In honor of the shortest month of the year, I have decided to write the shortest of my ten columns. February still finds us in the grip of a pandemic, but also provides some hopeful signs of recovery. Vaccination of a sufficient number of Americans is progressing, although with many frustrating fits and starts. Many of the conversations on the Long Island Engineers’ Club mailing list consist of referrals to vaccination and testing services and their availability. Clearly, our attention is very focused at the moment.

However, the Section is still moving ahead with plans, since I remain optimistic that we will see an easing of pandemic responses as the summer ends. I remain very hopeful that September will usher in a return to normalcy, since the Section Awards Dinner is scheduled for later in the month. As I have previously mentioned, the Power Electronics Symposium and Microwave Symposium are still on the schedule for the fall.

Many virtual events will still occur, among them the yearly Engineer’s Week events of February 18th and the Employ Me Day virtual job fair in mid-March. Section members have received a registration email for Engineer’s Week, and the information on the Employ Me Day events is in this issue.

I hope you had a chance to read the new Details section of the Pulse. We are still looking for contributions of a general technical nature that will be of benefit to the members. How-tos and engineering tricks or algorithms that may not be well-known are especially welcome.

As usual, please all practice preventive measures to thwart the transmission of the pandemic. Let us put this once-in-a-century event well behind us.

Stay healthy,
Arnold Stillman
IEEE Long Island Section Chair, 2021