THE IEEE LEADERSHIP WIRE
6 January 2006
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.
*ENHANCED IEEE WEBSITE COMING SOON
*2006 IEEE PRESIDENT-ELECT APPOINTED INTERIM DEAN
*MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS
*AGREEMENT BRINGS IEEE ONLINE INFORMATION TO 15 RUSSIAN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
*FIRST MAJOR SALE OF EXPERT NOW IEEE BOOKED
*EDUCATION PARTNERS PROGRAM GROWS
*IEEE-USA OFFERS ONLINE CAREER DEVELOPMENT COURSES
*MICROELECTRONICS PIONEER TO RECEIVE 2006 MEDAL OF HONOR
*CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: 2007 IEEE WILLIAM E. NEWELL POWER ELECTRONICS AWARD
*CANDIDATES SOUGHT FOR IEEE AWARDS BOARD
*IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SPEECH AND AUDIO PROCESSING JOURNAL TITLE CHANGE
*IN THE NEWS
**ENHANCED IEEE WEBSITE COMING SOON**
Later this month, the IEEE will introduce the first of several planned enhancements to the organization website. All of the updates - many of which are based on recommendations and comments from existing site users - are intended to make www.ieee.org a more valuable resource for members, the technical profession, and the general public. Web site best practices are also being taken into account during this process.
The initial update will reveal a new site design and will also begin to migrate the organization's extensive range of educational and informational content into more streamlined navigation with additional search capabilities. The web launch team will be collecting feedback from users as the site evolves.
**2006 IEEE PRESIDENT-ELECT APPOINTED INTERIM DEAN**
IEEE President-elect Leah Jamieson has been appointed by Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., to serve as Interim Dean of Engineering. She currently is the Ransburg Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Associate Dean of Engineering for Undergraduate Education at Purdue. Her new position begins on 1 March.
**NOVEMBER MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS**
IEEE membership reached 360,213 in November 2005, an increase of 0.3 percent compared to November 2004. Specifically, higher grade memberships are down 1.4 percent to 285,961, student memberships have increased 7.3 percent to 74,252. Society memberships have declined 1.5 percent to 365,708.
Complete details are available in the Membership Development Report at http://www.ieee.org/mdprogreport. These reports are password protected and require an IEEE Web Account username and password to log in.
**AGREEMENT BRINGS IEEE ONLINE INFORMATION TO 15 RUSSIAN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES**
Students and faculty at 15 universities in Russia now have access to IEEE publications through the IEEE/IEE Electronic Library. The subscription became effective as of 1 January 2006, following several years of negotiations. The universities are members of the National Electronic Information Consortium, a volunteer, self-governing entity operating on the territory of the Russian Federation.
**FIRST MAJOR SALE OF EXPERT NOW IEEE BOOKED**
IEEE, with cooperation from Thomson NETg's sales force, has booked its first corporate subscription sale of Expert Now IEEE. The US$400,000 sale to a leading aerospace manufacturing company is for a two-year period and gives the client access to 50 courses for 7,000 users. Expert Now IEEE is a collection of one- and two-hour long e-learning courses designed to help practicing engineers stay current in their fields.
IEEE has partnered with ThomsonNETg http://www.netg.com)in the following capacity: IEEE Societies identify the topics and subject matter experts while Thomson completes the development and production of courses. Thomson is also responsible for marketing and selling Expert Now IEEE to corporate customers as a subscription-based collection. Later this year, IEEE members will be able to purchase individual courses directly from IEEE.
IEEE members interested in having their employers consider a purchase of the collection may contact Don Miklas, Educational Activities, at d.miklas@ieee.org or +1 732 562 5488. For more information on Expert Now IEEE, go to http://www.ieee.org/education/Expert_Now_IEEE.
**EDUCATION PARTNERS PROGRAM GROWS**
Educational Activities has added four new members to its Education Partners Program (IEEE-EPP.) All education partners are universities and corporations that have been reviewed and approved by IEEE volunteers to ensure IEEE members receive the most effective learning resources available. IEEE-EPP offers on-line degree programs, certifications and courses at up to a 10 percent discount to members.
Through IEEE-EPP, IEEE members have access to more than 6,000 courses from 15 providers to help them meet their continuing education needs. The new members are:
*Kelley School of Business
*Learning Tree
*RFID Technical Institute
*Thomson NETg
For a full listing of IEEE Education Partners and more information on the Partners program, visit http://www.ieee.org/education/epp. Your IEEE Web Account user name and password are necessary to access the Partners' websites.
**IEEE-USA OFFERS ONLINE CAREER DEVELOPMENT COURSES**
IEEE-USA, in concert with AchieveGlobal, is offering online career development courses designed to equip IEEE members with leadership and customer service skills. AchieveGlobal, an international provider of training and consulting services, offers course modules in "Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback," "Managing Your Priorities," and "Proactive Listening," among others. The courses are approved for continuing education credit and are offered at a discount.
A specialized learning management system allows members to track their progress and course portfolio. For more information and course registration, go to http://salary.ieee.org, log in using your IEEE Web Account, click on the Shop tab, and then click on "Career-Development Courses."
**MICROELECTRONICS PIONEER TO RECEIVE 2006 IEEE MEDAL OF HONOR**
James D. Meindl has been named the 2006 recipient of the IEEE Medal of Honor for his "pioneering contributions to microelectronics, including low power, biomedical, physical limits and on-chip interconnect networks." His many accomplishments include research into solving the key problems of the physical limits of gigascale silicon technology integration and on-chip interconnections, and his development of novel low-power integrated circuits and sensors for a portable electronic reading aid for the blind.
