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IEEE KERALA SECTION

REPORT FOR YEAR 2005

PART A  - SECTION SUMMARY

A.1 Executive Summary

The activities of IEEE Kerala Section, for the year 2005, commenced with the Annual General Meeting held on 17^th January 2005 at Hotel Mascot Trivandrum, coinciding with the visit of the IEEE President Mr.Cleon Andersen. During the meeting, the following members were unanimously elected as office bearers for the year 2004.

Achievements in a nutshell

We did it again!  Briefly, our primary goals for 2005 as listed in our report for 2004 submitted at Singapore were stabilizing our achievements of 2004 and establishing a mentoring network for student members while keeping up the tempo of our technical activities.

We retained our membership nos.  In student activities our Section reached the top 5 in the world with 30 Student Branches approved and having 2307 student members

The highlights of the year were two highly successful seminars on Bio-informatics (BIOS-2005) and Information Security (Isec-2005) respectively.  This is the first time two national seminars were organized in a single year by our Section.

We tied up with the Kerala Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) for the mutual benefit of our members.

We also formally inaugurated a mentoring network for students as per our plans. To guide and coordinate effectively with student branches, we also established a Students Activity Board (SAB). Students Activities Coordinator is the Chairperson of this Board with chapter chairs of GOLD, Membership Development and Educational activities as members.

The IEEE activities in Kochi region of the Kerala State initiated by us during the previous year were sustained. A seminar on technology trends, the high point of the activities in this region, first conducted in 2004, was conducted this year also.

We maintained the pace of our technical activities throughout the year.  To encourage student members, Chairman’s Prize for most innovative student project was instituted.

 The Section Executive Committee nominated by the office bearers for the year 2005

IEEE Kerala Section has four Society Chapters and two affinity groups.

Chapters

·        Computer Society

·        Communications Society

·        Power Engineering Society

·        IA&IE combined chapter

Affinity Groups

·        GOLD (Graduates of the Old Decade)

·        WIE (Women in Engineering)

A2. Financial Report

STATEMENT OF NET WORTH (in Indian Rupees)

PART B  - ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES

B.1 Membership Development Programs

The Section embarked on a membership campaign during the year. Section officers attended activities of Student Branches to promote IEEE Membership.

The Membership position as on January 2006 is as follows:

B.2 Professional and Continuing Education Activities

Conferences

IEEE Kerala section organised various seminars during 2005. The major seminars were the two successful National Seminars on Bio-Informatics (BIOS 2005) and Information Security (ISec 2005) respectively and Trends 2005 – on recent trends in computing organised in Trivandrum.

Distinguished Lecture

Power Engineering Society chapter (PES) organized a tutorial on “Recent Developments in FACTS Technology” at Trivandrum on 17th October and at Cochin on 19th October. Dr Kalyan K Sen Senior member IEEE and distinguished lecturer of PES was the faculty. The tutorial covered the various types of Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) controllers and their usefulness in power system applications. Various modeling techniques in FACTS controllers were also briefly discussed. Altogether 45 delegates from industry, R&D organizations, utilities and academic institutions attended the tutorial at Trivandrum and Cochin.

Dr Sen conceived some of the basic concepts in FACTS technology. He has many publications in the area of FACTS and power electronics and also have seven patents in FACTS technology. He is an editor of IEEE transactions on Power Delivery .He made presentations in many countries as distinguished lecturer from the Power Engineering Society.

Technical events

The different chapters of IEEE Kerala section organised various technical seminars, workshops and talks as detailed separately.

IEEE Kerala section, in association with other Professional bodies at Trivandrum, viz., Institution of Engineers India - Kerala State Centre, Computer Society of India - Trivandrum Chapter, Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers – Trivandrum Centre and Aeronautical Society of India conducted 42 Technical talks on various topics of current interest. The list of the talks were

B.3 Students Activities

In 2005, Kerala Section achieved two distinctions

§         8th position worldwide in number of Student Branches in July 2005 with 22 Student Branches approved.  Now Kerala would be in first 5 with 30 Student Branches approved.

§         7th position worldwide in number of Student Members in July 2005 with 1037 Student members. Now Kerala would be in first 5 with over 2000 Student Members.

A Student Activities Board was constituted to assist the Student Activities Coordinator (SAC).

•         Student Activities Coordinator – Chairman

•         GOLD Chapter Chair - Member

•         Membership Development Chair – Member

•         Educational Activities Chair – Member

•         Member Secretary   

The following are the highlights of Student Activities.

The All Kerala Student Congress (AKSC 05) was conducted at FISAT, Angamaly. The First Ever meeting of Student Branch Counselors was held in Cochin.

SPAC was conducted at the following Student Branches - CUSAT,  SNGCE,  CEC

Section co-hosted the following programs organized by students.

