IEEE Region 8 News

Vol 18 No 2 September 2015

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 IEEE contacts...... 2 R8C Meeting gallery...... 4

Above (from left): Abbey Road’s Peter Cobbin and Isabel Garvey, IEEE president Howard Michel, Section and and Alan Dower Blumlein’s grandson Alan and son Simon. Right: Lucky invitees from IEEE, the Chapter news...... 5 recording industry and the press clamour to enter the world-famous Abbey Road Studios. Blumlein Milestone proves to be a hit EMI’S Abbey Road Studios in north in Studio Two, where The Beatles noon of technical lectures and a London, UK is famous for hosting recorded most of their work, in lively panel discussion and Q&A. a great many recording stars over a day-long celebration of stereo The Milestone commemorates the years: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, sound recording and reproduction Blumlein’s invention of stereo re- Cartoons...... 6, 9, 11 U2, Radiohead… and now also, inventions of the great engineer. cording in 1931, after which he pat- EMI Studios on thanks to a new IEEE Milestone, The day began with speeches ented microphones, record-cutting Abbey Road in London was Alan Dower Blumlein and his in- and tributes leading up to the dedi- equipment, circuits and processes renamed after vention of stereo recording. cation of an IEEE Milestone plaque, needed to record and reproduce the success of On 1 April, 100 recording engi- unveiled by IEEE president Howard realistic stereo sound for cinema. The Beatles’ neers, musical personalities, EMI ex- Michel and Abbey Road Studios He ably demonstrated these a few album Abbey Road, recorded ecutives and members of the press managing director Isabel Garvey, years later at Abbey Road Studios there in 1969. joined IEEE and the Blumlein family followed (after lunch) by an after- itself – at the time, brand new and Student news...... 7–12 called simply EMI Studios – by recording the London Philharmonic Cyprus is theatre for launch of Orchestra in stereo, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Those inventions are still rel- Region 8 Committee initiatives evant today. Two channels could ...continued on page 3 Proposed changes to IEEE Constitution need debating THE Ballot for IEEE’s Annual Elec- presidents, directors and other IEEE tion commencing in August 2015, leaders. The marked-up version Region 8 Committee Meeting participants enjoy an evening visit to the ancient city of Courion. in which IEEE members have the of the IEEE Constitution, with IEEE opportunity to vote for the IEEE Board of Directors approved ration- Καλημέρα! Getting closer to industry, revi- topics from membership development and president-elect and various other ale and descriptions of the impact talising Sections and encouraging Student awards to conference co-ordination and leaders (depending upon the IEEE can be found at: www.ieee.org/ members and Young Professionals were the strategic planning. The evening’s formal Societies, etc to which they belong) about/corporate/election/pro- principal themes at the spring Region 8 Com- welcome reception, dinner and awards was due to include the option to posed_constitution_revisions.pdf mittee Meeting, held in Limossol, Cyprus ceremony followed a technical lecture by vote on a major set of changes to Many matters currently under at the end of March. Committee members, Tracy Spaight of Wargaming.net on the ‘free- the IEEE Constitution. The option the control of the Constitution had sub-committee representatives and Section mium’ commercial model for multiplayer was a simple vote ‘For’ or ‘Against’ been proposed to be transferred to heads came together under one roof, hosted online gaming. all of the proposed changes. bylaws, where they could in future by Cyprus Section, to debate issues, share Saturday saw the opening of the main This plan has since been with- be altered by a simple majority reports, plan ahead and network with their session, beginning with the Region 8 Direc- drawn by the Board of Directors, vote of the IEEE Board of Directors, IEEE counterparts across the Region. tor’s address, during which Costas Stasopou- with some of the provisions of this requiring no support from the IEEE Early arrivals on Friday 27 March were los explained more about the three initiatives amendment proving controversial, membership as a whole. invited to participate in discussions on the on which Region 8 Committee will focus and strong objections being raised A web site developed to col- three themes listed above throughout the over the next couple of years. ‘Action for In- by experienced IEEE volunteers lect comments and endorsements day, alongside breakout meetings on diverse ...continued on page 4 including a number of past IEEE ...continued on page 3 editorial

