The IEEE LEADERSHIP WIRE
2 May 2005
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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:
*NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR 2006/2007 TAB POSITIONS
*IEEE-USA ACCEPTING AWARD NOMINATIONS
*IEEE RECEIVES SEVERAL INDUSTRY AWARDS
*LATEST VERSION OF IEEE XPLORE NOW LIVE
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**IEEE MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS**
IEEE membership totaled 316,663 in March, a 0.5 percent increase from March 2004. Higher grade memberships decreased 0.3 percent to 254,826, while student memberships grew 4 percent to 61,837.
For complete details, read the March Membership Development Report at http://www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/md/mdprogrpt.html.
**NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR 2006/2007 TAB POSITIONS**
The IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Nominations and Appointments Committee is accepting nominations or recommendations for the following positions.
- 2006-2007 TAB PERIODICALS COMMITTEE CHAIR: This individual will serve as a voting member of TAB, the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board and the TAB Finance Committee in 2006 and 2007, and also as the TAB Periodicals Review Committee Chair for 2008 and 2009. Candidates must be a present or past division director or society/council president. Nomination forms are due on 9 May.
- 2006 TAB COMMITTEE CHAIR POSITIONS: The committee is seeking recommendations for the 2006 TAB Awards and Recognition committee chair -- who will be appointed by the current vice president-elect of Technical Activities -- and the Transnational Committee chair ? to be appointed by the current vice president-elect of Technical Activities and vice-president of Regional Activities. Recommendation forms are due on 9 May.
- 2007 VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT, TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES: This individual will serve as the vice president-elect, Technical Activities (TAB vice chair) in 2007, as the vice president, Technical Activities (TAB chair) in 2008 and as past chair of TAB in 2009. Candidates must be of fellow or senior member grade, and maintain membership in at least one IEEE society. Nomination forms will be due in September (the final date is not yet determined).
To request a nomination or recommendation form, or to obtain more information about these positions, contact Paula Dunne, IEEE Technical Activities, at +1 732 562 3919 or mailto:p.dunne@ieee.org.
**IEEE-USA ACCEPTING AWARD NOMINATIONS**
IEEE-USA is seeking nominations for several awards that are presented to U.S. IEEE members for professional, technical and literary contributions to public awareness and understanding of the engineering profession in the United States. The nomination deadline is 31 July.
For award descriptions and nomination forms, visit http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/awards/forms.html.
**IEEE RECEIVES SEVERAL INDUSTRY AWARDS**
Several IEEE articles and other communications pieces have recently won industry awards. Here is a roundup.
- The 2005 IEEE SPECTRUM and IEEE Media Select Market Magazinesmedia kits took first and second places, respectively, in the New York City Business Marketing Association's Business-to-Business ACE Awards competition. The media kits competed in the Promotional Materials category.
- The IEEE Dreams brochure, developed for use in raising funds for the IEEE educational outreach program, received a Silver ADDY award in the New Mexico Advertising Federation's 2004-2005 competition and a Gold award in the Direct Mail, Single Piece category, from the Society of National Association Publications (SNAP).
- The article "Titan Calling" from the October 2004 issue of IEEE SPECTRUM received a Silver SNAP award in the Magazines, Feature Article, 100,000 and Over category.
- IEEE SPECTRUM's 2004 advertising campaign received a silver SNAP award in the Ad Campaign category.
- IEEE SPECTRUM's Aging & Technology series won the northeast regional Best Feature Series Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. The articles appeared in the September, October and December 2004 issues of the magazine.
**UPDATES TO IEEE WEB SITE**
- SEARCH ENGINE: The Ultraseek search engine on the IEEE Web site can now perform case-insensitive searches, much like Google. This will improve results for users who cut and paste mixed-cased queries. The engine also has been tuned to favor content on www.ieee.org, as opposed to that on other IEEE domains. (Currently, more than 230 domains are indexed.) An upgraded version of Ultraseek with new features will launch later this month.
A staff team also is reviewing other search options with Ultraseek, including investigating the possibility of indexing content from IEEE Xplore(R), the conference database, ShopIEEE and other areas. A trial of Google Appliance also is being conducted to determine how it could replace the current search engine.
For more information, contact Walter Pienciak, IEEE Standards Activities, at mailto:w.pienciak@ieee.org, or Sonny Barber, IEEE Corporate Strategy & Communications, at s.barber@ieee.org.
- OTHER ACTIVITIES: Several short- and long-term Web projects have been identified for this year and next by staff and the IEEE Publications Service and Products Board ad hoc committee and the Information Technology Strategy Committee. They include a redesign of the main IEEE site with a focus on consistent navigation, content and style standards. The team also is moving toward single authentication in which users can log in once for access to all authorized areas.
