Judging by responses from all attendees, the 2014 IEEE Engineering Colloquium held by the Schenectady PES Chapter on September 19 was a great success. This was the first conference organized by the Schenectady chapter and it is now planned to be an annual event. Several of the seven presenters (see photos) often speak at national or international conferences and all are considered experts in their focus areas. Continuing education credits were provided for each presentation which encompassed the following topics:

• National Grid interconnection process and requirements for load customers
• National Grid interconnection process and requirements for DG
• New York ISO interconnection process and requirements for generation
• Engineering ethics
• DG grounding and overvoltage
• Substation grounding
• Open source tools for engineering analysis

Schenectady chapter chair, Vincent Forte, noted that planning for the 2015 colloquium is beginning. If any chapter members would like to suggest topics and speakers, or to volunteer to help with the 2015 conference, they can contact him at Vincent.J.Forte@ieee.org with their ideas and contact information.

The next colloquium will be held September 2015 on the Union College campus in Schenectady, NY.