1998 Annual Report for AP-S Chapter in Russia Section – Moscow

1998 Best IEEE APS Chapter Award

1. Basic Information

C. Average Meeting Attendance:

D. Chapter Funds as of 1 January 1998: $ 00.00

E. Income from AP-S: $ 600.00, from Russia Section: $ 150.00, from Region 8: $ 500.00

F. Expenditures:

Office expenses, operating costs and petty cash:	$ -200.00
Mailing via Express and Ordinary mail and Fax:	$ -150.00
Payments to Internet Providers:	$ -120.00
Grants to 4 Members for IEEE Renewal:	$ -180.00
Financial Support to ICARSM’99 preparing:	$ -600.00

End of Year Balance (31 December 1998):        $ 00.00

G. Officers for 1999 (The election was held in December 01, 1998)

2. Summary of Activities for January - December 1998

Meeting Score A (ENM) = Sum Column 6 = 30.25
Attendance Score B = Sum Column 5/(Number of Meetings x Chapter Membership) = 1.57

3. How Did Your Chapter Improve Over Last Year?

• Our Chapter is the only APS-Chapter (not joined). Chapter membership increased from 40 in January1998 to 59 in January 1999 despite of strongest financial crisis in Russia in August 1998. Thisis due to a judicious recruitment campaign, not due to a sponsor’s support. Almost all members (except for 4) are self-paid. We continue the special service to our members and candidates, in order to help money payment by means of the IEEE Custody Account.

• We have begun the serious company on a heightening of the status of our members up to a level Senior Member. Six Applications are already submitted to RAB IEEE. One of them has received already the status Senior Member.

• We strongly increased our activities, having 24 different events in 1998 (up from 15 in 1997), including the International Antenna Conference TTA’98. To ensure a variety of topics presented at our seminars, we invited speakers not only from Moscow, but also from other countries (Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Ukraine). Average Meeting Attendance in 1998 is about 50.

• We have made many efforts to involve the Students to the Chapter activities. In the end of 1997 we were ready to create the local APS-oriented IEEE Student Branch in Moscow Power Engineering Institute – Technical University (MPEI-TU). The appropriate applications and petition from 22 Students were sent to the IEEE Regional Activity Board in February 1998. In July 1998 RAB approved the formation of a new Student Branch at MPEI-TU. The Branch Chairmen Post Graduate Student Mr. Alexander Krivoulets took part in the Region 8 IEEE Student Branch Congress in Istanbul in 10-13 August 1998. Our Chapter realizes now a guiding of Student Branch activity (including the help in deriving financial support from MPEI-TU administration) and Chapter Chair D. Sazonov is the Counselor of Branch.

• We have very good collaboration with many AP-S Chapters in Russia and other countries The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine. Sweden). Chapter Chairman took part in the Region 8 Chapter Chairs Meeting in October in Amsterdam.

All our activities have been open to both IEEE and non-IEEE members and students. Each our meeting was held in a collegial atmosphere where all participants could interact on both technical and non-technical issues.

• The main event – the International Conference - "TTA'98 - Antenna Theory and Technology" which was held in September 22 - 25, 1998 in Moscow, Russia. Our Chapter was the main Technical Sponsor of this Conference. The Conference was very successful. A Report about TTA'98 will be published in Antennas and Propagation Magazine.

• Very interesting and helpful event in the life of our Chapter was the full-day Workshop/Presentation "Antenna Measurement System with Very Large Collimator in the Big Anechoic Chamber", which was held April 16, 1988 in NPO Mashinostroenia (Reutov-city, near Moscow). NPO Mashinostroenia and Hewlett-Packard were financial sponsors. Our APS-Chapter was Technical Sponsor. The Report about this event have been published in Antennas & Propagation Magazine, No.4, 1998).

• The issue of Russian Journal “ Antennas” (ISSN 0320-9601)was prolonged (twice per year, each issue about 90 pages of AP-Transactions format in Russian, with 13-15 full papers). The No.3 was published in March 1998, No.4 – was published in November 1998. We have 7 our chapter members in editorial board, including the Editor in Chief and Vice-Chief Editor. We also plan to organize the English Translation of this Journal in future.

