IEEE Annual Election - Region 1 (Northeastern USA)

Ali Abedi

ALI ABEDI
(Nominated by IEEE Region 1)

Associate Professor
Wireless Sensor Networks Laboratory
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
University of Maine
Orono, Maine, USA
http://wisenet.eece.maine.edu

Ali Abedi received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Waterloo in 2004. He worked as adjunct professor at Queen's University from 2004-2005. Dr. Abedi joined the University of Maine in 2005 as Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of WiSe-Net Lab and later promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. His research work includes analytical performance evaluation of channel codes and their applications in wireless sensor networks. Dr. Abedi is an affiliate faculty at Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health as well as President and CTO at Activas Diagnostics, Bangor, ME, a startup company funded by DoD. Dr. Abedi has received a number of awards and recognitions from NSERC, JSPS, CSA, IEEE, and NASA. He has served as panelist on NSF and NASA proposal review panels. Dr. Abedi has graduated 10 MS and PhD students and currently advises 10 MS and PhD students.

 

IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
(S’96-M’98-SM’07)

REGION: Region-1 Chapters Coordinator (2009-11)

SECTION/CHAPTER: Communications/Computer Society (COM/CS) Maine Chapter Treasurer (2005-09); COM/CS Maine Chapter Chair (2005-08); Maine Section Chair (2008); Maine Section Vice-Chair (2007); Maine Section Secretary (2006)

STUDENT BRANCHES: Kitchener-Waterloo (Canada) Distinguished Visitor Program Student Chair (2002-04); Sharif University Student Chapter (Iran) newsletter volunteer (1996-98)

SOCIETIES: Reviewer for several journals and conferences in Communications and Information Theory Societies

CONFERENCES: IEEE Region-1 Student Conference and Micro-mouse Competition general chair (2006); Technical Program Committee member for several IEEE conferences

OTHER: Facilitated a Student Professional Activities conference in Maine Chapter (2009)

Major accomplishments:

1. Chaired largest (also first time in Maine) student conference in Region-1 in 2006 with over 150 participants. Raised US$25000 funds to support the conference. Received RAB Friend of IEEE Award for this conference in 2006.
2. Encouraged his graduate student to found Maine GOLD (Graduates of the last Decade) Affinity Group, 2006.
3. Revitalized Maine Chapter of COM/CS in 2005 after years of inactivity and increased the talks from 0 to 6/year. Received COMSOC Best North American Chapter Chair Award in 2007.
4. Recruited volunteers for Section positions in 2008 to fill out all Section positions which were vacant for several years.
5. Encouraged colleagues to establish Maine WIE Affinity Group (2008)
6. Participated at IEEE-USA Science and Technology Day at US Congress (2008, 2010).

 

Statement

During my 14 years of service to IEEE, I realized that volunteers have great potential energy that needs to be channelized to maximize benefits to our members. I plan to focus on member needs and volunteer needs at the same level and rethink the way local chapters used to provide value. Using modern collaboration technologies such as vTools and Google Tools to facilitate chapters collaborations and provide enhanced value to our members is just the first step. I have served IEEE in different capacities in both technical and regional levels, while working in academia and industry. The great training I received from current and former leadership and experience gained through participation in organizing regional and international conferences prepared and energized me to take on this challenge. I will use my experience as principal investigator on several funded research projects to efficiently manage the region budget to the advantage of our members. My focus is equally distributed on industry and academia to support IEEE Strategic Plan by promoting continuing educational activities, student activities, and public awareness.

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Vincent P. Socci

VINCENT P. SOCCI
(Nominated by IEEE Region 1)

Principal and Chief Engineer
On Target Technology Development
Endicott, New York, USA
www.vincesocci.com

 

Vince Socci founded On Target Technology, where he provides hardware, software and systems engineering design services for electronic control systems. He has twenty years experience developing processor-based embedded-controller applications for safety-critical, actuator drives, signal processing, avionics, biomedical, radar, power and communications platforms. He works with industry clients throughout the northeast US. He also serves as expert witness in electronics systems cases. Socci holds BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering, an MBA in technology management and is pursuing a Master of Divinity in Chaplaincy. He was awarded the Boeing Golden Eagle Award, Lockheed Martin Tradition of Excellence Award, and several industry recognition and achievement awards. He holds a patent and published and presented technical papers at a variety of conferences. He serves as a youth sports coach, Boy Scout leader and church ministry leader. As a business owner, engineer, manager, and consultant, he has the skills to lead Region 1.

 

IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
(S’89-M’92-SM’05)

• Served varied IEEE volunteer roles in region, section, society, MGA and IEEE-USA positions, and maintains intimate relationships with IEEE membership, the public, other organizations and diverse communities on a global scale.
• Proven business acumen, leadership experience and ability to exercise sound judgments in matters related to the current and long-term objectives of the IEEE.
• Demonstrated ability to recruit and motivate IEEE volunteers; negotiate compromise and resolve differences; maintain positive working relationships and set direction.
• Successful, effective experience developing and managing strategic plans, financial budgets, government compliance artifacts and IEEE organization projects.
• Dedicated, innovative and committed service to the IEEE organization and its members over many years to meet a variety of needs.
• Revitalized the Binghamton Section by focusing on two objectives: increase volunteer involvement and increase technical and educational activities. Socci succeeded in these objectives by developing major activities within the section, while filling all necessary volunteer positions and increasing the annual number of technical activities over 350% during his tenure.
• Drove technical growth by founding Binghamton’s Communications Chapter, co-founding the Power Engineering Chapter, and rejuvenating the Aerospace and Electronic Systems and Computer Chapters.
• As R1 Precollege Education Activities Coordinator, Socci supported the development of precollege programs in all four R1 areas and advocated the bill for the “E2 for Innovation Act” throughout Congress.
• Revitalized student activities in the Binghamton Section by working to establish the GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) Affinity Group, Binghamton University Student Branch robotics competition and several student workshops.
• As Binghamton PACE chair, Socci developed membership value to the Binghamton Section members by creating technical programs, professional skills programs, and networking programs as well as joint programs with other professional organizations.

 

Statement

Positions:

1.  Apply IEEE resources to achieve maximum value.

Key resources are money and volunteer time. Assess how we spend these resources; reduce waste; use savings to increase value.

2.  Support IEEE members’ careers.

R1 engineers likely want R1 jobs. Improve industry relations, facilitate career networking, and prepare our members for engineering needs within R1.

3.  Invest in the engineering profession .

Precollege students need inspiration to study engineering. University students need top-notch curricula. GOLD members need technical mentoring and professional guidance. Seasoned engineers need continuing education and training.

4.  Develop IEEE’s reputation for competence and integrity.

Continued education in technical/interpersonal skills and professional ethics should be provided to IEEE members. IEEE must be a leader in standards development. IEEE-USA must be active and accurate in position statements. Technical societies must hold quality activities eligible for continuing education units.

For IEEE to be valued, it must be valuable to our members. It is our responsibility to maximize the benefits they receive while minimizing the costs they pay. I will take forward-thinking initiative and drive action at region and global levels. 

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