THE IEEE LEADERSHIP WIRE
7 July 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.
CONTENTS:
*JUNE BOARD SERIES RECAP
*NEW IEEE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO LAUNCH IN 2007
*PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE OFFERS COMPLIMENTARY COPY FOR POTENTIAL SUBSCRIBERS; FIRST JOURNAL FROM 1913 NOW ONLINE
*IEEE RANKS HIGH IN ANNUAL JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS
*IN THE NEWS
The following is a summary of some noteworthy actions taken at the June Board Series meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month.
The IEEE Board of Directors approved the following:
*a US$3 increase in IEEE membership dues and an additional US$3 increase in assessment fees for members in Region 1 and US$4 increase for those in Region 7.
*the IEEE 10 Strategic Challenges for 2006, designed to appropriately position IEEE in a globally competitive environment. To view the full document, visit http://www.ieee.org/go/strategies.
The Regional Activities Board approved the following:
*the IEEE Xtreme 24 hour programming contest to debut in 2007. Student branches will be able to compete in a worldwide programming contest where teams of student members will solve a set of computer programming problems in a 24-hour time span. Advised and proctored by an IEEE member, the contests will begin at 12:00 midnight and end the following day so that student branches in all time zones will be able to participate. Additional details will be sent to student branch counselors and chairs in August.
*two new Sections and two new subsections:
Region 10 – Shin’etsu Section
Region 9 – Colombian Caribbean Subsection of the IEEE Columbia Section
Region 8 – Estonian Section; Tanzania Subsection
The Technical Activities Board approved the following list of publications to launch in 2007:
IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine (IEEE Industrial Electronics Society)
IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine (IEEE Nanotechnology Council)
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems (IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society)
IEEE Systems Journal (IEEE Systems Council)
IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (IEEE Communications Society)
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing (IEEE Signal Processing Society)
**NEW IEEE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO LAUNCH IN 2007**
On June 30th, after an extensive assessment of the status of the IEEE Business Management System (BMS) project, IEEE Chief Information Officer Sally Waselik and Executive Director Jeffry Raynes announced that implementation will take place by mid-2007.
One of the largest and most challenging projects in the organization’s history, BMS is designed to position the IEEE for future growth. It will replace IEEE’s core business systems and improve IEEE operations by consolidating 26 separate systems into one. When fully launched, for the first time, IEEE staff will have a real-time, comprehensive view of IEEE members and customers from one integrated system, enabling improved, more personalized and more efficient service.
The new system also will give volunteers access to more information about their constituents. Additionally, it will allow members and individual customers to conduct online business transactions with the IEEE for the most frequently-used applications – join, renew, change profile information, buy products, add services and others – through one shopping cart experience with a single sign-on.
As the BMS project moves forward, volunteers and members will be kept informed of progress and upcoming changes that may affect them.
To commemorate the recent re-design of Proceedings of the IEEE, IEEE is giving away 1,000 copies of the June 2006 issue on Systems-on-Chip Design & Integration, which
takes an in-depth look at the subject of next-generation optical networks. To request a free copy, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/publications/procieee/free_issue_form.html.
Additionally, the first three years of Proceedings of the IEEE (1913 - 1915), originally titled "The Proceedings of the IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers), have been added to the IEEE Xplore digital library. The issues can be found online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=10933
**IEEE RANKS HIGH IN ANNUAL JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS**
IEEE was ranked highly in several categories in the 2005 Journal Citations Reports recently issued by Thomson. Among the highlights, IEEE publishes:
* 18 of the top 20 journals in electrical and electronic engineering
* 9 of the top 10 journals in telecommunications
* 7 of the top 10 journals in computer hardware and architecture
* 8 of the top 20 journals in computer information systems
* 8 of the top 20 journals in software engineering
*the number-one journals in robotics (IEEE Transactions on Robotics), imaging science (IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging) and telecommunications (IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing)
**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.
23 JUNE – WALL ST. JOURNAL – The temporary suspension by the IEEE Standards Association Standards Board of the 802.20 working group was covered by several international print and online publications. Paul Nikolich, chair of the 802 standards committee and Steve Mills, the IEEE Standards Association standards board chairman, indicated in the Wall St. Journal story that “there is a continuing investigation of the group's activities.” Stories on this subject also ran in EE Times, Red Herring, ZD Net, Network World, and ExtremeTech. To read the full IEEE statement, visit http://standards.ieee.org/announcements/2006/June06.html.
22 May – EE TIMES – A series of conference sessions discussing humanoid robots at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation was featured by the trade publication. According to the article “more than 1,200 engineers explored all the angles and scales of robots in upwards of 750 sessions covering everything from nanobots to full-sized robotic automobiles.”
May 15 – BLOOMBERG NEWS – The story titled “Microsoft, Intel Push U.S. to Welcome More Skilled Immigrants” included comments by Paul Kostek, former IEEE-USA president and current chairperson of IEEE-USA’s committee on workplace issues. Kostek stated that “an increase in the visa cap would cost American workers jobs and wages” and that “technology companies could fill their skilled worker needs by paying higher salaries.”
MAY – INFORMATION REPORT – The development and opening of the IEEE/Hewlett-Packard Telecenter in Nigeria was highlighted in the publication’s international news column. The article detailed IEEE Spectrum Harry Goldstein’s role in initiating the project, obtaining funding and advising it through completion. The Telecenter was dedicated in January 2006.
15 MAY – FEDERAL COMPUTER WEEK – The publication featured a story on Iraq’s “Virtual Science Library”, the result of the IEEE and other non-profit organizations as well as federal agencies and business joining together to give Iraqi scientists access to worldwide research. According to the article, the Virtual Science Library, and IEEE journals, continue to grow in popularity. In March 2006 alone, “10,000 PDF articles were downloaded from IEEE journals compared with about 800 in February and 250 in January.”
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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
Mailto: f.tardo@ieee.org
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