Vol 20 No 1 September 2017

Looking for back- issues? Scan or click www.ieeer8.org Published quarterly and distributed to more than 70,000 IEEE members across Region 8 on this QR code.

IN THIS ISSUE

Stockholm welcomes new Region news...... 1–6 faces to OpCom meeting

IEEE contacts...... 2 ‘Father of Section and Chapter ’ news...... 6–9 receives top IEEE honour ’ Immink leads roll-call of award YP news...... 10 recipients in Region 8 THE 108th IEEE Region 8 Committee Meet- be to increase membership in Region 8 by ing was hosted by Swedish Section in Stock- 1%. As the director said, we all can invite IEEE’S highest award, the Medal holm on 25-26 March. ’s capital saw one new member, can’t we? of Honor, was presented to Kees more than 100 participants, including the Beside the director’s presentation, the Schouhamer Immink at a ceremony newly appointed members of OpCom. meeting’s very busy schedule included during the IEEE Vision, Innovation, Incoming Region 8 director Margare- reports and presentations from all the Op- Student news...... 10–12 and Challenges Summit on 25 May tha Eriksson presented an overview of the Com members: director-elect Magdalena at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, region and shared her vision and plans for Salazar Palma, past-director Costas Staso- California, USA. the future. The membership in the Region poulos, secretary Jan Verveckken, treasurer Immink’s pioneering work on showed again a small decrease at the begin- Ralph Kennel, and vice-chairs for Member information coding theory while ning of 2017, but it is slightly better than pre- Activities Antonio Luque, Student Activities working at accelerated the vious years. One of the goals in 2017 would ...continued on page 3 development of the compact disc at the beginning of the 1980s. His subsequent work on optical storage extended into DVD and Blu-ray, and Milestone unveiled at TV’s birthplace dramatically advanced the fields of digital video, audio and data record- BROADCAST professionals, technology ing technology. historians, IEEE members, Italian dignitar- Over the course of his career, ies and intrigued members of the public Immink has also won an Emmy and gathered outside a café in central London been inducted into the Consumer on 26 January to witness the unveiling of Electronics Hall of Fame. He was an IEEE Milestone plaque to commemorate knighted by Queen Beatrix of the the first public demonstration of television. Netherlands in 2000. Precisely 91 years earlier, to the day, The Dutch engin­eer and re- entrepreneurial inventor John Logie Baird searcher was also the subject of a had invited 40 members of the Royal Institu- cover feature in tion to his workshop above 22 Frith Street the May 2017 issue in the heart of the British capital to watch of IEEE Spectrum him demon­strate the live transmission of an (https://goo.gl/ image of a moving face “by radio”. KAGAv3). As with cinema, various claims to have Further recipients of IEEE me­ been the inventor of television abound, but dals in Region 8 include: all agree Baird was the first to have built a OOShlomo Shamai (Israel) re- working prototype that was good enough IEEE’s street-level bronze plaque ceives the Richard W Hamming to show off to his scientific peers. He used joins an existing blue memorial by the first-floor rooms where Medal for fundamental contribu- the first floor of the building as a workshop John Logie Baird conducted his ...continued on page 2 ...continued on page 3 demonstration of TV technology. editorial

Vol 20 No 1 September 2017

Region 8 News is published quarterly by the Region 8 Committee of the IEEE, and distributed free with IEEE Spectrum to more than 70,000 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 Board or Region 8 Committee. Your editors (from left): Roland Saam, Zhijia Huang and Bojan Nikolic. News & articles Delivery problems? [email protected] Please notify all problems regarding membership, publications delivery So much is happening in R8 Student News email and change of address directly to IEEE member services. See website [email protected] www.ieee.org and email [email protected]. it can be hard to keep up IEEE Region 8 Extra copies? website If you would like extra copies of Region 8 News for distribution at your MANY moons have waxed and Our report on the new OpCom’s www.ieeer8.org IEEE events, please email a request to the editor before the deadlines waned since our last full print first public outing at the Commit- Editors below, specifying quantity and delivery address. Please type ‘R8 News issue of IEEE Region 8 News so tee Meeting held in Stockholm Zhijia Huang Extra Copies’ in your email subject line. [email protected] we’re glad to be back with you begins on page 1. Submitting articles at last. That’s not to say little has We have also taken this oppor- Roland J Saam We welcome news, articles and letters from any member of the IEEE. [email protected] been happening in our Region –far tunity to compile a comprehensive 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 sending from it! Remember that updates round-up of recent, current and [email protected] photos or graphics, please make sure they are high-resolution files. Read on what’s going on are frequently forthcoming IEEE medal and award Editorial production our full guide to writing and submitting articles at http://www.ieeer8.org/ posted to our social media chan- winners who live and work within Alistair Dabbs category/member-activities/r8news-newsletter/tips-for-contributors/ nels including Facebook and Twit- Region 8. You can read about the [email protected] Deadlines for upcoming issues ter, as well as regular news reports winners on page 4. Printing & mailing at the main Region 8 website. Otherwise, this issue is packed Theresa Smith December 2017 issue...... deadline: 1 October 2017 This issue brings you a round- as per usual with conference re- [email protected] March 2018 issue...... deadline: 1 January 2018 up of main events that have been ports and news updates from Sec- taking place since last time, plus tions, Affinity Groups and Student several key stories that overlapped Branches from all over the Region. REGION 8 OPERATING our schedule last year. Principal Rest assured that so much is go- COMMITTEE OFFICERS among these has been the installa- ing on that we’ll be back in your 2017–2018 tion of a fresh Region 8 Operating mailbox with yet another generous Operating Committee Appointed Committee for the next two years: helping of news before the end of (OpCom) Members you can find the contact names for the year. Speak to you soon! Director Awards & Recognition Professional Activities each role in the panel to the right. Zhijia, Roland and Bojan Margaretha Eriksson (Sweden) Costas Stasopoulos (Cyprus) Jan Haase () [email protected] [email protected] Region 8 News Director-elect Chapters Zhijia Huang (UK & Ireland) ‘Father of compact disc’ Magdalena Salazar Palma (Spain) Amara Amara (France) [email protected] Past-director Conferences Roland Saam (UK & Ireland) Costas Stasopoulos (Cyprus) Péter Nagy (Hungary) [email protected] receives top IEEE honour [email protected] Educational Activities Sections Congress Coordinator Secretary Sohaib Qamar Sheikh Marko Delimar () continued from page 1... the Medal for Environmental and Jan Verveckken (Benelux) (UK and Ireland) Standards Coordinator tions to information theory and Safety Technologies for leadership Treasurer Action for Industry David Law (UK & Ireland) wireless communications. in vehicular environmental percep- Ralph Kennel (Germany) Marios Antoniou (Cyprus) [email protected] OOMartin Vetterli (Switzerland) tion, and for setting worldwide mile- Vice-chair, Member Activities Membership Development Student Representative receives the Jack S Kilby Signal stones in safe and reliable intelligent Antonio Luque (Spain) Andrejs Romanovs (Latvia) Ines Inacio (Benelux) Processing Medal for fundamental vehicles. Vice-chair, Student Activities Young Professionals Efthymia Arvaniti (Austria) Sara Barros (Benelux) contributions to advance sampling, OOSir James Dyson (UK and Ire- Vice-chair, Technical Activities Ad-hoc Members signal representations and multi- land), inventor of the bagless vacu- Christopher James rate and multi-resolution signal um cleaner and other novel prod- (UK and Ireland) Electronic Communications Life Members George Michael (Cyprus) Charles Turner (UK & Ireland) processing. ucts, was awarded IEEE Honorary [email protected] [email protected] OO Hugh Griffiths (UK and Ireland) Membership for his achievements Assistant Secretary, Social Women in Engineering receives the Dennis J Picard Medal in industrial design, entrepreneur- Media and Web pages Youmna El-Bitar () for Radar Technologies and Applica- ship and manufacturing technology, Dora Fourou () Region Vitality Coordinator tions for technical leadership and and for services to the profession. History Activities Aleksandar Szabo (Croatia) Tony Davies (UK & Ireland) [email protected] exceptional contributions to multi- Video clips [email protected] Voluntary Contribution Fund static radar. from the 2017 IEEE Corresponding members: Andreas Koltes (Germany) OO Antonio Perez Yuste (Spain), Africa Area Chair Marian P Kazmierkowski (Po- Honors Ceremony Antonio Savini (Italy) land) receives the Medal in Power can be viewed at Gloria Chukwudebe (Nigeria) Engineering for leadership in and ieee.tv. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers pioneering contributions to the Engineers from Region 8 were 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor development of power electronic also notable among those receiving New York 10016, USA converters and electric drive con- IEEE’s Technical Field Awards this IEEE prohibits discrimination in its activities. trol systems. year. Turn to page 4 in this issue to For more information, visit www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/ whatis/policies/p9-26.html OOAlberto Broggi (Italy) receives find out more.