•          EXCEL 2005 – Model Engg. College, Ernakulam

•          Resonance 05 – Govt. Engg College, Trichur

•          Summit – College of Engg., Chengannur

•          Sanchar Odyssey- CUSAT                       

Paper presentation contests where conducted at four student branches - St.Joseph College of Engg, Palai, Amrita Institute of Technology, Vallikkavu, AWH Engg. College, Calicut and at Mar Baselious College of Engg. Trivandrum respectively.

2005 saw the emergence of 9 more new student branches

§         TKM Institute of Technology, Cheerankavu, Kollam

§         Government College of Engineering, Sreekrishnapuram, Palakkad

§         Government College of Engineering, BartonHill, Trivandrum

§         AWH College of Engineering, Kuttikatoor, Calicut

§         Viswajyothi College of Engineering, Vazhakulam, Moovattupuzha

§         Mar Baselious College of Engineering, Nalanchira, Trivandrum

§         Lourde Matha College of Engineering, Trivandrum

§         Adishankara College of Engineering, Kalady, Ernakulam

§         Vidya Academy of Science & Technology, Kurumal, Trichur

In 2005 LINK (Local Integrated Network of IEEE students of Kerala) consolidated its operations with a membership of 20 Student Branches. LINK conducted a two-day camp at Calicut for all student branches. The camp helped many student branch office bearers to get clarity on operational aspects.

During the year, LINK facilitated the initiation of a mentoring network for all student members. This is expected to help in retaining the student members after their graduation. Mentors would also function as bridges to the professional community.

B.5 Email and newsletter activities

Newsletter

Four quarterly issues of the IEEE Kerala Newsletter were published in the year. The newsletter carried details of activities of the Section, Chapters and Student branches, apart from technical papers. Notifications about the forthcoming events were also published.

IEEE Kerala website http://www.ieee.org/kerala is constantly updated to include current news and events of the Section. The e-group of IEEE Kerala members “ieeekerala@yahoogroups.com” is also active in communicating with the members. 

The GOLD Affinity group has a separate web page http://www.ieee.org/kerala/gold  and  e-group gold_tvm@yahoogroups.com. 

WIE affinity group also has its own website http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/kerala/wie 

B.6 Awards and recognitions

• The Section received the coveted 2004 Distinguished Large Section Award.

• A Student Member of the IEEE Kerala Section Mr. Prijoe Philips Komattu won the Transnational 2005 RAB Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award.

B.7 Chapter Activities

The Section has three Society Chapters and two affinity groups.

Chapters

·        Computer Society

·        Communications Society

·        Power Engineering Society

·        IA&IE combined chapter

Affinity Groups

·        GOLD (Graduates of the Old Decade)

·        WIE (Women in Engineering)

B.7.1   Computer Society chapter

The Computer Society arranged several Talks.

B.7.2   Power Engineering Society (PES) chapter

The Power Engineering Society activities are highlighted below:

B.7.3 Industrial Applications & Industrial Electronics Society (IA and IE) Combined chapter

The Industrial Applications & Industrial Electronics Society (IA and IE) Combined chapter organized a series of lectures.

B.7.4   GOLD

B.7.5   WIE

WIE Kerala had started a student's outreach program of IEEE last year and took the implementation to the next level. The plan is to implement Science, Technology and Research (STAR) program and to introduce Engineering to Girl Students in different Girls’ schools of Kerala. For this purpose, WIE Kerala would design the curriculum and provide training to a pool of predominantly women faculty members. WIE proposes to manage the scheme on its own for 3 years.

•         Conducted Technical Talks for MCA students on Identity Theft & RFID

•         Inaugurated the WIE Student Group of FISAT with a sponsored talk on Leadership Development.

•         Conducted a Technical session on Internet Security in IIITMK in September.

•         Held a WIE Reception at AKSC in FISAT along with FISAT WIE Group

•         Interactions with Schools on Science Club activities

•         Sponsored the 6-day student convention “Balasabha Sangamam” organised by Kudumbasree in Punalur – a self-help group for under privileged women.  Dr. VK Damodaran addressed the 600 + school students in Balasabha Sangamam.

PART C – GOALS AND PLANS 

C.1 Goals

1.      We propose to consolidate our achievements of the previous two years.

2.      Maintain all regular and established activities of IEEE Kerala section

C.2 Detailed Implementation Plans

The following members were unanimously elected as office bearers for the year 2006, at the Annual General Meeting held on 7^th January 2006 at Hotel Muthoot Plaza, Trivandrum.

 Unni Krishnan A. K.                          :             Chairman

Amarnath Raja                                  :            Vice-Chairman

Aju Thomas Abraham                        :             Secretary

Unni Sankar                                      :            Treasurer

Soon after the AGM other office bearers were identified   as follows:

Section

1. Registration of IEEE Kerala section under the Charitable Societies Act
2. Conduct a major technical conference in July/ August 2006
3. Survey needs and expectations of members for effective planning.
4. Support Government of Kerala in Information Technology initiatives
5. Conduct weekly technical talks in association with other professional societies
6. Conduct activities of the Section in Central/ Northern Kerala to promote more participation by Central and Northern Kerala members.

