Roger D. Pollard

Message to Members of IEEE NPSS

Roger D. Pollard Candidate for 2001 Vice- President-Elect Technical Activities

IEEE is, I believe, at a watershed. The technology frontier is moving at such a pace that it is essential to have a responsive, forward-looking organization if IEEE, its Societies and members are to continue to provide the technical leadership. My vision for IEEE is that it provides such outstanding services to its members that every professional practicing in the disciplines represented by the IEEE Societies will feel that it is essential to be a member. The services that our members regard as most important are all connected with Technical Activities and are primarily concerned with opportunities to communicate with fellow professionals. The communication may be through writing articles for or reading the technical publications, participation in conferences or electronic communication. We must provide an environment in which technical professionals can thrive and be amongst the first to adopt new technology to further the aims of IEEE and its constituent Societies.

It was as 1998 President of the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), that I became involved with the Technical Activities Board and realized the importance of TAB as a forum for the representation of the interests of the Societies and their members. During the last two years I have chaired the IEEE’s Electronic Products Committee – IEEE Xplore, the on-line delivery system launched this year, to be followed by electronic authoring and editorial tools and electronic support for conference publications, will have a significant impact on IEEE’s ability to add value to its members’ intellectual property. Although I have a long record of service at Society level, involvement with TAB activity is only recent. TAB should benefit by having a Chair from outside North America and I offer myself for election because I believe that I can bring some fresh perspective to IEEE Technical Activities.

The key issues that should be at the forefront of the TAB agenda include:

• Technical activities and the Technical Societies are at the heart of IEEE – we must not forget that Society members contribute to and expect to find the most important source of up-to-date, authoritative information that their profession has to offer. Our technical information is the most important service we provide our members in the various forms of publications, conferences, opportunities to meet other practitioners, etc. We must ensure that we maintain and continue to improve the quality for which IEEE technical communications are renowned.

• It is vital that we recognize the importance of identifying and promoting emerging technologies and providing vehicles for the pioneers to build their communities within a supportive environment of technical professionals.

• We must strive to increase the participation levels of our members by improving the ease and quality of that participation. Proper implementation of IEEE’s strategic goal of globalization is long overdue; we should be making full use of electronic communication to ensure that opportunities to participate are, insofar as is possible, equal in all parts of the world. As examples:
  *   The authoring and review of articles for IEEE transactions and journals
  *   Contributing to and attending conferences – we must continue to ensure that our conference venues are accessible to the members
  *   Involvement in the governance of IEEE – more opportunities to participate at all levels by broadening the base of committee membership
  *   Delivery of IEEE services

• Leadership in the transition to electronic collection, dissemination and archiving of our intellectual property. The aims must include providing added value to our publishing activity by making full use of electronic means; improving the service to our members (both readers and authors) by timely publication of new material to as wide an audience as possible. We must also ensure that IEEE continues to serve the best interests of its members by deriving a steady revenue stream from the sale of information services.

• It is important that IEEE continues to increase the avenues for recognition of the technical contributions of its members. Although it remains important to recognize lifetime achievements and pioneering work, we must encourage new and innovative awards, especially those directed at the younger members of the profession.

For a professional biography and other details, please look at my personal website (http://www.imp.leeds.ac.uk/rdp/ieee.htm) or contact me by e-mail (r.pollard@ieee.org) to make any comments or address issues.

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