2 IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 region news Stockholm welcomes new faces to OpCom meeting

Above: focused discussion during interactive workshops. Top right: future, present and past Region 8 directors (from left) Magdalena Salazar Palma, Margaretha Eriksson and Costas Stasopoulos.

continued from page 1... program in more countries and to include more Efthymia Arvaniti and Technical Activities Chris- companies. topher James. Several interactive workshops It was reported that a new IEEE office is in were organized in a more intimate atmosphere. process of opening in Vienna, Austria. How- This was a great opportunity for the meeting’s ever, it is still unclear how Region 8 can utilise attendees to find out more details in their areas it. This is something that needs to be carefully of interest. considered and discussed in the months ahead. Honorary guests who gave presentations An award ceremony and gala dinner took included IEEE president Karen Bartleson, IEEE place on the Saturday night in a former factory president-elect Jim Jefferies, and vice-president of Alfred Nobel, the noted Swedish chemist, en- for Member and Geographic Activities Mary gineer, inventor, businessman and philanthro- Ellen. They discussed IEEE directions and MGA pist best known for his invention of dynamite. activities. Everyone praised the very good organiza- IEEE in Africa is seen as a particularly good tion of the meeting and the warm hospitality by opportunity to attract new members. Several Sweden Section. The hosts’ efforts were best activities are being planned by African Sections seen when their own chair, Mats Edvinsson, as well as participation in UNESCO Africa En- took the microphone in his hands to entertain gineers Week. the guests during the gala dinner, after which a Getting closer to industry remains one of very good evening became truly unforgettable. Region 8’s key priorities, so further activities Reports and presentations are will be pursued in that direction. The Action at www.ieeer8.org/category/ for Industry (AFI) Committee, recipient of committee/meetings/2017- the 2016 MGA Award for its highly successful march-stockholm/ initiatives, is planning to expand its internship Bojan Nikolic Milestone at TV’s birthplace continued from page 1... a select line-up of broadcast professionals during 1924-1926 for various experimental and historians, looking at Baird’s legacy, how activities, including the development of his television has changed since its beginnings television system. The BBC adopted Baird’s and how it might look in the future. A variety system for its first television broadcast ser- of television-related artefacts and product vice in 1930. demonstrations were on show, from the Since 1949, the building has been a fam- internal circuitry of a CRT and an analogue ily-run café, Bar Italia, which itself achieved satellite set-top box to the latest in ultra-high- a different kind of fame in the 1960s as one definition display technology. of the late-night meeting spots for rock stars Credit for organising these high-profile hanging around Soho at the time. Hailing events on consecutive days goes to the hard its link to the birth of television, Sky TV also work of Tony Davies, the Life Members Af- held its official launch of its high-definition finity Group within UK and Ireland Section, satellite service there in November 2005. and their veritable army of IEEE volunteers. Unveiled by Baird’s grandson Iain and Details about Baird’s achievement and IEEE president Karen Bartleson, the bronze its historic significance can be read at the Milestone plaque at street level joins an ex- Engineering and Technology History Wiki isting memorial already at the site, a classic at https://goo.gl/NJps1Q. Plenty more ‘historic London’ blue plaque high up on the photos taken during both days’ events can wall commemorating the same event. But as be viewed on the UK and Ireland Section one IEEE member observed: “Ours is easier website at https://goo.gl/ppjaKJ. for passers-by to read.” A documentary-style Top: Iain Logie Baird recounts his grandfather's The following morning, IEEE began a day movie of the Milestone life at the Royal Institution. Right: Region 8 director of commemoration and technical lectures at dedication ceremony Margaretha Eriksson and UK and Ireland Section chair Ali Hessami. Above: Baird with IEEE president the Royal Institution’s own building in Picca- can be viewed at https:// Karen Bartleson at the unveiling of the plaque. dilly. Speakers included Iain Logie Baird and youtu.be/jY-3AYJ_F_Q

IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 3 region news Region 8 engineers reap Technical Field accolades FIVE members and fellows from Region 8 were distributed computing systems, for accelerat- recipients of this year’s IEEE Technical Field ing the innovation of energy, information and Awards. Endorsed by the institute’s Technical communication technologies for the urban Field Awards Council and approved by the environment. Awards Board, these honours are presented OODavid John Law (UK Davies receives Kozma to individuals for their contributions in spe- and Ireland) received the cific technical fields of science and engineering, Charles Proteus Steinmetz as well as in several areas of leadership. Awards, reecognizing ex- medal on 80th birthday OOSorin Cristoloveanu ceptional contributions to FORMER Region 8 director Tony the Department of Telecommuni- (France) received the An- the development and/or Davies was the 2016 recipient of cations and Media Informatics drew S Grove Award, recog- advancement of standards in electrical and the prestigious annual Ladislas (Távközlési és Médiainformatikai nizing outstanding contri- electronics engineering, for his leadership of Kozma medal. Tanszék) of Budapest University of butions to solid-state and contributions to the development of IEEE The honour, presented last Technology and Economics (Buda- devices and technology, for Standards with global impact, particularly August by Krystóf Szalay-Bo- pesti Muszaki és Gazdaságtu- his contributions to silicon-on-insulator tech- 802.3 Ethernet Standards. brovniczky, the Hungarian Ambas- dományi Egyetem). nology and thin body devices. OOAdel Razek (France) sador in London, was made in OOMarcel JM Pelgrom was presented with the recognition of Professor Davies’ (Netherlands) received the Award, recog- 80th birthday, and for his contribu- Daniela Danciu Gustav Robert Kirchhoff nising outstanding contri- tions to various Award, recognizing an out- butions to the generation scientific and earns Saduwa standing contribution to the and utilization of electric engineering fundamentals of any aspect power, for his contributions to coupled multi- events in Hun- distinction of electronic circuits and systems that has a physics modelling and design of electromag- gary, particularly long-term significance or impact, for his netic systems. connected with REGION 8’s Cementina Saduwa seminal contributions to systematic analysis Award 2017 has been presented to of random offsets in semiconductor devices Daniela Danciu from sec- and their impact on circuits. Previous winners from our tion at a ceremony on 25 March OOAntonello Monti (Ger- during the 108th IEEE Region 8 many) was recipient of the Committee meeting in Stockholm, Innovation in Societal Infra- Region... and more for 2018 On accepting the honour, Dr structure Award, recognis- LAST year’s IEEE medals and recogni- pioneering contributions to technology Daniela said: “In memoriam of ing significant technological tions, presented at a ceremony in New computer aided design. Clementina Saduwa, I would like achievements and contri- York, USA, on 18 June 2016, saw two OOPeter Stoica (Sweden), professor of to dedicate this prize to all the butions to the establishment, development notable experts within the Region 8 ter- System Modelling in the Division of Sys- women from the IEEE community and proliferation of innovative societal infra- ritory receive honorary membership, tems and Control at Uppsala University for their roles in professional envi- structure systems through the application of elected by the Board of Directors for in Uppsala, will receive the Fourier Award ronment as well as in society. information technology with an emphasis on having rendered meritorious service to for Signal Processing, which recognizes “I thank all humanity in IEEE’s designated fields of an outstanding contribution to the ad- the valuable peo- interest: vancement of signal processing, for his ple that I have Success at 2016 MGA OOSerge Haroche, professor and chair broad contributions to research and met in my life Achievement Awards of Quantum Physics at the Collège de education in statistical signal processing and who shaped France in Paris, France, for the develop- and its applications. my personality OFFICIAL recognition of achievement has ment of cavity quantum electrodynam- OORainer Marquardt (Germany), and the will to become better. I been rolling in for members around Region ics, leading to fundamental quantum professor of Power Electronics and Con- would also like to thank to the 8, including awards from IEEE’s Member and physics studies and to a wide range of trol at the Universität der Bundeswehr IEEE Region 8 award committee Geographic Activities community. applications. München in Neubiberg, will receive for deciding to award this prize to Nasim Farahini (Sweden) was honoured OORodolfo Zich, president of Torino the William E Newell Power Electronics me – it was my best ever present for his outstanding contributions in promot- Wireless Foundation and of Istituto Award, recognizing outstanding contri- for the International Women’s Day. ing student activities, and for establishing Superiore Mario Boella in Torino, Italy, butions to the advancement of power Thank, you all! Let us be better!” and reinforcing the network of women en- for leadership in the global integration electronics, for his development of the OOClementina Saduwa was a dedi- gineers in the Sweden Section. of electrical and electronics engineering modular multilevel converter application cated student leader and volunteer Another recipient of the MGA Achieve- education and research. in medium drives and high-voltage DC in Nigeria Section, and went on to ment Award, for a group effort this time, was The advance list of recipients for transmission systems. become Region 8's first Women in Region 8’s Action for Industry Committee, next year’s 2018 Technical Field Awards OOUrsula Keller (), profes- Engineering coordinator. She was comprising Nihal Sinnadurai, Marios Anto- include five from Region 8: sor in the Physics Department at the In- killed ten years ago in a random niou, Mohamed Amin, Toni Mattila and John OOSiegried Selberherr (Austria), pro- stitute for Quantum Electronics in Zurich, act of violence at the age of 29. To Matogo. The citation for the award reads: fessor at the Vienna University of Tech- will receive the Photonics Award, which honour her memory, this award “For planning and implementing the Action nology Institute for Microelectronics in recognizes outstanding achievements in recognises outstanding women for Industry Initiative, which has success- Vienna, will receive the Cledo Brunetti photonics, for seminal contributions to engineers who demonstrate sup- fully increased member engagement and Award, recognizing outstanding contri- ultrafast technology enabling im- port for women in the engineering strengthened the relationship with industry butions to miniaturization and nano- portant industrial applications and novel profession and have established a in Region 8.” technology in the electronic arts, for his scientific breakthroughs. record of excellence.

4 IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 region news TECH FOCUS { IN BRIEF } OOGet the recognition that Designing a robot comes with experience in your to have morality professional work with Senior Membership. A level of membership above basic Member, the grade of Senior Member is the highest for which you can make a personal application. It requires experience reflecting superior technical competence and projects the applicant’s If robots are going to become professionalism to the industry a vital part of everyday life, it’s and the public. For elevation to important that they know the dif- Workshop in Tunis looks at Senior Member grade, a can- ference between right and wrong didate must be an engineer, when it comes to decision making. ways to boost membership scientist, educator, technical IEEE Spectrum’s Kristen Clark in- executive, or originator in vestigated why a team of research- MEMBERSHIP recruitment, membership re- ment strategies co-ordination and strategic IEEE-designated fields. 'Senior' ers is attempting to model moral tention, and the vital role and responsibilities planning. A formal welcome reception, dinner refers to professional experi- reasoning in a robot, and explains of an IEEE Membership Development officer and city tour followed presentations by the ence, not age the dilemma in a were the principal themes at the Region 8 Region's MD officers and Tunisia Section chair Apply to become a Senior video at ieee.tv. Membership Development workshop held in Habib Kammoun. Member by completing the Watch it at this Tunis, Tunisia, on 18-19 November last year. Saturday saw interactive sessions, brain- online process at https://goo. link: https://goo. Section chairs and their MD officers came to- storming on the motivations of MD Officers gl/dNfiKW gl/bKFer8 gether under one roof with the Region 8 MD and what they value, along with various ex- team, hosted by the Tunisia Section, to debate ercises, Sections presentations and a round- OOIn 2016, its inaugural year, issues, share reports, plan ahead and network table discussion. the IEEE Humanitarian Activi- Are you addicted with their IEEE counterparts across the Region. The workshop was concluded with some ties Committee developed a Early arrivals on the first day were invit- beneficial remarks, a group photo and a group to your gadgets? strategy and launched several ed to participate in discussions on the three lunch. Volunteers and officers alike were satis- themes mentioned above throughout the day, fied with the positive impact of the workshop projects including 'Implement- alongside breakout meetings on diverse top- and eager to continue with great achieve- ing Technology-Enhanced ics from membership development to recruit- ments on membership development. Community Healthcare Deliv- ery' in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and In Region 8, the committee Medical experts say addiction to Members’ benefits: mentoring, has supported events in Spain technology is a growing concern. and Zambia. Several doctors who specialise in journals and smart tech courses 'SIGHT' is the acronym for addiction say an alarming number Special Interest Group on Hu- of people are becoming hooked ARE you an experienced professional in the in 1913 and has grown into the leading journal manitarian on their digital devices. Some are field of engineering looking to share your for in-depth tutorials and reviews of technical Technology. calling high-tech gadgets “digital knowledge and experience? Are you in need developments that shape the world. It contin- Visit Region heroin” and “electronic cocaine". of advice, seeking guidance on starting your ues to offer articles of broad significance and 8's SIGHT Read more on career, planning a career change, or building long-range interest in all areas of electrical, home online this topic in The technical skills? The IEEE Mentoring Program electronics and computer at https://goo.gl/CGjUxu Institute at this is set up for you – to match mentors with engineering. IEEE mem- To get involved, contact link: https://goo. ‘mentees’ – all IEEE members and affiliates. bers can subscribe for as your local SIGHT organizer and gl/gd9gyo To participate in the program, visit IEEE little as US$41. For details, let them know your interests: Collabratec. Mentors should select Oppor- see https://goo.gl/gzjePn Alexandros Osana tunities from the menu and opt in from the (Greece) – Chair Breath test can Settings­ tab. If you would like to find a men- OOOn-demand courses are available to IEEE Lebogang Madise find 17 diseases tor, select People from the menu, and use the members on a host of technical topics. The (South Africa) Many of us associate Breathalysers available filters to narrow your search. Smart Tech Metro Area Workshop series of- Dino Jakovljevic (Croatia) with policing efforts to stop drunk Once a mentorship match is made, the fers participants a unique learning experience John Funso-Abeday drivers. But a team at Technion− pair should set goals for the relationship. The with topics on the cutting edge of technical (Nigeria) Israel Institute of Technology in partners are encouraged to work together on innovation. This seminar series is focused Lee Crudgington Haifa are working on a nanoarray a plan to accomplish these goals and develop on providing an opportunity for participants (UK and Ireland) of volatile organic carbon detectors a time-line. It is also important to agree at the to learn first-hand from field experts. Each Javier Sanchez Medina to spot diseases’ unique chemical start , how much time and commitment each workshop is a springboard to a deeper un- (Spain) patterns in a sin- should expect from the other. There is a Get- derstanding of technology Amith Khandakar (Oman) gle exhalation. ting Started guide to help. and its myriad applications Sana Khalfa (Tunisia) Read more online and potential for innovation. Mona Ghassemian at https://goo.gl/ OOTake advantage of special member pricing Watch ieee.tv at https:// (UK and Ireland) rQJw25 on Proceedings of the IEEE. This journal began goo.gl/HWtLHh for details.

IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 5 region news section news How it works: IEEE’s European Public Policy Initiative THE IEEE European Public Policy Initiative including IEEE for Smart Cities (EPPI) exists to offer practical recommenda- and IEEE Region 8 EnergyCon. tions for public policy to European Union For 2018, the IEEE Board of Directors ap- institutions on subjects within IEEE’s fields proved a USD$5 assessment for members Photo: Hans Põldoja Hans Photo: of expertise. who are in countries of the EU or EFTA, ex- Since its creation in 2012, this initiative cepting students. This is intended to support has grown steadily. In 2014, working groups the policy position statement portion of the were established to develop position state- initiative: good policy in Europe is not neces- ments and to produce educational materials sarily good policy in other parts of the world. for certain technical areas, such as Energy Financial support by represented mem- and ICT. They give members a unique op- bers assures European working group volun- Flagship R8 conference portunity to influence European policy on teers they can develop policies appropriate issues central to IEEE and other technical for Europe, and assures EU officials that the adds themes and panels professions. advice they receive has been developed by Highlights from EPPI last year include: European technologists. Working groups EUROCON 2017, one of Region 8’s Speed Wireless and Optical Tech- OODrafting of public policy position state- can solicit feedback from the relevant com- flagship conferences, took place on nologies for 5G Mobile Communi- ments in the Energy and ICT domains. munities on draft policy positions, but in the 6-8 July in the magnificent city of cations; Hybrid Intelligent Systems; OOEngaging with policy makers and authori- end, the working groups and EPPI can make Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. Advanced Switching Based Systems; ties at working group meetings and events, their recommendations based on what they Its plenary speakers tackled a vari- Smart Technologies in Drives and including Jos Delbeke, director general determine is best for Europe. ety of intriguing issues surrounding Control; Role and Challenges of for Climate Action, DG CLIMA at the Eu- EPPI is working to enable IEEE members emerging research challenges such Energy Storage in Future Electrical ropean Commission, and assistant Euro- in EU and EFTA countries to engage more as ‘Will 5G Replace Previous Mobile Grids; Smart Technologies in Elec- pean Data Protection supervisor Wojciech directly through opt-in emails, helping rep- Technologies?’ and ‘Does DC Distri- trical Machines; Cloud-based Infra- Wiewiórowski. resented members receive draft papers for bution Make Sense?’ structure and Platforms for Big Data; OOHosting a session focused on European review as well as receive a monthly newslet- The program focused on smart and INDUSTRIE 4.0. public policy issues at the IEEE Power & En- ter on relevant policy activities in the fields technology research and its appli- The panel discussion sessions ergy Society General Meeting. of Energy and ICT. cations in all areas of information were intended to serve as a forum OOOrganizing a third successful policy sum- For more details on EPPI and its working and communication technologies; in which researchers, practitioners, mit in Brussels, this time on the topic of Ar- groups, contact Patrick Russoniello, IEEE Cor- circuits, systems and signal process- innovators and entrepreneurs could tificial Intelligence and Ethics. porate Activities Manager, at p.russoniello@ ing; power engineering and energy; interact and exchange their views, OOIdentifying speakers for IEEE conferences, ieee.org as well as industrial and consumer ideas and expertise. They covered applications. The conference also such topics as ‘Do we need 2G when hosted Region 8’s student competi- there will be 5G soon?’; Prospec- tion and best student paper award. tive of Nuclear Energy in Europe; Take advantage of mentoring New to this year’s conference Systems-of-Systems; Smart Things were special thematic areas and or Complex Systems?; Energy Mar- and industry internships panel discussions. ket and Regulatory Framework in The Region 8 Action for The former included Disruptive Europe; and ‘Can Free, and Open Industry team during their Technology Directions for 5G; IoT Source Software Replace Commer- meeting at Regensburg – The Future of Smart Technolo- cial Tools?’ (from left): Marios gies and Intelligent Infrastructures; For more information, please Antoniou, Mohamed Amin, Nihal Sinnadurai, John Bioelectromagnetic Medicine and visit www.eurocon2017.org Matogo and Toni Mattila. Bioinformatics; Nanoelectron- Ljupco Karadzinov ics and Nanophotonics; Complex General chair, Networks and Systems; Ultra High IEEE EUROCON 2017 Circuits and Systems Society is REGION 8’s Action for Industry group was set being done in the knowledge that companies up with the specific objective of bringing IEEE go out of their way to look for students who Spain’s Best Chapter of 2016 closer to industry by adopting initiatives that show commitment, can communicate well would be of value to industry and which can and have good interpersonal skills. THE Spain Chapter of the IEEE Cir- be measured at each stage. The challenge is Informative briefings on mentoring are cuits and Systems Society, chaired to persuade people employed in industries to now on the Region 8 website, along with a list by Jose M de la Rosa, from the co-operate and join with IEEE. of available internships and mentors: www. Institute of Microelectronics of The group has appointed a number of ieeer8.org/category/technical-activities/ Seville, IMSE-CNM (CSIC/Univer- Industry Ambassadors to contact companies action-for-industry sity of Seville), received the Best across Region 8. Their approach and achieve- To date, more than 100 IEEE Student Mem- Chapter Award of the IEEE-Spain ments are intended to show the value of IEEE bers have been placed in internships through- Section in 2016. to companies, whether national or global. out Region 8. Many have sought mentoring. The Awards ceremony took To help move towards this goal, Senior For more information on what Action for place on 7 October last year in IEEE Spain Chapters chair Jaime and Fellow members have been volunteering Industry group can offer to students, turn to Barcelona during Spain’s IEEE Day Lloret presents the award to to act as mentors to younger engineers. This is page 12 in this issue. celebrations. Professor de la Rosa.

6 IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 section news World congress on cybernetics is dedicated to von Neumann AFTER San Diego in 2014 and Hong Kong in SMC2016 provided an international fo- 2015, IEEE’s annual international conference rum for researchers and participants to re- on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC) port cutting edge innovation and exchange came to Budapest, Hungary, in October last ideas in all aspects of systems science and year. The event was organized by Taiwan engineering, human-machine systems and Tech, Hungary Section and Óbuda Univer- cybernetics. The conference was dedicated sity, and was attended by 1,049 registered to the Hungarian-born John von Neumann, scientists from 59 countries. a pioneer of modern computer science, with Some 1,506 papers had been submitted, the theme “A theory that transformed the honed down for the final conference to 637 world to a Cyberspace”. oral and 196 e-poster papers. The event was opened by IEEE president Barry L Shoop, SMC Society president Dimi- SIGHT Tunisia launches tar Filev, Hungarian Academy of Sciences vice president Szász Domokos, SMC2016 its connectivity project general chair Imre J Rudas, Óbuda University rector Mihály Réger and SMC2016 Technical AFTER setting a plan for its TAW- questions such as “How does the Program Committee chair Shun-Feng Su. ASOL project (‘tawasol’ means ‘con- internet work?” The director of the Social events during the conference in- nectivity’ in Arabic), IEEE SIGHT’s school also attended the session cluded a horse show visit and a junior post Tunisia Team aims to provide all and addressed the students and conference tour. primary schools across the 24 re- the organizing team, emphasising gions of Tunisia with an Internet the importance of such activities connection and enhance the qual- and how the Sadiki School is lucky Prof Liu visits Seville to present ity of STEM education. to be the first school in Tunisia to The team began with a project benefit from the project. pilot in Sadiki School on 17 Sep- New computers were installed lecture on auditory processing tember last year. Established by and the internet connection was SHIH-CHII Liu, Distinguished Lecturer Kheireddine Bacha in 1875, Sadiki checked by the team as they were from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society School is one of the most prestigious preparing the rooms for the next (CASS), gave a talk entitled ‘Event-Based and highly reputed schools located workshop. The team then taught Auditory Processing with Spiking Silicon in the heart of the Tunisian capital. students how to create their first Cochleas and Deep Networks’ at the In- A launch workshop was held to website using the Weebly platform, stitute of Microelectronics of Seville, IMSE- present the project to the public and on which they were asked to create CNM at CSIC/University of Seville, Spain, on students interested in volunteering. a blog website for their school. 16 September 2016. A booth set up to distribute flyers This pilot project provided a Professor Liu co-leads the Sensors group Distinguished Lecturer Program and organ- and stickers attracted parents as great opportunity for the students at the Institute of Neuroinformatics, Univer- ized by the Spain Chapter of IEEE-CASS, well as students who were inter- to use the Internet for learning as sity of Zurich and ETH Zurich in Switzerland chaired by Jose M de la Rosa. For more de- ested. The team then gathered well as creating web content. and chairs the IEEE Swiss CAS/ED Society. tails, please visit: https://meetings.vtools. participants together with about Skander Mansouri The event was sponsored by the IEEE-CASS ieee.org/m/39516 40 students and asked them key Vice chair, SIGHT Tunisia Section