• Our Chapter is now the main Technical Sponsor of the forthcoming 1999 International Conference on ANTENNAS, RADIOCOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS & MEANS (ICARSM'99), which will be held in Voronezh in May 1999. We tightly cooperate in organizational efforts with others of APS-Chapters in Russia (St.-Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod). The response to the Call for Papers has been very good with more than 180 submissions (including 155 from Russia, 11 from the Republics of Former Soviet Union). The scientific level of papers is rather high. The principal difficulty consists in the financial sponsors search, as our conventional sponsors have appeared credit unworthy after financial crisis in August 1998. Please, see the more fresh info about ICARSM'99 in Internet: http://emlib.jpl.nasa.gov/EMLIB/ICARSM99/

• Scale of payments (salary) of the engineers and teachers from universities is very low in modern Russia. The wages of the leading engineers in industry and best university professors after financial crisis in August 1998 do not exceed as a rule 40-60 $ US per one month. The existing annual membership dues to IEEE and one Society are too high in such conditions (even in view of the 50% discount for low income persons).

• There are essential difficulties with transfer of payments to American bank from Russia. The overhead charge reaches 20 $ US while individual payment. The probability of mistakes while individual transfers appears too high. The way out can be found only with collective payment through Custody Account. But for this it is necessary to have in Russia some active Section, and in each of them should be consolidate no more than 3-4 Chapters. Now we have in Russia abnormally situation with only one non working Section without common activity, the Section, which only formally federated more than 20 Chapters. It’s needed to create new IEEE Section in a Center-European part of Russia, consolidating 4 -5 Chapters from AP, MTT, ED, PEL and may be from another societies. This is very necessary, since only section enables the realization of effective financial service of payments to IEEE. The activity of new Section must be completely meets the constitution, bylaws and policy of the IEEE.

• Our Chapter executes some IEEE Section functions already now. For example, we have essentially helped in becoming a Student Branch and we have rendered the essential help in creation of a new Chapter on Power Electronics Society in December 1998 in MPEI-TU. We were very close to creation a new AP-S Chapter in Yaroslavl (about 4 hour on train from Moscow), where we now have 9 IEEE Members (include 7 APS Members of our Chapter). However crisis has not given a capability to increase number IEEE Members in Yaroslavl up to 15. The practical steps on a well operating IEEE Section creation fall into number of main objectives of our activity in 1999.

Signature: Dimitry Sazonov, Chapter Chair

(This is an example of the circular e-mail letter with announcement of our regular Electromagnetic Seminar):

To:    All members and Guests
Date: December 23, 1998

Dear Colleagues and Friends!

We hope, that the New Year will bring happiness trough work and home life and keep you healthy, and that Christmas will be wonderful for you. We hope to be of service to you in the future.

Sincerely,

Addendum:
Dear Colleagues and Friends! You are welcome, please, to our Moscow Seminar:

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

APS and MTT/ED Chapters in Russia Section

Moscow Electromagnetic Seminar

Co-Chairs: Dimitry M. Sazonov, Victor V. Shevchenko

Address: Mokhovaja str., H 11, IRE RAS, 4-th Floor, Conference-Hall

Entrance -Free for all people

January 5, 1999, Tuesday, 15-00 (First Session in 1999)

1) Sergei P. Skobelev (JSC "Radiophizika", Moscow), Per-Simon Kildal (Chalmers University, Goetenburg, Sweden)

Analysis of an Array of Circular Waveguide with Hard Walls on the Base of Strip-Loaded Dielectric Layers
(Analiz reshetki kruglyh volnovodov s zhestkim granichnym usloviem stenok na osnove dielektricheskih sloev, nagruzhennyh lentami )
(40 min talk + 15 min for discussion)

2) Boris A. Mishoustin (MPEI-TU, Moscow)

About Grid Methods for the Fast Computing of Electromagnetic Fields
(O setochnyh metodah dlya avtomatizatsii raschetov elektromagnitnyh polej)
(40 min talk + 15 min for discussion)

Seminar Secretary: Mikhail V. Isakov