For more information, contact Sonny at s.barber@ieee.org.
**EMAIL POLICY REVISED**
At it's February meeting, the IEEE Board of Directors approved a revised version of the IEEE Electronic Mail Policy. The language has been simplified to more easily explain the responsibility of email users, new sections were created, and policy statements and definitions were renumbered.
The IEEE's position on email privacy and security is now more clearly defined, and includes the following addition to the policy: "As a part of the maintenance process, IEEE IT Department employees may have incidental contact with email (or other digital transfers) passing through IEEE systems. Information about such documents is held in confidence."
The IEEE Electronic Mail policy is available online at http://eleccomm.ieee.org/email-policy.shtml. It is accessible from the IEEE Policies page on the main IEEE Web site.
**LATEST VERSION OF IEEE XPLORE NOW LIVE**
The IEEE Xplore(R) 2.0 online delivery platform launched last month. The latest version offers researchers a more functional design and enhanced usability. New features include:
- full-text search of all online content for IEEE members and subscribers
- an automated welcome page that recognizes users and their access rights
- free, basic searches of abstract content for all visiting researchers
- "homepages" for all IEEE periodicals containing reviews of the publications' aim and scope, links to all past and present issues, and manuscript submission information
- conference proceedings grouped together to show title history
- a link to the "Top 100 Articles," based on the most accessed documents within the past month
Visit IEEE Xplore 2.0 at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/guesthome.jsp.
**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.
21 April -- ELECTRONIC DESIGN (http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/10117/10117.html) -- In an invited Letter to the Editor, Jill S. Tietjien, representing IEEE Women in Engineering, refuted Bob Pease's 14 April column (http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/10055/10055.html) in which he supported Harvard University's Dr. Lawrence Summers' statements asserting women's lower aptitudes for science and math. Tietjien wrote, "In 1970, .3 percent of the degrees awarded nationwide went to women. Now, women earn almost 20 percent of the engineering degrees...an increase in magnitude of over 60 times. Surely women haven't improved their quantitative skills by this magnitude just in the last 30 years." She added, "It doesn't make sense to me to purposely or unintentionally discourage half the population from pursuing a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) career, especially when (it) provides such value for the world?s population and can be so satisfying."
26 March -- LINUXELECTRONS (http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20050326192455977 and THOMASNET (http://news.thomasnet.com) both reported the IEEEVirtualMuseum had launched its newest exhibit, "Songs in the Key of E." ThomasNet called the new exhibit about electronic music "fascinating" and commented, "It's warming to see just one of countless forms of engineering that is so very human."
17 March -- BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL (www.boston.bizjournals.com) was one of several U.S. metropolitan business weeklies noting that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had reported the number of programming jobs fell from 745,000 jobs in 2000 to 564,000 in 2004. At the same time, the number of computer and information systems managers jumped 48 percent to 337,000. IEEE-USA President Gerald A. Alphonse commented, "The drop in computer programmers and rise in managers reflects the trend toward offshoring of programming jobs and the resulting need for professionals to manage outsourced products." The story also ran in business journals in Portland (Oregon), Sacramento, Albuquerque, Pittsburgh and San Antonio. In a related story in the 13 March DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Paul Kostek, who chairs IEEE-USA's Career and Workforce Policy Committee, reinforced Alphonse's statement, also commenting the job picture will be mixed for some time.
14 and 15 March -- PC WORLD (http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,120053,00.asp) and INFO WORLD (http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/03/14/HNatt4g.1.html reported AT&T will start providing broadband services on a trial basis using WiMax technology for two unnamed corporate customers in New Jersey. WiMax, a popular term for IEEE 802.16 standard using the 700 MHz to 66GHz frequency band, delivers 2M bps to 6Mbps to each customer within the network's cell radius deployment of up to 3.2 kilometers with the line of sight interrupted. When the line of sight is uninterrupted, the speed can be higher and the radius larger. The technology is considered by many as both a competitor and a complement to 3G wired broadband. WiMax and its interoperability issues with Wi-Fi also got attention in March from EE TIMES (www.eetimes.com), "WiMax Upheaval on Course," and from WIRELESS REVIEW (www.wirelessreview.com), "Finding a Standard Among Standards" and "Helping WiMax Fit in."
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IEEE LEADERSHIP WIRE staff contact:
Stephanie Ernst
IEEE Corporate Strategy and Communications
Tel: +1 732 562 6839
Fax: +1 732 981 9511