A seasonal school on Wireless Sensor versity of Thessaloniki on 31 October Networks – WiSe School 2016 – was CAS Society in Greece gets entitled ‘Challenges and Opportunities held in Thessaloniki on 15-18 Decem- of Circuits and Systems on Internet of ber with 55 participants, organized by ‘WiSe’ with networks Things’. The event attracted more than Stylianos Siskos and Alkis Hatzopoulos 250 participants locally and online. from the Electronics Labs of the Depart- at IBM’s TJ Watson Re- ments of Physics and of Electrical and search Center in New OOA Career Day workshop on 1 De- Computer Engineering, respectively. York, gave two talks in cember 2016 focusing on career op- Presentation topics included sen- Greece in December portunities featured several speakers sors; biosensors; signal conditioning last year – one at the from industry in Greece highlighting the circuits; IoT applications; analog/RF University of Patras, current situation and existing work op- front-end circuits for wireless trans- the other at Aristotle portunities for students. The complete ceivers; WSN protocols and secure University of Thessa- program can be found at http://sites. data transmission issues; energy har- loniki – entitled ‘Tech- ieee.org/greece-casssc/events/career- vesting; microgenerators and power Chapter, and the Research Committee nology Circuit Co-Design for Sub-nm day-december-1st-2016/. management systems; and laboratory of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Low Power Design’. Both events were The event was attended by 135 work on measurements using LABVIEW More details about the event can be very successful, attracting participants participants and broadcast online for software. A written test at the end led to read at http://sites.ieee.org/greece- from the universities themselves and those who could not attend in person. one participant winning a prize of €250. casssc/events/wise-school-2016/. from industry. It was organized by the Student Branch The event was financially supported Yen-Kuang Chen, principal engineer of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki by the IEEE CASS Seasonal School 2016 OOAs part of IEEE’s Distinguished Lec- at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, Cali- in cooperation with the IEEE Greece activity, the IEEE Greece CAS-SSC joint turer program, Rajiv Joshi, researcher fornia, gave a lecture at Aristotle Uni- CASS/ SSCS joint Chapter.

IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 7 section news Celebrating 45 years in Serbia & Montenegro SERBIA & Montenegro Section, as Goce Arsov (past chair of Republic one of the successors of the former of Macedonia Section), Dusanka IEEE Yugoslav Section founded on Boskovic from Bosnia & Herzego- June 21, 1971, celebrated 45 years vina Section (Region 8 vice-chair for of existence by organising an an- Member Activities) and Igor Kuzle niversary event in Belgrade on 23 from Croatia Section (Region 8 vice- November 2016. chair for Technical Activities). Goce Technical talks and conferences Djordje Paunovic, Yugoslavia Arsov presented a gift of artwork Section chair (1992-2002) and for- from Republic of Macedonia Section mer Region 8 vice-president (2007- to commemorate the event. prove to be a draw big to AAU 2008), welcomed participants, Also attending were past Ser- THE 16th Mediterranean Microwave Sympo- (IM-S) Joint Chapter and IEEE AAU Student followed by a presentation by Vera bia & Montenegro Section chairs sium (MMS2016) was hosted on 14-16 No- Branch, organized an IEEE Administrative Markovic, current chair of Serbia Vladimir Katic (2006-2010) and vember last year at Al Ain University of Sci- Meeting and a Technical Talk at Abu Dhabi & Montenegro Section. His talk Natasa Neskovic (2010-2014), Sec- ence and Technology’s Abu Dhabi campus Campus – Mohammed Bin Zayed City on 8 on ‘IEEE in the Former Yugoslavia tion secretary/treasurer Mladen in the United Arab Emirates. The meeting May last year. Region – a 45-Year-Long History’, Koprivica, and most of the Chapter was technically co-sponsored by three IEEE The two events were led by Shervin outlined the process of separation chairs. Many participants shared societies – MTT, IM and AP – and attended Shirmohammadi of the University of Otta- and the formation of the new Sec- their memories, contributing to a by 125 participants from 23 countries. wa, , who introduced the IM society tions from its predecessor. very friendly atmosphere. In addition to five keynote lectures and gave a technical talk on ‘Video, Games, Several special guests also ad- The event concluded with a din- delivered by prominent speakers from Video Games and Modern Video Systems’. dressed the attendees: Kurt Rich- ner joined by all participants. Canada, the conference technical program ter from Austria Section (Region For more information about the comprised 96 technical papers organized OOThe College of Engineering at AAU, in 8 director 1991-1992), Aleksandar Section, visit www.ieee.uns.ac.rs within 18 oral sessions. There were also conjunction with the IEEE UAE MTT-S & Szabo from Croatia Section (IEEE Vera Markovic three specialized tutorials addressing topics IM-S Joint Chapter and the IEEE AAU Stu- Life Members Committee Chair Chair, Serbia & Montenegro including microwave engineering, RF circuits dent Branch, organized a technical talk en- and Region 8 Vitality Coordinator), Section and systems, antenna technologies, wire- titled ‘The engineering of the Human Joint less communications, and a broad range of – Advances in Orthopedics Research and high-frequency topics such as terahertz and Computer Navigation’ presented by Farid photonic technologies. Amirouche of the University of Illinois in Chicago, USA. OOThe College of Engineering at Al Ain Uni- The presentation highlighted laboratory versity of Science and Technology (AAU), research efforts to advance our understand- in conjunction with IEEE UAE Microwave ing of the human joint using nanotechnol- Current and past IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section chairs plus guests (from Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), ogy, imaging and biosensors to design better left): Kurt Richter, Vladimir Katic, Dusanka Boskovic, Vera Markovic, Aleksandar Instrumentation & Measurement Society implants. Paunovic, Goce Arsov, Natasa Neskovic, Igor Kuzle and Aleksandar Szabo 10 years on, Section ramps up its activities ESTONIA Section has been actively from their different points of view engaged in several events since the and fields: security, network, elec- beginning of the last academic year tronics and social science) in September 2016. In October, the Estonian team In collaboration with IT-college, ‘VertexCover’ reached first place in Tallinn University of Technology IEEEXteme’s leaderboard, achieving Branch and the WiE Branch in Es- the same score as teams from Swit- Polish mountains make venue for tonia organized the first IEEE Day zerland, and . Overall, celebration in Estonia­ since the about half of the Estonian teams conference on computer networks Section was formed 10 years ago. ended up among the top 10% of The event hosted four speakers who participants around the globe. COMPUTER Networks conference CN2016 Four keynote lectures were given and talked about the strong connection The WiE Branch has been par- took place in a charming mountainous re- some 60 regular papers were presented. between academia and industry ticipating in the organization of TTU gion of southern Poland in June last year, Special guest speaker Miroslav Skoric from Geekly Weekly, a weekly program of in the antique Brunów Palace near Lwowek NIAR – Hyberabac in India delivered a tuto- technical talks and workshops on Slaski. More than 70 scientists gathered from rial on amateur radio computer networks various topics founded by Gulcin many countries to share experiences and and communication technologies. Social Yildirim. Through September and discuss problems associated with computer events included a trip to a ceramics factory, October, eight workshops were networks, teleinformatics and telecommuni- a football match and games of boules. run by TTU Geekly Weekly, making cations, new technologies, queuing theory, More details on the event are online at a total of 13 workshops since the innovative applications and distributed com- cn.polsl.pl or you can contact us by email program began in April 2016. puter systems. at [email protected] Jacek Stój

