IEEE PELS Historian 1996 Annual Report

Jerrold Foutz
Historian - 1996

Historian's (Jerrold Foutz) Accomplishments for 1996
This ends my year as Historian for the IEEE Power Electronics Society, although I hope to continue on the committee under the leadership of the new Chair, Dr. Stephen D. Freeland of Boeing North American. I have worked with Steve Freeland for several years and and he served on the History Committee during my term. I know the Chair is passing into capable hands.

1996 Accomplishments

PELS History World Wide Web Site

Establishing the Internet World-Wide Web site, "History of the IEEE Power Electronics Society" was my top priority and this activity went quite well. The site was linked to the PELS Web site from the beginning and will soon physically transfer to the society server at VPI now that security issues have been resolved. The advantage of this is that all members of the History Committee who want to work on the history pages can have author (write) access. If you have not visited the site, I encourage you to do so. It can be accessed from the PELS home page.

http:/www.ieee.org/society/pels

Conference Material

During my first term as historian (1988 to 1989), historical materials from all the PESC conferences from 1970 to 1989 were collected and archived as well as all APEC conferences from 1986 to 1989. Few materials from early INTELEC® (started in 1978) or from any conference since 1989 have been collected. (As can be seen from the archive lists on the web site, there are some materials from scattered conferences, especially through 1993.) Knowing how hard it is to find materials after the fact, stemming and reversing this trend was my second priority. Unfortunately, this activity met with no success and is basically in the hands of the conference committee. I wish Steve Freeland more success in setting up a procedure with the conference committee to collect and preserve these materials and to reclaim past materials to the greatest extent possible. The problem is not with the conference records, which are archived in many libraries, but with seminar notes and miscellaneous materials, which, if not archived by the Society will be lost to history. Including the conference records is desirable so that a future researcher can find all the materials in a single archive.

"As I Remember It"

This project is to collect short remembrances from people who have been involved in matters significant to the Society. The prototype is the letter from Henry Oman on the beginnings of the IEEE Power Electronics Specialist Conference which can can be viewed on the PELS History World Wide Web Site. As our pioneers, both young and old, get older, collecting this information becomes an increasing priority. You people know who you are. More often than not, you have served on the PELS AdCom. Take a look at Henry Oman's letter and see if you can write a similar remembrance. If you know anyone who can, please encourage them to document their experience and send it to the historian. There are one or two things in the archives that fit this category and I hope to put up on the Web. But, along with archiving missing conference materials, this activity moved little during the year.

Future Goals

The incoming history chair, Steve Freeland, will set his goals for 1997. I have asked to continue on the History Committee for the purpose of working on the PELS History web site and to continue archiving the documents and photos in my possession prior to turning them over to a central archive location. Also, every chance I get, I hope to bug anyone who can write an "As I Remember It" memo to do so.

Jerrold Foutz
1996 IEEE PELS Historian
January 23, 1997.

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