IEEE Albuquerque August 2026 Section Board Meeting

#sectionmeeting #IEEE

Overview

The meeting focused on reviewing prior minutes, addressing outstanding action items, and coordinating updates across multiple chapter and section activities. Participants discussed financial status, event outcomes, speaker recruitment, and upcoming collaborations with professional engineering groups. The session also covered student branch progress, rebates, funding needs, and organizational preparations for elections and area meetings. Overall, the meeting served to align ongoing initiatives, confirm responsibilities, and maintain momentum across technical, administrative, and outreach efforts.

Key updates

• Approval of Previous Minutes: Timothy initiated a review of prior minutes, with Lee and Tyler confirming no edits were needed and supporting finalization of the record. The group agreed to proceed with formal acceptance pending correction of the meeting date.
• SCCS Account Status: Salazar clarified earlier discussions about account setup, explaining that the joint SCCS/SCS chapter should tie its finances to the section account. Timothy and Lee aligned on deferring changes to future updates.
• Outstanding Banquet Payments: Timothy asked for updates on banquet‑related items, and Tyler detailed support received, remaining estimates, and reimbursements completed. The next step is settling the final banquet bill for May 26th.
• Public Lecture Speaker Recruitment: Timothy requested members to look for speaker candidates, and Lee noted the approaching deadline, committing to reach out to Jackie for remaining openings. The group agreed to bring suggestions to the next meeting.
• Recommendation Letter Requirements: Timothy highlighted discussion on requiring one or two recommendation letters, with plans to finalize this by January. Lee supported revisiting the matter during election planning.
• Speaker Outreach Tasks: Timothy and Lee coordinated outreach responsibilities, with Lee emailing Laura and Amir and Timothy committing to contact Jim and Jane. These actions aim to strengthen engagement for upcoming events.
• Volunteer Coordination Concept: Timothy noted an idea for creating a list of volunteer opportunities for IEEE members. He plans to follow up with the individual who proposed it if they were unable to join the meeting.
• Financial Report: Tyler presented month‑by‑month account activity since April, including registration funds, reimbursements, support transfers, and seed funding. The group acknowledged remaining tasks such as transferring $200 for chapter meals and monitoring incoming rebates.
• Rebate Awareness: Lee emphasized tracking rebates across UNM, NMT, and other chapters, noting timing and the section’s role as mediator. Tyler confirmed pending young professionals rebate.
• SSCS/EDS Event Summary: Salazar reported a successful inaugural talk with ~75 attendees, including Intel, Sandia, and UNM members. He described engagement levels, onsite attendance challenges, and plans to improve student participation. Next steps include selecting an October speaker and resolving reimbursement for event snacks through Tyler.
• Event Reporting Requirements: Lee reminded Salazar to file the event in VTools to support rebate eligibility. Salazar agreed and will also provide photos and a short write‑up for website posting. Tyler supplied reimbursement templates for accounting.
• Upcoming Joint Engineering Talk: Timothy announced a talk on Sandia’s electromagnetic simulator Gemma scheduled for Thursday the 27th at 5:30 PM. He noted ~15 current registrants and encouraged attendance to support collaboration with the New Mexico Society of Professional Engineers.
• Public Lecture Series Status: Lee shared that Sigma Xi has not met recently and will reconnect with Jackie regarding remaining speaker needs. Timothy committed to contact Jim about life member updates.
• Section Congress & Future Conferences: Timothy relayed Daniel’s updates, including advocacy efforts, discussions about hosting ICOP meetings in Santa Fe in 2027, and interest in holding an IWork conference in Albuquerque. The group will revisit these when Daniel is present.
• Rising Stars Conference Planning: Timothy shared that registration is open and early‑bird rates may apply. Daniel seeks match funding for young professionals, and the group will return to this topic as plans develop.
• Area Meeting Preparation: Timothy noted the upcoming October 17th area meeting in San Diego. Lee, Tyler, and Timothy discussed availability, agreeing to coordinate as a board and identify an attendee.
• UNM Student Branch Update: Nannette reported assembling a six‑person board, gathering ~100 signatures from outreach, and launching weekly meetings with alternating technical workshops. Lee reminded the need for VTools reporting.
• New Mexico Tech Update: Tyler shared that NMT paused activities over the summer, is now scheduling speakers, and has submitted last year’s event reporting. A previously approved $200 funding request still requires transfer.
• Election Planning: Lee outlined a schedule targeting September–October for nominations and November–December for elections, aiming to improve participation. He plans to test VTools nomination tools and welcomes suggestions for increasing candidate interest.
• Action Item Review: Timothy summarized responsibilities including settling banquet bills, collecting speaker recommendations, sending outreach emails, and coordinating attendance for the area meeting. Lee supported sending a board‑wide availability request.
• Final Announcements and Adjournment: Timothy shared a wind‑energy event occurring Thursday at noon and then moved to adjourn. Lee seconded, and the meeting closed with agreement to reconvene before September.