, cultural events, and community programs for all ages.
Ongoing Events: Programs are offered year-round. For the most current schedule of events in 2025, visit their official website.
Note: The dates provided are estimates based on historical scheduling. For the mosto-date information, please consult the official websites of each organization.
URLs:
- What IF… Festival:
- Imagination Celebration:
- Cool Science:
- Space Foundation Discovery Center:
- National Museum of World War II Aviation:
- Pikes Peak Library District
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IEEE Pikes Peak Excom Minutes October 30, 2024
The on-line meeting of the Excom was opened by DAVID BONDURANT at 6:30 pm. Members in attendance were:
DAVID BONDURANT, Chair
John Reinert, Treasurer
John Santiago, Webmaster/Past Chair
Chairman’s Report
Annual Election Call for Nominations closed on October 15 and we have a full slate of Officer candidates. Matt Francis R5 Director has approved on single person slate, we are currently in the Petition phase of the election.
Senior Member Upgrade Panel has 8 Senior Members approved and 1 candidate in process. An award ceremony suggested for December to honor the new Senior Members.
Sign-up for Mentors and Judges for Future City Colorado middle school program continues. We have had a total of 5 eNotices so far and we have about 14 Judges signed up so far. David has submitted a $500 grant request for payment to support this statewide STEM activity.
National Museum of WWII Aviation Interactive Exhibits group is again requesting funding to support growth of its student simulation lab. $3000 support is being suggested
UCCS Student Member Incentive Program. 40 IEEE Blue Polo shirts in mixed sizes have been purchased and delivered to UCCS ECE Department to support their student branch. Shirt will be given to all Student members and the Student Branch advisors. We are offering a polo shirt to each new Student Branch member that signs up as an incentive. This program will be extended to AFA and CSU-Pueblo Student Branches upon request.
R5 West Area Town Hall was held on October 28 with all Section in the R5 West Area presenting Section status to Matt Francis and other Region officers. Our report is attached to these minutes.
Treasurer’s Report
The section has about $137K in Operating and Investment Accounts. During the past month, the section spent about $2100 including 40 IEEE Polo Shirts for UCCS, a YP/Student Mixer at COATI, a meeting by chair and treasurer, and 3 IEEE Polo Shirts awarded to Senior Upgrade panel for performing 5 Senior Member interview sessions with candidates.
Webmaster/Education Activities Report
John Santiago participated in IEEE STEM Summit from October 23-25. He promoted the WIE Webinar Series to section members. He will be participating in USAF Academy Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Workshop in November. He participated in Engineering Leadership Council (ELC) meeting on October 29 with John Reinert and Bailey Heyman where they met new UCCS Dean.
John is developing a STEM plan for the Section. R5 is offering to fund up to $200 in STEM Kits. When developed, their STEM kits may be used to support student demonstrations in the program.
Student Activities
Bailey Heyman held a YP/Student Mixer at COATI Miso Bar on the second floor of this SoDo food court. About 8 people attended and the group went to StreetCar 520 for dinner after mixing for awhile in the Bar.
Program Committee
Russ Bogardus had back surgery so he was unable to attend. Russ has been working with Dave Bondurant on a historical talk about Tesla’s Magnifying Transmitter, the story of his laboratory located in Memorial Park in 1899 that validated the design and operation of a transmitter and receiver of both telegraph communications and wireless power transmission. We hope that this talk will lead to a IEEE Milestone to be posted somewhere in the area.
Joint ED/CAS Chapter
The Chapter held two in-person meetings at UCCS during October
Joint ED/CAS and LMAG Meeting – October 24
On October 24 at noon, a Joint meeting of the IEEE Pikes Peak Electronic Devices/Circuits & Systems Chapter and Life Member Affinity Group was held at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Tom Saponas Lounge on the second floor of the Engineering Building.
David Bondurant, Pikes Peak Section and LMAG Chair was the speaker with the topic “Beyond Moore: 3D Chips, 3D Packaging”. The meeting was attended by 8 IEEE Members and 26 UCCS Engineering Students. Lunch was served following the presentation. Lunch was provided by the Pikes Peak LMAG.
