Vol 16 No 3 December 2013 Scan me with your smartphone to reach www.ieeer8.org Published quarterly and distributed to more than 70,000 IEEE members across Region 8 the R8N website. IN THIS ISSUE Region news ...................1–5 THE 101st IEEE Region 8 Committee IEEE contacts........................4 meeting was hosted by IEEE Bosnia and 100+ members convene in Section and Herzegovina section in the city of Sara- Chapter news .................5–7 jevo. More than 100 Region 8 members and IEEE staff gathered on 4–6 October Sarajevo for R8 Committee for a busy agenda discussing and plan- Far left: ning activities and developments. Region 8 Region 8 Director Martin Bastiaans director- elect and Aleksander Szabo, vice chair of candidate Member Activities, reported an increase debate in membership, albeit slower than in Left: IEEE’s GOLD/YP news ...................8 recent years. Sections were asked to be just desserts active in recruiting new members and to sembly of IEEE volunteers will be taking Decade was given the new name ‘IEEE encourage renewals. place outside North America for the first Young Professionals’. The YP criteria will Tony Davies, History Activities co- time. be adjusted by adding an opt-in option, ordinator, reported on two new IEEE There’s also the Student Branch Con- and it will be a form of membership. Milestone dedications: 12 June to cel- gress 2014 planned in Krakow, Poland, Good news for you: there are to be ebrate the 1947 invention of holography from 7–10 August, organised by the local new benefits for IEEE members. The in London (UK&RI Section), and 5 July Student Branch. most important is GoogleApps@IEEE, Student news ...............9–12 to commemorate the 1895 Krka-Šibenik Meanwhile, three important confer- a suite of online products – mail, con- Hydro Power System in Croatia. ences will be organised by the region: tacts, calendar and a collaboration toolset Next year we will see some big events MELECON 2014 in April in Beirut, Leba- – made available at no cost. Please go in our Region. IEEE Sections Congress non; ENERGYCON 2014 in May in Du- ahead and try it out. 2014 will be hosted in Amsterdam, Neth- brovnik, Croatia; and HISTELCON 2014 There are also improvements to IEEE erlands, at the Rai Convention Center in September in Israel. member discount programs for Rosetta from 22–24 August. This worldwide as- IEEE GOLD Graduates of the Last ...continued on page 2 The closing dinner was held in Munich’s elegant Young Professionals refresh GOLD Künstlerhaus program with increased visibility AFTER many years of operation, the Gradu- The new program should result in im- ates of the Last Decade (GOLD) program is proved member awareness and retention, to be relaunched. and increased member engagement by Germany experiences day of Primarily, the name will be changed to making opportunities easier to find. ‘Young Professionals’, designed to appeal Although the process is planned to be time travel for 50th birthday to a broader audience and correspond to finalised in the middle of 2014, the first tran- ON 5 April 2013, IEEE Germany Sec- military applications to the pre- an increased visibility strategy. sitions are already visible. For example, the tion celebrated its 50th Anniversary sent, with thanks to our predeces- Although the name is the most signifi- Region 8 Student Branch and GOLD Con- where it all started, on 9 April 1963, sors who passionately built power cant visible change, several Young Profes- gress (SBC) is changing its name: it will be at the Technical University Munich. engineering, communication and sionals will be re-organising the programme officially known for the forthcoming event Our celebrations began in the information technology as we know to make it better serve the community of in Krakow in 2014 as Region 8 Student and afternoon with a colloquium intro- them today. young engineers. Young Professional Congress (SYP). duced by Prof Kennel as a “time Our trip arrived at the present The Young Professionals program re- Certainly, many of us will shed a tear for travel” series of talks. with Prof de Doncker’s presentation, quires changes at several levels: governance, Graduates of the Last Decade but it is time The first, by Prof Helmut Sch- ‘Power Electronic Substation – Edi- branding, classification and communication. to move on, say goodbye to GOLD and say ramm, ‘Where we come from: son’s Missing Link to realise the En- Therefore, the Region 8 GOLD/YP SC togeth- “Hello, Young Professionals, how are you Electrical Technology in Germany ergieWende’. The new energy trend er with MGA GOLD/YP and staff members doin’?” in the early 1960s’, described how set by Germany, now in the spotlight are working hard on making the transition of Rafal Sliz electric disciplines moved from ...continued on page 2 GOLD to YP smooth and successful. Region 8 Young Professionals region news Director reports on business Building wiki from