IEEE Priorities
IEEE SCV March 28th Event: A Conversation with IEEE President and IEEE Region 6 Director Elect
A Conversation with IEEE President and IEEE Region 6 Director Elect
Time/Date: 5pm-7:30pm March 28, 2024
Venue: Santa Clara University Room SCDI 1302 & 1308 (see map for room location)
Register at: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/410534
Abstract:
Please join us for a lively and enlightening conversation with IEEE President Tom Coughlin and IEEE Region 6 Director Elect Joseph Wei, moderated by Alan J Weissberger. We will discuss and debate how to make IEEE more relevant to its members, explore volunteer opportunities, ways to elevate the awareness and perception of IEEE as the world’s largest tech non-profit organization.
In the past decade, IEEE membership has significantly declined, there are fewer volunteers, and many IEEE initiatives (e.g. 5G, cloud computing, IoT and smart grid) have fizzled. IEEE Conferences and Journals are now dominated by academia and for the most part are not of interest to industry as the content is not realizable and has little or no practical value. Many engineers, sales and marketing people think that IEEE is irrelevant and won’t help them advance their careers. Clearly, IEEE has been in a severe decline for several years.
How can we turn that around? Can IEEE provide better tools and support for the active volunteers and to grow its professional membership while encouraging student members to upgrade to full membership? How can we retain, encourage and train younger members to volunteer for officer positions and provide fresh leadership? Can we find a more equitable balance between industry and academia for IEEE conferences, publications, and local chapters? What are the important, high priority tech initiatives that IEEE should focus on to ensure success? Finally, can we orchestrate a leadership transition to ensure high priority projects are progressed?
Timeline:
5pm-5:30pm: Registration and Networking
5:30pm-7pm: Opening statements by each participant followed by a conversation/debate about IEEE key issues and initiatives.
7pm-7:25pm: Audience Q & A
7:25pm-7:30pm: Closing remarks and thanks from the participants
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Addendum:
Hope everyone was satisfied with yesterday’s stimulating panel discussion and conversation at SCU. The 3 of us went back & forth discussing critical issues and needed improvements for IEEE to regain credibility & respect. Nothing was rehearsed.
We followed the mutually agreed list of discussion topics (see Comment below) and mixed them up a bit to ensure continuity of various themes.
- Thanks to Behnam, his students, Ed and Joseph for buying the refreshments.
- Thanks to Shoba for securing the SCU room for us.
- Thanks to Kim and Glenn for their cogent comments & remarks
- And many thanks to our two outstanding panelists- Tom and Joseph!!
March 28th video recording of our conversation:
References:
https://techblog.comsoc.org/2024/02/05/ieee-presidents-priorities-and-strategic-direction-for-2024/
https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/410534
IEEE President Elect: IEEE Overview, 2024 Priorities and Strategic Plan
IEEE President’s Priorities and Strategic Direction for 2024
by Tom Coughlin, 2024 IEEE President; edited & augmented by Alan J Weissberger, IEEE Techblog Content Manager
Let’s examine each of these issues and initiatives for IEEE this year:
1. IEEE has a lot of college student members but, like many other professional organizations, the majority of these student members don’t continue as full IEEE members. One reason is the much higher cost – $218/yr for full IEEE membership vs. $32/yr for IEEE student membership. This is a big financial burden as many college graduates carry student loans after graduation. Another reason is they don’t see much if any value in being an IEEE member. We need to change that perception by revitalizing IEEE such that is relevant to young members careers in both industry and academia.
In order for the IEEE to remain vital and relevant we need to convert more of our student members to full IEEE members and then engage and retain them. One thought is to encourage them to volunteer at the section, chapter, or global level.
I am creating a special task force in the IEEE to address this problem and do surveys, focus groups and pilot programs to find ways that we can attract and retain our younger members.
2. IEEE needs to create stronger ties and provide greater value to industry and to those engineers and scientists who work in industry. This goal is closely related to the first goal since most of our student members end up working in industry.
IEEE has an Industry Engagement Committee and I have asked them to work with the IEEE Student Activities Committee and IEEE Young Professionals to find value in the IEEE for younger people working in industry. In addition, I am personally reaching out to companies to speak with senior technical people about how IEEE is useful now and what else we can do to provide value, particularly for younger people working in industry.
3. IEEE needs to reach out to the broader world to let them know who we are and what we do. Today, most people that have heard of IEEE think of it as ONLY a standards organization, e.g. for IEEE 802.11 WiFi and IEEE 802.3 Ethernet. They don’t realize that IEEE is by far, the largest tech non-profit organization.
We have in our IEEE membership experts in all technologies, who can provide insights and guidance for public policy, convene meetings and create new and valuable standards.
IEEE is by far the most cited source for prior art in patents worldwide, it has created documents and standards on ethical design of intelligent and autonomous systems (AI) and our volunteers write, review and publish much of the worlds technical literature and put on conferences on every conceivable technical topic.
IEEE also creates future directions committees on emerging technologies, pursue technical megatrends and create and publish technology roadmaps on semiconductor and other important technologies.
4. IEEE needs to invest in new products and services. In particular, applying AI and other computer algorithms to IEEE content that will enable new ways to find, understand and advance technologies that can serve our members and our customers.
In 2024, IEEE will start an Ad hoc committee, working with relevant groups outside of the IEEE, on educating future generations of workers who will be using new tools such as AI, working in outer space and in virtual environments and who will work for many organizations and technologies during their career.
IEEE should be able to leverage technical tools to help people learn in the best way for them and to provide lower costs for continuous education which can enable those from underserved communities to participate in and benefit from technical education.
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2024 IEEE Key Topics of Focus Overview:
- Provides a roadmap for the year in terms of areas of focus and provides year over year continuity.
- Discussed and adopted on an annual basis by the IEEE Board of Directors at the January meeting.
- A living document that evolves throughout the year and is updated for every Board meeting as progress is reported.
Tom’s Closing Comments:
I know the time will go by fast in my one year term as IEEE President. I look forward to meeting more of our members in more places and having the chance to understand and support these members. I also hope that I can help create stronger ties to those who work in industry and keep more of our younger members and provide greater value to the world. Most of all I will support the IEEE’s mission to advance technology for the benefit of humanity!
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References:
IEEE President Elect: IEEE Overview, 2024 Priorities and Strategic Plan