The IEEE, Kansas City Section

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Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

About the KC Section

Who we are

The IEEE, Kansas City Section, is part of IEEE Region 5, which is part of the IEEE (www.ieee.org ). There are 10 Regions in the world. The Section has a total membership of about 2,000 engineers. The active (dues paid) membership is less than that. Both figures vary, depending on economic and other conditions. While the IEEE itself has paid staff, the Kansas City Section does not. Volunteers do everything, in addition to their normal responsibilities outside the IEEE (such as holding down a job, running a business, raising a family, and so on).

Where we are

The Section covers a geographical area that extends well beyond Kansas City. The northern edge is the northern edge of Missouri, and the southern edge is the southern edge of Missouri. Thus, Springfield, MO, is part of the Kansas City Section. It also extends east well into Missouri and west well into Kansas. It shares its western border with the Wichita Section.

The administrative seat and locus of activity is Overland Park, KS. Overland Park is a suburb of Kansas City, MO. This metropolitan area has more IEEE members than any other city in the Section, primarily because of large employers of engineers. These firms include Sprint (Overland Park), Black & Veatch (Overland Park), and Burns & McDonnell (Kansas City, MO).

The executive committee meets in Overland Park or in some other suburb of Kansas City. The near-monthly dinner meetings are in Overland Park, but other activities occur throughout the Section.

A Happening Section

The Kansas City Section is a four-time consecutive winner of the Outstanding Large Section Award (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002). It has also produced the Outstanding Member 3 years out of four (Dr. Dale Rummer, 1999; Jim Berard, 2001; Mark Lamendola, 2002).

We have dinner meetings nearly every month, but also have other activities. These include our annual Engineers Week Conference, a tradition started by Jim Berard.

We have an active job connection program, which helps put our members back to work during these times of heavy layoffs and unemployment. The Kansas City area has been one of the hardest hit, and we have responded with several ways of assisting our members.

2003 Section Chair Dawn VanDee had accepted the 2001 Outstanding Section award a year earlier.

Photo by Randy Smischny

Photo, courtesy Howard Jacks.

Update: Dawn VanDee is the 2003 Chair, and the Section has won the award three years in a row. See our eNL and Meetings to be a part of the many exciting things we are doing!

Both of these fine young men have since gone on to distinguish themselves in other endeavors.

Notable Members

Our members are our greatest asset. Members of this section include outstanding engineers in many companies. It's hard to list all of the notable, outstanding folks, but here is a short list of just some of them:

• Rick Bush, editor of Transmission & Distribution World Magazine. Rick has appeared in television stories about engineers.
• Mike Eby, editor of EC&M Magazine.
• Ed Rafter, a noted speaker and power engineer. Ed was a major influence on the development of APC's PowerStructure--a revolutionary new UPS product.
• Mark Lamendola, author of over 3,500 articles, consultant, and noted public speaker.
• Joe Alvarez, Director of the 7x24 Exchange, Midwest Chapter. This is the largest of all the 7x24 chapters, and its conferences consistently get rated the best of all the 7x24 conferences.
• Dr. Dale Rummer, expert witness, educator, mentor. Dr. Rummer has a long list of accomplishments. Among them: solving a safety problem that nearly forced Kansas City--"The City of Fountains" to shut down its many beautiful Plaza fountains. 
• Dawn VanDee, published author and 2003 Section Chair.
• Fred Schnittker, Lifetime Honorary Officer, who spent countless hours in retirement bringing engineering appreciation to future generations of engineering students in our public schools.
• Keith Ebel, businessman, who has come to be known as "Mr. Wireless," through work with Proximity Wireless, which he founded.