David described 70-years of Moore’s law showing the tremendous growth in the number of transistors per chip and that progress has slowed as technology has dropped below 28 nm and approaches 1 nm. We saw how NAND, DRAM, and SRAM have reached a wall preventing further scaling without 3-D processes. We observed the move to 2.5D and 3.D packaging in the current leading Supercomputers and AI processors. We focused on the development of 3D processes for DRAM starting at 1Mbit and discussed future roadmaps for 3D DRAM process technology to go Beyond Moore and looked at the Roadmap for today’s stacked 3D High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).
Joint ED/CAS and Pikes Peak Section Meeting – October 31
On October 31 at noon, the second Joint meeting of the IEEE Pikes Peak Electronic Devices/Circuits & Systems Chapter and Pikes Peak Section meeting was held at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Tom Saponas Lounge on the second floor of the Engineering Building.
Dr. Carlos Araujo, IEEE Fellow and Distinguished Professor at UCCS talked with the topic “A New Nonvolatile With for the Age of AI”. The meeting was attended by 7 IEEE Members which included 2 Life Members, 5 UCCS Staff, and 34 UCCS Engineering Students. The Lunch served following the presentation was provided by the Pikes Peak Section.
Carlos Araujo is the 2006 IEEE Daniel Noble Medal winner for his work in developing the first Ferroelectric RAM. He founded Ramtron and Symetrix to develop FRAM in the 1980s. Today, he talked by the Mott Quantum Switch (MQS) which may provide a fast nonvolatile memory scalable to 2 nm nano sheet devices with much lower read/write power than today’s DRAM.
UCCS Campus
UCCS Engineering Building
It was standing room only as Dr. Araujo describe the MQS devices
Dr. Araujo describes the operation of the Mott Quantum Switch
IEEE Pikes Peak Section Chair
IEEE Pikes Peak LMAG Chairman
IEEE Pikes Peak Section Executive Committee Meeting – 9/25/24
The meeting was called to order by David Bondurant, Chair. The following members in attendance:
David Bondurant, Chair and LMAG Chair
John Reinert, Treasurer
Bailey Heyman, SAC
Priyank Kashyap, YP Representative
John Santiago, Webmaster & Region 5 Educational Activities Coordinator (REAC)
Dileep Rai, Treasurer Candidate
Senthil Mehalingam, Computer Society Chapter Vice-Chair
Dmytro Bozhko, Magnetics Society Chair
Navid Shahrouzi, UCCS Student Branch Advisor
Thottam Kalkur, ED/CAS Chapter Chair
David reviewed key issues for October.
Annual Election Call for Nominations closed on 9/13 with no Secretary candidate. The nomination period is being extended until October 15 to allow addition of more candidates.
Senior Member Upgrade Panel has successfully interviewed 9 candidates and their applications have been submitted. Waiting for notification of award. An Awards Banquet is proposed in November to honor the new Senior Members.
Sign-up for Mentors and Judges for Future City Colorado middle school program continue. Another 2 eNotices sent to Section membership but only 2 signups have been documented so far. David proposes to provide another $500 grant to Future City Colorado like last year to support the program and make Pikes Peak Section a sponsor.
National Museum of WWII Aviation Interactive Exhibits group has again requested support for their Student Simulation Lab in support of UCCS Senior Interns. David proposed $950 Life Member Funds and $2000 Section Funds to support software and hardware additions to the facility. These proposals will be reviewed again at the next meeting.
UCCS Student Member Incentive Program. David proposed that Section provide UCCS Student Branch with IEEE Polo Shirts for every current student branch member and for new member signups. 40 Shirts in Brilliant Blue with IEEE Logo and tagline were ordered. They will be distributed by ECE Office prior to planned October 24 Student Branch Mixer.
R5 West Area Town Hall is scheduled for October 28. All Sections in the West Area of R5 will be reporting on their Section and it’s activities.
Financial Report. John Reinert reviewed financial report. Section has $132K in operating and investment accounts. The IEEE is moving to a new financial system on October 1. No Concur expense reports will be processed until that time. John had attend treasurer training on the new system. Dileep (treasurer candidate) and David Bondurant will attend treasurer training on Saturday September 28.
Website and Educational Activities – John Santiago report that he had attend so WIE events and a Chapter Vitality meeting. Pikes Peak is in the top 30% of Sections in Region for activities. He will be attending a STEM Summit webinar. Dileep Rai continue to enhanced the functionality of the YP webpages of the website.
