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![TMCNet: INTERNATIONAL CHAPTER NEWS [Signal]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
INTERNATIONAL CHAPTER NEWS [Signal]
(Signal Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) EDITORIAL POLICY: Chapter News must be received by the 20th of the month two months prior to publication date.
Alamo
Young AFCEANs Receive Awards
Two of the chapter's top Young AFCEANs received awards at the West conference in January. Emily Rausch, vice president for chapter Young AFCEANs (YACs), received the Emerging Leadership Award for improving the chapters YAC program. Bethany Reese received the Texas Regional Young AFCEAN Award for her enthusiastic support at all chapter events in the area.
Alaska
Satellite Solution Proposed
Jeffery Roberts, chief executive officer of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, gave a presentation at the February meeting titled "Using Highly Elliptical Orbits to Provide Satellite Communications to Northern Latitudes." Alaska's location in the northern latitudes and its dispersed population centers present numerous challenges for conventional communications architectures. Satellites in highly elliptical orbits (HEOs) present a potential solution. HEOs are characterized by a long period of apogee dwell over northern latitudes. Two major types of HEO orbits exist: low HEO orbits (approximately 400-kilometer [km] altitude at perigee and 12,000 km at apogee) and larger HEO orbits, such as Molniya (500 km ? 47,000 km) and Tundra (24,500 km ? 40,000 km). A combination of low HEO, Molniya and Tundra communications satellites can provide overhead communication solutions for Alaska, other northern locations and even rural areas in the rest of the United States.
STEM Grants Assist Schools
In January, the chapter presented three $1,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grants to local schools and a corporate membership certificate to General Communications Incorporated. Heather Pelletier and Leslie Bunch of Palmer Junior Middle School run the Science Olympiad/Robotics Club. The STEM grant will help the school purchase an additional NXT Robotics kit for the club and a Mindstorms NXT enterprise license for the school computer labs. Kirsten Roos, a teacher at Mirror Lake Middle School, utilizes a classic learning technique of having a student teach a topic while leveraging the power of short video lessons. The STEM grant will be used to purchase the tools necessary to initiate this program. Maryann DePriest, representing the sponsors of the Science Olympiad at Mirror Lake Middle School, is leveraging the STEM grant to purchase supplies, training videos and additional equipment. Students will use these materials to develop a better understanding of science concepts to improve their performance.
ArkLaTex
Lifetime Members Recognized
During the January membership luncheon, the chapter honored two new lifetime members: Fred Moffitt, Moffitt Automotive of Shreveport/Bossier City, and Andy Thomson, Northrop Grumman Corporation. They were recognized for their donations to the chapters scholarship fund. Each received a lifetime membership certificate and a Founding Father pin. Their names also were added to the chapter's "Friends of AFCEA Wall of Honor." Founding Father status is reserved for those contributing $1,000 or more to the chapter.
Augusta-Fort Gordon
Scholarship Recognizes Service Member
The chapter presented the 2011 Lt. Gen. Douglas D. Buchholz Memorial Scholarship to Senior Master Sgt. Larry Hartman, USAF, during the chapter's annual awards ceremony in January. The annual scholarship is made possible by an endowment from General Dynamics to AFCEA International. Muriel Buchholz, wife of the late Lt. Gen. Douglas D. Buchholz, USA (Ret.), joined the presentation. Maj. Gen. Alan R. Lynn, USA, commanding general, U.S. Army Signal Center of Excellence, served as the guest speaker.
Local Science Teachers Honored
The chapter presented Science Teaching Tools awards totaling $6,000 to nine science teachers from the Augusta-Fort Gordon area in January. Horace Carney, chapter vice president for education, organized the application and selection process and hosted the teachers for a breakfast at the Augusta Canal Interpretive Center. Bob Damen, chapter president, presented the awards and certificates to each teacher. In addition, each of the teachers had the opportunity to describe their projects and to collaborate on new ideas and best practices.