Vol 18 No 2 September 2015

Region 8 News is published quarterly by the Region 8 Committee of the IEEE, and distributed free with IEEE Spectrum to more than 73,000 IEEE members. Read past issues online at www.ieeer8.org –> R8News Newsletter. Opinions expressed in IEEE Region 8 News are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent the policies of their employers or IEEE Your editors (from left): Roland Saam, Zhijia Huang and Bojan Nikolic. Board or Region 8 Committee. News & articles Delivery problems Shouldn’t this organisation [email protected] Please notify all problems regarding membership, publications delivery Student News email and change of address directly to IEEE member services. See website remain volunteer-led? [email protected] www.ieee.org and email [email protected]. IEEE Region 8 Extra copies EARLIER this year there was a plan ballot. However, it is an important website If you would like extra copies of Region 8 News for distribution at your to include on the 2015 Election Bal- subject which we feel our readers www.ieeer8.org IEEE events, please email a request to the editor before the deadlines lot a vote to alter the IEEE Constitu- should learn more about. We be- Editors below, specifying quantity and delivery address. Please type ‘R8 News tion. Amendments which now re- lieve that the implications of any Zhijia Huang Extra Copies’ in your email subject line. [email protected] quire our approval (i.e. that of the changes to the IEEE Constitution Submitting articles voting members of IEEE) would be should be published, explained Roland J Saam We welcome news, articles and letters from any member of the IEEE. [email protected] transferred to bylaws which can be and debated by all of us. Otherwise Please send these to the editor as plain text by email to [email protected], Bojan Nikolic remembering to type ‘Region 8 News’ in your email subject line. If send- altered by the Board of Directors. it becomes too easy for a few clever [email protected] ing photos or graphics, please make sure they are high-resolution files. That plan would have removed persons to take control of IEEE. The Editorial production Read our full guide to writing and submitting articles at www.ieeer8.org several protections that safeguard real worldwide volunteer-led soci- Alistair Dabbs –> R8News Newsletter –> Tips for contributors. our volunteer-led technical society: ety of learned people we have today [email protected] Deadlines for upcoming issues the 10% participation requirement could quickly become just another Printing & mailing for Constitution amendments, the publishing house or commercial Theresa Smith December 2015 issue...... deadline: 1 October 2015 prohibition that the Board of Direc- conference outfit. [email protected] March 2016 issue...... deadline: 1 January 2016 tors receives no salary, the require- For more details, see the story ment that Regional and Divisional beginning on page 1 of this issue. Directors shall serve on the Board, Please also take some trouble to and allowing staff to serve as voting search “constitution” on the IEEE REGION 8 OPERATING members of the Board. website. Discuss the issues, listen COMMITTEE OFFICERS Matters of governance could to the arguments and form your 2015 Operating Committee Appointed then be decided by a simple ma- opinion. Check out this blog where (OpCom) Members jority vote by a much smaller IEEE high-level IEEE volunteers express Director Awards & Recognition Professional Activities Board of Directors, even at very their opinions: http://bit.ly/Save- Costas Stasopoulos (Cyprus) Marko Delimar (Croatia) Ana Katalinić Mucalo (Croatia) short notice and without support IEEE-Constitution [email protected] [email protected] Region 8 News from the IEEE membership as a It is the policy of IEEE to facilitate Director-Elect Chapters Zhijia Huang (UK & Ireland) whole. You can see the IEEE Consti- open discussion, including oppos- Margaretha Eriksson (Sweden) Nazih Khaddaj Mallat (United [email protected] [email protected] Arab Emirates) tution indicating all proposed revi- ing views, of issues and initiatives to Roland Saam (UK & Ireland) Past-Director Conferences [email protected] sions here: www.ieee.org/about/ appear on the ballot (Constitutional Martin Bastiaans (Benelux) Adel Alimi (Tunisia) [email protected] Standards Coordinator corporate/election/proposed_ amendment and referendum). This [email protected] David Law (UK & Ireland) constitution_revisions.pdf applies to those proposals suggested Secretary Educational Activities [email protected] Christian Schmid (Austria) Manuel Castro (Spain) Fortunately your Board of Di- by the IEEE Board of Directors as well [email protected] Student Representative rectors decided at their June meet- as those of other members of IEEE. Action for Industry Efthymia Arvaniti (Greece) Treasurer Nihal Sinnadurai (UK & Ireland) [email protected] ing to withdraw this item from 2015 Zhijia Huang, Roland Saam Brian Harrington (UK & Ireland) [email protected] Membership Development Young Professionals Adeel Sultan (United Arab Flavia Dinca (UK & Ireland) Vice-Chair, Member Activities Emirates) [email protected] Dusanka Boskovic (Bosnia & IEEE SIGHT wants to help fund Herzegovina) Ad-hoc Members [email protected] Vice-Chair, Student Activities Electronic Communications Life Members your humanitarian projects Mona Ghassemian (UK & George Michael (Cyprus) Charles Turner (UK & Ireland) Ireland) [email protected] [email protected] THE IEEE SIGHT Steering Com- $500 and $20,000. A projects [email protected] mittee is inviting applications for guideline has been made avail- Assistant Secretary, Social Women in Engineering Vice-Chair, Technical Activities Media and Web pages Simay Akar (Turkey) project funding support. SIGHT able which describes the scope Youmna El-Bitar (Lebanon) Igor Kuzle (Croatia) Section Vitality Coordinator groups’ major goal is to create op- and nature of the projects. [email protected] History Activities Aleksandar Szabo (Croatia) portunities for members to devote For full details, including help Tony Davies (UK & Ireland) [email protected] [email protected] time and talents to humanitarian on submitting a SIGHT project, see Corresponding members: Assistant Treasurer and work consistent with IEEE’s Con- the website at: http://www.ieee. Antonio Perez Yuste (Spain), Voluntary Contribution Fund Adam Jastrzebski (UK & Ireland) stitution to “bring the benefits of org/special_interest_group_ Antonio Savini (Italy) technology to the entire world.” on_humanitarian_technology. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The committee will support a html 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor wide range of projects depending Holly Schneider Brown New York 10016, USA on the problems that project is try- Staff Lead and Program Manager, IEEE prohibits discrimination in its activities. ing to address. The level of funding IEEE SIGHT For more information, visit www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/ whatis/policies/p9-26.html support has been between (US) [email protected]

2 IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 region news Proposed changes to IEEE Constitution need debating before it’s too late continued from page 1... changes to the Constitution (Article XIV Sec- from those opposed to the amendment can tion 2). be found at: http://bit.ly/Save-IEEE-Consti- Currently at least 10% of all members tution or https://ieeeconstitutionamend- entitled to vote must participate in the bal- ment.wordpress.com/ lot for a change in Constitution to take place, The IEEE Institute is also maintaining a in addition to the two-thirds majority for any web site for commentary and possible of- change, with remains a requirement. ficial response at:http://theinstitute.ieee. 4. It eliminates prohibitions against remuner- From left: Tony Davies org/briefings/business/proposed-amend- ation of Directors, and against IEEE acting as from the IEEE UK&I Life ment-to-the-ieee-constitution a trade union (Article X Section 4, and Article Members Activity Group, Some relevant facts about the proposed I Section 2). IEEE past-president Roberto deMarca, IEEE Constitutional Amendment: 5. This proposal was put forward without a current president 1. It eliminates Constitutional requirements plan for changes either in concept or proposed Howard Michel and to have both Regional (MGA) and Technical Bylaw changes. This makes it impossible to IEEE Region 8 News (TAB) Directors (Article VI Sections 2 and 3). determine if any of the proposed changes are editor Roland Saam. “This change would move the approval of actually needed to accomplish the Board’s re- future changes to the IEEE Board of Directors, organizational objectives. Blumlein Milestone proves as opposed to the members” (according to All IEEE members are encouraged to re- the IEEE Board approved change description). view the proposed changes, and the discus- to be a hit at Abbey Road This clearly means that any changes in the sions emerging on the various web sites, so continued from page 1... together with some classic sound composition (membership) of the Board of that they can develop a well- informed position be recorded in a single groove recordings and historic videos. Directors would have been given to the Board on the proposals. They are also encouraged on a gramophone disc by using The IEEE Milestone ceremony itself to decide. It would also mean that in fu- to contribute to debate about the proposals, a 45-degree cutting angle. The was planned and designed by the ture there could be no representation at all so that when the voting does take place, the method was backward-compatible IEEE UK & Ireland Life Members from some IEEE Regions. electorate is as well informed as possible about with the single-channel equipment Activity Group over the past two 2. It eliminates the 20-day notice period for the advantages and disadvantages and any already in use. Defects such as years with the help of the Blumlein changes to the bylaws, and transfers authority possible risks to the future of IEEE. low-frequency turntable rumble family. UK&I LMAG acknowledge to change the Board structure to the Bylaws At its June meeting, the 2015 Board of and high-frequency distortion the support and enthusiasm from (Article II section 2, and Article IX Section 1). Directors voted to delay the decision timeta- were distributed equally over both Universal Music and Abbey Road “This change would allow for modifica- ble to allow for more discussion of the issue channels. Studios who staffed Studio Two tions in the future to provide some other among the members and the committees of Visitors to Studio Two that day with the friendly assistance of their process by which Directors may be selected IEEE, and so remove it from the 2015 IEEE were also treated to a display of employees who helped make this without the members approval” (according to Annual Election Ballot. We should use this historic original microphones, a very memorable occasion. the IEEE Board approved change description). opportunity to debate the issue fully. electronics and stereo-cutting Tony Davies 3. It eliminates minimal member control over Jim Isaak and Tony Davies tools from the EMI Archive Trust, UK & Ireland LMAG