Future Section Programs – Russ Bogardus was unable to attend but David provided his report. They have been talking about how to define some IEEE Milestone programs to apply for. We are proposing to work on a Milestone for the Tesla Wireless Workshop at Memorial Park area in 1899. Russ is doing research on Tesla and would plan to start work on Milestone with introductory presentation on the Wireless Workshop.
SAC Report – Bailey Heyman had to leave before the end of the meeting but provided a report of the YP and Student Mixer held at the COATI Miso Bar in South Downtown (SoDo) on Sunday, September 8 at 5 pm. A group of about 10 people attended and the group had dinner at Streetcar 520. Discussion during the event covered Resume reviews and networking skills.
YP Report – Priyank had to leave before the end of the meeting but provide a report. He is working with Senthil to confirm a speaker for his next YP event. He is pushing the proposed UCCS Student Presentation Contest until November to give time to complete the plan. He is working on Computer-In-Memory YP talk to be given by Nvidia.
Computer Society Report – CS Chapter has had 36 webinars so far this year. Some were hosted locally and many were co-hosted with other Chapters throughout the US. Senthil proposed offering a plaque to the speakers of some of the locally hosted webinars as a thank you. Plaques cost about $80. Discussion suggested consider other forms of honor such as a certificate of appreciation. Discussion will continue at the next meeting.
Magnetic Society Report – Dymtro reported the Magnetics Society had hosted a recent conference at UCCS but has not reported any activities on Vtools yet. They will consider reporting conference for credit and they plan several meeting on campus this fall.
Electron Devices/Circuits and Systems Chapter Report – The Chapter has not held any meeting during 2024. A lunch meeting is planned for October 24 at UCCS with a presentation by David Bondurant on “Beyond Moore: 3D Chips, 3D Packaging”. The meeting will be co-hosted by the LMAG and UCCS Students will be invited as part of their student mixer event. Dr. Kalkur says that there will be a follow-up Chapter meeting on October by Dr. Araujo “A NEW NONVOLATILE SWITCH FOR THE AGE OF AI”
UCCS Student Branch – Navid suggested that students might get excited by some form of Certificate of Attendance at student branch presentations on campus. It will be discussed further next time.
IEEE Pikes Peak Section Chair
IEEE Pikes Peak LMAG Chairman
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A Tour of National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
Webmaster Report – by Dr. John Santiago
Here’s the pdf with photos can be found here.
Minutes of June 26 IEEE Pikes Peak Section Executive Committee Meeting
We met in-person at Poor Richard’s Restaurant and Pizzeria in downtown Colorado Springs.
Bailey Heyman, John Santiago, Abigail Teron, David Bondurant, Gene Freeman, Priyank Kashyap, and Sentil Mehalingam at Poor Richards
Chair Report
The Chair reviewed key issues in the coming month.
Pikes Peak Section must implement an on-line election this year. We need a three person election committee in place by August 1. The proposed committee will consist of John Reinert (our outgoing treasurer and former chair), John Santiago (past chair) and Debora Elam (past chair). During July, the Committee needs to get trained on using the Vtools Nomination and Voting tools. We need to put together a slate of candidates for Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer and then go out for further nominations in August. By September we finalize the slate of officers for the election but allow 1 month for petition candidates. At that point, we put together the final ballot and in December launch the on-line voting process. By December 31, we report the winners. We need to find 2 candidates for each office this year.
We need to put together a Senior Membership Upgrade panel by July 16. The Panel would consist of 3 Senior members who would act as nominator and technical references for Senior Member candidates. On July 16, we will host James Mercier, Chair of the Senior Member Upgrade committee of the Central Texas Section in Austin. He will talk about So You Want To Be A Senior Member. We hope to encourage Senior member candidates to come to the meeting with preliminary documentation which can be evaluated by the panel to start the on-line process of becoming a Senior member.
David has booked the Peel House at First Lutheran as the meeting location for the 2 upcoming meetings on July 16. A lunch will offer a box lunch to attendees and James Mercier will talk about Bridges: Actually, They are Very Safe (In This Country). At Dinner we will have a buffet style Italian dinner in the Peel House dining room with seating in the parlor. James Mercier will do his So You Want To Be A Senior Member talk and candidates can meet briefly with the panel to start their upgrade process.
