The IEEE Leadership Wire

1 September 2004

Index

*************************************************************************************************************
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.
*************************************************************************************************************

CONTENTS:
*Executive Director Dan Senese to Retire
*Election Ballots Mailed To Voting IEEE Members
*July Membership Highlights
*Member Services Recovers More Than 2,500 IEEE Memberships
*New Enhancements Designed to Improve IEEE UCE/Spam Filtering Service
*IEEE Publishes Top Journals in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
*PSPB Approves New Guidelines for Handling Plagiarism
*In the News

*************************************************************************************************************

**EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAN SENESE TO RETIRE**
On 18 Aug., IEEE Executive Director Dan Senese announced his retirement to the IEEE Board of Directors. In his letter Dan said, "I am announcing my intention to retire from the IEEE. My last working day will be 31 December 2004.

"My almost nine years at the IEEE have been very gratifying and rewarding, working with talented and dedicated staff and volunteers to advance the IEEE in supporting the public, our profession, and our members."

In a note to employees, IEEE President Arthur Winston said, "Dan has devoted the past nine years to guiding the IEEE staff and working with the IEEE Board of Directors and other volunteer leaders. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank him for his dedication and for his many contributions to the success of the IEEE. We all want to wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors."

The board has begun the search for Dan's successor and anticipates it will take approximately four to eight months. If the search extends into next year, the IEEE presidents will provide interim leadership as needed.


**ELECTION BALLOTS MAILED TO VOTING IEEE MEMBERS**
Election ballots for this year's IEEE election have been mailed to all eligible voting members. If you do not receive yours by 21 Sept., contact corp-election@ieee.org.

This year, members also are being asked to vote on a constitutional amendment containing revisions to the wording of the IEEE Constitution. For detailed information on these changes, visit http://www.ieee.org/about/whatis/bylaws/changesgrid.xml.

In addition, for the first time, members may choose one of two ways to cast their ballots.

• Electronically -- Information on this procedure is included in the election
  ballot materials that have been mailed to you.

• Mail -- To ensure that your mailed ballot is counted, you must sign
  and return it in the postage-paid envelope from the ballot package. If you do
  not use the enclosed envelope, you may mail your signed ballot to:
  

Survey & Ballot Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 46430
Eden Prairie, MN 55344-6430

If you transmit your ballot electronically, it is not necessary to return a signed ballot by postal mail.

All ballots must be received by 1 Nov. at noon Central Time, U.S.A.(18:00 GMT).

For information on the candidates, visit http://www.ieee.org/corporate/elections/candidates.xml.


**JULY MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS**
IEEE membership totaled 339,692 in July. This is an increase of 4,147 members, or 1.2 percent, over July of last year. Complete details are available in the Membership Development Report at
http://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/md/mdprogrpt.html.


**MEMBER SERVICES RECOVERS MORE THAN 2,500 IEEE MEMBERSHIPS**
The IEEE arrears telemarketing program was conducted between 8 March and 18 June, and was directed at U.S. and Canadian Higher Grade members who did not renew their IEEE memberships for 2004. This year's effort resulted in the renewal of 2,505 IEEE memberships -- an improvement of nearly 10 percent over last year, despite starting with fewer members in arrears.

The program also generated 2,278 IEEE society membership renewals, recapturing members from all 38 societies as well as from the Women in Engineering affinity group. In total, the program generated US$523,855.57 in dues and related revenues.

This year for the first time, Member Services also contacted society affiliates who did not renew for 2004. A total of 104 society affiliates renewed as a result, generating additional revenue of US$12,673.51.

For more information, contact Felicia Taylor, IEEE Regional Activities.


**NEW ENHANCEMENTS DESIGNED TO IMPROVE IEEE UCE/SPAM FILTERING SERVICE**
On 15 Sept., the IEEE will roll out enhancements to the IEEE UCE/Spam Filtering Service for members with an IEEE email alias. New features include

• an option that combines the tagging and blocking of UCE (spam); messages with a low spam score will be tagged, messages with a high spam score will be blocked, thereby reducing the amount of spam received over time

• the ability to add email addresses you always want blocked to a blacklist, and those you never want blocked to a whitelist

• improved identification technology that will more accurately target possible UCE/Spam messages

• an additional layer of anti-virus protection beyond what is already provided via the IEEE Email Alias Service

Members with an IEEE email alias may sign up for the IEEE UCE Filtering Service at https://uce.ieee.org/. Members who already use the filter may update their profiles starting 15 Sept. to select from among the new options.

To obtain an IEEE email alias, visit http://eleccomm.ieee.org/personal-aliases.shtml. For any questions on the enhancements or the IEEE UCE/Spam Filtering Service in general, email uce-admin@ieee.org.


**IEEE PUBLISHES TOP JOURNALS IN ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING**
For the second year in a row, the IEEE published 18 of the top 20 journals in the field of electrical and electronic engineering, according to the recently published 2003 Journal Citation Report (JCR).

The JCR ranks journals by their impact factor, defined as the average number of times articles published in a specific journal in the previous two years were cited in a particular year. Here are some details from the report:

• IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE was the top journal in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering category, up from the number two position in 2002.

• For the third year in a row, IEEE NETWORK magazine was the most cited journal in the Telecommunications category.

• IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING remained the number one journal in Imaging Science & Photographic Technology -- a position it has maintained since ISI introduced the category in its 2000 report.

• IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION was the number one journal in the Robotics category. This publication was split into two new titles this year: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS and IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE & ENGINEERING.

For more information, contact William O'Connor, IEEE Sales & Marketing, or visit http://www.ieee.org/products/citations/citations.xml.


**PSPB APPROVES NEW GUIDELINES FOR HANDLING PLAGIARISM**
Due to increasing reports of plagiarism in IEEE publications, the Publications Products and Services Board (PSPB) has approved new policies and procedures to be included in the PSPB Operations Manual.

The new guidelines define plagiarism and the required corrective actions. They also specify that the publication editor is responsible for conducting an investigation to determine if plagiarism has taken place. He or she shall appoint an independent committee of experts in the topic to help make a recommendation on the allegation.

In the case of conference proceedings, allegations of misconduct shall be investigated by the conference publication chair or the publication officer of the IEEE organizational unit that sponsored the conference. All editors must report their investigations to the vice president of PSPB.

The updated version of the PSPB Operations Manual is available at http://www.ieee.org/organizations/pubs/pab/index.html. For more information, contact Bill Hagen, Manager, IEEE Intellectual Property Rights, at + 1 732 562 3966.

**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.

16 Aug. -- BBC NEWS and more than 25 other media outlets reported that two different technologies designed to boost wireless data rates tenfold have been submitted to the IEEE 802.11n Working Group for consideration. The article noted that the fastest wireless rate by IEEE 802.11g is 54 mb/s, while the new technologies could speed up data transfer to more than 500 mb/s.

14 Aug. -- NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan interviewed Peter Fairley, author of the August IEEE SPECTRUM cover story "The Unruly Power Grid," on lessons learned in the year since the Northeast American blackout of 2003. Canada's GLOBE AND MAIL also noted that the IEEE SPECTRUM article showed how statistics are used to predict large power grid failures.

12 Aug. -- THE NEW YORK TIMES announced that a device described in the August issue of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS, MAN AND CYBERNETICS improved speech recognition in cell phones by about 30 percent. The article said the device also could be used to increase the accuracy of voice recognition interfaces used in computers and cars to activate cell phones and navigation systems.

2 Aug. -- THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW praised the IEEE Virtual Museum as a fun and informative collection focusing on technology developments around electricity. The story also named all the exhibits and provided a link to the site.