The IEEE Leadership Wire
***************************************************************************************************************** The IEEE LEADERSHIP WIRE is a report for top-level IEEE volunteers about IEEE affairs and organizational information. It is intended specifically for members of the IEEE Board of Directors, key Board committees and the six major operating boards. The newsletter is sent on or around the first of the month.
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CONTENTS:
*IEEE Bylaws, Policies Updated Online
*IEEE Member Digital Library Shortens Commitment Time
*IEEE Exhibits Program Helps Recruit More Than 1,000 Members
*Eleven University Partnership Schools Make 2003 Membership Goals
*IEEE Foundation Awards Two New Grants
*IEEE Offers New Licensing Option For Biomedical Library
*In the News
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**IEEE BYLAWS, POLICIES UPDATED ONLINE**
The IEEE Bylaws and Policies have been updated on the IEEE Web site. Included are revisions approved by the IEEE Board of Directors at its meeting in February.The Bylaws and Policies are located at http://www.ieee.org/about/whatis/bylaws and http://www.ieee.org/about/whatis/policies, respectively.
**IEEE MEMBER DIGITAL LIBRARY SHORTENS COMMITMENT TIME**
The required commitment time for IEEE Member Digital Library subscribers has been reduced from 12 to six months, effective 1 April. This is in response to a research project conducted with subscribers and other IEEE members last year.
Commitment times will be automatically reduced for current subscribers.
The IEEE Member Digital Library offers up to 25 full-text articles per month from online IEEE periodicals and conference proceedings, dating back to 1950 for select titles. Subscriptions cost US$35 a month.
Introduced in January 2003, the IEEE Member Digital Library ended its first year with 3,335 subscribers in more than 85 countries.
For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/ieeemdl.
**IEEE EXHIBITS PROGRAM HELPS RECRUIT MORE THAN 1,000 MEMBERS**
The IEEE Exhibits Program hosted exhibit booths at more than 25 IEEE society conferences and managed or sponsored more than 30 Partnering Display meetings last year. In the process, the program exceeded its revenue goals and helped recruit more than 1,000 new IEEE members.
As part of the IEEE Exhibits Program, IEEE staff help recruit and renew IEEE memberships and sell products like books and conference proceedings at IEEE events worldwide.Through the IEEE Partnering Display Program, organizers design their own displays but are provided with IEEE brochures, membership applications, flyers, magazines, and Wiley-IEEE Press, IEEE Standards books or CDs upon request.
This year, the IEEE will again attend more than 25 conferences. For a schedule, visit http://www.ieee.org/services/exhibits/schedule.htm. For more information, contact Beverly Banks, Sales & Marketing.
**ELEVEN UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS MAKE 2003 MEMBERSHIP GOALS**
Eleven of the fourteen schools in the IEEE University Partnership Program (UPP) achieved their membership goals and earned program rebates in 2003.
The UPP is a three-way agreement between the IEEE, an IEEE student branch and the engineering library at top U.S. engineering schools. Participating universities subscribe to an IEEE online collection and agree to increase their IEEE student membership on campus. Schools that meet their goals receive a percentage-based rebate on their IEEE online products subscriptions.
Since its inception in 2000, UPP has grown from nine schools, serving 1,683 students, to 14 schools with 3,727 student members. This encompasses 14 percent of all IEEE student members in the United States.
For more information, contact Adrienne Hahn, Sales & Marketing.
**IEEE FOUNDATION AWARDS TWO NEW GRANTS**
At its March Board of Directors Meeting, the IEEE Foundation authorized two new grants. One will focus on the exchange and dissemination of technical information among electrical engineering students in Europe. The second grant will support the effort to use the papers of Thomas Edison to create an interdisciplinary pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum.
For a full list of the grants awarded to date this year, visit http://www.ieee.org/organizations/foundation/html/2004grants.html.
**IEEE OFFERS NEW LICENSING OPTION FOR BIOMEDICAL LIBRARY**
A new one-user license for the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Library is now available for smaller institutions and start-up companies for US$9,995.
The library offers online access to select full-text biomedical engineering, biotechnology and biomedicine documents. The content totals more than 45,000 documents from both IEEE and the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and is drawn from more than 130 journals and periodicals, 350 annual conferences, and relevant standards published by the IEEE since 1988.
The IEEE Biomedical Engineering Library was launched last year with a standard five-simultaneous-user license for US$19,995. Additional users and multiple-site licenses are also available.
For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/ieeebel.
**IN THE NEWS**
The IEEE, its members, and its products and services are mentioned frequently in journalists' reports on technology and the engineering profession. Here are just a few recent references.
30 March -- ABC NEWS.COM (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/whiz_kid_tech_pcmag_040330.html) announced that the winners of a Microsoft student design contest will advance to the IEEE Computer Society International Design Competition. The Microsoft Windows ChallengE is a component of the CSIDC that invites university students to create and implement a working prototype device that enhances human safety.
According to the news item, the winning team from James Madison University in Virginia, USA, created an airport security checkpoint device that uses a chemical sensor to identify possible risks posed by baggage or passengers. The story also noted that the top prize in the CSIDC is US$15,000.
The story also appeared in THE KOREA TIMES, YAHOO!FINANCE and WHATPC.CO.UK.
2 March -- An article on electronic voting technology in THE FINANCIAL TIMES (www.ft.com) said the January issue of IEEE SECURITY AND PRIVACY magazine voiced concerns about security holes in the voting machines' source code. The story cited the special issue's Guest Editors Avi Rubin and David Dill as saying that electronic voting machines are developed and deployed with less rigor and care than electronic slot machines. To download and read the PDF of the guest editorial, visit the IEEE Computer Society (http://csdl.computer.org/comp/mags/sp/2004/01/j1022.pdf).
A similar story also ran in THE NEW YORK TIMES.
18 Feb. -- THE NEW YORK TIMES (www.nytimes.com) predicted that the IEEE 802.3af "Power Over Ethernet" standard would one day replace tangles of wires under workers? desks with a single Ethernet cable. According to the article, although the standard, as ratified in June 2003, only allows 13 watts of power to be carried over the cables, it satisfies the low-energy requirements of telephones, security cameras, loudspeakers and wireless network access points. Citing former IEEE 802.3af Working Group Chair Steven B. Carlson, the story explained that data and electricity can travel over the same wire because they are at opposite ends of the frequency spectrum.
17 Feb. -- A story on the first U.S. large-scale industrial atom smasher in USA TODAY (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-02-17-collider-conclusion_x.htm?POE=TECISVA) said the 5-million volt van de Graff generator is one of 50 historical IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing. The article cited the IEEE saying that research done at the former Westinghouse site led to the discovery of the photo-fission of uranium, part of the process involved in the generation of nuclear power.
The story also ran in the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.