IN Region 8 there are more than tion), Geneva (CERN Instrumenta- 1,000 Life Members over the age Life Member Activities tion) and Neuchatel (Quartz Watch of 65 and whose combined total manufacture), as well as other sites of age and years of IEEE member- of scientific interest. ship equals or exceeds 100. Cur- sets goals for the year Later this year, the Israel Sec- rently, 11 Sections (Croatia, France, events. The history of technol- are also eligible to join in its activi- tion LMAG, led by Jacob Baal- Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, ogy is also a popular activity for ties, even if they do not satisfy the Schem, will organise HISTELCON Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland Life members, notably through criterion to become Life Members. 2015, the fifth in this series of the and UK & Ireland) have formed Life the IEEE Milestone Program and The IEEE Life Member Commit- history of technology meetings. Member Affinity Groups (LMAGs). history conferences. The docu- tee meets twice per year to bring to- All Life Members are invited One of the goals in Region 8 mentation and recognition of the gether the leading volunteers in Life to contact their Section LMAG, to this year is to set up new LMAGs in significant advances in technology Member activities in all 10 Regions. support their activities and to enjoy Sections where there are at least 10 that have been achieved over the This year, Kurt Richter (Austria) and the benefits offered, or, if none -ex Life Members. An Affinity Group past 100 years or more is part of Roland Saam (UK & Ireland) are ists, to help form a new LMAG by provides a focus for Life Members our responsibility to the profession members of this committee which contacting the Section Chair. to become involved in organised and to society in general. over the past decade has organised Charles Turner activities and to maintain contact Other Life Member activities several technical tours for Life Mem- Region 8 Life Member with other IEEE members. There is include mentoring of students and bers to countries including Japan, Co-ordinator a wealth of expertise and experi- Student Branches, providing career Canada and the UK. ence among older members that guidance and supporting projects This year, the tour, organised MELECON 2016 should be tapped for the benefit in schools. Social activities, such as by Charles Turner, visited France, Limassol, Cyprus • 18–20 April 2016 of the whole Section. lunches associated with technical Switzerland and Germany. With 18th Mediterranean Most Life Members are re- events, help to build a community the help of IEEE Life Fellows Vic- Electrotechnical Conference tired from full-time employment, of older engineers. tor Fouad Hanna, Hugo Weiss and Intelligent & Efficient Technologies but they can remain in touch with Another important benefit of Peter Russer, the 36-strong tour & Services for the Citizen new developments in technol- an LMAG is that retired members, group visited Milestone sites in www.melecon2016.org ogy through meetings and other and those approaching retirement, Paris (Discovery of Radio-Conduc-

IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 3 region news Greetings from Cyprus...

Delegates Assemble! R8C Meeting participants pose for the traditional group shot between sessions Cyprus is theatre for launch of R8C initiatives continued from page 1... to force out those with the most expertise dustry’ seeks to rebalance IEEE’s strengths and dedication before their successors can in academia with those of engineering in the get up and running. One suggestion was workplace. ‘Section Vitality’ sets out to revive for each Section to appoint a vice-chair and and re-energise more Sections, Branches assistants to the secretary and treasurer, who and Affinity Groups within the Region. could shadow those roles and then main- ‘Students and Young Professionals’ aims to tain continuity by subsequently standing for give more support to SYP volunteers and election themselves. encourage them to organise further regional The meeting also heard from IEEE Past congresses. President Roberto de Marca on building The meeting also heard reports from technical communities and making IEEE Interactive Member Activities, Technical Activities and “the home for entrepreneurs” to regain sessions gave Member & Geographic Activities teams, as the organisation’s relevance to the young everyone a well as an update on the roll-out of Collabo- generation of tech startups. Other reports in- chance to have ratec, IEEE’s online professional networking cluded a fascinating insight into the diversity their say, face- to-face, on a and collaboration platform. A special ad- and accelerating pace of economic growth in range of topics. dress was delivered by Nicos Kouyialis, Cy- prus’s Minister of Agriculture, Rural Develop- ment and Envi- ronment. The after noon was then turned over to ‘interactive sessions’, compris- ing 10 intimate and informal round-table breakout discussions covering a variety of topics, from Re- the African continent and IEEE’s opportuni- Back to work in the main gion 8 subcommittee-related themes such as ties therein, outlined by Vincent Kaabunga. meeting room. Student Activities and Chapter Coordination Marco Delimar updated the meeting on to new initiatives such as Action for Industry the progress in setting up a substantial IEEE and Activities in Africa. One of the sessions office presence in Europe, with a shortlist featured the 2016 IEEE President-Elect can- of recommended locations due to the IEEE didates, Karen Bartleson and Fred Mintzer, board by the end of the year. who also answered a series of flash questions Rounding up the two-day event was a the following day in front of the full meeting. presentation on the next Region 8 Commit- Sunday morning’s agenda included tee Meeting, to be held on 10-11 October Operating Committee reports from the top in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Costas Stasopoulos table, followed by some lively discussion in closed the meeting by encouraging Section the room on the subject of Section develop- chairs to work with the Region’s committees. ment. It was noted that while IEEE’s two- Feedback was positive for the interactive ses- year limit on volunteers holding the same sions held in Limmasol, he noted, so these elected position in their Section is good for may well return in Ljubljana. democracy, it can be counter-productive Alistair Dabbs