David talked about the need to get together with Dr. Kalkur, Dr. Perera, Yugesh Bhattarai with Bailey Heyman and himself to develop a plan for UCCS Student Branch during Fall 2024. We are wanting to encourage some activities by the Branch to grow membership and become more active.
David briefly described his participation in a Computer Society SYP meeting in Santa Clara on June 16 at Intel HQ. It was attended by 16 people in-person and 51+ online from all over the world. This SYP group is very active with over 12 initiatives.
He highlighted the first Rooftop Social in North America held at IDEO headquarters in San Francisco with 110 people participating. He encourages Pikes Peak to consider a similar type event to attract SYPs and people from outside the Section membership to become engaged.
YP Report – Priyank Kashyap reported on his YP activity. He has sent out a survey to Pikes Peak YPs but has experienced fairly low response rate of 4%. He says that we have over 200 YPs in the Section. So far the preferences from the survey is to hold meetings on weekends during the day and focus on technical talks. Respondents preferred in-person meetings in Colorado Springs.
Priyank is planning YP meetings. He looked into getting funding for meetings from the YP organization. He wants to hold a Section Paper Competition in October. Is planning to setup a WhatsApp group for YPs. He has connected with Denver and High Plains YP leaders so we are now connected. He showed a preliminary schedule of YP events starting with Senior Member Upgrade event on July 16, possible Technical Talk later in July. Talk on How to do a Technical Presentation (Week of August 6) and Social event at a brewery sometime in August. Thinking of Panel discussion with both YP and Life Members in September. Finally a Paper Competition at UCCS in October.
SAC Report – Bailey is committed to leading the Region 5 student competitions at the Region Annual Meeting in Denver in 2026. Noted that none of our Student Branches are putting together annual plans and she was ready to help in this area. Group noted that CSU-Pueblo Student Branch advisor Jude De Palma has not been responsive lately. We believe that he is retiring and we may need to identify the new Student Branch advisor at CSU-Pueblo.
Magnetics Society – After the Excom, we received the announcement of 10th Front Range Advanced Magnetics Symposium that will be held at UCCS on August 17, 2024. The conference focuses on fostering and enhancing interactions between geographically separated researchers in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. It’s a free conference with breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided by sponsors. Registration deadline is July 12. They are inviting Graduate, undergraduate, and even high-school students to participate in their poster sessions.
Abigail Teron – We were introduced to a new member of Pikes Peak Section. Abigail is a PhD student and also working as a contractor to Space Force in Colorado Springs. She brings a lot of experience from her home in Puerto Rico where she was Puerto Rico Section chair and Computer Society Chapter chair along with being active in other IEEE groups. She has volunteered to be Pikes Peak Section Membership Development Chair. One of her first tasks will be to develop a monthly newsletter to be sent to Section members and others. Please support her email request for headshots and profile information for the newsletter and short activity reports for the Chapters and Student Branches.
David Bondurant
IEEE Pikes Peak Section Chair
IEEE Pikes Peak LMAG Chairman
IEEE Life Member Newsletter Editor
dbondurant@ieee.org
719-661-7889
www.verticalmemory.com
Pikes Peak Section Executive Committee Meeting – May 22, 6:30 pm
Meeting start was delayed 20-minutes when Webex did not work. A Zoom Link was sent to attendees and meeting started about 6:50 pm.
Attendees –
David Bondurant
Dr. John Santiago
Dr. Thottam Kalkur
Bailey Heyman
Priyank Kashyap
Dileep Rai
Senthil Mehalingam
Abigail C. Teron
Chair’s Report – David reviewed the Pike Solar Array Presentation and Site Tour held on May 15-16. David talked about the requirement to hold on-line elections this year using Vtools Voting tools. We will need to start the election process by August 1 to complete the election by year-end and will need an Elections committee in place in the next couple of months along with training on the Voting tools. Section is also looking for a Historian to lead Silicon Mountain Exhibit effort and to identify IEEE Milestones that we should be applying for.
Vice-Chair’s Report – Gene was gone.
Secretary Report – Ze was not in attendance
Treasurer’s Report – John was not in attendance
Webmaster’s Report – John Santiago has been working with Dileep Rai to update the Pikes Peak website on the Region 5 website. John also reviewed the results of his Education week webinar series. He had scheduled a successful series of 5 webinars on AI during April and May that were co-hosted by many Chapters.
