On Wednesday 24th February, we are holding the next meeting of our 2009/2010 season. This will be a presentation entitled "Nanometrology: Traceable Measurement of Tiny Dimensions" by Prof. Richard Leach from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

The event takes place 6:30pm for 7:00pm at Lindop Building, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield.

If you need a map and directions to this venue you can find them on our website here.

It is now fully appreciated that metrology will play an integral role in the successful development and commercialisation of micro- and nanotechnology. This talk will briefly describe the background of the research into engineering nanometrology at NPL, concentrating on the technical details of the projects. Projects include the development of traceable instrumentation to measure areal surface topography, very low forces and micro-scale geometry.

Professor Richard Leach is a Principal Research Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory and looks after the nanometrology area. He is also a visiting professor at Loughborough University.

This will be a joint meeting with the London & South East Branch of the Institute of Physics, and will take place at the Branch's Hertfordshire Centre, which meets in the Lindop Building at the University of Hertfordshire.

We look forward to you joining us for the meeting.

On Wednesday 27th January, we are holding the next meeting of our 2009/2010 season. This will be a presentation entitled "Hollywood Effect on Digital Forensics" by Geraint Williams from the University of Bedfordshire.

The event takes place 6:45pm for 7:00pm at MTL Instruments Group Ltd, Great Marlings, Butterfield Business Park, Luton  LU2 8DL. This is the new headquarters of MTL (a division of Cooper Crouse-Hinds) following its move from Power Court in the centre of Luton last year.

If you need a map and directions to this new venue you can find them on our website here.

Hollywood has a unique view on the real world and can leave a distorted prospective in the minds of the movie goer or the couch potato. Digital forensics is new and almost hip in the eyes of the younger generations. It involves that part of modern life that is inescapable, the computer, and plays on the fear that everything we do on the computer is traceable.

The success of forensics-based dramas like CSI has ensured there is no shortage of applicants to study forensics. The CSI effect has given the public, in particular, some members of juries, some inflated expectations of computer forensic analysis.

This talk looks at Hollywood and the TV interpretation of digital forensics and gives an insight into how it is really done.

Our speaker, Geraint Williams, is a Certified Information Security System Professional, a Certified Ethical Hacker, a Certified Hacking Forensic Investigator as well as a member of the British Computer Society.

This is a joint meeting with the IET Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Network.

We look forward to you joining us for this meeting. If you experience any difficulties gaining entrance to the MTL building please contact our Programme Secretary, Tom Purcell,  on his mobile (07947-476910) when you arrive.

On Wednesday 25th November, we are holding the next meeting of our 2009/2010 season. This will be a presentation entitled "Modern Combine Harvesters" by Mark Smith of John Deere Ltd.

The event takes place 6:45pm for 7:00pm at MTL Instruments Group Ltd, Great Marlings, Butterfield Business Park, Luton LU2 8DL.

If you need a map and directions to this venue you can find them on our website here.

Mark Smith's presentation will give an overview of a modern high performance combine harvester, focusing on the control systems which automatically control the combine to help the operator extract more of the inbuilt capability of the machine.

The will include new intelligent packages available on John Deere combines to provide the following features:
      Autotrac DGPS guided steering system
      HarvestSmart auto feedrate control
      Harvest Doc. Field mapping and crop data collection

Mark Smith is Product Manager - Combines at John Deere Ltd. Nottingham.

We hope you can join us for this very informative talk. This talk was originally planned as part of the 2008/2009 season of talks but was postponed due to bad weather last February.

If you experience any difficulties gaining entrance to the MTL building, please contact our Programme Secretary, Tom Purcell on his mobile (07947 476910) when you arrive.

The event takes place 6:45 pm for 7:00 pm at MTL Instruments Group Ltd, Great Marlings, Butterfield Business Park, Luton  LU2 8DL.

If you need a map and directions to this new venue you can find them on our website here.

For decades, harnessing fusion has been the long-term goal of researchers around the world. If this can be achieved, mankind would have a new source of abundant, non-polluting, base-load electricity.

Over the years, international enthusiasm and funding for fusion research has reflected the state of the energy market, in particular the price of oil, but present concerns over climate change and dwindling fossil fuel reserves have lent a new urgency to bring this research to fruition.

Mike Hood has been involved in research support since the early 1980's, including work at the Halley Bay Antarctica research station and at Winfrith heavy water reactor. Mike's talk will provide an introduction to Fusion: What is fusion, why do we need it, and what is it's current status. He will then go on to describe some of the fascinating, practical engineering problems that need to be overcome to make its use for power generation a practical proposition on our own planet.

We hope you can join us for this meeting. If you experience any difficulties gaining entrance to the MTL building please contact our Programme Secretary, Tom Purcell, on his mobile (07947-476910) when you arrive.

Advance Information.

A reminder of the 11th Annual EEESTA Prestige Seminar, "Waste Not, Want Not - Engineering Solutions to Waste Management". It takes place on Wednesday 11th November, 5-30pm - 9.30pm in the Weston Auditorium, De Havilland Campus, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield. Entrance to the event is free but by pre-registered ticket only. For further information, including a booking form, please visit our website.

Our 2009-2010 season of events beings this month.

On Wednesday this week (30th September) we are holding the first meeting of our new season. This will be a presentation entitled "UK Coastal Monitoring and Forecasting" by Neil Fanning.

The 1953 North Sea tide surge caused severe damage and loss of life in both UK and the Netherlands. A British Government led inquiry into the disaster recommended the creation of a storm tide warning service as well as the Thames barrier. This service has evolved into the UK Coastal Monitoring and Forecasting service run by the Environment Agency with the Met Office and Proudman Oceanographic Laboratories and supported by a extensive network of tide gauges and a telemetry system. Neil Fanning's presentation will introduce storm tides and describe the improvements in monitoring that have been made since 1953 and likely future developments that will need to cope with an increased threat from rising sea levels.

The event takes place 6:45pm for 7:00pm at MTL Instruments Group Ltd, Great Marlings, Butterfield Business Park, Luton  LU2 8DL. This is the new headquarters of MTL (a division of Cooper Crouse-Hinds) following its move from Power Court in the centre of Luton earlier this year.

If you need a map and directions to this new venue you can find them on our website here.

We have already completed one event this month - the 8th running of our annual Golf Challenge Day with the London Section of the InstMC on Friday 18th September. All the 72 golfers involved had a very enjoyable day and a report, full results and photos from the day will be available soon on our website.

We look forward to you joining us for our meeting this Wednesday evening at our new venue. If you experience any difficulties gaining entrance to the MTL building please contact our Programme Secretary, Tom Purcell, on his mobile (07947-476910) when you arrive.