| The IEEE Fellow Program was established
to recognize and honor outstanding members for their significant accomplishments
in the advancement or application of engineering, science, and technology
and for their contributions to the mission of the IEEE. The IEEE Fellows
form an elite group from all around the globe. They share the fact that
they possess the highest possible membership grade.
The IEEE looks to the Fellows for guidance and leadership as the world
of electrical and electronic technology continues to evolve. The grade
of Fellow is conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with
an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields
of interest. The accomplishments honored have contributed importantly
to the advancement or application of engineering, science, and technology,
and have provided significant value to society. Election to the grade
of Fellow occurs the year following approval by the Board of Directors
conferring the honor. Members elected to the Fellow grade may use the
title immediately following approval by the Board of Directors. All
those elected receive a certificate and pin.
Nominator: Nominators need not be IEEE members. Furthermore,
members who belong to the IEEE Board of Directors, Fellow Committee,
Technical Society Fellow Evaluations Committee, or IEEE Staff are not
eligible to be nominators. A nominee must be an IEEE Senior Member whose
membership is current and who has completed five years of service in
any grade of membership. Note: IEEE affiliate membership does not count
towards the five-year threshold. The nominee can come from any field,
including academia, government, and industry. He/she cannot be a member
of the IEEE Board of Directors, Fellow Committee, Technical Society
Fellow Evaluations Committee, or IEEE Staff. It is also important to
note that a nominee may not self-nominate for consideration as a Fellow.
The nominator plays a major role in the Fellow Process, gathering enough
information about the nominee to complete details of the nomination
form, including a concise and accurate description of the technical
contributions of the nominee such as awards, published papers, books,
or patents. He/she must also present a proposed citation of no more
than 20 words that describe the nominee’s contributions. The nominator
must also solicit at least five references who can provide detail as
to the nominee’s accomplishments. The nominator may opt to provide
up to three endorsers to strengthen the nomination and contribute to
the evaluation process. An endorser can be a person, IEEE Section, Chapter,
Committee or Board to which the nominee has contributed time and talent.
In addition, the nominator needs to identify the IEEE Technical Society
or Council that best reflects the nominee’s field of technical
accomplishments. Finally, the nominator needs to submit the Nomination
by the March 1 deadline.
Reference: A reference must be an IEEE Fellow whose
membership is current. There are restrictions similar to those for a
nominator in that he/she cannot belong to the IEEE Board of Directors,
Fellow Committee, and Technical Society Fellow Evaluations Committee.
Furthermore, neither a member of the IEEE Staff nor the nominator for
that nominee is eligible to be a reference. The reference form is an
important contribution to the IEEE Fellow Committee’s decision
whether to recommend a nominee to the IEEE Board of Directors for elevation
to the grade of Fellow. References must cite specific evidence of the
uniqueness and impact of at least one of the contributions of the nominee.
Comments about the relative contributions by the nominee to any work
attributed to more than the nominee, for example, if the nominee is
a co-author of a listed work, are also very valuable. All References
must be submitted on an IEEE Reference Form by the March 1 deadline.
Endorser: In some cases, the significance of a nominee’s
contributions and/or achievements may be best understood and evaluated
by a recognized individual inside or outside the electrical and electronics
engineering profession, who is not an IEEE Fellow or even an IEEE member.
Any IEEE Section, Chapter, Committee, or Board to which the nominee
has contributed time and talents, may endorse the nomination through
its executive body. A non-IEEE organization or individual may also provide
an endorsement. Similar exceptions exist as those for the nominee, nominator,
and reference. Although an endorsement of a nominee is optional, the
submission of such material will contribute to the evaluation process
and should not be overlooked. An endorsement will strengthen a nomination
if it contains information on specific contributions that, in the opinion
of the endorsement, qualify the nominee for IEEE Fellow grade. All endorsements
must be submitted on an IEEE Endorsement Form and received by that March
1 deadline.
Role of Technical Society/Council: The Technical Society/Council Fellow
Evaluating Committee Chair must be an IEEE Fellow, but cannot be a nominator
for any of the present cycle’s nominees nor a reference or endorser
for a nominee who will be evaluated in that Technical Society/Council.
