News & Notes
a service of the IEEE Education Society

January 28, 2005               Vol.3 No.1

Rob Reilly, Editor
reilly@media.mit.edu

The same person cannot be skilled in everything, each person
has their own special excellence. —Euripides

Table of Contents

go to the IEEE Education Society Web site


2005 SOCIETY PRESIDENT DANIEL LITYNSKI—PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
To discover, to understand, to pass it on...

Education is a most fundamental human activity that includes all these things. Education done by engineers and scientists that involves innovation and creativity can be exciting and rewarding. Our profession and our passion for education are among the reasons we have an IEEE Education Society.

We say in our Society constitution that "the society shall strive for the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical and computer engineering and of the allied arts and sciences, and the maintenance of a high professional standing among its members and affiliates…" and that "The field of interest of the Society shall be Educational Methods, Educational Technology, Instructional Materials, History of Science and Technology, and Educational and Professional Development Programs within Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and allied disciplines."

Members of our Society have been, and are today, leaders at all levels of the profession. Our over 3,000 members from around the world comprise one of the 37 member societies of the IEEE and include academic administrators, faculty members, students, government professionals, and private sector leaders who are active in the field of science and engineering education. Many are also members of different societies in the IEEE or other professional societies. We are at the center of professional innovators who are devoted to educating future generations of engineers and scientists in the broad spectrum of domains spanned by the IEEE.

The IEEE today has over 360,000 individual members in approximately 175 countries. It is the global leader of professional societies devoted to development and implementation of information, electrical, computer, and emerging bio-engineering technologies. These areas are fundamental and critical to the health, prosperity, and security of our world. The IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's published literature in electrical engineering, computers and control technology, holds annually more than 300 major conferences and has nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development. There are more than 300 local organizations worldwide for member networking and information sharing and over 1,150 student branches at universities worldwide.

I am honored to be selected by the Society to serve as its President for the next year. I want to thank all of our volunteers who do such an outstanding job of administering our society, publications, conferences, awards, and other activities. We want to especially thank our now Junior Past President David Kerns and our Administrative Committee for their excellent service and leadership over the past two years.

As we start this year, our society will undergo a periodic (5 year) review by the IEEE. In the next few months, we will build on this review and our current strategic plans to examine who we are, where we are going, and how we plan to get there. We look forward to working with all of you as we seek to integrate the broad issues and challenges in engineering and science education with the goals and needs of our global society membership.

Best wishes to all for a professionally rewarding and a prosperous New Year,

Dan Litynski
President, IEEE Education Society
d.litynski@ieee.org

See Dan Litynski's biography.

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IEEE: BROWSE ALL ITS PUBLICATIONS, MAGAZINES, PROCEEDINGS FREE OF CHARGE You can now browse all IEEE journals and magazine, conference proceedings and standards; and this is FREE of charge!

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IEEE FOUNDATION OFFERS ONLINE GRANT APPLICATION
Grant seekers can now apply online for grants from the IEEE Foundation. At its November meeting, the IEEE Foundation awarded two new education grants totaling US$50,000. One will provide resources to the IEEE's grassroots leaders at IEEE Sections Congress 2005; the other will work through the global scouting movement to improve the technological literacy of boys and girls around the world. To learn more or to submit an online application,
visit the IEEE Foundation.

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EUROPEAN ACCREDITATION REPORT—REQUEST FOR COMMENTS BY FEB. 28, 2005
The EURopean ACredited Engineer project (EUR-ACE) has issued a Request for Comments in regard to its first version of the
EUR-ACE Standards and Procedures for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes.

According the goals of the committee, which are posted on their Web site:

The EUR-ACE project aims at setting up an European system for accreditation of Engineering education, with the following main aims: provide an appropriate “European label” to the graduates of the accredited educational programmes, improve the quality of educational programmes in engineering, facilitate trans-national recognition by the label marking, facilitate recognition by the competent authorities, in accord with the EU Directives and facilitate mutual recognition agreements. The system will be based on a set of common European standards that will be proposed, tested in a number of countries, refined and tuned, and then tested again in order to achieve the largest consensus. Also, a detailed proposal will be formulated on how to set up and run the system that must become self-supporting within the five years. The project will thus interest several target groups, from higher education decision-makers at the European level to governing bodies of HE Institutions (Higher Education Institutions), from national and local HE authorities to engineering teachers, from professional organisations to employers of engineers. It will be a significant contribution to the harmonization of the European higher education, and possibly pave the way for analogous initiatives in other professional fields.