4 IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 section news Talking antennas in Sth Africa IEEE South Africa Joint AP/MTT/EMC eral introductory talks about COST Chapter recently hosted IEEE AP-S Actions and ESASTAP, highlight- Distinguished Lecturer and direc- ing opportunities for scientists, tor of European School of Antennas engineers and graduate students (ESoA), Professor Stefano Maci. He to participate in international col- gave several exciting talks at the laborations. Council for Scientific and Industrial The visit also included discus- Research, University of Pretoria, sions around establishing a new University of Cape Town and Stel- course on antennas for radio as- lenbosch University. tronomy, supported by South African Oman hosts GCC success The lectures covered the lat- and European expertise in building THE four-day IEEE GCC Confer- cilitate the activities, ranging from est developments in metasurface Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in ence and Exhibition organized by pre-conference tutorials, keynote antennas and beam generation. In South Africa and availability of excel- Oman Section and hosted by Sul- speeches and industry presenta- support of IEEE goals of promoting lent lecturers from South Africa, and tan Qaboos University successfully tions to exhibitions and a student collaborations, Ntombi Mchuba ESoA. It was decided that the Stellen- concluded on 4 February. More poster competition. Prof Stefano of the Department of Science and bosch University will be hosting the Maci keeps than 300 participants attended In addition to the technical his audience Technology and Albert Lysko, the course in the end of 2016, around the the conference with 150+ authors activities, a grand gala dinner was entertained. the Chapter’s past-chair, gave sev- time of the SKA conference. from over 30 countries. held at the SQU open grounds Albert Lysko It was the first time that Oman to allow participants to socialize Vice-chair, South Africa Section has hosted such an international and interact among others. After conference with a record number the closing ceremonies, the par- of papers received for review and ticipants were treated to a guided News in brief approved for presentation on the tour of Rustaq, a culture-enriched theme ‘Towards Smart Sustainable Wilayat of Oman. Seminar on optical Solutions’. A conference mobile Arnold Santos fibres and applications app was also developed to fa- Secretary, Oman Section SAUDI ARABIA: On 27 May, a seminar was held at Yanbu Technical Institute in collaboration with the Royal Commis- Uganda Subsection to focus on community sion Colleges & Institutes and the Saudi Council of Engineers, projects to kickstart economic growth bringing academia and industry together. The presentation THE IEEE Uganda Subsection was formed IEEE Members at in 2013. Overthe last two years, the Sec- the TISP Training, on optical fibres and their ap- tion has worked closely with IEEE Kenya Nairobi 2014 plications was delivered by Section. As engineers we had to realize Noureddin M Ibrahim, the IEEE that we have big roles to play in our officer for Industrial Relations community development: to get peo- in West Saudi Arabia. ple involved and take part in standards Noureddin M. Ibrahim development for engineering products. Industrial Relations in West We have more than 40 active mem- Saudi Arabia bers and meet at the beginning of each Teraherz technology year to set activity strategies. We are ac- technical talk tively engaging them in the Teacher In- UAE: Al Ain University of Sci- Service Program (TISP) and Engineering Goals of IEEE EPICS entrepreneurship training for scientists ence and Technology (AAU), Projects in Community Service program In 2012, the government of Uganda de- and engineers in Uganda in which mem- in conjunction with IEEE UAE (EPICS). Some of our student members veloped a new framework for science, bers will be trained in the processes of MTT-S Chapter and IEEE AAU have participated in the Mobile Applica- technology and innovation development, innovation and inventions. Student Branch, organized a tion Development Contests (MadC). A empowering various stakeholder organi- The EPICS projects will help to technical talk on 24 Nov 2014. large portion of our effort is in raising IEEE zations to take active roles in implement- strengthen Uganda’s invention, innovation The seminar was opened by awareness in universities, government ing the STI development plan. and entrepreneurship base by enhancing Nazih Khaddaj Mallat and the bodies, schools and industry. In line with this, we have engaged research activities in science and technol- talk was delivered by NVSN The IEEE culture in Uganda is thriving. university and high school students from ogy, improving awareness of community Sarma from National Insti- From our observations, a vast proportion Makerere, Kyambogo University and En- inventions and innovations, providing tute of Technology, India. He of the professional community is aware tebbe Secondary School to work with Hu- an environment for intellectual property presented an overview of the of the IEEE and our Subsection has been manitarian Innovation Technical Institute protection, leading to the achievement of terahertz technology, chal- able to help them learn more about its and IEEE Uganda Subsection members to financial stability through arrangement of lenges for future generation benefits and how working with the IEEE develop a web-based solution for Science, partnership with investors and donors, instruments and detectors at can be beneficial. Technology and Innovation Management. and creating employment opportunities these frequencies, commer- We have yet to form Student Branches. This will be used to collaboratively gener- and promoting industrial development. cial and medical applications, The effort for now is to recruit more stu- ate, identify and select innovative com- Ezabo Baron short-range communication, dents in major academic institutions and munity projects for further development Interview by Sarang Shaikh (senior assistant and weapons detection. help them establish their own Branches. as a way of uplifting the population from editor, GOLDRush), edited by Eddie Custovic Nazih Khaddaj Mallat This is amongst ourtop priorities. absolute poverty. We have also scheduled (editor-in-chief, GOLDRush)

IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 5 section news

Serbia, Russia and Greece join forces for CE Workshop

THE growing economy in south-east- and hosted by RT-RK Institute for well-appreciated lectures on GUI de- ern Europe has created a magnificent Computer Based Systems, a Serbian sign and multidisciplinary foundations force of young IT professionals, eager research institute and development of CE. to share their knowledge and research. company that offers CE practical solu- In addition, the workshop theme However, often they cannot visit big CE tions. RT-RK is known to support young ‘Rise of Digital – from “turning digi- conferences. So the IEEE Chapters of professionals through stipends and tal” to applications, services, and next Serbia, Russia and Greece got together job opportunities, and by supporting generation TV’ was rounded off with to bring the world to the region with a events focused on young engineers an interesting round table discussion plan to hold annual CE workshops that entering the industry. about digitalization. will be organized in different places. The workshop succeeded in its The next workshop will be held The first International IEEE CE Work- mission: 25 papers authored by young Yuri Shelepin in Russia, so mark your calendars for shop was held on 11 March in Novi Sad, researchers were presented during a Teslic (Serbia). Two keynote speakers, spring 2016. Serbia (www.ce-novisad.org). single workshop day. The opening Professor Vladan Zdravkovic (UK) and Dr Gordana Velikic The workshop was co-sponsored speech was given by Professor Nikola Professor Yuri Shelepin (Russia) gave [email protected] Business innovation is key to tech seminar A NIGERIA Section meeting/technical seminar was held on 14 March at Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State Nigeria with 150 participants. The meeting commenced with an opening speech from the Nigeria Section Chair Gloria Chukwudebe. It was followed Circuits and Systems in by five technical papers: ‘Creating and nur- turing innovation an entrepreneurial Cul- Spain win Best Chapter ture’ by PC Okpareke, ‘Discovering your THE Spain Chapter of the IEEE Circuits and Systems business niche’ by Tunde Salihu, ‘Google Society has won Spain Section’s Best Chapter Award resources for improved productivity’ by for 2014. It was chaired by Teresa Serrano-Gotarredona Dr N Chukwuckekwa, ‘Intel Galileo’ by from the Institute of Microelectronics of Seville, IMSE- Obinna and Team, and ‘Creating an In- CNM-CSIC. novative IEEE’ by Dr Collins Agu. The awards ceremony took place in Madrid during The seminar was concluded with an last year’s celebration of IEEE Day. Jose M de la Rosa, Affinity Group meeting and Section ad- Chapter secretary, received the award from Spain Sec- ministrative meeting. tion Chair, Emilio Corchado-Rodríguez, and the com- Abdullateef Aliyu munications activities coordinator, Jesús Fraile. YP chair, Nigeria Section

6 IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 student news Raising awareness of COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES STUDENT R8 our Region’s awards THIS year, Region 8’s SAC team has successfully launched an online campaign called ‘Who Dares Wins’ for raising awareness about awards and contests in our Region. As a result of this hard work, 33 submissions were received for the Exemplary Student Branch Award, which is a new record. We also received 10 submissions for the Larry K Wilson Regional Student Activities Award and 21 submissions for the Region 8 Website Contest. We have supported IEEEmadC contest through our Facebook page and official website. Our team, along with the Region 8 Young Professionals, has also recently released the IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2016 Call for Proposals. We have been quite busy this year throughout the whole of Region King’s College London, United Kingdom 8. Efthymia Arvaniti, the Region student representative, participated in the 25th anniversary of the IEEE IST Student Branch in March in Lisbon, as well as at the 1st WESYP Congress in Eindhoven in May. UK&I Student Branch chairs get Mona, our vice-chair of Student Activities, attended the ninth Stu- dent Branch Chair Meeting, which took place in London on 14 March, together for discussions at KCL hosted by the King’s College London Student Branch. R8SAC team was also present at the 104th IEEE Region 8 Committee KING’S College London Student Branch representatives of probably the best organ- Meeting which was held in Limassol, Cyprus on 28–29 March. hosted the UK & Ireland Student Branch ized Student Branch in the UK, the University Our team members Dinko and Ahmet attended IEEE CEuSYP Con- Chair Meeting on 14 March. This was seen as of Southampton SB. gress 2015 in Zagreb from 8–10 May. a great opportunity to improve co-operation Additionally, guests had the opportunity We look forward to receiving your interesting news, hearing about and exchange experiences between Student to participate in a tour of the Strand Campus your activities and listening to your ideas. See you in Congress out Branches in United Kingdom and Ireland. of King’s College, guided by Peng Qi, chair, there! : D Mona Ghassemian was invited as the and Ali Shafti, vice-chair of the host Student Your R8 SAC Team, SAC chair to present opportunities for IEEE Branch. Mona, Pablo, Femia, Lebogang, Youmna, Heind, Student Members as well as student ac- This meeting helped to raise awareness Carlos, Dinko, Ruba and Ahmet tivities across Region 8. Veronika Nesheva, of the Student Branch among KCL students, University of Edinburgh Student Branch increasing the number of Student Members chair, spoke about Technology and Man- and interest in the Branch website and Fa- University of Jordan agement Society, while the KCL Robotics cebook page. We are planning to improve and Telecommunication group introduced collaborations within and outside of KCL, its research to more than 30 people who taking students to different IEEE contests and 250 Jordanian students look attended this meeting, including faculty events. The Robotics society and IEEE SB members and graduate students. will together hold a ‘Google event’ in KCL to the skies at Infiniteee The event included round-table discus- with 300 people already signed up to attend. sions as well as a workshop on ‘How to Run a Yunke Wei Successful Student Branch’, presented by the Publicity officer, KCL Student Branch

Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Business innovation is key to tech seminar IEEE benefits explained at conference ON 1–4 February, the 8th IEEE–GCC International Conference and Exhi- bition was held at Sultan Qaboos UNDER the patronage of Ikhlief al- Topics covered included astron- University, Muscat Oman. Nearly Tarawneh, the dean of University omy myths, space photography, 300 scientists, engineers, academi- of Jordan, the university’s Student Mars trip challenges, Mars robots, cians and students from various Branch and its WIE Affinity Group and women in space. Some enter- parts of the world participated. in co-operation with the Jordanian tainment sessions such as interac- The significance of joining an of IEEE were outlined to the active Astronomical Society organized an tive games, standup comedy and international professional organi- members. These include opportuni- event titled ‘Infiniteee’. This five- musical segments were also part zation such as IEEE was highlighted ties to stay in touch with fast-grow- hour event, held on 14 February of this event. in speeches by Dr Dharmasa (MD ing technology through IEEE Spec- in Saeed al-Mufti Auditorium at the To reflect a unified theme, the officer, IEEE Oman), Saleh Salim trum magazine, Online IEEE TV, free Faculty of Engineering, University male student volunteers wore suits Khamis Al Orimi (IEEE Professional downloadable transaction abstracts of Jordan was attended by 250 stu- with green ties and the femaile Member), Abdula Rehman (CCE- as well as possibilities to find a job dents who gathered from various student volunteers wore green IEEE Student Branch chair) and Stu- via the IEEE website. There were also Jordanian universities. scarves. The event was very well dent Members Falah Al Hinai and discussed benefits of participating in The event was focused on received and the participants com- Alyasa Al Rashdi. IEEE conferences and presenting pa- spreading knowledge about space mended the organization as well as Various professional and aca- pers at peer-reviewed international and astronomy while exploring the excellent speakers who present- demic benefits of being a member conferences and in journals. some space mysteries and myths. ed a useful and enjoyable program.

IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 7 yp news student news Bulgaria YP launch event at TechSys

Lebanon Section Pre-uni students build a Robot Arm IEEE Pre-university Work Members When the students were told that with a high degree of creativity. in Lebanon who were coached in they would be implementing this The lectures concluded with a the Dubai Teacher in Service Pro- complex structure using only sim- discussion about weak and strong gram workshop have organized ple material such as cardboard and points of designed solutions, pos- four TISP workshops in Beirut and wires, they thought it would be im- sible space for improvement, and THE IEEE Young Professionals Affinity Group in Bul- Tripoli. The workshops were given possible. However, as soon as they mathematical and scientific theo- garia celebrated its launch on 28–30 May during to eighth graders (14-year-olds) had brainstormed, shared their ries applied. the international conference TechSys at Technical during their technology classes and ideas within a group, and eventu- Students and teachers alike University Sofia, branch Plovdiv. All participants at the chosen topic was ‘Robot Arm’. ally tested them in practice, smiles were satisfied with the positive im- the conference had the opportunity to meet mem- Lecturers first gave some his- appeared on their faces. pact that TISP had on them, eager bers of YP AG at the information desk and talk about torical background of the robot Most of the groups managed to continue with these activities. the advantages and benefits of IEEE membership. arm, its application and structure. to complete the task successfully Petra Chidiac During the opening ceremony, Yancho Todorov, the Affinity Group’s elected chair, presented the aims and values of IEEE, specifically those of the Bulgaria YP AG. He also introduced the founding members of the group. On the second day, two papers on machine learning were presented by AG members. We also actively took part in discussions and exchanged experience with other presenters. Later, the AG held its first organizational meeting as members from around the country and across variety of interests discussed future plans. It was decided that the next official event of the group would be in Gabrovo, ENIS, Sfax, Tunisia later in the year. There were two special events exclusively for the members of the Young Professionals during the TISP success produces hunger for more programme of the conference. Sevil Ahmed, from Milara Centre for Robotics and Automation at the A Teacher in Service Program Technical University Plovdiv, gave a presentation workshop has been held jointly on industrial robots. The group also had a meeting with the second Tunisian Student with Dimo Zafirov at the Laboratory for Unmanned Branch Congress, organized by Aerial Vehicles at TU-Plovdiv. Professor Zafirov had ENIS Student Branch. The work- the pleasure to announce the new developments in shop has attracted many engi- the field of aircraft and drones. neering students, professionals, Gergana Lazarova teachers and even children. Secretary, Bulgaria YP The participants had been divided into small groups of three who tried to solve the problems given to them with simple, everyday materials within a limited time. The teams then presented their work in front of judges. Region 8 Pre-university work co-ordinator, Sohaib Qamar Sheikh, mentored all the teams, and we received excellent ideas, notably from the children. As attendees, were very happy and pleased with these exciting hands-on engineering experience. Organizers are determined to hold more workshops on different topics across Tunisia. Bilel Dekhili

8 IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 student news

Doğuş University, Istanbul, Turkey 10th PROJISTOR contest is most successful to date

THE 10th PROJISTOR contest, real- admiring and commenting on pro- ized with the cooperation of DO- jects, PROJISTOR 2015 was the most GUS University (DU) IEEE Student successful edition so far in terms of Branch, CASS Chapter/Turkey and quality and number of projects Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal ECED, took a place at the Main Lob- submitted. by and Hall of Doğuş University on The increase in prize money, IST Student Branch celebrates its 7 May. PROJISTOR offers a platform made possible by IEEE Outreach Pro- for students to express and exhibit gram and Educational Prizes offered 25th anniversary with STEP event their innovative ideas along with a by Bilge Adam, certainly helped that hard and/or soft realization. the contest achieves this level. IEEE-IST Student Branch celebrated its 25th With 16 finalists and more than Cem Göknar anniversary on 6–8 March. This was seen 300 visitors who were inquiring, Chair, CASS-TR Chapter & IEEE Fellow as a great opportunity to organize a STEP event which was held at Instituto Superior Técnico. During a ceremony, several IST faculty members and graduates were elevated to senior members and graduate members The feedback about this event, which of IEEE, respectively. attracted around 60 participants, was highly The STEP event featured several talks positive. The event was very motivational for and workshops presented by active volun- students and young professionals who were teers from Region 8, Portugal Section and able to get a clear vision of how IEEE can IST as well as by former IEEE members. Par- positively influence their future. ticipants were able to network with people Inês Aguiar Fernandes from industry who could provide valuable Electronic Communications Co-ordinator career advice and insight into how new João Santos technologies and projects impact the world. Vice-chair of Technical Activities

IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 9 student news

Caledonian College of Engineering, Oman Student wins GCC prize of US$500 for ‘smart’ poster QAIS Moham- University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece med Said Al- shibli, IEEE Stu- SB brings TISP back to Lamia Central Square dent Member, a budding scientist ON 9 May, the University of Thessaly derstand the basic concepts of algorithms ed in Computer Science had the chance and a level 4 (Lamia) Student Branch organized an and programming. to learn about the Arduino programming electrical power open Teacher in-Service Program 2.0 The elementary school students language and to do the Arduino Blink engineering student of Caledonian Festival on the Central Square of Lamia were asked to construct a bridge of spe- Challenge. College of Engineering, secured the for the second year in a row. The Festival cific dimensions. The secondary school Overall, the excitement of the par- 3rd position in the International attracted more than 500 local educators students were challenged to do the Tall ticipants was palpable as each one of Level Student Poster Competition and students at different levels: elemen- Tower Challenge, requiring them to build them discovered what it feels like to be organized by joint efforts of the IEEE tary, high school and university students. a tower, tall and stable enough to keep an engineer. The local media advertised sections of Gulf Cooperation Council The participants were divided into balanced with a ping-pong ball at the top. the event and many schools and teachers Countries (GCC). small groups according to their age and The high-school students had to create have contacted us to participate in the The Student Poster Competi- were asked to solve given problems a robot arm and use it for lifting a plastic Teacher in-Service Program. tion was part of 8th IEEE–GCC In- using simple materials that are used in cup into the air and return it back to the Christina Zerva ternational Conference & Exhibition everyday life so that they can better un- ground. Furthermore, students interest- Secretary, UTH (Lamia) Student Branch held during 1-4 Feb 2015 at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany The success of initial conferences launched the conference as a regional forum for Electrical & Elec- Engineering students visit tronics Engineering. This in turn has attracted worldwide industrial Siemens CT and Sivantos and academic presenters as well as AN excursion to Erlangen to visit The following day, Sivantos student participations. Sivantos and a corporate technol- opened its development laborato- University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece ogy (CT) centre of Siemens was ries for the Student Branch. As one organized by the Otto-von-Guer- of the leaders in highly developed Seminar focuses on icke-University Magdeburg Student hearing aid technology, Sivantos Branch on 11–12 May. organized a detailed program led open source platform Mr Kircher from Siemens CT by Dr Fischer, focusing on digital ON 28 March, University of Thessaly (Lamia) Student organized a broad program on signal processing and signal quality Branch organized a seminar about Arduino technology the first day. A brief overview over optimization to the development The student competition was in order to celebrate the International Arduino Day and research and development at Sie- and design of low-power circuits held under the campaign of “To- to raise awareness on the applications of the Arduino mens was followed by presenta- of hearing aid devices. wards Smart Sustainable Solutions”. platform. tions focusing on compact and en- On a tour through the labora- Mr Qais’s poster entitled “Smart More than 80 participants interested in finding out ergy efficient motors, smart grids tories, measurement and evalu- Electrical Power Measurement Me- more about this technology attended the seminar and as well as multi level converters for ation techniques such as laser- ter Web Integration Using Ethernet among them were students from University of Thessaly high voltage applications. vibrometer, anechoic chamber as Communication” was selected as as well as students from other universities in Greece. Fifteen students and post- well as an acoustic chamber for the third best, what is a unique After IEEE and UTH (Lamia) Student Branch pres- graduates had the opportunity to creating a 3D sound environment honor for the student and the In- entations and discussion about the Branch’s future ac- discuss in more detail these top- were presented. Finally, the wire- stitution. Beside the prize money tivities, the distinguished invited speakers talked about ics with Siemens engineers while less communication via bluetooth of US$500, he received congratula- basic architectures and unlimited applications of the having a taste of the local beer at between two hearing aid devices, tions from CCE management and Arduino platform. More specifically, the talks covered Erlanger Berg, a local area with a remote control and smart phone also Dr Dharmasa, IEEE MD Officer the following topics: Basic Steps of Arduino, Use of Ar- high density of beer gardens. was introduced. Oman Section, who observed that duino sketch from Android and iPhone devices via Wi-Fi, “this student’s achievement shows Presentation of the Ardupilot Hexacopter project, Lock- his rich ability in recent technolo- ing/Unlocking an Electronic Lock using Arduino, and gies”. Remote Control of Air-Condition via Infrared. Awards like this increase con- Overall, the participants were very interested in the fidence levels of students and act possibilities the Arduino platform can offer and the idea as a catalyst for the future. These of a future Arduino project competition was suggested. kinds of events encourage students Christina Zerva to identify their skills and find en- Secretary, UTH (Lamia) Student Branch gineering solutions for industrial Student Branch members together with Mr Kircher from Siemens CT. problems.

