WIE Newsletter

IEEE Spectrum is offering a free, on-demand presentation entitled “Changing Lanes,” which will be available online through 13 January 2007. The two one-hour sessions are on “The Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship in Today’s Technology Environment” and “Programming your Future in Computer Science.”

For more information, visit:

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/caf

U.S. Students: Apply for WISE Engineering and Public Policy Fellowships

Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) is now accepting applications for the summer of 2007. These 9-week internships allow outstanding engineering students to learn about and contribute to U.S. technology policy. Applications are due 31 December 2006.

To learn more, visit:

http://www.wise-intern.org/index.html

Nomination deadlines for WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award

The IEEE Women in Engineering Committee is now accepting nominations for the 2006 WIE Affinity Group of the Year Awards.

The deadlines for receipt of nominations are:

WIE Affinity Groups 1 February 2007

WIE Student Branch Affinity Groups 30 June 2007

The WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award is given annually to one WIE Affinity Group and one Student Branch Affinity Group that have shown outstanding leadership and initiative in organizing activities. For Section Affinity Groups, the award is based on programs that took place during the period of 1 January to 31 December 2006. For Student Branch Affinity Groups, the award is based on the programs during 1July 2006 to 30 June 2007.

The winning WIE Affinity Groups will be awarded a subsidy in the amount of US$250 for future Affinity Group activities and a Certificate of Recognition.

Award selection will be based on:

• Quality of activities and programs sponsored/co-sponsored by the affinity group

• Quantity of activities and programs

• The number of participants at regular meetings and other activities and programs

• Demonstrations of outreach programs to young women

• The number of people served by the outreach

• Communication with its members

• Growth of affinity group membership

• Affinity group website (if available)

Nominations for the award may be sent by completing the nomination form. The WIE Committee will review all nominations and rank order them based on the criteria listed above.

As a general rule, an Affinity Group cannot receive this award more than once every three years.

The nomination form and information is available on the WIE website www.ieee.org/women

Call For 2008 Fellows Nominations

The deadline to nominate an IEEE Fellow is 1 March 2007. Nominations can be submitted electronically, by downloading the forms, or by requesting a nomination kit. For more information on Fellow nominations visit the IEEE Fellow webpage.

http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/fellows/request.html

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Female U.S. Students: Design “Games 4 Girls” and Win!

ChicTech, an outreach program of the University of Illinois’ Department of Computer Science, extends an open invitation for college women to participate in the third annual Games for Girls Programming Competition (G4G).

Designed to encourage the development of computer games that appeal to middle- and high-school aged girls while fostering the development of communities of college women majoring in computer-related disciplines, G4G is a contest that invites teams of women to design and implement a computer game for younger girls. The top 3 teams will receive cash prizes.

The competition is open to all college women currently residing in the United States. Each student team must submit an on-line application by 22 December 22. Visit the web site to learn more and apply:

www.cs.uiuc.edu/g4g

Engineers Week 2007

Mark your calendars, Engineers Week 2007 will be celebrated 18-24 February 2007. To stay informed on the latest news as EWeek 2007 approaches, and to see how you can get involved, visit the National Engineers Week Foundation website at http://www.eweek.org/

As part of EWeek 2007, the National Engineers Week Foundation is again holding a Global Marathon from . Noon on Thursday 22 March to Noon on Friday 23 March 2006. The objective of the Global Marathon - Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is to bring about awareness of Women in Engineering through on-line sessions that take place within a 24 hour period. More information on the Global Marathon will follow in January 2007.

AFFINITY GROUP NEWS

WIE Kerala AND FISAT Groups (India) Organize Student Branch Camp

Contributed by Dimple Joy

WIE Initiative, a camp organized by the WIE Affinity Groups of the IEEE Kerala Section and IEEE Student Branch of the Federal Institute of Science and Technology (FISAT), was held on 6-7 October 2006 at FISAT’s campus in Angamaly, India. This camp was initiated by the WIE Student Branch Affinity Group to provide a new venue for women from the different IEEE Student Branches in Kerala to interact. This camp drew participation of women IEEE members from 10 student branches:

• AWH Engineering College, Calicut

• College of Engineering, Chengannur

• FISAT, Angamaly

• Jyothi Engineering College, Trichur

• MES Engineering College, Kuttipuram

• RIT, Kottayam

• SNGC , Cochin

• Sreekrishnapuram Govt College, Palakkad

• TocH Engineering College, Cochin

• Vidya Engineering College, Trichur,

The camp was inaugurated by Dr. K. S. M. Panickar, Branch Mentor, and Principal of FISAT. The morning session of the first day was a leadership workshop conducted by Mr. Prijoe Philips Komattu of TCS. In the afternoon, Mr. Visan Koshy Varghese of Accenture conducted a session on team management, which included an exercise where the teams were made to build a Taj Mahal using newspapers. The evening session began with an all-female discussion where all the attendees were allowed to share their problems. After the discussion, attendees were asked to solve the problems faced, and Mr. Prijoe and Mr. Visan helped by suggesting solutions. This was followed by dinner and an informal ice cream party.

On the second day, there was an IEEE awareness and WIE awareness survey taken by Mr. Jaison Abey Sabu, Student Representative of IEEE Kerala Section. This was followed by a discussion along with the male student branch representatives to solve the issues discussed the previous day. In a final session, attendees decided that a WIE Affinity Group should be formed in every student branch, and also that a WIE forum should be formed to share ideas and build up awareness in the technical field. It was also decided that there will be an online meeting every Sunday at 22:00 for the WIE members. The two-day WIE Initiative camp concluded with a feedback session by some of the attendees.

The WIE Camp turned out to be a great success, with 55 girls participating in an event for the first time. The camp helped in understanding the problem faced by young women in engineering, and also opened a new path for them to come forward.

