Myron Miller, founding publisher of PCIM Power Electronic Systems Magazine, is doing well and engaged in his latest venture, the Gold Coast Innovation Center (GCIC), located on the campus of California State University-Channel Islands (CSU-CI), Camarillo, Calif.
The Center was conceived to participate in the growing global initiative to solve electrical energy challenges. Miller describes the Center as “A Global Energy Empowerment Zone” that will leverage the power of organized information, knowledge, and people to support collaboration between government, industry, and academia. Miller's vision is that this collaboration will accelerate the development of electrical energy technologies, products, and job skills required for this century and beyond.
Miller says, “At the system sublevel, power electronics and power conversion are absolutely key enabling technologies that thread through all segments of energy generation and application.” One of the early projects of the Center is to build a Test Bed for integration of power electronics and power quality products. The Test Bed will be a free-flowing arrangement of equipment, people, and business relationships. Among its functions will be system product validation and compatibility testing, technology monitoring, and technology transfer services. It will also serve as a leading-edge training and certification service.
The location on the new CSU-CI campus is unique because within a radius of 150 miles, you can find virtually every form of power generation, distribution, and critical application. The area is also rich with companies involved in leading-edge development in power generation, supplies, and semiconductors. Future plans include offering GCIC's resources for CSU-CI's development of technical Centers of Excellence and to provide a technical hands-on environment for those students interested in power technologies.
“We will also use the Center as a magnet to attract young people into energy and power electronics,” Miller says. “We are now working with Future Science and Engineers of America (FSEA) and the National Energy Education Development (NEED) project. We'll spread energy conservation and power electronics information down to the grade schools and offer internships to high school and college students.”
Before this latest endeavor, Miller founded PCIM Magazine in 1975 under the name Solid State Power Conversion. In 1979 he was responsible for setting up the first power conversion conference and exhibit in Europe. Soon after, he established a similar conference in the United States. The magazine's name was changed to Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion in 1988, and then PCIM Power Electronic Systems in 1998. By his side in all these ventures was his wife, Marji.
In 1999, Marji and Myron decided to retire from magazine publishing. Marji wanted to redirect her daily activities, and Myron wanted to give something more to the industry he helped to nurture. GCIC was Myron's answer.
As part of the magazine's sale, Miller retained possession of back issues of the Conference Proceedings, which are available from the Center.
GCIC is prepared to accept corporate memberships, stakeholders, teaming partners, individual memberships, and alliances. To learn more, contact the Center at P. O. Box 1390, Camarillo, Calif. 93001; phone: (805) 383-1213; fax: (805) 383-1214; or e-mail: [email protected].
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