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President’s Report What your Board of Directors has done for you lately. Pedro Ray Salvador, Brazil 7 April 2011. Outline. The flavor of 2011 Board priorities in 2011 Selected activities Life Sciences Humanitarian Activities Africa On continuity Questions . “The Flavor of 2011”.
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President’s Report What your Board of Directors has done for you lately Pedro Ray Salvador, Brazil 7 April 2011
Outline • The flavor of 2011 • Board priorities in 2011 • Selected activities • Life Sciences • Humanitarian Activities • Africa • On continuity • Questions
“The Flavor of 2011” • The Board has declared its priorities • Emphasis on the external environment wherein IEEE operates • De-emphasis of internal machinations and committee structure • Rationale: we have spent most of 2010 on matters of internal structure • Spotlight on key large-scale activities • Publications and conferences • Expansion into new areas and strengthening of IEEE competitiveness
2011 priorities (1) • Ensure sustainable progress toward establishing IEEE’s leadership in important new technical areas • Including SMART GRID and selected areas intersecting with LIFE SCIENCES • Develop and approve a plan to ensure that IEEE is at the forefront of digital publishing technology • Including making IEEE XPLORE® a state of the art platform
2011 priorities (2) • Develop and implement an IEEE Conference Strategy, including protection of quality of IEEE publications • Develop collaborative strategic alliances with other associations and publishers • Including exploration of new joint membership agreements and incorporation of new publications in Xplore • To ensure all members are engaged and find a professional home in IEEE; create a global strategic member development plan • Particularly emphasizing practicing engineers/technologists and young professionals • Especially where IEEE membership is declining
A few themes that interpret the priorities – conferences • We are looking seriously at our conference operation • Maintenance of quality is paramount • We need to make sure that technically co-sponsored conferences are beneficial to the participants, to the profession and to IEEE • We are struggling with the question “who can be a technical co-sponsor of an IEEE conference?” • Pressure to publish in IEEE-labeled conferences is high • With unintended consequences, all the way to fake IEEE conferences
A few themes that interpret the priorities – conferences • We are looking seriously at our conference operation • Maintenance of quality is paramount • We need to make sure that technically co-sponsored conferences are beneficial to the participants, to the profession and to IEEE • we are struggling with the question who can be a technical co-sponsor of an IEEE conference • Pressure to publish in IEEE-labeled conferences is high • With unintended consequences, all the way to fake IEEE conferences Quality is the Key
A few themes that interpret the priorities – publications • We are investing in our delivery platform, XPLORE • Want to make it as user friendly and useful to our readers • The platform offers materials that were created by other organizations • IET, AIP, IBM • We expect this trend to continue • We continue to look at alternative access packages for members • Realizing many of our members seek more access
Selected Activities- The Life Sciences- Humanitarian Activities- Africa
We continue to develop IEEE presence in the Life Sciences New Initiative on Life Sciences in IEEE
UFFC SMC SSCS ComSoc Computer Sensors Council Biometrics Council Nanotechnology Council Systems Council IEEE is already active… The 2010 IEEE International Workshop on Bioinformatics and Life Science Modeling and Computing • EMBS • NPSS • SPS • CIS • RAS • CAS • EDS • Photonics • MTT-S
IEEE Conferences with the Keywords “Bio” or “Bioengineering”
A few elements at the intersection of Life Sciences and IEEE’s “traditional disciplines” Electrical Engineering Biomedical Instrumentation Computer Science Image Processing and Signal Processing Computer Engineering Computational Biology/ Bioinformatics Standards Healthcare information systems and services Life Sciences IEEE Standards Activities
“Life Sciences in IEEE” Initiative • Aimed at… • Better coordination of Life Sciences technical activities as currently distributed among various Societies/Councils • Promoting the technical leadership of IEEE in Life Sciences and Engineering • Including bioengineering, biomedical engineering, healthcare technology, and applications of various technologies to life sciences and healthcare.
Common themes to Technical Committees • Bioinformatics and Computational Biology • CIS, Computer Society, EMBS, SMC • Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing • EMBS, SPS • Bio-robotics • EMBS, RAS, SMC
Unique themes to Technical Committees • E-health (Communication Society) • Surgical Robots (RAS) • Biomedical Circuits and Systems (CAS) • Applications and biological effects of Microwave Radiation (MTT-S)
Sample of LS-related Conferences: 2010 In the last four months of 2010, there were 46 IEEE LS-related conferences
General Observations • Life Sciences -- including healthcare -- represent (roughly) 7% of our current activities • Measured by publications and conferences • Activities are expanding and growing • There are obvious opportunities to bring together groups that work in relative isolation • Especially in computational biology and bioinformatics • IEEE has several areas where it has advantage over other organizations • Standards; Medical Robotics; E-health • Presence in PubMed will affect our ability to recruit members from the LS community
Sponsorship of Conferences Geo Unit in most cases is from P.R. China or Taiwan
We are reorganizing our activities in the humanitarian arena • We feel pressure from groups of members to expand IEEE’s presence in the humanitarian arena • Primarily from group of students and from GOLD • IEEE is organizing its humanitarian activities through the “Engineering for Change” project • Collaboration between IEEE, ASME and Engineers without Borders • We are seeking a long-term model for organizing and sustaining humanitarian activities • Possibly through use of Affinity Groups
2011 Ad Hoc Committee on Humanitarian Activities • Amarnath Raja, In-App (India) – Chair • Christopher Baker-Brian, BBOXX Ltd (UK)* • Kartik Kulkarni, NIXI (India)* • Adrian Pais, TNO (The Netherlands) • Gertjan van Stam, LinkNet (Zambia) • Peter Staecker, AMP M/A-COM (retd. USA) • William Walsh, NSWC Dahlgren (USA) • Matt Loeb – Staff Executive, IEEE (USA) *Winners of the IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition
The (Short) History of the Committee • Established in response to requests from IEEE Region 8 to examine and decide on a path for IEEE’s activities in Africa • Announced in the IEEE Board of Directors meeting on February 2011 • Membership selected from different constituencies in Africa
Tasks assigned to the IEEE Activities in Africa Ad Hoc Committee • Review and report on IEEE current activities in Africa – scope, geographical distribution, and observable trends
Africa • Conduct gap analysis for a horizon of 3-5 years in the following categories • Educational activities • Technical activities • Conferences, publications • IEEE organizational units in Africa • Membership • Models, composition, engagement, growth prospects • Technological infrastructure support • Power, water, communications
Africa • Develop a preliminary “short list” of recommendations for action based on the previous two reviews for further analysis and development of action plan • Further analysis would define scope, volunteer and staff support needs, and required budget
Africa Committee Membership
A Trivial Observation… • Rome ne s'est pas faite en un jour • Translation: the most successful IEEE Presidents were succeeded by Presidents who shared their vision and provided continuity for key projects • While adding new ones and redirecting • Examples of good transitions • Bordogna – Laker – Eisenstein • Lightner – Jamieson – Terman • The best intentioned president would not be successful if his/her successor completely resets the system
The Good News:We may be lucky in 2010-2011-2012-2013 • When the 3Ps are united IEEE can reach new heights • When the 3Ps are divided they tend to neutralize each other with great enthusiasm – much effort/little progress • We face a good opportunity that several programs and efforts will go forth for at least four (4) years • Ray-Kam-Day-Pollard/Staecker