Welcoming Remarks – Arthur Winston

Dr. Arthur Winston was the Boston Representative and Technical Program Chair of the 2014 Conference, Norbert Wiener in the 21st Century.  Dr. Winston earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the University of Toronto, Canada, and his doctoral degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He was one of the founders of the Tufts Gordon Institute, a graduate program in Engineering Management and is Director Emeritus of the Institute.  In 2007, he was one of three recipients of the Bernard M. Gordon Prize by the National Academy of Engineering which recognizes innovation in engineering and technology education.

Dr. Winston has also made notable contributions outside of academia.  He has worked with Bell Telephone Company in Canada, Canada’s National Research Council, and Allied Research Corporation (now part of Boeing). He developed the NASA Apollo Heat Shield Re-entry Temperature Measurement System as well as a worldwide nuclear test monitoring system. He has written over 100 papers and holds three patents.

He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and served as the 2004 President of the IEEE.
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Welcoming Remarks – Arthur Winston

Arthur Winston:
Good morning. That got everybody up. I’m Arthur Winston. I’m the Program Chair. I’m the IEEE Boston Section Representative, also a past IEEE President. I’m very pleased to welcome you to Boston and to the conference, Norbert Wiener in the 21st century: Driving Technology’s Future. For those of you who are new to Boston, we have a nice picture of Norbert Wiener emerging from Boston, and yet we’re in Waltham. Some of you may be saying, “Well, why didn’t you say Waltham? Why Boston?” Boston itself is a very small city. It only has about 600,000 residents, whereas there are over 3 million residents in an arch right around Boston. Of course, on the extreme east, there’s the ocean. We refer to, I’ll call it metropolitan Boston. We include all these little towns, of which Waltham is one.

With respect to Norbert Wiener, he lived in Belmont. Belmont is adjacent to Waltham. In addition, he did his undergraduate work at Tufts, which is in Medford. That’s a little northeast of here. Finally, then he did his graduate work at Harvard, which is in Cambridge, though Harvard has campuses in Boston proper and in other areas. Finally, he became a professor at MIT, which is Cambridge. All these little towns really constitute what we would call Boston. Everybody around the world, I’m sure, has heard of Boston, but not necessarily Waltham. It’s not proper to just say the conference is Waltham. It is really Boston. For those who are new to the area, I’m hoping that you will enjoy the conference, take something from it, contribute something to it, do networking at all, but that you will also find some time to visit Boston and its surroundings.

The first shot in the American Revolution took place in Lexington. Lexington is also adjacent to Waltham. Believe it or not, there are 58 universities in this metropolitan Boston area. There are over 30 museums and galleries. Most major corporations have offices at least here, but many have laboratories and research facilities here. Years ago, it was the innovation center before Silicon Valley got going, and now is, I guess, competitive in a sense. The road that you see outside the hotel, 128 or 95 US, is a circumferential highway. It used to be called the Technology Highway. A lot of that technology has now gotten closer to MIT and in the Cambridge area. Boston, greater Boston, metropolitan Boston has really become a center for biology, computer work, and pharmaceuticals.

In any event, I’d like to welcome you to the conference and at the same time encourage you, not during the conference, but encourage you after the conference to see some of what Boston and its environs have to offer. Right now, it gives me great pleasure to call on Dr. Peter Staecker to officially open up the conference. Peter holds a bachelor’s and electrical engineering degrees from MIT, and has a doctorate from Polytechnic where he concentrated primarily on microwave design and test techniques for satellite communications. In 1986, he joined M/A-COM where he had been program, product, and process development. He helped the company transition from defense to commercial markets. During this period, he also established strong ties with US and European universities, and with research organizations. He has since retired from M/A-COM. His last position was Director of Research and Development.

Dr. Staecker served industry and government on manufacturing advisory panels, and is Consulting Editor to Microwave Journal. In fact, he is Past-President and Honorary Life Member of the MTT Society. This is one of the most busy societies in the Boston area, but also internationally. He’s an IEEE Life Member. His 30 year service to IEEE includes leadership roles in finance, strategic planning, publications, and membership. He has served on the IEEE Board of Directors for 7 years, including IEEE President and CEO in 2013. It gives me great honor to welcome Dr. Peter Staecker, and have him officially open up this conference.