Program Committee Report – Russ Bogardus could not attend. He was responsible for setting up the successful Pike Solar Array Presentation and Site Tour on May 15-16. Russ and David will be meeting to plan the July 16 meetings by speaker, James Mercier PE of the Central Texas Section. He is being invited to present at a Pikes Peak LMAG meeting at lunch on July 16 with a topic of Bridges: Actually, They are Very Safe (In This Country) and he will be presenting at a Pike Peak Section meeting at dinner on July 16 with a topic of So You Want to Become a IEEE Senior Member
YP Report – Priyank is planning 2 activities. He plans to send out a survey to Pikes Peak YPs asking about their preferences about meetings and forming a YP Affinity Group in the Section. He has identified a speaker to present to the YP group on How to Make a Technical Presentation. He is connecting with the Denver YP Chair, Nur Umar and the Region 5 YP Chair, Haley Hirschfield. Priyank is proposing that Pikes Peak Section consider sponsoring a student paper workshop in Fall 2024. This student competition would offer a number of area students the opportunity to develop papers and present them at the Workshop.
SAC Report – Bailey is currently Region 3 SAC and working as Pikes Peak SAC. Bailey will be Region 5 Student Competition Chair for the Region Meeting in Denver in 2026. She described a student program that she had done in Region 3 and is proposing a program in cooperation with the Pikes Peak Makerspace to create a 3-D printed puzzle that would be assembled and painted by student in Fall 2024 at UCCS. Proposing a meeting with Dr. Kalkur and Dr. Perera at UCCS to discuss Student Branch plans for Fall 2024.
Life Member Affinity Group Report – The LMAG has had a number of co-hosted webinars in first part of 2024 but no local meetings. One meeting is planned in-person for July 16 by James Mercier. David is planning to a continuing series of in-person panel discussions with key people involved with Silicon Mountain. He has contacted Jil Goebel, Origin Communications, a local PR and Advertising agency involved with hosting the Silicon Mountain Symposium at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort during the 1980-90s; Loring Wierbel, EE Times Editor during the period now is retired in Monument; Rocky Scott, Head of the Colorado Springs Economic Development Council during the period and responsible for bringing companies to Colorado Springs. Planning to do panel discussions, capture oral histories, and start developing an exhibit for the Pioneer Museum.
Joint ED/Circuits & Systems Chapter Report – Dr. Kalkur talked about the 2023 meeting at UCCS that had 28 people attending. He said that Chips Act is becoming more important with Microchip Technology and Entegris planning an event at UCCS this fall.
Abigail Teron – A new Pikes Peak Section member attended this meeting for the first time. She is moving to Colorado Springs from Puerto Rico to work for the Space Force. She is former IEEE Puerto Rico Section Chair, Computer Society Chair, and active in YP and WIE groups. She is interested in working with our Section in Membership Development.
15-16 May 2024: UTILITY SCALE SOLAR GENERATION AT COLORADO SPRINGS UTILITIES
flyer: Utility Scale Solar Generation at Colorado Springs Utilities
Below is a flipbook version of the Trip Report followed with a link of the pdf file itself.
- Gene received a Best Practices Paper From (CNSV Consultant’s Network of Silicon Valley) on doing Hybrid Meetings. He has submitted it to R5 for the next newsletter.
- We discussed posting jobs and positing CV’s of those looking for new opportunities. We discussed the frequency of updating this info. We first discussed Monthly timing. However, due to the current job market it was suggested that we receive and send out job info real time as jobs are being closed very quickly due right now.
- David is looking for a Membership development volunteer (see below)
Senthil – Upcoming Computer Society Chapter Webinars
- May 1 – Achieving Optimal Compute Schedules in Hetero Cyber-Physical Sys
- May 13 – Towards Programmable Smart Buildings
- Bailey is talking with someone she knows at the Pikes Peak Makerspace about kits for a student contest. The ideas are aligned with what Bailey did with students in Region 3 a few years ago (making Mardi Gras masks).
- Bailey will be the Region 5 Student Competition Chair for 2026
- Has a speaker lined up for a May YA event on Effective Technical Presentations,
- He has also designed a survey for the YAs in our Section.
- We decided to table events for Graduating Students at different Universities given the short runway this semester.