For more information see: http://www.feani.org/EUR_ACE/EUR_ACE_Main_Page.htm.

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CALL FOR 2005 EAB AWARD NOMINATIONS
The IEEE Educational Activities Board is accepting nominations of IEEE members for its annual awards, including:

  • IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Accreditation Activities
  • IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education
  • IEEE EAB Major Educational Innovation Award
  • IEEE EAB Pre-College Educator Award
  • IEEE EAB Meritorious Service Citation
  • IEEE EAB Employer Professional Development Award
  • IEEE EAB Society/Council Professional Development Award

The nomination deadline is 30 April. For award descriptions, honorarium details and nomination packets, visit Educational Activities.

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FELLOWSHIP IN ELECTRICAL HISTORY— IEEE FOUNDATION
This February 1, 2005 deadline announcement is very short notice. But this information just came to light. It is included here as one of the Education Society's areas of interest is "history"!

The IEEE Life Members Committee is offering an IEEE Fellowship in Electrical History for either one year of full-time graduate work in the history of electrical science and technology, or up to one year of post-doctoral research for a scholar in the field who has received his or her doctoral degree within the past three years. The stipend is US$17,000, with a research budget of US$3,000. The deadline for completed applications is 1 February 2005. To learn more and apply for the fellowship, visit the IEEE History Center

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IEEE AWARDS BOARD SEEKS MEMBERS
The IEEE Awards Board Nominations and Appointments Committee (AB N&A) is currently seeking candidates for:

  • Awards Board Members-at-Large
  • Awards Board Presentation & Publicity Chair
  • Awards Board Finance Committee Chair
  • Awards Board Medals Council Chair
  • Awards Board Recognitions Council Chair
  • Awards Board Technical Field Awards Council Chair
  • Award/Medal Selection Committee Members

Criteria for appointment consists of, but is not limited to, membership on an Awards Board selection committee, receipt of an IEEE Institute-level award, membership on society, section or region awards committee, and membership on another IEEE board. If interested, send a brief biography along with a complete list of IEEE award activity experience in two pages or less to Leslie Russell (l.russell@ieee.org), IEEE Awards. The deadline is 1 March.

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ENCORE: GETTING PUBLISHED IN THE IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION
In May 2004, Ted Batchman, a former Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Education, was a guest speaker on the
Education Society's online forum. His topic was entitled: "Getting Published in the IEEE Transactions on Education." Professor Batchman's talk has been available online since May 2004 and has proven to be a well-traveled web page. Each month approximately 7% of the traffic to the Education Society's web site goes directly to Ted Batchman's talk.

A few of the questions that Professor Batchman addresses are:

  • What are some common problems with submitted papers?
  • What's the difference between a conference paper and a journal paper (e.g., the review process, the level of expectation of the peer-review-journal reviewer vs. the conference paper reviewer)?
  • What makes an 'acceptable' journal paper and what makes an 'award winning' journal paper?
  • How important is the bibliography/references?
  • So that we can better understand the time-element of the review process, can you review the editorial process from submission to publication?
  • Any advice for authors whose native language is not English?
  • and more...

To see Ted Batchman's complete presentation go to: www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/batchman.html

Other Guest Speaker presentations have been made via the Education Society's electronic mailing list. Those presentations by invited Guest Speakers have been archived and are available at:

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CALL FOR AWARD PAPERS—HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY
SHOT, the Society for the History of Technology (not an IEEE Society), in consultation with the IEEE History Center, is accepting submissions for the IEEE Life Members' Prize in Electrical History. The award is for the best paper in electrical history published in 2004. Papers from any learned journal or magazine are eligible provided they treat the art or engineering aspects of electrotechnology and its practitioners in historical perspective. The prize consists of a cash award of US$500 and a certificate. The prize will be presented at SHOT's annual meeting on 3-6 Nov. in Minneapolis, Minn., USA. For more information,
visit SHOT's Web site.

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ENCORE: NOMINATE SOMEONE AS AN IEEE FELLOW

Notice: Due to the increased volume of applications the IEEE Fellows Committee (not the Education Society) has changed the deadline for submitting completed Fellow nominations. The new deadline is March 1st (the previous deadline was March 15th). This is a firm deadline!
Also: The Education Society, as an organization, does not initiate Fellow nominations or provide references. The Education Society's Fellows Committee reviews the Fellow-candidate's nomination package for the purpose of providing the IEEE Fellows Committee with a recommendation. Essentially this recommendation places the individual Fellow-candidate's accomplishments in perspective for the IEEE Fellows Committee.

