| QUESTION:
What are IEEE's strengths?
Lew Terman: The volunteers are perhaps the most
important strength; it is their enthusiasm, expertise, and time
which is key to the success of the Institute.
Another major strength is the IEEE’s generation and dispersion
of high quality Intellectual Property, including archival publications,
conferences/meetings, and standards. It is this IP which produces
the revenue streams that financially enables the IEEE and create
the information flow which is so valuable to the technical community.
The IEEE publishes over 30% of the published material in IEEE’s
fields of interest, and its conferences/meetings around the world
enable rapid dispersal of new results, as well as networking and
face-to-face discussions.
A third major IEEE strength is globalization: RAB’s structure
of geographical based entities extends around the world in over
150 countries, allowing networking and the interchange of technical
information at the local level.
Fourth, the IEEE has recovered from the recent downturn to a strong
overall financial position. Reserves are at an all-time high, though
some problems remain for specific O/Us. The financial performance
of the Societies and Councils has been very important.
Finally, the IEEE has an excellent staff supporting the volunteers
and working with them for the Institute and its goals.
John Vig: The IEEE’s main strengths include:
1) That we are a non-profit membership organization; we have ~50,000
volunteers who contribute to the IEEE’s >350 conferences,
>100 journals, >300 sections, >900 standards, >40 societies
and councils, etc.
2) The breadth and quality of products & services: publications,
conferences, workshops, standards, educational products and services,
sections, chapters…
3) Our diversity – i.e., that we have ~360K members, in 150
countries. The membership includes not only engineers but also computer/IT
professionals, scientists…; men and women; members of all
cultures..., and that our activities transcend national borders.
QUESTION: What are the major challenges facing
the IEEE?
Lew Terman: Membership has been essentially flat
in recent years, and the number of higher grader members has been
decreasing. A major problem has been the retention of new graduates,
now below 25% three years after graduation. Society membership continues
to decline, and the fraction of IEEE members without society membership
is now over 43%. Much of this can be attributed to a perceived lack
of value of IEEE membership relative to its cost. Increased support
of member career development is important. IEEE membership will
be 50% in Regions 7-10 within 10 years with current trends; the
implications (and opportunities) need to be thoroughly examined.
The long-term impact of IEL on membership could become significant.
Open Access is the major long-term question for publications - if
all publications are available for free on the web, the IEEE publication
business could collapse. Publication timeliness has been a problem,
new publications are launched too slowly, and there is a strong
need for practical publications to engage the practitioners/”bench-top
engineers”. Finally, there is the impact of going to full
electronic publishing and on what schedule it might occur.
While the overall IEEE financial position is good, there are specific
units with problems; further reduction of the infamous Infrastructure
Charge is needed through continual evaluation of the efficiency
of our operations. With the continuing growth of reserves, long
term financial plans/goals for the reserves and their use must be
developed.
Finally, the IEEE needs to react to new technologies faster to claim
leadership positions in these technologies as they emerge. We must
continue our search for effective and fair governance.
John Vig: How to provide sufficient value to justify
the membership dues is a major challenge. A growing number of members
who work for institutions which provide “free” access
to IEEE’s publications and conferences are asking, “I
get everything I want from IEEE for free, so, why should I be a
member?”
About 80% of IEEE members don’t read IEEE journals on a regular
basis. “The articles are by academics, for academics.”
Half of IEEE members work in industry. Providing more practical
content without diluting the quality of our publications is a major
challenge.
Half of IEEE’s revenues result from the sale of publications.
“Open access,” the worldwide movement to disseminate
scholarly research literature online, free of charge, threatens
these revenues.
QUESTION: What are the major changes IEEE
needs to be making?
Lew Terman: Membership: increase (and actively
market) membership benefits around the world, broaden the base of
membership such as aggressively moving into software, services,
applications and solutions. Follow up the China initiative with
similar efforts for India and Eastern Europe.
Publications: establish a faster track for new publications, pilot
new publications that are more practically-oriented, and establish
a reward system for reducing the submission-to-publication time.
Develop the best search capability for technical material, and make
it a membership benefit.
Education: the Expert Now program for continuing education is off
to an excellent start; aggressively push it and make it available
to members.
Financial: drive good financial behavior for Operating Units with
reserves by giving them more access to those reserves – as
the ratio of the O/U’s reserves to expenses increases, allow
access to an increased percentage of the reserves. Continue to work
on decreasing the Infrastructure Charge and increasing revenues,
though not at the cost of making IEEE’s prime goal increased
surpluses/reserves. Develop a long-term financial plan/goals for
the IEEE reserves.
Governance: the current governance structure is not egregiously
broken; continue to work towards streamlining operations and governmental
efficiency.
Finally, work across the IEEE major Boards to establish a spirit
of working together, understanding each others problems, and working
with staff on identifying and solving tactical and strategic problems.
John Vig: To improve the IEEE’s agility,
e.g., with respect to entering new technologies, I have proposed
that we establish an IEEE Venture Capital Fund. Any person could
propose an idea, and, if the idea is judged to be worthy, receive
up to $100,000 to implement, or show the feasibility of, the idea.
