Speaker: Karen Pedersen, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) USA President
Karen Pedersen will give a formal update on IEEE for the ECpE department. She will take questions afterwards.
Bio: Karen Pedersen was born and raised in Iowa. She attended Indianola High School in Indianola, Iowa graduating, in 1960. She went to work at Columbus Life Assurance Company as an actuarial clerk in Des Moines, Iowa. Karen entered Grand View College at the age of 30 years old in 1972 to receive an Associate’s degree in mathematics from Grand View College in May 1975. She received a BSEE in electronics and computers from Iowa State University in November 1977. She received an MBA with a concentration in economics from Bentley College, Massachusetts, in 1989. Karen joined IEEE as a student at Iowa State University in 1975. She and a friend attended their first Central Iowa section meeting in Ames, Iowa, during her senior year. She was honored as an Eta Kappa Nu member of the Iowa State NU chapter in 1975. Karen went to work at Iowa Power and Light Company in Des Moines, Iowa after graduation, as a Planning Engineer in the Engineering Department. Since her education was in electronics and computers and the job at Iowa Power was in the power industry, she was sent to Texas A&M for their two-week power course. She then took a Power System Analysis course remotely from Iowa State University. Karen became involved as a volunteer in the Central Iowa Section serving as Treasurer, Vice Chair and finally Section Chair in July of 1983. She and her husband moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1984. She took a position as a Load Research Engineer for Boston Edison. She served as a Planning Engineer and a Principal Research Engineer while at Boston Edison. She returned to the Quad Cities in Iowa in 1998 to work for MidAmerican Energy Company. She was employed in the Electric System Planning Department until retiring in 2006. She volunteered for many IEEE positions since graduation from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, in 1977.