Camp Pendleton
Presentation Reviews Base Improvements
CoL David Terando, USMC, chief of staff for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and former commanding officer of the Marine Corps Communications School, served as the guest speaker for the December luncheon. Col. Terando spoke about technology advancements employed on the current battlefield that provide advanced capabilities down to the platoon and squad level. He also provided an overview of the mission and capabilities of the support organizations within Camp Pendleton. He highlighted the new training facilities, which include the Regimental Urban Facility, Urban Close Air Support sites, the Improvised Explosive Device Lane Training Complex and the Infantry Immersive Trainer. The colonel also emphasized the quality-of-life improvements mat come with the construction of new bachelor/enlisted housing, single-family housing, a Big Box Post Exchange, child development centers, a naval hospital and recreational facilities on the base. The luncheon raised more than $800, which the chapter donated to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.
Canaveral
Meeting Covers Data Mining
Data mining is coming to the forefront for counterintelligence, customer profiling and various types of forecasting. The chapter heard a presentation on the subject in January from Vladimir Rastunkov of Starsoft Incorporated, who outlined several applications and the techniques used to enhance results. He stated that after cloud computing becomes more common, data will be more aggregated and thus easier to process. At the end of his presentation, the group heard a brief description of Strayer University, which offers information technology courses in a number of locations around the country.
Dayton-Wright
New Officers Inducted
In January, the chapter inducted and swore in the new 2012 officers and acknowledged the outgoing 2011 officers for their service. The 2012 officers are: Dan Curtis, president; Ann Hurley, executive vice president; Brenda Colton, vice president for information; Danna Plewe, vice president for membership; Casey Weinstein, vice president for programs; Aaron Miller, chapter operations; Master Sgt. Daren Zimmer, USAF, vice president for enlisted affairs; Bill Grill, vice president for networking; Adrian - na Templeton, secretary; and Andrea Kunk, treasurer. Curtis also announced the January table sponsors for the luncheon, which included CSC, JJR Solutions, Illumination Works, Kratos Technology Solutions, Peerless Technologies, Segue Technologies, STG Incorporated and Sumaria Systems. Jackie Whitaker, outgoing chapter president, closed the meeting by stating that the chapter added or renewed approximately 200 members in 2011, surpassing the chapter's goal to increase membership by 5 percent.
Speaker Draws from Career Experience
The chapter kicked off January with guest speaker Col. Rob Lyman, USAF, commander of the 88th Communications Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He previously served as chief of strategy integration in the Air Force Office of Business Transformation. In addition, he was the commander of the 96th Communications Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base along with serving as a White House fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation and participating in multiple combat zone deployments. He has extensive joint experience and is a fully qualified joint specialty officer. He has received several major awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal with an oak leaf cluster, die Meritorious Service Medal witìi one oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Joint Service Achievement Medal Air Force Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal with two service stars.
Greater Omaha
NSA Mission Highlighted
In January, Charles M. Rucker, National Security Agency (NSA)/Central Security Service representative to the commander, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, spent time with the chapter discussing the mission of the NSA. Rucker provided a brief history and discussed the future of the agency, which involves increased emphasis on the cyber domain. He explained that the NSA has been with the Strategic Air Command/Strategic Command since 1963. The NSA has two primary missions: cyber assurance and die legacy aspect of foreign signals gathering and analysis. The big picture of the NSAs mission is to protect national assets in the cyber domain. Rucker also elaborated on the implications of budget cuts. The NSA is focused on a new paradigm providing no luxury of time in me decision space. To aid in this process, the NSA consists of 12 offices around the globe rather than one central office at Fort Meade, Maryland, which facilitates die agency's flexibility.
Meeting Addresses Cyber Realm
In December, Alfred A. Buckles, vice president, Science Applications International Corporation account manager, U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, addressed the chapter on challenges and solutions within the cyber realm. Buckles pointed out these are trying times, noting plenty of challenges exist and the United States can take these on as a team. However, he said, "If we falter, we have no overarching strategy." Buckles commented that the lack of strategy and policy is the bump in the road that many encounter. He touched on how STRATCOM headquarters was designed to thwart the enemy threat using a series of buildings to help circumvent an enemy attack. In addition, he spoke about how technology literally can change the landscape of communications. Buckles concluded by pointing out it will be groups like AFCEA that will bring the expertise to bear to tackle these challenges.