- No update Dymtro couldn’t make the meeting.
- Once again we are a partner for The 8th Annual Denver Cybersecurity Summit on May 19th. We will provide free passes for food and programs to IT professionals in the IEEE Pikes Peak Section. Event and eNotice to be sent out shortly.
Social Media Coordinator, Industrial Engagement, Membership Development, Historian, and Nominating Committee Teller positions.
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- Social Media Coordinator would update Pikes Peak social media channels (Facebook, Linked In, Collabratec Workgroup, others) monthly with the latest happenings in the Section including pictures and meeting reports for past events.
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- Industrial Engagement would identify major technology companies in Southern Colorado, Pikes Peak members who work there, develop relationships with our industrial members and future programs
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- Membership development would be responsible for welcoming new members to Pikes Peak section, encouraging non-renewing members to rejoin and participate in our activities, and identifying non-members in the Southern Colorado area (particularly those that have participated in our events) to join our organization. Would use OU Analytics, Vtools Events & eNotice, and new Engage tool.
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- Historian would develop a timeline for the development of technology in the Pikes Peak region, identify candidates for IEEE Milestones and lead the effort to getting their approval, and work with local museums to develop exhibits of Pikes Peak technology.
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- Nominating Committee Teller will lead the 3-person nominating committee which will run the annual elections for the Section starting in August 2024.
20 Jan 2024, Future City Colorado – A Middle School STEM Event
Following the Region 5 Annual Meeting last April, Pikes Peak Section was approached by Denver Section about our willingness to participate in Future City Colorado, a Middle School STEM event. This program is run by DiscoverE, a Washington DC-based non-profit. They run a National program each year with competitions at the Region level leading to a final national competition in Washington DC. Denver and their PES Society have participated in the past and were participating and donating $500 each to support the program.
Pike Peak Section agreed to donate and support the program. We met with Rebecca Spearot, the Executive Director of Future City Colorado. We agreed to find Mentors and Judges for the competition which was held during the Fall Semester culminating in an in-person Regional Final at the Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO) on January 20, 2024.
Two Pikes Peak members agreed to be Mentors:
Russ Borgardus, Colorado Springs
Jude Depalma, Pueblo
Fourteen Pikes Peak members agreed to participate in Judging the Electrify My City papers in December 2023:
David Bondurant
Gene Freeman
Priyank Kashyap
Russ Borgardus
Nathan Edwards
Robert Cronk
Mark Holthouse
David Barnett
Donald Kraft
Michael Allison
Kurt Humphrey
Jodi Fleming
Patrick Keller
Seven Pikes Peak members travelled to the Colorado School of Mines on January 20 to participate in Regional Final Judging.
David Bondurant
Gene Freeman
Priyank Kashyap
Jodi Fleming
Senthil Vinayagam & his Brother
Jude DePalma
After Christmas, each of the Judges who signed up for Student Paper Judging received 4-5 papers from teams throughout Colorado and Wyoming. The student teams wrote a City Essay which described how they would Electrify a city. The Judges graded the paper based on a predefined rubric for consistent grading. Papers described innovative ways to provide city electricity, water, sewer, and transportation, looked at how the citizen lived, and the different types of engineers involved with running the city. They explored innovative power sources such as solar, wind power, wave power, geothermal, nuclear, algae.
On January 20, the Pikes Peak Judges met at Green Center of theColorado School of Mines in Golden
IEEE Pikes Peak Section Meeting January 17, 2024
The IEEE Pikes Peak Section held its New Year’s Election and Award meeting on January 17, 2024 at The Warehouse restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs starting at 6:30 pm. The meeting was attended by 19 Section members and 2 guests. The Section paid for the meals and non-alcoholic drin
The meeting started with the attendees introducing themselves. David Bondurant, Section Chair presented a State of the Section report. He started by describing the Section history. It was created from the Denver Section, Colorado Springs sub-section in 1978. It has a 46-year history. He highlighted the service of John Meredith and John Reinert, two section chairs who went on to serve as IEEE-USA president. John Reinert was the first IEEE-USA president in 1998.
David Bondurant presented a Section Achievement Award to John Santiago, our Past Chair for his 4-years of Service to the Section
John Reinert, Section treasurer, reported that the Section had $120,852.49 in its NexGen Operating and Investment Accounts at year-end. The Section is in strong financial position but needs to increase its in-person activities and involve more members to begin to utilize these funds.
