IEEE Region 8 News April 2013
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Vol 16 No 1 April 2013 www.ieeer8.org Published quarterly and distributed to more than 70,000 IEEE members across Region 8 Golden Jubilee Issue 50 years of Region 8 in IEEE Jubilee Issue Message from the IEEE President AT the core of IEEE membership it by 20 or 30 members, and provide ences, involving 73 Sections/Sub- is technical knowledge (especially the main way that Society members sections (including some entities high technology) and interest that feel that they belong to their parent outside of Region 8) and over 300 drives the organisation forward. body. In contrast, the major IEEE Chapters. In addition, over 2,200 This has been especially true in Society Conferences typically at- non-IEEE entities participated by Region 8, which has a very large tract over a thousand participants. either financially or technically membership and a high level of In recent years, Region 8 has suc- sponsoring/co-sponsoring an event. active involvement in the 38 IEEE ceeded in bringing many of these These statistics give an appreciation Peter Staecker Technical Societies. major conferences to Western Eu- of the scale of penetration of IEEE IEEE President The IEEE publications are rope and other parts of the Region. in Region 8. In the past few years respected for their quality and in- In addition, the IEEE Distinguished web-based delivery methods have tegrity around the world, and are Lecturer Program has enabled become more popular. The webinar, the journals of choice for authors world experts to visit Region 8 Sec- for example, is ideal for reaching seeking to publish their work to tions to give prestigious talks. members based in thinly populated the largest possible readership. The scale of technical activity in areas, and also has the advantage Technical authors from the coun- the Region has grown steadily, and of being downloadable for future tries of Region 8 have been leading continues to grow. Since 1986, for viewing. contributors to IEEE journals, and example, Region 8 has hosted over The Distinguished Lecturer also serve on the committees and 4,000 technical meetings in 72 indi- Program has allowed world-class editorial boards that are essential vidual countries. The most popular experts from any of the ten IEEE to the success of the publications. venues have been in Italy, France, Regions to travel to Sections to Global History The technical achievements and dis- Germany and the United Kingdom, give talks and to interact with local Network tinctions of Region 8 members can but virtually all countries in the Re- members. This program enhances WHY not contribute a short be gauged from the list of awards gion. The most active IEEE Society the reputation of IEEE as the account of your own personal shown at the end of this document. sponsors have been the Computer world’s foremost technical society, experiences in electronics, There are over 400 Society Society (819 meetings), the Electron because it gives members, espe- computing, etc.? Any Chapters in Region 8, which, in Devices Society (455) and the Com- cially students, an opportunity to member can do this by going total, hold several thousand techni- munications Society (436). hear some of the leading technical to the IEEE History website at cal meetings each year. These are The Region has been involved speakers that they otherwise would www.ieeeghn.org mostly small scale events, attended directly in sponsoring 180 confer- never meet. Welcome from the Region 8 Director: let’s celebrate our volunteers IT is a true honour for me – the been digging heavily into the postal mail and for a direct com- 26th IEEE Region 8 Director – to history of our Region, collecting munication with others one had write a few words in this Special and reading such documents as to visit them in person. In spite of Issue of IEEE Region 8 News on Region 8 Committee meeting all these difficulties, a number of the occasion of the Region’s 50th minutes; IEEE Region 8 News is- enthusiastic volunteers managed anniversary and the 100th IEEE sues; Region 8 Student Activities to create our Region, slowly in the Region 8 Committee meeting. Committee reports; IEEE Secretary beginning – as can be expected – Our Region was founded on reports; relevant parts of the min- but resulting in a firm basis which Martin Bastiaans IEEE Region 8 Director 24 April 1962 as Region 9 of the utes of the meetings of the IEEE others could build on. IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers, Executive Committee, the IEEE These early volunteers did one of the two organisations that Regional Activities Board and the not know about term limits: they merged into IEEE on 1 January IEEE Member and Geographic Ac- often stayed in the same job for 1963) and its inaugural meeting tivities Board; and excerpts from many years, after which they might took place on 6 June 1962 in Ge- several IEEE databases. I was struck do the same in a different job. Al- neva. Without changing its bound- by two aspects to which I want to though this may sometimes lead aries, IRE Region 9 was renamed draw your attention. to unwanted situations, I never got IEEE Region 8 on 8 January 1963; Fifty years ago, communica- the impression that this has been and it was on 22 April 1963 that tion and travelling were quite dif- the case. On the contrary: these the first IEEE Region 8 Committee ferent from what we are used to volunteers treated IEEE and their meeting took place, again in Ge- now: no email, no internet with task as their own child, pampered neva. For these reasons, the entire its websites and social media, un- it and helped it grow, resulting in period April 2012 – April 2013 was reliable telephone and telex con- the strong Region that we have used to celebrate the Region’s 50th nections, slow travelling by train, now. It is to these enthusiastic anniversary. expensive airline tickets, and so on. volunteers that we owe a great For the past two years, I have All correspondence was done by respect. 2 IEEE Region 8 News April 2013 Jubilee Issue Congratulations on our achievements DURING the last 33 years I had the members by reducing the fees for these However, I never encountered any politi- privilege to serve as a volunteer in IEEE so-called Low Income Countries. Further- cal conflicts between IEEE volunteers in Region 8 which celebrates its 50th anni- more, when the number of members in our Region. versary. This gave me the opportunity to these countries was not sufficiently high For me, IEEE Region 8 is one of the observe and to participate in the wonder- for establishing a Section, a new type of most interesting Regions in IEEE because ful achievements of the Region with re- entity, the Section in Development, was of its diversity of languages, cultures and spect to its organisation, its membership created. The members of these Sections religions. This makes it most stimulating development, its professional standards, were permitted to participate in the to be a member of this Region and to and last but not least, all within its com- Regional activities. Later, many of these serve it as a volunteer. plex political environment. countries became member states of the I am very glad that this Special Issue I have followed the many ups and European Union. Today all 27 EU mem- of the IEEE Region 8 News tries to give Kurt R Richter also a few downs from all levels: from the ber states are represented by 23 sections some insight into the 50-year history of IEEE Region 8 Jubilee Book Section, the Region and the Board level on the IEEE Region 8 Committee, which IEEE Region 8. I take this opportunity to coordinator as well. Many political changes happened is over 30% of all Sections in the Region. thank all authors, the chief editor Charles which often had an impact on IEEE in The 9/11 catastrophe in the US in W Turner and the editors Roland Saam general, and in particular the develop- 2001 was a significant setback for the and Zhijia Huang, for their efforts to get ments within the Region. I can also men- Region, and in the years following many this Special Issue published and for the tion the end of the Cold War at the end of student members were lost, including a contributions to this issue. the 1980s which was followed by a large very active Student Branch in Iran. Finally, I congratulate IEEE Region 8 increase in IEEE activities in the former From these examples it can be seen on its 50th anniversary wishing a prosper- Eastern Block Countries. Measures had to that, unfortunately, politics can influence ous and successful future serving the IEEE be taken to help engineers become IEEE the development of a Region very much. members in this large geographic area. How the organisation has changed: Region 8’s past directors recall their years in the post Kurt Richter Rolf Remshardt ed IEEE’s international/transnational character, (1991-92) (1999-2000) and its lack of centralised control. This gave free- Austria Section Germany Section dom and also opportunities to the volunteers One of the many highlights When I first started as Region in geographical and technical activities. Their during my directorship was the 8 Treasurer the annual budget support for students and early-career members revival of AFRICON in 1992. was about $25,000 and con- was another good feature of IEEE. For political reasons, the conference could not sisted of a few handwritten pages.