WIE Ajman University Group (UAE)

Contributed by Tazeen Sharif

The WIE Affinity Group at Ajman University of Science & Technology (AUST) recently organized a trip to a school for children with special needs, as part of the CAUSE (Community Activities by Undergraduate Students of Engineering) Program, initiated in February 2006. Eight female engineering students paid a visit to the Sharjah-based school Manzil, on 17 October 2006, with a motive to serve the community and help the special children in developing skills that can prove to be beneficial to them in leading a life close to normal. Students at Manzil are in the age group of 6 – 20 years, suffering from deficit disorders, behavioral difficulties, moderate learning disabilities or severe physical disabilities.

During the three-hour stay, the WIE members interacted with all the students, played educational and leisure games with them, held competitions and gave away gifts. A long-term commitment was made with the staff at Manzil, that a bi-monthly visit will be organized to train its students in any kind of skill they can adapt to or enhance the talent they possess, like, music, arts and crafts, painting, karate, basic use of computers and the Internet, routine office work, telephone manners, etc. The students and teachers showed great appreciation and excitement. The Manzil students were delighted to meet the WIE members and collect their gifts. We hope that their smile never fades away and together we make a positive difference to their lives and in turn to the society.

WIE MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

WIE Member Jennifer Ng Wins Outstanding Young Engineer Award

Jennifer Ng, one of the founding members of the brand-new New Hampshire (US) WIE Affinity Group, has won the Outstanding Young Engineer Award for the New Hampshire IEEE Section.

The IEEE New Hampshire Section Outstanding Young Engineer Award was established to recognize engineers 35 years of age or under "For outstanding contributions in the leadership of technical society activities, leadership in community and humanitarian activities, and evidence of technical competence through significant engineering achievements."

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

Interviews with 3 Outstanding Women Technologists

• The Toronto Star interviews Telle Whitney, president of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1160992988077

• HPCWire interviews Maria Eleftheriou, one of the founding members of IBM’s BlueGene supercomputing project: http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/997019.html

• Computerworld interviews Pia Waugh, head of Linux Australia: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1585810409

IEEE Antennas & Propagation: “Should My Daughter Become an Engineer?”

The latest issue of "IEEE Antennas & Propagation" magazine (v. 48, no. 4) asks the question "Shouldmydaughter become an engineer?" The article explores the reasons why women are not generally attracted to engineering as a career. IEEE digital library subscribers can view the article at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=36098

IT Week: “How to Overcome Female Resistance”

WhatPC? hosts an IT Week article about a roundtable of women discussing how recruiting and corporate practices can attract more women to the IT workplace:

http://www.whatpc.co.uk/itweek/analysis/2167036/overcome-female-resistance

Want to become a WIE Member?

WIE membership is FREE for Student, Graduate Student, and Life Members, and just $25 for other IEEE Members.

To join WIE, visit http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/committee/women/join.html.

MEMBERSHIP AND AFFINITY GROUP STATISTICS

WIE Membership Highlighsts

Statistics as of 4 December 2006

Grade	Nove 05	Nove 06
Fellow	25	36
Life Members	68	112
Associates	380	444
Member	2237	2677
Senior Member	155	239
Student	7844	8192
Total	10709	11700


Region	Nov 05	Nov 06
US	4254	4291
Canada	577	558
Europe, Africa & Middle East	2081	2712
Latin America	1719	2163
Asia & Pacific	2078	1976
Total	10709	11700


Gender	Oct 05	Nov 06
Female	7598	7582
Male	3076	3408
Not Provided	35	710
Total	10709	11700

WIE Affinity Groups

Since the start 1999 WIE has had an amazing growth, both in numbers and groups throughout the world. This year 28 WIE Affinity groups were formed! Currently, there are 5 WIE Affinity Groups pending formation.

The following is a breakdown of the Affinity Groups by Region and type.

WIE now has 132 Affinity Groups throughout the world.

WIE AFFINITY GROUPS
Region	Regular	Student	Total
R1	6	0	6
R2	3	0	3
R3	3	1	4
R4	2	2	4
R5	3	0	3
R6	2	1	3
R7	6	6	12
R8	9	26	35
R9	4	28	32
R10	9	21	31
TOTAL	47	85	132

WIE Welcomes 12 New Affinity Groups

New Hampshire, US, Region 1 Utah State University, US, Region 6 (Student Branch)

Lviv Polytechnic Nacional University, Ukraine, Region 8 (Student Branch)

Universidad Santo Tomas de Aquino, Colombia, Region 9 (Student Branco)

Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Colombia, Region 9 (Student Branch)

Univ Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Peru Region 9 (Student Branch)

Kongu Engineering College, India Region 10 (Student Branch)

Beijing Univ of Posts & Telecomm, China Region 10 (Student Branch)

MES College of Engineering, India Region 10 (Student Branch)

Easwari Engineering College, India, Region 10 (Student Branch)

NWFP University of Eng & Tech- Peshwar, Pakistan, Region 10 (Student Branch)

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, Region 10 (Student Branch)

Call For WIE Newsletter Contributions

The WIE newsletter welcomes your contributions, including WIE conference announcements and reports, news of WIE members' accomplishments, and other items related to women in engineering and technology. Please send your article submissions and contributions for the newsletter to women@ieee.org. Deadline for submissions is the 10th of the month for the following month's edition.

WIE Newsletter Archive

Past issues of the WIE Newsletter are available at:

http://www.ieee.org/committee/women/archive.xml

“IEEE Information contained in this newsletter may be copied without permission provided that copies for direct commercial advantage are not made or distributed, and the title of the publication and its date appear on each copy.”