Yearly Archives: 2019


Alpha Engineers

The Alpha Engineers Competition is an IEEE R8 Professional and Educational Activities programme addressed to the IEEE Region 8 Sections and sub-Sections only,  that aims at organizing events for promoting engineering to the community via various means. The goals of the programme are to:

  • Empower section volunteers to collaborate with their local pre-university community;
  • Promote STEM, in particular engineering;
  • Enhance the level of technical literacy of pre-university educators and pupils;
  • Encourage pre-university students to pursue technical careers, including engineering;
  • Increase the general level of technical literacy of pre-university students throughout their education;
  • Change the views on engineering and accentuate the importance of engineering in the world.

The sessions/events can be delivered by IEEE volunteers or invited speakers (IEEE members or non-IEEE members). A set of activities are eligible for the Alpha Engineers competition. These are being further described in Alpha Engineers Competition handbook.

 

Eligible Activities

  • Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) workshops.
  • TISP 2.0
  • Working with children training events for volunteers.
  • Engineering talks for parents.
  • Career talks for upper level pupils.
  • Online talks for schools.
  • Science Fairs Participation

Eligible Participants

IEEE Region 8 Sections and sub-Sections

Alpha Engineers Handbook

Alpha Engineers Handbook

Professional And Educational Activities Committee (PEAC)

 

Mission

  • Promote public awareness of engineering, technology, and other topics within IEEE Fields of Interest.
  • Coordinate educational activities programs in Region 8 on three levels: pre-university, university-level and post-university/continuing education.
  • Educate and support local volunteers to develop and execute professional and educational seminars and workshops in Region 8.
  • Develop programs that provide additional value to members.
Dalius Navakauskas, PEAC 2025 Chair Natalia Piaseczna, PEAC 2025 member Dora Fourou, PEAC 2025 member

Dalius Navakauskas
(Lithuania) Chair

Natalia Piaseczna
(Poland) Member

Dora Fourou
(Greece) Member

Andrejs Romanovs, PEAC 2025 Past-Chair Jenipher Ogara, PEAC 2025 Cor. Member Mohamed Ali Zormati, PEAC 2025 Cor. Member

Andrejs Romanovs
(Latvia) Past Chair

Jenipher Ogara
(Kenya) Cor. Member

Mohamed Ali Zormati
(Tunisia) Cor. Member

Rabih Rammal, PEAC 2025 Cor. Member Igor Matias, PEAC 2025 Cor. Member Stamatis Dragoumanos, PEAC 2025 Cor. Member

Rabih Rammal
(Lebanon) Cor. Member

Igor Matias
(Switzerland) Cor. Member

Stamatis Dragoumanos
(Greece) Cor. Member


Pre-University Activities Works Committee aims to encourage pre-university students to follow Engineering. In order to do that PUWC has a variety of programs and contest in order to:

  • Inform pre-university student parents about the Engineering way of thinking and its role in society
  • Encourage the technological literacy of pre-university students
  • Support Educators in implementing tryengineering.org lesson plans
  • Help pre-university students develop essential non-technical skills


The objective of this committee, working under the tutelage of the Professional and Educational Activities Sub-Committee is to support Student members in their path to develop their non-technical and technical skills and to spread and encourage the creation of education-driven university activities by IEEE volunteers on Region 8, such as :

  • Online Educational University-level resources
  • Peer-aided engineering study groups
  • Student-papers publications development
  • University educational-activities news spreading
  • Entrepreneurship Week


Continuing Educational Activities Works Committee aims to support IEEE members to their professional life by providing resources and programs that help them develop both their technical and non-technical skills.
Such programs are the PEA Speakers Program and the Entrepreneurship Week, IEEE’s eLearning Library and Technical English programs and many more.


Entrepreneurship Week Description

The IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Initiative is an initiative started in 2018 and led by the IEEE Region 8 Young Professionals team aimed at the segment of existing and potential members that habit the Entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The end goal of this Initiative is three-folded: to strengthen the knowledge of our young entrepreneurs by providing them mentorship, boosting their network by putting them in contact with the relevant stakeholders, and getting them global exposure by sponsoring their participation in Summits and other Entrepreneurship events of the kind.