Computer Society

1. Conduct seminars and talks on various topics like Aspect-Oriented Programming, JML, Object Databases
2. As part of 60th anniversary celebrations IEEE – Computer Society, increase interaction with students at Engineering colleges via a Software Design contest for College Students
3. An essay writing competition on "What do you think is the most innovative computing technology – the technology that affected the computer industry or the entire world"
4. Another talk on Image reconstruction and Scientific Visualization is planned.
5. A “Distinguished Lecture Program” is also being proposed.

Power Engineering Society

1. Conduct a workshop on energy management
2. Organize seminars
3. Distinguished lecture programs

IA & IE combined chapter

Conduct seminars and talks on industrial applications and electronics topics such as:

1. All India Seminar on Safety of Electrical Installations in March 2006
2. Workshop on Advances in Communication Technology in May 2006
3. All India Workshop on HVDC and FACTS in July 2006
4. National Seminar on Voltage Stability and Reactive Power Control in Sept 2006
5. National Workshop on Grid Computing in November 2006

GOLD

1. Organize Personality development programs at Academic institutions
2. Organize seminars and talks
3. Programs focusing on the social aspects of Information Technology are planned as follows:

§         University College of Engineering, Thodupuzha on Mar 11, 2006 - Introduction to IEEE GOLD by Shahid Iqbal

§         Cochin University of Science and Technology, CUSAT on Mar 4, 2006 - "What the Industry expects from students" by Jacob Iype

§         Amrita College of Engineering, Kollam on March 25, 2006 - Leadership Workshop by Jacob Iype, Shahid Iqbal, Nisha Dev, Anumohan Chandramohan

§         College of Engineering, Munnar - Soft Skills Development by Jacob Iype, Shahid Iqbal, Pravin Prakash, Anumohan Chandramohan.

Communication Society

1. ComSem 2006 - A seminar on Broadband Technologies in April 2006
2. Trends 2006 - A workshop on Recent Trends in Computing & Communication Technologies in July 2006.
3. Planning to get one more DLP in October 2006

WIE

1. Planning to conduct a Technical talk in Amritha Engg College, Kollam
2. Collaborating with WIE Student Affinity Groups in Colleges
3. School Outreach Program – Vacation classes & Sessions for various schools
4. Working with IEEE Education Society for workshops and paper writing contests
5. Organizing talks by eminent Engineers

Student activities

To conduct during the year the following activities

1. IEEE All Kerala Student Congress - March 2006
2. Web designing Workshops,
3. Java/XML Tutorials,
4. SPAC,
5. SPAVe,
6. Workshops on Mock Interview, Group Discussion etc.

Membership Development

1. To focus on Technopark, where about 5000 IT professionals work.
2. Promote membership up gradation along with new membership.

PART D  - OTHERS

D.1 Relationship with National Societies

IEEE Kerala Section is continuing its unique relationship with other sister professional Societies, namely, Institution of Engineers India (Kerala State Centre), Computer Society of India (Trivandrum and Cochin Chapters), Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (Trivandrum Centre) and Aeronautical Society of India (Trivandrum and Cochin Chapters). The Section actively participated in organising over forty joint activities with the sister societies, in the year. During the year the Section set up a co-operation agreement with Project Management Institute, Kerala Chapter for the mutual benefit of members belonging to PMI and IEEE in Kerala

D.2 Support for IT initiatives of Government of Kerala

IEEE Kerala Section has been associating with Kerala State IT Mission. The Section chair is ex-officio member in the Governing Council as well as in the Executive committee.  NT Nair of our Section is a member of the Apex Committee of the Center for E-Governance, for devising policies and programmes.

Kerala State IT Mission actively encourages the growth of free and open software in Kerala. A society named as SPACE has been formed for this purpose. Mr. PM Sasi, of our Section is a member of the executive committee of SPACE.

D.3 Assistance to socially underprivileged sections of the society

WIE Kerala had started a student's outreach program of IEEE last year and took the implementation to the next level. The WIE plan is to implement Science, Technology and Research (STAR) program for introducing Engineering to Girl Students in different rural Government schools of Kerala. WIE Kerala considers this a societal contribution. A pool of trained Science teachers would be formed from among the educated women of economically weaker background to support the program. IEEE Foundation has sponsored the School outreach program, which involves interactions with Science Clubs of rural Government Schools.

IEEE Kerala Section and WIE sponsored a 6-day student convention, Balasabha Sangamam in Punalur organised by Kudumbasree, a self-help group for under privileged women. Dr. VK Damodaran a senior IEEE member of the Section addressed the 600+ students of 8 ~ 12 years age from rural government schools.

In 2006 WIE and IEEE Kerala Section propose to expand the School Outreach Program by arranging Vacation classes on Science and technology topics in various rural schools.