10 IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 student news

Hashemite University, Jordan News in brief Jordan’s TISP pilot More than 270 builds robot army! A TEAM of student volunteers attend Jordanian in Jordan launched five pilot Teacher in Service Program Student Branch (TISP) workshops towards the end of last year. The workshops were accomplished by Mosab, Congress 2015 Shurooq from the University IEEE Hashemite University Student Branch After welcoming the participants and nanotechnology, leadership, motivation, of Jordan and Ezzalden Najjar had the honour of hosting the largest IEEE the guests on behalf of Hashemite Univer- user experience design and a session on from Hashemite University, event in Jordan – the second IEEE Jorda- sity, Jordan Section and Student Branch IEEE itself. The congress also included a and held in four governmental nian Student Branch Congress. chair Husam Momenah asked attendees field trip to the 5MW PV system project at schools for classes of 60 pupils IEEE JSBC was a wonderful opportu- to exploit this opportunity and network Hashemite University. between the ages of 12 and 16. nity to gather hundreds of students, engi- with their IEEE fellow members to get the After a full day of inspiration and posi- The first pilot workshop in- neers, professionals and even those still at maximum benefit out of the congress. tive energy, and with warm applause from volved designing a robot arm, school to share their passion of advancing The congress aimed to inspire the the audience, Ahmed Al-Omoush (IEEE with subsequent workshops technology for the benefit of humanity. participants to take their experience and JSBC 2015 chair) closed the congress by looking at wind energy. The congress played an essential role in interests to the next level by inviting 15 sharing his appreciation with the attendees Mosab Awad bridging the gap between IEEE members professionals – including IEEE EMBS dis- for their remarkable engagement and by from all over Jordan, representing 11 uni- tinguished lecturers, professional speak- thanking the organizing committee and Digital design learning versities. Everyone agreed to take IEEE’s ers, experts, Jordanian entrepreneurs volunteers for their efforts. by distance technology mission forward in their universities via and young leaders – to give a number of Mustafa Almomani THE final exam for the first their further engagement. diversified workshops and lectures about Student Branch mentor multi-modal learning course on digital systems design us- University College London, UK ing VHDL and FPGAs was held at the premises of the Digital Systems and Media Comput- 1st-year undergrad sets up UCL Student Branch ing laboratory of the Hellenic UNIVERSITY College London’s also motivating as professors, lecturers and initially consisted only of undergraduates. Open University in Patras, IEEE Student Branch came into be- students gained the opportunity to engage in We look forward to collaborating with other Greece on 15 December 2014. ing on 17 March. Branch founder discussions and share ideas. existing Student Branches and improving The five-week course consist- and its first chair, Ryan Xi, was only We plan to incorporate graduate and our range of events. ed of lectures and laboratory a first-year undergraduate Electri- post-graduate students since the Branch Ryan Xi and Qihong Lai exercises conducted through cal and Electronics Engineering distance-learning technology. student, but together with a newly formed committee, he organized Tech talk on power an inaugural meeting. and energy saving Ryan was inspired to set up CCE-IEEE Student Chapter the Student Branch at UCL after organized a technical special attending two IEEE conferences in China. Realizing the positive im- Students attending talk on the role of Electrical the inaugural Power System Components pact that science and technology Branch meeting and Energy Saving Automa- organizations such as IEEE have tion System for CCE power on young aspiring scientists and engineering students last year. engineers like himself, he decided The guest speakers from Asea to establish the Branch at UCL as Brown Boveri in Oman were many other well-known universi- Suhas K Deshpande (general ties have already done. manager), Mohammed Al-Jah- Supported by many motivated wari (engineering division) and and determined students and un- Ahmed Al Riyami (LP Division). der the supervision of the Student Branch counselor, Chin-Pang Liu, Engg Fusion engages Ryan has begun something that is CCE students promising to be a success story. SOME 60 student members of The 60 students attending the IEEE and ASME from the M&IE inaugural meeting were treated to and E&CO engineering depart- an introduction to IEEE Spark, an ments at Caledonian College idea aiming to connect students to of Engineering, Oman jointly the forefront of technology. Topics participated in a hihgly engag- such as superconducting quantum ing technical forum called Engg devices, spin electronics, using RFID Fusion in May last year. The tags for tracking people or a journey event featured a team-based from a physicist to an engineer were quiz and a debating contest. provided by invited professors. Not only was the event informative, but

IEEE Region 8 News September 2015 11 student news

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Zagreb, Croatia Central European student and YP volunteers unite at CEuSYP CONTINUING the tradition of Central Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tur- the poster session. Last but not least, European cross-Section congresses, key and Ukraine. volunteers had the chance to get to after Linz in 2011 and Opole in 2013, During the opening session of the know each other during a gala dinner this year the third IEEE Central European Congress, the audience was addressed and multicultural evening. They made Student and Young Professionals Con- by Mislav Grgic (dean of the Faculty of new contacts and friendships, gained gress (CEuSYP) was held in Croatia on Electrical Engineering and Computing insight into new trends in science and 8–10 May, at the Faculty of Electrical and IEEE Croatia Section chair), Mar- technology, and most certainly became Engineering and Computing, Zagreb. garetha Eriksson (Region 8 director- and programs. They had the chance to better IEEE volunteers. This edition of the Congress was elect) and Christian Schmid (Region 8 choose between 11 workshops for im- For more information about the attended by 72 participants – Student secretary), emphasizing the importance proving their soft skills, increasing their CEuSYP, go online to the website at: Members and Young Professionals, of Student Member and Young Profes- technical knowledge, and informing www.ceusyp2015.org as well as Section and Region 8 rep- sional volunteers in the future of IEEE. them about IEEE topics. Ivana Stupar resentatives – from a dozen Sections: The Congress program consisted of Participating Student Branches and Chair, Croatia Student Activities Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bul- plenary sessions aiming to inform the Affinity Groups presented their recent Vinko Lešić garia, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Greece, participants about the latest initiatives activities and upcoming events during Chair, Croatia Young Professionals Session on leadership and management introduces TEMS AT the third IEEE Central European webinar series and more) were Student and Young Professionals explained, and the future TEMS Congress in Zagreb, Croatia in May, plans were introduced, including the Technology and Engineering the ‘Engineering Management for Management Society (TEMS) was Young Professionals’ online course presented to the participants. which will be launched in 2016. TEMS is an IEEE Society fo- Overall, the participants were cused on advancing, enhancing very enthusiastic about the vision and improving the essential man- of TEMS and they asked to be Congress attendees learn how to agement and leadership knowl- more informed about the Society. edge and skills of IEEE members. You can contact Technology During this session, the goals and Engineering Management get involved in the TISP program and the mission of TEMS were Society at the official website A TEACHER in-Service Program (TISP) Train- ing the congress about the Teacher in-Service presented, the benefits and the http://ieee-tems.org or by email ing Workshop was organized during the third Program and its goals, raise their interest and programs offered to the members at [email protected] IEEE Central European Student and Young Pro- awareness about the program, and to help of the Society (conferences, pub- Ioannis K Mousmoutis fessionals Congress held in Zagreb, Croatia and guide them on how to organize TISP work- lications, IEEE Engineering Man- Corresponding Member, Educa- in May. shops by themselves. agement Review article series, tional Activities Subcommittee Distinguished speakers and trainers at- The response from participants was very tending the congress gave an opportunity to positive, everyone wanting to learn more participants to obtain new technical and non- about TISP. Taking that into account, we ex- technical skills, to get updated on news about pect them to get involved with TISP in the near IEEE and to hear about new ideas and plans future and increase the level of technological for future activities. literacy in their local schools. Among others, Ioannis Mousmoutis, cor- For more details or assistance, please do responding member of the Region 8 Educa- not hesitate to contact Region 8 Pre-University tional Activities Subcommittee, organized a Works Committee at [email protected] TISP Training Workshop, sponsored by the Ioannis K Mousmoutis Region 8 Pre-University Works Committee, Corresponding member, Educational with the aim of informing volunteers attend- Activities Subcommittee

12 IEEE Region 8 News September 2015