David Bondurant presented the slate of officers for 2024. Ze Ni has volunteered to be Section Secretary, Bailey Heyman volunteered as Student Activities Coordinator, Priyank Kashyap volunteered as YP Representative, Russ Borgardus volunteered as Program Committee Chair, Jude Depalma will be Student Advisor for CSU-Pueblo, Calvin Bahl will be Student Representative for CSU-Pueblo, Dr. Darshika Perera will be Student Advisor for UCCS, Yugesh Bhattarai will be Student Representative from UCCS, and John Ciezki will be Student Advisor of AFA . David Bondurant (Chair), Gene Freeman (Vice-Chair), and John Santiago (Webmaster) are continuing in their positions. The position of Section Treasurer is currently open with John Reinert temporarily serving until a replacement is found. The slate was approved at the meeting by acclimation.
David Bondurant reviewed the Section membership statistics. We have 659 Professional Members with 71 members being new this year. We have a total of 68 student members from 5 location Universities (UCCS, CTU, AFA, CSU, and PPCC). We have 5 active Chapters with Life Member Affinity Group and Computer Society being the largest. He observed that we have 97 YP members in the Section and Priyank in his new YP Representative position will work to form a local YP chapter.
The meeting closed with a short review of several in-person meetings held during the year. Pikes Peak LMAG participated with Denver LMAG and High Plains Section in a visit to Human Interaction Robotics Group CU Boulder in May. The Pikes Peak LMAG held a celebration of its Global LMAG Achievement Award in October. The Pikes Peak ED/CS Chapter reactivated in October after a 4-year pause at UCCS with a large number of students in attendance. The Section and LMAG made a visit to the National Museum of WWII Aviation in November and toured the Student Simulation that was funded by Section and LMAG with participation of Life Member Committee and Computer Society. A number of Section Members participated in Future City Colorado, a middle school STEM competition as Judges both reviewing papers on-line and listening to presentations in-person at Regional competition at Colorado School of Mines on January 20.
17 Jan 2024
State of the Section January 17, 2024
18 Nov 2023, National Museum of WWII Aviation Tour Report
Combined Meeting Reports for 25 Oct 2023 with Joint CAS/EDS Chapter and 23 Oct 2023 IEEE Pikes Peak LMAG Meeting
8 August 2023 IEEE Pikes Peak Excom Meeting Report
The IEEE Pikes Peak Section Excom met on August 8, 6 pm, at the La Bella Vita restaurant.
The meeting was attended by 8 Excom members and 3 guests.
| Name | Title | |
| David Bondurant | Chair | dbondurant@ieee.org |
| Gene Freeman | Vice-Chair | gida.woodman@gmail.com |
| John Santiago | Past Chair, Webmaster | john.santiago@ieee.org |
| Rich Painter | Past Chair | painterengr@gmail.com |
| Dmytro Bozhko | Magnetics Society Chair | dbozhko@uccs.edu |
| Thottam Kalkur | Electron Device, Circuits & Systems Chair | tkalkur@uccs.edu |
| Jude DePalma | Student Advisor, CSU-Pueblo | jude.depalma@csupueblo.edu |
| John Ciezki | Student Advisor Air Force Academy | john.ciezki@usafa.edu |
| Dan Donahoe | Former Utah Section Chair | dan@1000kilometers.com |
| Bailey Heyman | Region 3 SYP Coordinator | bailey.u.heyman@gmail.com |
| Julia Bluff | PR, Amergint Technologies | julia.bluff@amergint.com |
The meeting was called to order by David Bondurant. Initially, the group reviewed their backgrounds and involvement with IEEE with each other.
While the group was eating, David Bondurant presented information on the Section history and recent activities. The Section started as a part of the Denver section but in 1978 became a separate Section covering Southern Colorado. A listing of Section chairs was shown covering the 45-years of Section operation. We reviewed the formation of Section Chapters, some Section Awards, some notable Section Chairs who went on to become IEEE-USA President.
David reviewed the current Section roster including officers, past chairs, Chapter Chairs, and Student Branch advisors. Notably, the Power & Energy Society was not represented at this meeting and UCCS Student Branch advisors were not present because UCCS was still on vacation.