To provide practical content, I have proposed that we create a new
category of peer-reviewed publications, “application notes”
- which would include “how-to’s,” and case studies;
and that we digitize many of the ~600 IEEE Press books and make
them available to members, and members only, for free.
The IEEE should be more willing to take prudent risks, and it should
be more willing to terminate unsuccessful activities.
To explore new ideas, the IEEE should experiment more – with
new membership models, dues structures, publication models (e.g.,
new forms of peer review), etc.
The IEEE needs to improve its communications with members. The Institute
should become a real newspaper, i.e., it should report both the
good and the bad, and it should publish controversial views, even
when such views may displease the leadership.
The IEEE should join with other engineering and scientific organizations
to establish a public relations campaign to improve the image of
engineering and science.
QUESTION: What are some of the important challenges
facing IEEE as a publisher in service to its membership?
Lew Terman: Issues raised by Open Access will need
to be anticipated and managed. A major implication is to at least
maintain the revenue stream which our publications generate. IEEE
needs to help members navigate the mass of data available from IEEE,
other technical publications, and on the web. Practical publications
need to be developed with the collaboration of RAB and TAB. Goals
for article publication timeliness must be set, and rewards established
for publications to meet or exceed the goals. Establish a fast approval
track for new publications. Maintain the importance of peer review.
Keep monitoring the possibility of going to all electronic publishing,
and establish when or if it should occur well before any critical
point occurs.
John Vig: Open access, the worldwide movement to
disseminate scientific and scholarly research literature online,
free of charge is a serious challenge because half of IEEE’s
revenues result from the sale of publications. Google, at www.scholar.google.com
and similar services, now make it easier to find the free copies
of publications. Papers can be read without having to pay the publishers.
Delayed open access, e.g., making publications open access two years
after publication, would not be as damaging. It would allow the
IEEE to maintain most of its publication revenues while fulfilling
its mission of being “for the benefit of humanity and the
profession.”
A frequently heard criticism of IEEE publications is that they are
primarily “by academics, for academics;” they are not
useful for practitioners. About half of our membership is from industry.
If our publications are not useful for the majority of our members,
then we have a serious problem.
I have proposed three solutions to this problem. One is to ask authors
to provide, voluntarily, a “practical impact statement”
with their papers. The second is to create a new class of peer reviewed
publications, “application notes,” and the third is
to digitize IEEE Press books and make them available to the membership.
The mean time between an author’s submission and the date
of publication of an article is too long for some of our journals;
the delay for five of our journals has been >120 weeks. This
must not be allowed to continue, and it need not continue, as evidenced
by the fact that the mean is <50 weeks for 31 of our journals.
QUESTION: Do you see IEEE in future years
as an organization based on its strong membership base, or do you
foresee other models?
Lew Terman: IEEE should remain a membership-based
organization. Membership is critical – it is the members through
whom we serve our technical communities, and who provide the volunteers
that are critical to the success of IEEE. Members also provide a
means of measuring how relevant we are to the technical world, and
provide the mechanism for engaging emerging technical and geographic
areas.
John Vig: I see the IEEE continuing to be a membership-based
organization - with its tens of thousands of volunteers and its
membership diversity as its pillars of strength.
I do, however, see a need to experiment with membership and dues
models. Some members, for example, may be willing to receive Spectrum
and The Institute electronically if the dues were lowered by the
costs of producing the paper copy of those publications. We have
>$160M in reserves. Therefore, we can afford to experiment.
The success of our IEEE Electronic Library (IEL) is hurting membership
recruitment and retention. (IEL subscribing institutions, which
include many of the largest universities and corporations, provide
“free” access to IEEE publications.) I hear more and
more "I get everything I want from IEEE for free, so, why should
I be a member?" Therefore, another experiment I would propose
is to offer reduced dues to those working or studying at a few IEL
organizations and measure the effects on membership numbers.
QUESTION: What changes in IEEE would you advocate
in response to quick industrialization and potential IEEE presence
in large Asian countries?
Lew Terman: The two major Asian countries of interest
are quite different in technical environment and social structure.
I believe the current China initiative is appropriate; we need to
understand the environment and the current approach seems a good
first step. We need a deeper understanding of the specific needs
and opportunities and how to involve that community to effectively
stimulate IEEE membership and volunteerism.
India is also a key growth area in the 21st century, and currently
has more IEEE members than any country outside the US. We need to
understand why they join, and focus on the appropriate member and
technical services to support their interest. India has a strong
university structure with which we should be working.
John Vig: IEEE’s presence in large Asian
countries is actual, not just “potential.” For example,
in 2005, we held 59 conferences in China, and a total of 129 in
China, India, Japan and Korea. Our publication sales, in China alone,
amounted to ~$5M in 2005. Total sales to the four countries was
~$20M. In 2005, our combined membership in these four countries
was ~45K.
Although the IEEE has made inroads in China and India, it is a long
way from realizing the potential presence in these and other countries.
Membership is too expensive for many in Asia, Latin America, Eastern
Europe... We need a membership strategy for potential members who
can’t afford our dues, not just in Asia, but, throughout the
world.