No IEEE Board of Directors member or IEEE Fellow Committee member may
also serve as a Technical Society/Council Fellow Evaluating Committee
Chair. The Technical Society/Council Fellow Evaluating Committee Chair
also has an important role in the process. He/she must organize and
chair a committee of experts with balanced backgrounds (research, teaching,
design/development, technical management, manufacturing, etc.) to review
IEEE Fellow grade nominations referred for evaluation. The Technical
Society/Council Committees needs to be large enough to truly represent
the composition of the Society in order to ensure that all individuals
are receiving evaluations that adequately reflect the diversity of backgrounds
and interests within a particular Technical Society/Council. The Society/Council
evaluation is extremely important, because it is an impartial and even-handed
view of the nominee’s merit, by persons who are familiar with
his or her work. In addition to the evaluation, the Technical Society/Council
reviews copies of the endorsements as well as the original citation,
having the opportunity to propose an enhanced one if necessary. Finally,
they provide the Fellow Committee with scores for each nominee and ranks
them accordingly.
Fellow Committee: In accordance with the IEEE Bylaws,
the Fellow Committee is comprised of a Chair and not more than 52 members,
all of whom shall hold the grade of Fellow. The committee shall be responsible
to the Board of Directors, who shall appoint the members annually for
one-year terms. Each of the Committee members judge, evaluate and rank
almost 80 nominees each. They look at four major areas: individual contributions,
Technical Society/Council evaluation, references, and endorsers, in
addition to the professional activities of the nominee. Total years
in the profession are also considered.
Nominee Individual Contribution: The Individual Contribution
of a nominee is a major part of the evaluation process, and refers to
the attributes and level of involvement in the key activities associated
with each of the Categories as described here:
• Application Engineer/Practitioner: Responsible for product development,
advancement in system, application or operation, project management
or construction activity, process development, manufacturing innovation,
codes or standards development, or other application of technology.
For the most part, nominees in this category are found in industry
• Educator: Responsible for advancing electrical engineering and
scientific technology through education by the developing curricula
and/or courses that are innovative and unique
• Research Engineer/Scientist: Responsible for inventions, discoveries
or advances in the state of the art technological advances
• Technical Leader: Responsible for a managerial, team, or company-wide
effort using technical innovation, and resulting in outstanding performance,
economic enhancements, or other advantages to benefit society
It should be noted here that even though nominations have been accepted
for the newest Fellow category (Application Engineer/Practitioner) for
nearly three years, the number of Fellows in this group is surprisingly
low. Out of the 295 Fellows named for the Class of 2008, 20 were from
the practitioner group compared to the 15 in the 268 member Class of
2007.
One reason for this low number might be that nominators are still unsure
about the type of work that would qualify someone for this category.
Many nominators are checking off the Research Engineer/Scientist box
on the nomination form when perhaps they should be marking the Application
Engineer/Practitioner category. The position of some nominees is identified
to be that of a research scientist or engineer, but the work for which
they are being cited could be considered that of a practitioner. There
were 225 Fellows from the scientist group in the 2008 class.
Role of the Fellow Committee: The fifty-two members
are divided into nomination evaluation groups and each of these groups
evaluates an equal portion of the nominees under consideration. As mentioned
earlier, the norm is about 80 per group. The criteria mentioned earlier
– Individual Contributions / Evidence of Technical Accomplishment,
Technical Society/Council Evaluation, References / Endorsements and
Professional Activities – are evaluated and scored. The IEEE Bylaws
specify that the maximum number of Fellows that may be elected in any
year is one tenth of one percent of the voting membership. The Committee
determines that number through the scoring/ranking process.
Milestone Dates: The milestone dates for the Fellows
Program are listed below. It should be noted that these dates are firm,
so as to provide appropriate time for each portion of the cycle and
maintain the integrity of the Program.
Contributor Activity
Deadline
Date
Nominator Nomination
Form March 1
Reference Reference
Form March 1
Endorsement
Endorsement Form March 1
Society/Council Chair Submit Scores June
15
Fellow Committee Final Review Late
September
Board of Directors Approve Slate
November
The Fellow Activities Staff and Fellow Committee are ready to respond
in a timely fashion to any questions, issues, and concerns that all
interested parties may have. Details about the program and the nomination
process may be found at http://www.ieee.org/fellows.
The Fellow Staff may be reached via email at fellows@ieee.org.
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