Meindl, an IEEE Fellow, is the Joseph M. Petit Chair Professor of Microelectronics and Director of the Microelectronics Research Center at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. For more information about the IEEE Medal of Honor and the entire roster of 2006 IEEE award and medal recipients, visit www.ieee.org/awards.
**CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: 2007 IEEE WILLIAM E. NEWELL POWER ELECTRONICS AWARD**
The IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award, established in 2005, is presented for outstanding contribution(s) to the advancement of power electronics. The recipient of the award receives a bronze medal, certificate, and cash honorarium. The nomination deadline for this and all 2007 IEEE Technical Field Awards is 31 January 2006.
For nomination forms, visit the IEEE Awards Web Site, http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/sums/newellsum.html, or contact IEEE Awards Activities, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 08855-1331; tel: +1 732 562 3844; email: awards@ieee.org.
**CANDIDATES SOUGHT FOR IEEE AWARDS BOARD**
The IEEE Awards Board Nominations and Appointments Committee is seeking candidates for the following positions on the 2007 Awards Board:
*Award Board Members-at-Large -- Responsible for attending Awards Board (AB) meetings and performing special short-term tasks related to awards matters, as recommended by the AB Chair.
*Awards Board Presentation & Publicity Chair -- Responsible to the AB for proposing and reviewing policies related to the IEEE presentation and publicity of IEEE awards.
*Awards Board Finance Committee Chair -- Responsible for overseeing the AB budget.
*Awards Board Medals Council Chair, Awards Board Recognitions Council Chair, Awards Board Technical Field Awards Council Chair -- Responsible for facilitating and overseeing activities of the award selection committees.
*Award/Medal Selection Committee Members -- Responsible for reviewing nominations and recommending recipients for IEEE Institute-level awards.
Criteria considered by AB N&A for appointment to the Awards Board consists of, but is not limited to, membership on an Awards Board selection committee, recipient of an IEEE Institute-level Award, membership on Society, Section, Region Awards committees, and membership on other IEEE Boards.
Interested candidates should provide a brief biography along with a list of IEEE award activity experience that is no more than one page in length and email to awards@ieee.org by 1 March 2006. For information on the awards program, visit the Awards website at www.ieee.org/awards.
**IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SPEECH AND AUDIO PROCESSING JOURNAL TITLE CHANGE**
Effective with its January 2006 issue, IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing will change its title to IEEE Transactions on Audio, Speech and Language Processing. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=89
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:
Dec. - The IEEE Standard Board's approval of the 802.16e standard, which will serve as the basis for mobile WiMax technology, received coverage in many online publications including PCWORLD.COM, CNET NEWS.COM and EXTREMETECH.COM, to name a few. The standard was formally ratified on 7 Dec. and, as reported by CNET.com, "pave(s) the way for chipmakers and device manufacturers to start working on new products. WiMax is considered a promising next-generation wireless technology because it supports high data rates and has a long transmission reach."
16 Dec. - NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (NPR) LIVING ON EARTH RADIO SHOW - IEEE Spectrum Radio's senior associate editor Harry Goldstein profiled inventor Corliss Orville Burandt in a story titled "Inventor Interrupted." Burandt, who clams to have invented the device that makes hybrid auto engines work, said he lost his job, his home, his family and his mind when the patent slipped out of his hands and into the public domain. The story, which was previously featured on IEEE Spectrum Radio and later appeared in the May print issue of IEEE Spectrum, reached an even wider audience with the December NPR broadcast. To listen to the full segment or read the transcript, go to http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=05-P13-00050#feature7 and click on the "Inventor Interrupted" headline.
28 Nov. - ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TIMES - An interview with IEEE Council for Electronic Design Automation (CEDA) president Al Dunlop outlined the group's launch agenda and objectives. The story noted that CEDA brings together five IEEE societies - Antennas and Propagation, Circuits and Systems, Computer, Electronic Devices and Solid State Circuits societies. Dempsey identified "systems integration, standards and perhaps most important of all tackling the realities of system-on-chip (SoC)" as CEDA's hot topics for 2006. "The bottom line, though," Dunlop stated, "is that CEDA’s primary initial goal is getting all levels of EDA and design to participate, to create a drive fuelled by consensus."
1 Dec. - THE JAPAN TIMES ONLINE - International web publication THE JAPAN TIMES ONLINE highlighted the dedication of the IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing award to Sharp Electronics for their development of the electronic calculator. Sharp is the first recipient in Japan in the information equipment field since the IEEE milestone program was established in 1983. The article noted that IEEE established the Electrical Engineering Milestones program to honor significant achievements in the history of electrical and electronics engineering that have contributed to the betterment of society. A similar story ran in Noticias.info.
18 Dec. - DALLAS MORNING NEWS - Jean Eason, a Fort Worth, TX electrical engineer who chairs IEEE-USA's Employment and Career Services Committee, was quoted in a story discussing the debate over the possibility of the government issuing an additional 30,000 H-1B visas which allow US companies to hire skilled foreign nationals as guest workers. The proposal is part of the Senate Judiciary Committee's submission for budget reconciliation and would raise the current cap of 65,000 visas to 95,000 visas for 2006. "When you look at the fact that there are fewer jobs in engineering every year, and yet we're bringing in almost 100,000 guest workers – those numbers don't add up," Easton said.
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IEEE LEADERSHIP WIRE staff contact:
Francine Tardo
IEEE Corporate Strategy and Communications
Tel: +1 732 465 5865
Fax: +1 732 981 9511
f.tardo@ieee.org