8 IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 section news Smart systems and technology experts converge on Osijek for SST2016 THE Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Sci- nications technologies, automation, robotics, as well ence and Information Technology at the Josip Juraj as all other interdisciplinary fields and applications. It Strossmayer University of Osijek organized an interna- provided a platform for researchers and practitioners tional conference on smart systems and technologies and aimed to connect the latest scientific and technical (SST) on 12-14 October last year in Osijek, Croatia. knowledge in the field of smart systems and technolo- The conference aimed to provide to both research- gies with the economy. ers and experts a platform for the development and Some 44 scientific papers were presented at the Etienne Perret wins expansion of scientific and technical knowledge in the conference within the framework of the following field of smart systems and technologies in the fields nine sections with more than 130 participants. Pa- of electrical engineering, computer science, commu- pers presented at the conference were published in Léon Brillouin award the conference proceedings and THE Léon Brillouin award, sponsored jointly by IEEE will be submitted to the IEEExplore and the French Société des Electriciens et Electroniciens database. (SEE), is given every other year in the domain of material Croatia Section (Computer and component physics, optics and electronics. The Chapter; Communications Chap- 2016 award was awarded to Etienne Perret for his con- ter; Systems, Man and Cybernetics; tribution to the identification of an object in an unknown Reliability Chapter) was technical environment using a chipless label or tag. co-sponsor of SST2016, which was Etienne Perret is a professor at Grenoble Institute of also co-sponsored by the Ministry Technology and has his research activity in LCIS labora- of Science, Education and Sports of tory. He is a member of Institut Universitaire de France the Republic of Croatia, Josip Juraj that gathers the best scientists in their field. Strossmayer University of Osijek, At the ceremony in Paris, held at SEE’s headquarters the Croatian Academy of Engineer- on 5 December 2016, a €4,000 prize and certificate were ing (HATZ) and the International presented by Cédric Demeure (Award Committee Presi- Council on Large Electric Sys- dent), Daniel Pasquet (Chair of the Organizing Com- Anniversary event looks tems – CIGRÉ, Croatian National mittee), François Gerin (President of SEE) and Martin ­Committee. Bastiaans (Region 8 past-director). back at Section origins For more information about Etienne Perret gave a short talk which provided a the conference, please visit www. bright overview of his research, emphasizing the po- ESTONIA Section celebrated its The evening and second day of etfos.unios.hr/sst2016 tential applications in industry and in every day’s life. tenth anniversary on 19-20 August the seminar was held in the pictur- Goran Martinović Daniel Pasquet last year with a summer seminar. A esque Saka Manor. An award cer- SST conference program co-chair Chair, France Section relatively young Section, its history emony during dinner recognized really began after the restoration of long-term members of the organi- Estonian independence from the So- zation with IEEE Membership Loy- Keynote and lively panel at first viet Union in 1991, as those who had alty Program pins and certificates. gone to study or research abroad Special thanks and a Section award started to return with IEEE member- of recognition were given to two IEEE Day for UK and Ireland Section ship acquired outside the country. people who played a key role in UK and Ireland Section held its inaugural discussions were focused on widening ac- By 1998, a joint Chapter with forming the Section: Vello Kukk, celebration of IEEE Day at the University of cess to IEEE Xplore within universities in the colleagues in Finland was estab- past Section chair and professor Westminster, London, on 4 October 2016. Middle East, best practices in creating and lished, and only in 2006 did the at Tallinn University of Technology, The meeting was attended by around 45 running student branches at UK universities, number of IEEE members in Esto- and Eiko Kängsep, Section treasurer participants from across the IEEE member- and more outreach and career development nia exceed necessary threshold to for all these years and test develop- ship grades and their spouses. opportunities for apprentices and other po- sign the petition to form our own ment engineer at Ericsson Estonia. Section chair Ali Hessami opened the tential non-IEEE members. Section. This was approved on 26 The second day of the seminar event with an overview of the Section’s The Section congratulated their Class of July of that year. Since then, the Sec- was dedicated to the activities of aims, plans and services. This was followed 2016 newly-elevated Fellows and award cer- tion has grown in size and structure, Chapters and Student Branches, and by a keynote talk on technical and career tificates were presented to four volunteers such that by the anniversary event to membership issues and upcom- development opportunities with the IEEE, for their outstanding services to Student Ac- it could boast 167 members, four ing Section elections. A presentation and invited lectures on the Section’s Chap- tivities, Young Professionals and WiE, as well Chapters, two Student Branches and was given by Rein Sabolotny, who ters, Student activities, Young Professionals, as an appreciation to a late friend and former a WiE Affinity Group. revealed engineering secrets behind Women in Engineering, Technology History executive secretary of the SMC Chapter. The first day of the event took the electronic music over its history. and Mentoring Groups. A webcast of the event can be viewed place in Virumaa College at the The seminar ended with a An interactive panel discussion with at- at: https://goo.gl/ibze2X Tallinn University of Technology, consensus on forming a new joint tendees was held on the topic of ‘Enhanc- Lai Bun Lok, Lee Crudgington located outside of capital in the in- Chapter within Estonia Section to ing IEEE member benefit and value’. Lively and Ryan Xi dustrial area. Region 8 director-elect combine industry and academic Margaretha Eriksson brought par- specialists in four societies: Power ticipants up to date with the Region’s and Engineering, Industrial appli- activities, followed by a talk by Jari cations, Industrial Electronics, and Eiro, CEO of Dicro OY, an electronics Robotics and Automation. company with factories in Finland Kalle Tammemäe and Estonia. Chair, Estonia Section

IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 9 yp news student news Turning young engineers into young entrepreneurs MORE than 90 students and young Digital Garage, IBM, Entrepreneur professionals gathered to take part First, and a full schedule of speak- in the much-anticipated IEEE Young ers offering advice and experience Entrepreneurs Day at the University in entrepreneurship ranging from of Greenwich, London. The event is the current vice president of the Nile University, Cairo, the first in a series planned by the IMechE to professional networking UK and Ireland Section aimed to- coaches. Representatives from the wards people looking for inspira- main event sponsor, AWE, were also Error Camp helps raise technical tion, resources and guidance to help on hand to explain opportunities. develop themselves professionally A social lunch and IEEE drop-in skills in advance of IEEEXtreme or start and grow a business. sessions allowed delegates to find The day attracted a diverse au- out more about the IEEE and its Af- IEEEXTREME 10.0 ambassadors in Egypt competed in a virtual online competition de- dience of delegates, including many finity Groups and Chapters, and take organized an Error Camp at Nile University signed as a miniature version of IEEEXtreme. undergraduate and postgraduate advantage of registration offers. to promote the programming contest and The three winners were: Alone, Codify.h and research students from universities Lee Crudgington raise the technical level of competitors, giv- BigBang. across the UK and Europe. Interac- UK and Ireland Section ing them a strong base to make their debuts. The camp was co-organized by Helwan tive workshops were run by Google Student Activities Committee Around 100 participants from 15 Egyp- and Benha Student Branches and Modern tian universities were trained by three coach- Academy, and hosted by Nile University Stu- es provided by Coach Academy. The pro- dent Branch. Student partners were: BUB SB, gram contained topics such as complexity EGI SB, Assuit SB, PUA SB, AAST Cairo SB, analysis, STL data structures, recursion and AAST Alex SB, Tanta SB, SVU SB, PSU SB, number theorem. Additionally, participants New Cairo SB, MSB and Aswan SB.

