This is an important time for IEEE societies, for TAB, and for all of IEEE. Our
technologies are pervasive: they are driving the economy, creating new businesses,
enhancing the quality of life, and creating tomorrow’s opportunities. For IEEE to
fulfill its potential as the professional organization for such crucial technologies, IEEE
and TAB must recognize and act on key trends:
- Electronic media have enabled a truly global community. IEEE must become more thoroughly
global. Through communication and cooperation, we must enhance interaction between the
technical and regional structures, towards the shared goals of representing the global
technical community and supporting the timely and affordable dissemination of technical
knowledge to all parts of the world.
- Our disciplines are becoming more interrelated. We must therefore improve access to
information across Society and Council boundaries. IEEE’s societies are its greatest
strength: society publications and conferences are the backbone of IEEE, and society
volunteers make it all happen. We must maintain this strength of the societies while at
the same time making it easier for IEEE members to access the information they need to
pursue new, cross-disciplinary work.
- We must support the specific needs of researchers and practitioners. The mix of
transactions, magazines, newsletters, conferences, workshops, exhibits, and educational
material must provide value to all members of the profession.
- Electronic publishing is driving widespread discussion about how technical knowledge
should be disseminated. IEEE must engage in the discussion, keep what is good from current
publishing models, and realize the myriad opportunities created by e-publications,
including customized access based on technical interests, support for multimedia objects
and simulations, timely delivery, and digital archives. As chair of TAB Periodicals for
the past two years, I have worked to develop new publication models that take advantage of
one of electronic publishing’s key strengths: the ability to organize articles based
on topic, regardless of what journal or conference they were originally published in. In
the coming year I hope to see the realization of these discussions, in the form of IEEE
virtual journals and topic-based electronic periodicals.
- IEEE must be agile in fostering opportunities for technical discussions of emerging
technologies. Our structure sometimes gets in the way of our ability to move quickly into
new areas. Some of IEEE’s societies have developed effective vehicles for exploring
new areas, including areas that span societies. We should share these models throughout
IEEE. We must also ensure that IEEE’s presence in new areas is visible, so that we
are viewed as the place to go for trusted information in emerging areas, as well as in our
established areas.
- Finally, IEEE must provide clear member benefits, including vehicles for professional
development, value for young engineers, and support for life-long learning; we must foster
an active volunteer community.
I will represent TAB in working to ensure that IEEE develops the shared vision and
fiscal resources to achieve these goals.
Biography
Leah Jamieson (S’75-M’76-SM’91-F’93) received the S.B. in
mathematics from MIT and M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in EECS from Princeton University. She
is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, where she has
been a faculty member since 1976. Her research interests include speech recognition and
parallel signal processing algorithms; she has published over 150 journal and conference
papers. She has been an advisory committee member for the NSF Computer and Information
Science and Engineering Directorate, Secretary of the Computing Research
Association’s Board of Directors, and co-chair of CRA’s Committee on the Status
of Women in Computing Research.
Jamieson was 1998-99 President of the IEEE Signal Processing. She currently chairs the
IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Periodicals Committee, is Vice-Chair of the IEEE
Publications, Products, and Services Board (P2SB), and serves on TAB Fincom, P2SB Fincom,
and the P2SB Strategic Planning Committee. She has been an Associate Editor for the IEEE
Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing and the IEEE Transactions on
Parallel and Distributed Processing. She been an IEEE Signal Processing Society
Distinguished Lecturer and an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor.
Jamieson is co-founder and co-director of the Engineering Projects in Community Service
(EPICS) undergraduate engineering design program at Purdue. She has been awarded the 1997
Chester F. Carlson Award for Innovation in Engineering Education from the American Society
for Engineering Education (ASEE), the IEEE Education Society’s 2000 Harriet B. Rigas
“Outstanding Woman Engineering Educator” Award, and an IEEE Third Millennium
Medal.
Leah Jamieson can be reached at Purdue University, Electrical and Computer
Engineering, 1285 Electrical Engineering Building, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1285; Phone:
+1 765 494-3653; Fax: +1 765 494-3371; E-mail: lhj@purdue.edu
