REPORTS AND ARTICLES

REPORT FROM THE CHAPTER AND MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES

Vernon G. Price Committee Chair

Membership:  With release of the membership numbers for the IEEE at the end of November 2000, it is apparent that growth in the IEEE has been impressive compared to the same period last year. This is seen in the following table:

The number of students, 57,931, for November 2000 when compared to 52,842 in November 1999 represents a growth for the year of 9.6%. It is seen in the table that this growth has taken place for the most part in areas outside of the US. However, we have relatively few IEEE student members in our society. That number, typically, is about 215. Students often join IEEE without also joining a society at the same time. It is our hope that we may persuade student conference attendees to assess the value of our society membership in their student work. If they join, they gain substantial reduction in conference registration fees in addition to many other benefits. The IEEE Xplore program provides a valuable incentive for students studying in our NPSS fields.

The observed 2% yearly loss in NPSS membership has been stemmed to some extent by our adoption of a procedure to offer introductory complimentary memberships to those IEEE members who attend our conferences but who are not also members of our Society.

Chapters:  I am happy to report the formation of three new chapters for NPSS. All three are in the Region 8 area. One is in the French Section with Dr. Jean-Luc Leray of CEA as the Chair, a second is in the Benelux Section with Dr. P. de Almeida of SCK-CEN as the Chair and the third is in the Ukraine East Section with Dr. Shifren in Kiev as the chair. His chapter is jointly set up with AP, AES, ED, MTT, GRS and LEO. At least our society now has a beginning in that land. Several of our chapters have had new officers installed. I invite each of these officers to let me know who they are so that we may share good practices amongst them.

Senior Grade Members: I have encouraged members of our society who have 10 years or more of technical experience to apply for a change in the level of their membership to the Senior grade. It is easy to do and several members have done so this past year. The best way to do it is to use the IEEE on-line approach. An individual may initiate this action by logging on to the IEEE site and interactively entering the data. A copy of the person’s CV can be pasted onto the on-line form in the rectangle provided for that purpose. The individual needs to enter the names of three IEEE members who know the applicant. These become referees. The referees need to be senior members or higher. The IEEE numbers for these people must also be entered. A copy of the person’s CV should be sent to the referees for information for their recommendations. Alternatively, a Senior or Fellow member may nominate a qualified IEEE colleague for this elevation. If so, only two other referees are required. The evaluation committee at Headquarters meets only every two months to make their decisions on these applications. If chosen, the person receives a nice wooden plaque with a bronze nameplate suitable for mounting. Further, the person receives a $25 credit certificate for use in paying for society memberships. The person’s manager is notified of the action. Several people in our society have received this honor this past year. Two of the most recent people are Dr. Wolfgang Schulte of Kayser-Threde in München, Germany and Dr. Alexander Getkin of AMCRYS-H in Kharkov, Ukraine. Present senior members may order one of the plaques from IEEE for about $25.00. To apply for senior member status, visit the site: http://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/mc/smelev.htm  

Vernon G. Price can be contacted at 22151 Berkeley Ct, Los Altos CA 94024-7452: Phone (408) 737-0778: Fax: (408) 737-1922: E-mail: v.price@ieee.org 

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