Hawaii
Chapter Introduces Speed Networking
At the January meeting, the chapter focused on its members with a new event that took the concept of speed dating into the professional realm. During a 45-minute time frame, each of the members received two minutes at four different tables to give their own "elevator pitch." The fun and fastpaced luncheon experience was extremely successful with most members asking to repeat the concept in the future. In addition, the chapter recognized its monthly award winners: Dr. George Ka'ilwai III, as Senior Government Leader of the Month; Richard Schaefer, Defense Information Systems Agency Pacific, as AFCEAN of the Month; and Daron Lee, Mid Pacific Institute, as Student of the Month. Donovan Williams from Science Applications International Corporation and John Tamagawa from Polycom both accepted their awards for October Executive of the Month and AFCEAN of the Month, respectively.
Kaiserslautern
Colonel Highlights Squadron Mission
Lt. Col. Hugh St. Martin, USAF, chapter vice president and commander of the 1st Air and Space Communications Operations Squadron, in January highlighted his squadron's mission to provide theater-wide command, control, communications, computers and intelligence. He then elevated the discussion to how his airmen, along with the thousands of other cyberspace airmen in the Kaiserslautern military community, have a global impact by allowing joint missions to occur around the world. Col. Mark Langenderfer, USAF, chapter president and commander of the 435th Air and Space Communication Group, recognized the chapter's 2011 board members. He specifically highlighted Master Sgt. Douglas Brock, USAF, and Master Sgt. Todd Weingeroff, USAF, for their selection as recipients of the Distinguished Young AFCEAN (DYA) and Regional DYA awards, respectively.
North Carolina
Future Army Intelligence Architecture Outlined
Richard Allenbaugh, director of the Ground Intelligence Support Activity (GISA)-Fort Bragg, outlined LandISRNet and the future of tactical and strategic intelligence for Army forces during the chapter's February luncheon at the Fort Bragg Club. Allenbaugh discussed the intelligence process and access to essential information; the need for flexible, mobile and secure applications; and the plan for the intelligence community, especially within the Army, to change the way it gathers, processes, disseminates and acts on real-time intelligence. The Army intelligence system is the Distributed Common Ground System-Army, which transforms to a cloud architecture for ease of data access. Allenbaugh further iterated that by having Army intelligence capabilities move to virtualization, consolidate data centers and focus more on mobile application development and employment, the intelligence soldiers of tomorrow would have incredible technology expectations. "In the end," Allenbaugh said, "it is about how we can improve combat readiness, send fewer people forward over time and still remain effective."
Northern Virginia
Awards Honor Chapter Members
In February, the chapter recognized Dondi Saunders as the SuperNOVA Award recipient. Saunders is the director of business development at Clifton Larson Allen LLP. Over the last several years, she has served on every IT Day Committee and supported several Valentines Ball committees. This year, she served as the communications chair for the Heroines in Technology Gala. She coordinated the public relations, sponsorships, ticket sales, press coverage and award selections. In addition, the chapter selected Lauren Harkness as the Young AFCEAN recipient for February. She is a software developer at Next Tier Concepts, a company that specializes in geospatial solutions, e-learning and information technology. Harkness volunteers regularly, and this year she has participated in the Navy G? Day, Warfighter IT Day, Army IT Day and the Luncheon Committee. She stepped into several leadership positions as the co-chair for the chapter's Mentor/Protégé Night and as the co-chair for volunteers for the Valentines BaIL
Ball Raises Scholarship Funds
The chapter held its 31st Annual Valentines Ball in February with a sold-out crowd. "We were extremely pleased by the incredible turnout this year," said Chuck Corjay, chairman of the Valentines Ball. Excess proceeds raised from the event go toward educational scholarships through the chapter's Scholarship Fund. Scholarships are provided to students in the Northern Virginia area studying the hard sciences, including mathematics, information technology and computer science. The ball brought together nearly 700 industry, military, federal government and information technology professionals. The Victory Belles, a vocal trio, took guests on a nostalgic journey through World War llera musical classics, honoring the military through their performance.
Admiral Covers Information Dominance
The chapter's February luncheon featured Rear Adm. Jan Tighe, USN, director of decision superiority for N-2/N-6/F-4. The event attracted approximately 450 people. Adm. Tighe covered a number of topics including information dominance. She also discussed the Navy's search for new ways to enable good decisions based on collecting information from sensors. Data that is collected should be discoverable without being duplicated, she noted. The chapter uses any excess proceeds from events to support science and technology efforts at local schools. During the luncheon, the chapter presented Science Teaching Tools awards to Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County and Stafford County for a total of $21,000.