the Region 8 Committee of educational IN October this year, the Region 8 Committee ries of separate meetings with several Section multimedia met for the first time in its history in Bosnia delegates about Section-specific legal issues A new project was launched Content from IEEE Academic and Herzegovina, in its capital Sarajevo. such as the proper registration in their home on 18 September called IEEE initiatives from Portugal, Turkey, The attendance of several high-level IEEE countries. Academic. It aims to create an Greece, South Africa, Pakistan staff members made it possible for us to or- Region 8 Director-Elect Costas Staso- online resource where students and USA are planned. ganise a number of activities of importance in poulos, who also acts as the Regional Vitality can access, for free, educational The beta version website addition to the meeting itself. Coordinator, used the opportunity to have material written in their language posted its first material from IEEE Region 8 treasurer Brian Harrington and separate discussions with Sections that had by professors in their own uni- Academic Portugal in October. myself, together with the France Section treas- shown a reduced level of activity, which may versities and schools. Feedback from you is urer Christine Nora and incoming treasurer even have led to problems in reporting and to “We want to build a ‘Wikipe- needed to help improve the Humberto Henao, discussed with the IEEE not yet receiving their rebate for 2012. dia’ for multimedia educational platform. Please visit online at chief financial officer Tom Siegert and MGA These discussions gave us a good insight content, with contributions from http://academic.ieee.org. All managing director Cecelia Jankowski about into the problems that these Sections face. IEEE Student Branches and uni- new items will be announced via how the financial program NetSuite can be In several cases, the report- versities all over the world,” said social media at facebook.com/ adapted such that it is workable for our Sec- ing problem could be solved Rui Costa, founder and coordina- ieeeacademic and twitter.com/ tions. and a missing rebate could tor of the project. ieeeacademic. IEEE general counsel and chief compliance be transferred. officer Eileen Lach, assisted by the interna- Martin Bastiaans tional paralegal David Meza, held a long se- Region 8 Director R8 Committee meeting in Sarajevo continued from page 1... entations at www.ieeeR8.org. Attendees found Stone, Clements Worldwide Life Above all, everyone enjoyed out how to gain Insurance and Vacation Center. the warm welcome hospitality and and retain IEEE’s ‘primary resource’ For Sections and Student Branches technical talks organised by Bosnia – its members that organise recruitment events, and Herzogovnia Section and ap- there is a new 2014 membership preciated the organisational work recruitment package available. by Section chair Dusanka Bosko- Many other discussions and vic and the local Student Branch breakout sessions took place so volunteers. please scan the reports and pres- Zhijia Huang New Membership Development Germany’s time travel birthday continued from page 1... come true. This is how Prof Hubert officers learn tools for the task worldwide, could rely on DC trans- Zutt brought everyone to outer A WORKSHOP to train new members happy with IEEE. every volunteer should be mission and distribution, as Thomas space with ‘Star Trek: how visions Membership Development The workshop included involved where members Edison, a founder of General Elec- become reality’. (MD) officers was held in the presentations on the global are the primary resource tric, sponsor of the day, would have He explained how late 1960s University of Westminster, and regional status of IEEE for IEEE. To coordinate the liked to see. The presentation of- futuristic fictional equipment, such London (UK&RI Section), membership, best practices efforts and keep in contact fered a deep insight into technology, as the cell phone, is now part of on 19 October. in Sections, data analysis with IEEE staff, an MD officer economics and politics, underlying everyone´s experience. Yet there is New MD officers gath- and communication tools, should always be appointed Germany’s assertive position in the still a lot to do for electrical engi- ered together with expe- new benefits for 2014, and in every Section. new enviroment-aware era. neers to reach Star Trek´s advanced rienced volunteers and breakout sessions for devis- The MD workshop will Then the space ship took off: a energy generation and storage – members of the Region 8 ing initiatives for increasing be repeated annually, with remote future is said to be science who knows what will be seen at the MD Subcommittee to share member satisfaction. a next edition planned for fiction’s domain. But find an engi- 100th anniversary? knowledge, learn the tools Membership Devel- in Middle East next Spring.