QUESTION: What do you see as the power of
the IEEE President and how would you exercise this power?
Lew Terman: The IEEE President has three major
responsibilities/opportunities:
a) Running the Board and ExCom meetings effectively, including setting
up the meetings. This is important as the members of the governing
bodies of the IEEE meet for only a short time, and it is important
the meetings be efficient for the most effective interaction.
b) Providing leadership to the Institute: setting directions, establishing
committees and study groups to get information and sift through
alternatives, work with the staff, work with the IEEE Boards and
governance levels. It is in this area that the President can have
the most effect. I would focus on bringing the various groups in
IEEE together, and on listening to their input, getting an open
airing of issues and suggested solutions, and generating and following
through on new ideas.
c) “Showing the flag” around the world, to both IEEE
geographies/groups and non-IEEE entities - geographical, technical
and political. The interactions with IEEE groups are very important
to generate mutual understanding, and the interaction with non-IEEE
entities is important to present the IEEE and the technical community
it represents, and to understand their needs, views, and to understand
possible opportunities.
John Vig: The president’s duties are to:
chair the meetings of the IEEE Board of Directors, Executive Committee
and Assembly; perform ceremonial functions such as meeting with
dignitaries, presentation of awards, opening remarks at conferences,
etc.; promote the objectives of the IEEE; and be “the Chief
Executive Officer of the IEEE.”
I would make maximum use of the presidency to advocate the IEEE’s
agenda, both within and outside the IEEE.
I would set at least one lofty (man-on-the-moon-like) goal for the
IEEE, aimed at inspiring and mobilizing the volunteers and staff.
The Board of Directors has been too inward-focused. I would propose
the establishment of a council of advisors – consisting of
prominent, mostly outside experts and leaders – to advise
the IEEE leadership.
QUESTION: In the 2005 IEEE elections, only
14% of the membership voted. What, if anything, would you do to
increase members' participation in IEEE elections?
Lew Terman: I think what we are doing this year
is pretty good – talking to the Regions and other entities
which invite us (with Q&A sessions where time permits), sending
these 10 questions to the Newsletters, participating in the Philadelphia
debate and making available recordings of the debate and presentations
of the candidate platforms on the IEEE web site, and making additional
information available on our personal web sites.
John Vig: In 1975-77, when a controversial candidate,
Irwin Feerst, ran for IEEE president, 36% voted. In those days,
the membership was more involved in IEEE issues than they are today.
Today, the membership is rarely informed of controversial issues.
For example, last year, I received reports of meetings where readings
from the Koran and Christian prayers were parts of the program.
Why not report such events and ask the membership whether or not
such religious expressions should be allowed as parts of IEEE events?
“THE INSTITUTE is the newspaper of the IEEE” claims
The Institute’s website but, The Institute is more a “house
organ” than a newspaper. As president, I would propose to
the Board of Directors, and The Institute’s Editorial Board,
that The Institute become a real newspaper of the IEEE.
The office holders in IEEE, especially the President and the other
members of the Board of Directors, make decisions about matters
that are important to the membership and the future of IEEE. Voting
in the annual IEEE election is the chance members have to choose
the decision makers. With only 14% voting, 7+% of the members can
decide the fate of IEEE.
QUESTION: What have been your three most important
contributions to IEEE?
Lew Terman: In the late 1990’s, I was instrumental
in the conversion of the Solid-State Circuits Council to the Solid-State
Circuits Society. This was very successful; the SSCS is now the
5th largest Society in the IEEE, and the Journal of Solid-State
Circuits records the highest number of hits in IEL. I served as
the first SSCS president elected by the Society.
In the mid 90’s, IEEE and TAB were going through financial
difficulties. I was appointed TAB treasure, stabilized the situation
and improved the communication with TAB, and served a second term
as Treasurer.
In 2001, I was on the Board as the bottom fell out of the IEEE financial
situation. As part of a team effort, we were able to put in place
a number of changes which arrested the slide.
John Vig: My three most important contributions
are:
The IEEE Sensors Council, i.e., I proposed it, shepherded it through
the approval processes, and was elected its founding president,
in 1999. In 2005, the Council’s journal published 1500 pages,
and its conference had >500 registered participants.
Between 1999 and 2002, the IEEE’s reserves declined >$50M
(>40%), due, in large part, to the decline in the value of IEEE’s
investments. Up to this point, the IEEE had no formal investment
policy. I wrote the first draft of the Investment Operations Manual
(IOM), then worked with investment professionals, volunteers and
staff to finalize it and get it passed by the Board. Contained in
the IOM is an investment policy which has reduced the risks and
increased the transparency of IEEE’s investments.
I brought what is now the IEEE Int’l Frequency Control Symposium
into the IEEE. I negotiated the takeover of this conference by an
IEEE society (UFFC). This conference is now the premier international
conference in its field.
QUESTION: What would be your single and most
recognized contribution that will distinguish your IEEE Presidency
from those of others?
Lew Terman: I would like my presidency to result
in the elimination of any silos between IEEE operating units, and
attacking IEEE problems with coordinated efforts across IEEE.
John Vig: The president under whose leadership
innovation flourished in IEEE.
|