Rocky Mountain
Colonel Discusses Recent Restructuring
The chapter's January luncheon featured Col. Michael Finn II, USAF, commander of the 50th Network Operations Group, 50th Space Wing, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. Col. Finn provided attendees and guests with an informative briefing on the mission and details of the recent restructure of the communications arrangement (three squadrons). As part of the change, the Network Operations Group supports warfighters and helps assure the mission success of the Air Force Satellite Control Network's 154 satellites as well as other agencies and space units at the base. Bill Galvan, chapter vice president for membership, announced that the chapters membership had increased significantly to 834 members. During the luncheon, Col. Phil Piatt, USAF, chapter president, presented Ed Flanagan, chief executive officer, Manitou Motion Picture Company, with his new AFCEA corporate member certificate.
Stuttgart
Vendors Pack Tech Expo
In February, the chapter co-hosted the chapter's Tech Expo with more than 40 vendors showcasing everything from the latest in satellite and video teleconferencing to naturally flame-retardant military clothing. All profits from the event go toward the chapter's scholarship program, which last year awarded more than $30,000 to high school students and teachers in the Stuttgart area.
Tampa-St. Petersburg
Celebration Benefits Children's Home
In December, the chapter hosted the Annual Hope Children's Home Christmas Celebration at the MacDill Air Force Base Enlisted Club. Dave Riffe, school administrator at Hope Children's Home, described how the organization cares for, nurtures and educates children between the ages of two and 18 who have been discarded, abused, abandoned or orphaned. The children serenaded attendees with Christmas carols, including a version of the "12 Days of Christmas" with audience participation. Following the lunch, the children received gifts personally selected by the chapter's Young AFCEANs. The celebration concluded with a special donation of $9,862 to the Hope Children's Home as corporate members and sponsors contributed to the institution.
Tucson
Award Recognizes ROTC Cadet
Cadet Roger S. Anderson, Air Force ROTC, Detachment 020, received the chapter's Leadership in Technology Award in December. Cadet Anderson is an electrical engineering major at the University of Arizona and has maintained a 3.7 grade point average. He serves as senior adviser to the cadet wing commander and was recognized by the staff as an exemplary model of leadership both in the technology and military training fields. Cadet Anderson's $500 award will be used to enhance his undergraduate studies.
CAMP PENDLETON- Mark Witzel chapter president, thanks Col. David Terando, USMC1 chief of staff for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, following the colonel's speech at the December meeting.
KAISERSLAUTERN- In January, Col. Mark Langenderfer, USAF (I), chapter president and commander of the 435th Air and Space Communications Group, recognizes Master Sgt. Todd Weingeroff, USAF (c), and Master Sgt. Douglas Brock, USAF, for their selection as recipients of the Regional Distinguished Young AFCEAN (DYA) and DYA awards, respectively.
HAWAII- Award winners recognized at the January meeting are (k) Donovan Williams, Executive of the Month for October; Daron Lee, Student of the Month; John Tamagawa, AFCEAN of the Month for October; Richard Schaefer, AFCEAN of the Month; and Cynthia Pacheco, chapter president.
HAWAII- Schaefer receives the AFCEAN of the Month Award from Pacheco at the January meeting.
HAWAII- In January, Pacheco presents the October Executive of the Month Award to Tamagawa.
NORTH CAROLINA-Richard Allenbaugh, director of the Ground Intelligence Support Activity (GISA)-fort Bragg, discusses LandISRNet during the chapters February meeting.
NORTH CAROLINA- Mike Shoemaker (I), chapter secretary, presents Allenbaugh with a token of appreciation for his presentation to the membership in February.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA-At the February meeting, Sam Jones (I), chapter president, joins together with Rear Adm. Jan Tighe, USN, director of decision superiority for N-2/N-6/F-4, and Dondi Saunders, recipient of the SuperNOVA Award.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA- Rear Adm. Jan Tighe, USN (7th from I), director of decision superiority for N-2/N-6/F 4, joins recipients of the Science Teaching Tools grants at the February meeting.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA- The chapter recognizes several wounded warriors during the Valentines Ball in February.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA- Chuck Corjay joins Adm. Tighe following her speech at the February luncheon
(c) 2012 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association
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