Friday, October 31, 2008

FORUM Planned

On October 30th, at the Ideas Team Meeting, a proposal was presented to create a FORUM sponsored and operated by the Engineers Club for member and non-member participants.

The FORUM has a dual purpose.

The first is to promote the Engineers Club most valued asset, the combined knowledge and experiences of the membership and create a point of access to these resources not only to Club Members but also to the Dayton community. It is to say, the FORUM is to take networking to a higher level in a structured setting and provide a foundation for mentoring.

The second purpose of the forum is to highlight and demonstrate the benefits of the Engineers Club. It can be considered to be a model of the Engineers Club which will encourage membership growth, new professional and personal relationships, and an increase in participation in Engineers Club programs.

Other purposes can be summed up as creating solutions to various membership and growth challenges the Engineers Club has faced for decades.

Here are two examples.
1. People do not join because the value of membership is an unknown quantity and quality and very hard to realize without experiencing it. The forum, being a micro sample will demonstrate the value of the Engineers Club at every meeting.
2. People do not join because it requires a long-term commitment – and the value of the return on commitment investment is unknown. The forum provides a 12 week commitment where the return on the time investment will result in opportunities for structured networking, personal and professional growth, and new relationships.

The FORUM will meet weekly for 12 weeks sessions, twice per year. Each meeting will consist of 6 short presentations.
1. Report from a Engineers Club committee head or representative
2. Presentation from a Dayton area non-profit organization
3. Three presentations by FORUM members
4. Presentation by the FORUM’s Sponsor for that evening

The presentations by FORUM members will be based on 5 basic topics.
1. Ice-breaker, a personal introduction
2. A personal interest
3. An inspirational Biographical presentation focusing on a challenge that was overcome
4. A historical look at technological changes
5. Vision – Technologies and social changes to come

This concept is given to a small committee to evaluate. We want to make sure that each aspect effectively serves the dual purpose of the FORUM.

We will provide more information as the plan comes together.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Glen Miranker Speaks to Barn Gang


From the November Report by John Bosch

By any measure an expert would claim that it was virtually impossible to solve the Nazi secret code.
Glen Miranker, VP Research, Ret. for the Apple Corporation gave a comprehensive technical presentation of The Enigma Machine: How Dayton Cracked the Code. Glen began by talking about the origin of the Enigma machine as a commercial product in the late 1920’s from which several models were developed for the German military. The M4 (model 4) with an additional forth cyphering wheel was the most sophisticated and was used by the German navy. To put some perspective on the task of solving the problem, Glen mentioned that the number of solutions possible for breaking the German code in a single message would exceed the number of atoms in the universe. With the staggering losses of ships early in 1942 meetings were set up between the English and the United States to review the status of code breaking. On September 4, 1942 NCR was given a cold start to design and build code-breaking machines with Joe Desch in charge. Incredibly, the first machines were shipped just eight months later in May 1943. They weighted 5000 pounds and were 10’ wide, 7’ high and 2’ deep. A total of 96 were built. The machines worked extremely well and gave the allies the benefit of decoding German messages soon after they were sent. Debbie Anderson, daughter of Joe Desch, made the introduction.

For more information - click on the Link to Dayton Code Breakers website as well as blog.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Ropewalk receives Award


The Engineers Club of Dayton Foundation received a 2008 Award of Excellence in History Outreach from the Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums (OAHSM), for the documentary film, "Ropewalk: A Cordage Engineer's Journey Through History". An enthusiastic group of 10 attended the awards luncheon at the Ohio History Center on October 4, 2008. Bill Hagenbuch and filmmaker Steve Fetsch accepted the award on behalf of the Engineers Club of Dayton Foundation. Film collaborators Chuck Buchanan, Lyric Rillera, Mikki Hearsum, Mark Martel, and Kate Hagenbuch represented the Engineers Club. Greene County Public Library Head Archivist Deanna Ulvestad lent her support, as well as Club members Chuck & Betty Martel.


The
OAHSM History Outreach Awards, presented annually since 1959, recognize projects that have educational content, that have contributed to the promotion and understanding of local and state history, and that have had an impact on the community.


The Engineers Club of Dayton Foundation has pledged to donate 500
Ropewalk DVD’s free of charge to libraries, museums, historical societies and schools. This helps fulfill the educational mission of the Engineers Club of Dayton Foundation, for historical preservation and education in science and technology.