David introduced three guests. Dan Donahoe, is the former Utah Section Chair that David had worked with representing the Computer Society. Dan has recently moved to Colorado Springs and is working at Peterson. Dan bring long experience with the IEEE to our group.
Bailey Heyman is the current Region 3 SYP Coordinator and a Space Force member working at Peterson. David had met her when she was volunteering with Denver section at the R5 annual meeting. She brings experience with SYP activities.
Julia Bluff is a PR person working for Amergint Technologies, a space technology company. She is working on the companies outreach activities in STEM to local school districts. Her company is engaging their engineers in STEM work. Last year, they cooperated with District 49 on a number of STEM activities. She is seeking to work with Pikes Peak Section to see how we could mutually serve the K-12 community in Southern Colorado.
David showed Section statistics which show that we have 627 Professional Members. Our Student Membership consists of 57 Students (38 Undergraduates, 19 Graduate Students).
David showed that we have 5 Society Chapters (Life Member Affinity Group, Computer Society, Power & Energy Society, Joint Electron Devices and Circuits & Systems, and Magnetic Society). It appeared that we might have enough YP members (84) to form a YP affinity Group. Statistics only showed that Section, LMAG, and Computer Society were very active with Magnetics & PES Chapters with some activity.
Gene Freeman (Vice-Chair) and John Reinert (Treasurer) are representing the Pikes Peak Section at Sections Congress 2023 in Ottawa, Canada this week. A large number (over 2000) representatives from Sections around the world are expected at this meeting.
David described R5 Annual Meeting. He had received the MGA Achievement Award, 2 members of the AFA Student Branch won awards and 1 member of the CSU-Pueblo student branch received an award.
David said that he was surprised that Pikes Peak LMAG has received the 2023 Global LMAG Achievement Award in completion with 5 other Regions of the world. This Award carries a stipend of $2000 for future Chapter activity. David believed that this award was an acknowledgement of the $6K grant program put together to create a Student Simulation Lab at the National Museum of WWII Aviation located at Colorado Springs airport. The Simulation Lab will support UCCS seniors working on projects at the National Museum where they are creating interactive exhibits. Examples were shown of 270 degree, high resolution flight simulator and a 3-D Printed Norden Bombsite already developed by students. Our grant purchased a high performance PC with 8 high resolution monitors and a satellite Internet terminal. This will allow development of full wall graphic displays. One example application is a B-17 Waist Gunner simulation which a 50mm machine machined at the Museum firing on German Messerschmitt aircraft flying by the plane.
David reviewed a Future City proposal sent by Denver Section chair, Jeff Hardy. Future City Competition is run by Discover Engineering, a Washington DC based non-profit. It is a national competition with state-level competitions leading to a National competition. Both Denver Section and their PES Chapter have donated $500 to this program. David is requesting Pikes Peak support of this program. He showed that 8 of the 42 participating schools in the state were in Southern Colorado. Jude Depalma said that had been involved with the program from the beginning and had worked with local Pueblo middle school to implement the competition. He recommended the program. David said he will contact the Colorado Future City coordinator to see how we can participate.
We had an open-end discussion on how to engage students. John Ciezki from AFA said that he was planning to involving his students in a student paper competition and would like to hold a MicroMice robotic competition at the Air Force Academy in the future. One thought was to hold this competition at the new Visitor Center being built at the AFA North Entrance. There was discussion of holding some future meetings on UCCS campus to engage their students in our activities.
At the end of the meeting, David explained that we lost the bid to host the 2026 Greentech Conference/R5 Annual Meeting. The R5 committee felt that neither Pikes Peak or South Plains sections had sufficient experience to host. Denver held the meeting this year and the Denver section holds several major conferences in Denver each year. Pikes Peak needs to demonstrate its ability by hold a conference locally in the next few years and building a base of volunteers to support this activity.
Actions from Meeting
- Hold Section Meetings monthly (preferably at a single fixed location).
- Contact Future City Colorado to determine how our $500 donation will help and how our Section can participate in the future.
- Continue to engage with Amergint to see how Pikes Peak Section can support their STEM activities
- Hold Section Meeting at National Museum of WWII Aviation as soon as Student Simulation Lab is in place so members can see results of our Grant program and we can document results to Life Member Committee and Computer Society
IEEE Pikes Peak Section Chair