Tanta University, Egypt Conference enhances scientific research UNDER the slogan ‘Ex- cellence in innovation Take a ‘stelfie’, win an Apple Watch and sustainable devel- RUNNING throughout the sum- Twitter with a message about opment’, Tanta Student mer until 15 September, YP’s the Milestone pictured, plus the Branch, with the help of ‘Milestelfies’ contest has been hashtag #Milestelfie and tag other societies, organ- challenging IEEE members to visit @IEEEPESYP. ized the fourth edition of as many IEEE historical Milestone The individual who posts the the three-day conference sites as possible and take selfie most Milestelfies wins an Apple ‘Enhancing Scientific Research 2016’ held in ogy in enhancing innovation) and a gallery for photos alongside the plaques. Watch Series 2, with runners-up the University’s conference hall. young innovators and project makers. Each photo must be shared via winning IEEE PES merchandise. The conference covered topics about Around 800 researchers, students and scientific research in Egypt. It was divided businessmen had the opportunity to listen to into three main tracks: sessions about scien- speakers from Egypt, Japan, Tunisia and South YP Bulgaria organizes brace tific fields (such as biological and chemical Korea as well as to see the work of 38 innova- , biomedical applications, tors and projects makers. The deputy minister and pseudo-science), general sessions (such of Higher Education & Scientific Research, Es- of bright summer events as scientific research policies and the role of sam Khamis, was also present to give a talk on A TALK by James Bezdek and a The summer school, supported academia in scientific research and technol- scientific research policies. summer school on ‘Systems, Man by Systems, Man and Cybernetics and Cybernetics’ were organized Society, ran alongside the eighth by the Young Professionals Affinity IEEE International Conference on Jordanian teams muscle into the top Group in Bulgaria at the Software Intelligent Systems, also in Sofia. University in Sofia. The program included talks on ‘3D rankings at programming competition Professor Bezdek is one of surface reconstruction’ by Vincen- was represented by 59 teams from sity of Technology, EagleRock from Yarmouk the world’s most authoritative zo Piuri (Politechnico di Milano), seven different universities in the tenth edition University and TeamH2A from Jordan Univer- researchers in the field of fuzzy ‘Linguistic Geometry’ by Boris Stil- of IEEEXtreme, the IEEE’s annual programming sity of Science and Technology. systems for pattern recognition. man (University of Colorado, Den- challenge which saw the participation of 2,000 Yarmouk University Student Branch, with He has presented lectures such ver) and ‘Switched Fuzzy Systems’ teams from 60 different countries. the help from volunteers from other universi- as ‘Anomaly Detection in Wireless by Georgi Dimirovski (University of The best result was achieved by the ties, exerted tremendous efforts to organize Sensor Networks: Visual Assess- St Cyril and Methodius) and Patrick ­MasterSamurai team from Princess Sumaya the competition for the Jordanian teams at ment and Clustering for Environ- Wang (Northeastern University). University of Technology, who reached an Yarmouk University in Irbid. Further Jordanian mental Monitoring’ and ‘How big These inspirational presenta- impressive 8th place and even was leading at teams came from University of Jordan, Ap- is too big? (Mostly) c-Means Clus- tions by renowned lecturers were the one point during the competition. Among plied Science University, Hashemite University tering in Big Data’ within the Com- completely free to participants. the top 100 teams in the world were five more and Al-Balqa Applied University. putational Intelligence Society’s Gergana Lazarova teams from Jordan: teaMaram, JCPcenter and Nada Manna Distinguished Lecturer program. Secretary, YP Bulgaria ThreeLaptops from Princess Sumaya Univer- WiE chair, JUST Student Branch

10 IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 student news You are our future leaders COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES STUDENT R8 and our source of inspiration

DEAR student friends! You are truly the heart of IEEE! Technical University of Berlin, Germany This year a new committee is determined to collaborate with you. Our pledge is to deliver our best at all times, whenever and wherever you need us. Our team is led by Studying in Berlin? Join Efthymia (Femia), Arvaniti (Austria), Mona Ghassemian (UK and Ireland) sharing her useful advice as past chair, Ana Ines Inacio (Benelux) as the voice of all Region 8 students and our Region student representative, Jose Miguel A Sepulcre (Spain) is the electronic our new Student Branch communication coordinator who will take care of our online presence, and Sarra Ben Rabii WE are happy to announce that the cover and fostering links between (Tunisia) is the link between all Student Branches and our Student Branch coordinator. Yara German capital now has a Student the university and professional Melki (Lebanon) is the awards and contests coordinator in our Region, George Papadimi- Branch. Berlin is one of the best life through networking events. triou (Greece) is our project coordinator, and last but not least Paul Micallef (Malta) will startup hubs in the world with a We are currently a small team of coordinate the Student Paper Contest. great international population and remarkable diversity, speaking A special thanks to the previous committee for their dedication in the past years, and three well-known universities. Our seven languages, and looking for for their endless support for the best of our Region Student Activities. Thank you Mona, goal is to make Berlin a recognized more members to grow. So if you Pablo, Efthymia, Heind, Lebogang, Dinko, Youmna , Carlos, Ruba, Ahmet and Mehrsid. name among community of IEEE are a student in Berlin, interested This year, we are working to continue the excellent projects from the previous years, volunteers and our peer Student in learning more about technology from the revitalisation project under which many Student Branches were reactivated and Branches throughout the world. or practicing leadership skills in a the Mind the Gap project to the mind-blowing Region 8 SYP Congress. But we also have Our main activity themes at safe environment, come and join many new surprises for you… just stay tuned! Technical University Berlin IEEE our friendly team. If you are visitor, The following Cross-Sectional Congresses were scheduled to take place in 2017: CEuSYP (TUBIEEE) Student Branch will be feel free to drop a line. – Central European SYP, WESYP, MESYP – Middle-East SYP, ASYP – Africa SYP, NYSP-Nordic, technology and leadership, focus- Please visit our website at and GCC SYP. Also, several Sectional Congresses took or will take place this year: in Jordan, ing our educational activities on http:// sites.ieee.org/sb-tuberlin Egypt, and other Sections across Region 8. what classic education does not Saeed Afrasiabi Gorgani We are looking forward to your participation in these meetings, and to your activities and events. Remember, we are here for you! If you need anything or have any questions, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany do not hesitate to get in touch with us through our Facebook page, Instagram profile or by email at [email protected]. Also, please share your ideas with us, and send us pictures of Student Conference interest the great events and congresses you organize! Finally, to ensure a smooth communication between us and your Student Branch, do not forget to report all new officers. To sum up, we would like to congratulate each and everyone of you for making the exceeds all expectations IEEE journey full of glory and unforgettable moments. You are our source of inspiration: LAST year saw the seventh annual to network – or simply to enjoy the the IEEE Region 8 students, our future leaders. Join us and make a difference German IEEE Student Conference great weather and German beer. in our big family. We are, and will always be proud of you and of being organized by Otto-von-Guericke- The Magdeburg Student Branch part of this family :) University Magdeburg Student would like to thank all the partners Your Region 8 Student Activities Committee: Efthymia, Mona, Branch at the modern facility of the and sponsors, which completely fi- Ines, Sarra, Yara, José Miguel, George and Paul Fraunhofer Virtual Development and nanced the whole conference. Training Center near the river Elbe. The conference became an University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece unexpectedly huge success as 36 contributions were submitted from students all over Germany. After a UTH is already eyeing up IEEEXtreme 11.0 thorough review process, 20 papers TEN teams from the IEEE University of teams in order to help them to perform OOAn Internet of Things workshop took were accepted and presented over Thessaly Student Branch, each consisting the best they could. place at the University of Thessaly in La- four sessions, which addressed the of two to three students, participated in We look forward to participating mia on 22-23 November 2016. fields of Power Electronics, Informa- the IEEEXtreme 10.0 programming com- in IEEEXtreme 11.0 and we hope that Speakers from across Greece came to tion Technology, Medical Engineer- petition. The best result was achieved by even more teams will take part in this share their views and ideas, and inform ing and Technology, and Electro- TeamCotC, who took the 865th position wonderful experience which combines attendees about the prospects of this magnetic Compatibility. Up to 60 in the global ranking and the 291th in knowledge with team spirit. fascinating new field. Over the two days, participants per talk were attracted Region 8. Other teams representing Klara Eleftheriadi, Chair lectures were given on various IoT top- by these sessions, including not only our Student Branch were Hotkeyboards, Ilias Xanthopoulos, Secretary ics, including medical applications, robots students, but also postgraduates, Omegateam, TeamGTA, TeamCReal, in assisted living environments and data PhD students and professors, who 123over, Error404NameNotF, Integers, OOUniversity of Thessaly Student Branch security. The workshop attracted 154 contributed to very lively discus- PsychoProgA and TehLurdOfTehRein. celebrated IEEE Day in conjunction with participants. sions after each talk. Three Würth Athanasios Kakarountas, our proctor, the University by organising a presenta- An Arduino competition was also Elektronik Best Paper Awards were together with all the teams gathered at tion of previous and forthcoming activi- organized in which four teams demon- given to the best authors and speak- the University, waited eagerly for the start ties to the 150 student participants. strated their projects. Each member of ers at the conference. of the competition which was conducted The event included also a Coffee & the winning team was awarded a €50 In the evening of the first day, in a pleasant atmosphere, with the stu- Cake Session, a night party in a local caf- store voucher. 20 speakers, the organising commit- dents fully concentrated on their work eteria as well as an easy and interesting We are looking forward to organising tee and representatives of the spon- for the majority of its 24-hour duration. competition in which teams used the another workshop on an interesting new soring companies enjoyed dinner Unlimited quantities of water, coffee and Scratch programming language to suc- topic in the near future, and thus broad- together and used the opportunity snacks were offered to the participating cessfully complete a game of Pong. ening horizons of our students.