However: While the Fellow nomination process does not allow Societies (as such) to make nominations, many Education Society Fellows are more than willing to provide references and/or make nominations for deserving individuals.

The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon an IEEE Senior Member with an:

"extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE Fields of Interest."
The total number of new Fellows selected in any single year can not exceed one-tenth percent of the total voting Institute membership.

Frequently asked questions about the Fellows nomination process.

The IEEE has established the Fellows Nomination Resource Center (FNRC) to assist nominators in locating the required number of references to support a nomination to IEEE Fellow Grade. Primarily the Center's main function is to help nominators of candidates who are practitioners and/or who reside in Region 9, which is Central and South America. The FNRC will operate on an experimental basis for a 3-year period. For more information about the FNRC, click here.

For all members in all IEEE Regions, if you wish to nominate someone for Fellow, please refer to the IEEE's Fellow Program Web page for details. Bear in-mind that March 1st is the hard deadline for submission of completed applications. And, given the logistics of the process it is best to allow 5-6 months—start the Fellow Nomination process in September or October.

For more information go the Education Society's Fellow Web resource

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2005 IEEE VP, SECRETARY, TREASURER
At its 17 November meeting in San Antonio, Texas, the IEEE Assembly elected the following individuals to serve one-year terms on the IEEE Board of Directors beginning 1 January 2005:

  • Moshe Kam, Vice President - Educational Activities
  • Leah H. Jamieson, Vice President - Publication Services and Products
  • Marc T. Apter, Vice President - Regional Activities
  • Mohamed El-Hawary, IEEE Secretary
  • Joseph V. Lillie, IEEE Treasurer

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ENCORE: IS THERE AN EDUCATION SOCIETY CHAPTER NEAR YOU?
A review of the 2003 IEEE All-Society Review reveals that 50% of the Education Society (EdSoc) members do not know if there is an EdSoc Chapter in their local area. We need to address that as Chapters serve several purposes and could prove useful to you, or, you may want to start a Chapter in your area!

The EdSoc has some 2 dozen Chapters scattered throughout the world. For a listing of those Chapters and to review what is available for Chapters, see: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/chapters.html.

And, I might add, there are a number of Chapters that are just about to become official. They include: Central & Southern Italy, Austria, Alabama USA, Slovenia, Switzerland, Singapore, Central Indiana USA, Southeast Michigan USA, and Malaysia.

All these chapters exist for a number of reasons—some obvious, some not so obvious. The obvious reasons for chapter development are:

  • to facilitate membership growth,
  • to provide community service, and
  • to promote collegial networking in various localities.

However there are other very powerful reasons to develop chapters. Chapter development CAN ALSO provide a mechanism:

  • to foster the identification and development of LEADERS who can, for example:
    • represent their colleagues and present a unified position to their federal government, to their college administration, to the European Union Education Commission, to the United Nations education committees, etc., or,
    • represent their colleagues and formulate grant/funding proposals.
  • to establish VISIBILITY for the Education Society!

If there is no Chapter in your area, it is relatively easy to start one. The Chair of the EdSoc Chapters Committee has templates that can be customized for your area and placed online so that EdSoc members in your Section can access them via the Internet, print them out, sign them and return them to you. Contacting the EdSoc members in your Section can also be accomplished quite easily. The Chair of the Chapters Committee can use the IEEE's e-Notice mechanism to send an email notice to EdSoc members in your area, which would inform them of the Chapter Formation Drive and direct them to the online Petition. See for example, the Austria Chapter Formation Petition (www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/austria.html).

EdSoc Chapters exist for many reasons. Some IEEE Sections may not have a reason to establish one, some IEEE Sections may greatly benefit from having a Chapter. If you would like to lead an effort to establish an EdSoc Chapter in your IEEE Section contact the Chair or the EdSoc Chapters Committee via email — Rob Reilly at reilly@media.mit.edu.

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NEWS&NOTES ADMINISTRIVIA
This publication is a service of the IEEE Education Society. It will be published as the need for information dissemination arises. Our expectation is that News & Notes will be published monthly. However, if urgent information surfaces, a bulletin with just that information will be published immediately.

If you would like an item placed in News & Notes, send it to: Rob Reilly, Editor (reilly@media.mit.edu).

A special thank you to Burks Oakley II who serves as editorial review board for the News&Notes bulletin.

Click here to view a list of the Education Society officers.

Click here to view a list of Administrative Committee (AdCom) members.

All issues of News & Notes are available on the EdSoc's web site just click here.

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visit the Education Society's Web site at: www.ieee.org/edsoc