The Bridge - Issue 1, 2021 - 39

Chapter Spotlight

Founders Day

Georgia Tech Lab Kits Program
by Ethan Frommer, Vice President, Beta Mu Chapter, Georgia Institute of Technology

The Beta Mu Chapter at Georgia Institute of
Technology celebrated last fall 15 years of success
with its Lab Kits Program, through which necessary
lab items are packaged and sold at reduced costs to
all ECE students at the university.
The program was the brainchild of Tom Hanley,
a Graduate Student Member of the Chapter,
who wanted to begin a service project at the
university. The program began on a small scale
in 2005, and has undergone fine-tuning every
year. It has " cornered the market " on the sales of
these supplies. The Chapter constantly works with
professors to ensure that the lab kits sold are the
most updated for their students' needs. The Chapter
also continues to increase the number of classes it
sells lab supplies kits for.

The success of the program has borne even more
fruit: By 2008 the Chapter raised and saved enough
from the Lab Kit sales to start an endowment for
scholarships. The " Eta Kappa Nu/ECE Scholarship
Endowment " was created within the Georgia Tech
Foundation on March 1, 2008 with a gift of US
$15,000 from the Student HKN Chapter.

Purchasing opportunities also have been expanded
over the years: Sales are held in the lab on the first
day of class as well as in the ECE building for the
remaining students.
During the pandemic, students lined up in the
hallway to purchase their kits. From 19 to 22
January 2021 alone, more than 500 lab supply kits,
manuals, and breadboard accessories were sold
with COVID safety precautions in place to students
of six different courses. The Chapter also sells lab
kits to aerospace and mechanical engineering
majors, so its impact reached beyond the scope of
the ECE Department.

THE BRIDGE

Submitted by Luz María Sánchez Reyes, Mu Psi Chapter,
Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro (Mexico), Jiakang
Yang, Mu Kappa Chapter, The University of Queensland
(Australia) and Ibrahim Izdhan, Mu Alpha Chapter, UCSI
University-Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Mu Alpha, Mu Kappa and Mu Psi IEEE-HKN
chapters held the first-ever multi-national HKN
Founders Day Celebration on 13 November 2020. The
chapters from Mexico, Australia and Malaysia gathered
via Zoom to meet one another and share ideas.
Sales continued through the pandemic with COVID-19 precautions in place

With steady contributions over the years and
with Foundation management of the fund, the
endowment grew to over US $55,000 by 2020.
The interest from the endowment funds supports
two US $1,000 scholarships each year: one for
an outstanding junior electrical engineering or
computer engineering student, and one to recognize
early innovation shown by an electrical engineering
or computer engineering student.
Students line the halls to purchase lab kits

For First Time Ever,
Chapters from 3
Different Nations Host
Joint Founders Day
Celebration

The Chapter continues to grow the HKN
endowment each semester through contributions
of US $2,000 each year. The Chapter announced
last fall that it will increase each scholarship to US
$1,500, for a new total of US $3,000 awarded
annually to students.

The event was divided into five stages: a welcome
message given by Aobo Zhou, President of the Mu
Kappa Chapter; presentations from each Chapter on
their experiences, strategies and opportunities during
the pandemic; several games to break the ice, and
a closing message. Eighteen IEEE-HKN members,
including students and faculty members, participated
in the event.
The event coordinators reported that this was a great
event because the shared experiences help strengthen
a newly created chapter like Mu Psi, while also enabling
each member help each other through sharing ideas

for workshops and conferences. It also proved to be a
successful networking event.
Jiakang Yang of the Mu Kappa Chapter wrote: " This
was a wholesome networking activity, which will
motivate the members from the Mu Alpha Chapter,
Mu Psi Chapter and Mu Kappa Chapter of HKN to
make acquaintances with and reach out to each other.
Shared experience with pandemic challenges will
enlighten the Chapters to better seize the opportunities
during this time and make more contributions. "
" The importance of collaborating with other chapters
lies in the bonds that are formed, friendships,
colleagues who later can continue to collaborate,
extending the scope of the activities, and benefiting
more members, " wrote Luz María Sánchez Reyes, Mu
Psi Chapter. " HKN helps us to network, an example
was this successful event, it expands horizons and
strengthens soft skills. HKN is more than a society,
it's a family. "
Has your Chapter held a successful activity that
you would like to share with the HKN community?
Please submit an Activity Report and nominate it
as a successful practice.

In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Lab
Kits Program, the Chapter produced a YouTube
video highlighting details of the program. You can
watch it here: https://youtu.be/gInG2tBrGPg
The Beta Mu Chapter at Georgia Tech has an active
membership of more than 100 students and most
recently received the Outstanding Chapter Award
in 2019.

HKN.ORG

39
https://hkn.ieee.org/chapter-activity-report/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gInG2tBrGPg&feature=youtu.be https://hkn.ieee.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/
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