IEEE Region 8 News September 2017 11 student news

University of Bordeaux, France { IN BRIEF } Rocket’s 576km/h flight wins prize THE French Aerospace Industries Association, GI- of undergraduate, graduate and PhD students, FAS, and the French Space Agency, CNES, have with the support of the IEEE MTT-S French chap- conjointly awarded a prize to EirSpace ENSEIRB- ter, various academic institutes (including IMS MATMECA Engineering School Student Associa- research centre, Poly-Grames research centre, tion and Bordeaux Electrical Engineering Branch, I2M research centre and CFAI), as well as Thales, for the successful launch of its 2m-tall Artémis Airbus, CST and other industrial partners. experimental rocket. The success of this flight has motivated Stu- This prize rewarded an ambitious two-year dent Branch members to take part in the next OOAl Ain University of Science project culminating in a successful lift-off and four- C’Space edition, designing telemetry and tele­ and Technology, in conjunction minute flight during the C’Space student contest. command systems by implementing slot and 3D with the UAE MTT-S & IM-S Artémis reached an altitude of 1.95km and a maxi- printed blade antennas. Joint Chapter and AAU Student mum speed of 576km/h. The rocket was entirely www.ieee-bordeaux.org Branch, organized the 11th IEEE designed and manufactured by a team composed [email protected] UAE Student Day 2016 at the Photo: EirSpace Photo: Abu Dhabi Campus. Lviv Polytechnic National Some 350 students from University, Ukraine 13 universities across the United Arab Emirates com- peted for 24 awards in six Busy year for categories while participants had the opportunity to find new Chapter out more about IEEE, the So- THE first Ukrainian Computer lar Decathlon Competition and Society Student Chapter has been to attend a technical talk about established in Lviv as a subunit of the Dubai Electricity & Water Lviv Polytechnic National Univer- Authority (DEWA). sity Student Branch. The initiative derived from students and young University of Coimbra, Portugal professionals, along with Edvantis, a leading Ukrainian software engi- Portugal SB volunteers converge neering company which substan- tially helped during the process. Since it was founded in April on Coimbra for skills workshops last year, five workshops have MORE than 40 students gathered in Coim- by talks from José Pedro Silva, Tomás Tavares been organized, with tech talks bra, Portugal, for the 4th Leadership Camp to and Miguel Marques, who gave information OO300 students attended conducted by Edvantis’ leading share their experiences in managing Student about IEEE SAC/SSR, Student Branch Report- Mid-Year Training 2016 with engineers. The head of the Chap- Branches, participate in soft skills workshops, ing and provide the answers in their presenta- the slogan ‘Beyond Your ter, Ihor Zhuk, has also attended attend technical lectures and get in touch with tion ‘How to build a Sexy Student Branch?’. Expectations’, organized by Region 8 SYP Congress held in several engineering companies. Joana Pereira Tanta Student Branch. The Regensburg, Germany. João Santos from IST Student Branch spoke main technical tracks were The Chapter plans to run a about the TISP 2.0 program, while Gonçalo OOPortugal Section’s 35th birthday was cel- Robotics, Internet of Things, hackathon for young software en- Carito and Francisco Esteves held a workshop ebrated during Engineering day, organized AutoCAD Software, Software gineers, as a way to provide them on Self-Leadership and Group Dynamics. The by UC Student Branch in Coimbra. Talks were Engineering and Mechanical with an intensive training. Young Professional Portugal representative, given by Catarina Silva, José Manuel Terras, Engineering. Rafael Arrais, gave a talk about Affinity Groups Miguel Coimbra, Miguel Morgado, Pedro and Filipa Ramos spoke about WiE Portugal. Simeão and Daniela Fontes. Work by several These were followed by Anisa Shahidian’s Chapters was presented in a poster session, presentation about IEEE Academics. followed by an open discussion on ‘I finished A very enriching weekend was completed my degree! What now?’ Take advantage of mentoring and internships AS a part of Region 8’s Action for Industry ships seek high-ability IEEE students, AfI was evident from the contributions OOThe third consecutive open initiative, Industry Ambassadors have es- preferring those who show commitment, made by many who were benefitting T.I.S.P 2.0 festival was organ- tablished effective and friendly contacts communicate well and have good inter- from it. Already more than 100 IEEE ized by UTH (Lamia) Student with many companies across Region 8 personal skills, while offering them short- student members have been placed in Branch in the Central Square with the help of IEEE Seniors and Fellows term industry experiences. internships throughout Region 8. of Lamia, Greece. Students of who are already based in the industry. The AfI team participated at SYP 2016 Briefings can be found online here: all ages had the opportunity The aim is to move IEEE closer to indus- Congress in Regensburg and held a very Internships: https://goo.gl/N5iqc6 to gain an understanding of try by initiatives delivering credible and successful interactive workshop attended Listed offered internships:https://goo. simple engineering and no- sustainable value to industry. by more than 70 students and young pro- gl/mEiwg6 tion that every problem can be Many industry Seniors and Fellows fessionals, as well as Region 8 OpCom, Mentoring: https://goo.gl/XcyxGz solved when you cut it down are now available as Mentors to young candidates for IEEE president and the Volunteer Mentors: https://goo.gl/ to pieces and work rigorously. engineers. Companies offering intern- Region director. The strong interest in LMqL8M

12 IEEE Region 8 News September 2017