A discussion among several colleagues at Columbia University and the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center earlier this year led to the conclusion that a joint EDS/SSCS chapter would be the best formula for developing a stronger connection between the academic and industrial research communities in the New York metropolitan area. Joint chapter activities would offer an opportunity to foster collaborations and cross fertilization of ideas among the large number of researchers there in these closely linked fields.

After an organizational meeting including Durga Misra of NJIT, the IEEE chapter petition process received support from academic and industrial researchers, as well as from engineers in several smaller local companies.  The resources provided by the IEEE through the local Section and national SSCS chapter support also were key enablers in achieving this goal.

A helpful strategy was to insure that members working in the region but commuting from neighboring areas were qualified to sign the chapter formation petition.  Several members either applied for contiguous section affiliation or moved their mailing addresses to change their section to New York.

The chapter was promptly approved in the fall of 2007 by the IEEE EDS and SSCS societies and regional activity board.  At our first organizational meeting, John Kymissis (Columbia University) was elected as the chapter chair, Gen Pei (AMD) as EDS vice chair and Peter Kinget (Columbia University) as SSCS vice chair.

Inaugural Gathering at Columbia University in March
Our inaugural event on March 3, 2008 featured two IEEE distinguished lectures: Jan Rabaey (Univ. of California Berkeley) who spoke on “Scaling the Power Wall” and Juin Liou (Univ. of Central Florida) whose talk was entitled “Advanced Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Protection in BiCMOS/CMOS Technologies.”  Jan Van der Spiegel (Univ. of Pennsylvania & IEEE SSCS Chapters Committee Chair) offered the IEEE SSCS welcome, while David Weiss (New York City Transit Authority & IEEE New York Section Chair) presented the New York section welcome.  The lecture topics were selected for broad appeal to both the device and circuits communities, and the event concluded with a reception.  In addition to inviting New York section members and student chapters, we also advertised the event in neighboring sections that do not have SSCS chapters.

Kick-Off Seminars to Complement Local Technical Events
Initial chapter activities will focus on a series of seminars with overlapping appeal to the local SSCS and ED community that will complement technical events held by other societies and IEEE units in the New York metropolitan area. These events will provide technical enrichment for members, opportunities for the chapter’s organizers to learn more about the specific interests of local members, and networking opportunities for all attendees.

Chapter Meetings to Migrate within the Greater New York Area
Because the New York section covers a large geographical area including Westchester County, Rockland County, and the five boroughs of New York City, the chapter plans to hold half of its meetings in Westchester and half in New York City.  This will allow more cross-fertilization for the two communities, which tend only to meet at national conventions despite their close geographical proximity.

We hope to maintain a vibrant New York chapter that is responsive to the interests and suggestions of our members.  Our webpage is a edssscs.googlepages.com/ or you can send us email at edssscs@gmail.com with requests to join our mailing list or with any suggestions or questions you might have.   We look forward to hearing from more members who have events they wish to sponsor, and also to coordinating events with members and chapters from neighboring sections with similar interests.