 

We believe that IEEE encompasses a unique strength in this domain with the technical foundations of the organization and the ability to shape the entrepreneurship endeavor innovative and impactful.

 

IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Week is a program supported by IEEE Region 8 Young Professionals, IEEE Region 8 Professional and Educational Activities subcommittee, and IEEE Region 8 Action for Industry where the selected Entrepreneurship ambassadors are encouraged to organize a free-form event of the entrepreneurship spirit that also incorporates pitching competition for the teams with innovations, startups and capable teams with creative intentions in general.

 

Those events should be held during the annual Global Entrepreneurship Week. The “Global Entrepreneurship Week is a collection of tens of thousands of events, activities, and competitions each November that inspire millions to explore their potential as an entrepreneur while fostering connections and increasing collaboration within their ecosystems. In total, it is estimated to gather 10 million people, 35,000 events in 170+ countries.”

 

The nature of each local event, the topics, the speakers and the agenda are tailored by the Entrepreneurship ambassadors.

Ambassador needs to work with IEEE Student Branches, Young Professional Affinity Groups, or parts of sections such as Professional Activities, society chapters, or more. Bear in mind that this could also be a good source for part of the event organization funding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


PEA Speakers Program Description

PEA Speakers program is a platform through which distinguished and experienced professionals can share their valuable knowledge in PEAC’s fields of interest to IEEE Region 8 members and help them by providing guidance on developing useful skills for their professional life.

 

The program contains two tiers of Speaker profiles: Distinguished Speakers and Experienced Speakers.

Distinguished Speakers –

These speakers are international thought leaders from academia, industry, and government and will be available primarily to present face-to-face sessions if requested by IEEE Region 8 OUs. Region 8 PEAsC funds the travel of these individuals to OU events and the OU is expected to cover local costs.

 


TISP Week

The TISP week is a program to conduct teacher training workshops in multiple Sections and Regions  within a span of one or two weeks.
Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) is a professional development workshop for school teachers to help them bring exciting hands-on activities to their classroom.
More information about the program can be found here: http://www.ieee.org/education_careers/education/preuniversity/tispt/index.html

 

This will showcase the incredible work being done by our education activities volunteers, train teachers to deliver Inquiry Based Science Education sessions and will also help train more volunteers in the local sections. This event will also help our local volunteers deliver a public service through training teachers.

 

We plan to conduct workshops in as many sections as possible and would like to invite your Section to organize a TISP workshop for school teachers during this TISP week.

 

The following rules will apply for organizing a workshop as part of the TISP week:
  1. A minimum of 30 school teachers will be trained.
  2. The event will a minimum of one or a maximum of two days long.
  3. The event dates will fall within the TISP week dates.
  4. As our funds are limited, we would like to request the local Section to fund the organization of the event. EAB can only fund the lesson plan materials* for the workshop and would be grateful if the Section can fund the rest of the local costs of venue, etc. The funding amount is up to USD 250 per workshop and it will be reimbursed after submitting the reimbursement form.
  5. A member of the local organizing committee will participate in monthly TISP week organizing committee online calls.
We will help your local organizing committee plan an effective agenda for the workshop.
There are lots of information and TISP resources in our website, http://tispweek.ieee.org which I encourage you to visit.
For further details and questions don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected].
*Lesson plan materials are the materials described in the lesson plan’s pdf you will implement in the workshop plus the printouts of the pdf, student worksheet and educator feedback forms. Any other expense (e.g traveling, posters, promotional materials, coffee break, lunches, gifts etc) is not covered.

Acceleration Program Description

1. Presentation

The IEEE acceleration contest is a program aiming to promote educational activities among IEEE volunteers and IEEE entities in Region 8, the program allows local initiatives to get higher visibility and to be supported by the prestigious IEEE R8 Technical & Educational activities board.

The program is looking for outstanding contributions and innovative initiatives in:

– An educational program for Pre-University Education;

– An educational program for University Education;

– An educational program for Continuing Education;

The contest aims to:

  • Provide an opportunity to IEEE Region 8 members to initiate programs in Educational Activities;
  • Showcase the innovation and drive of IEEE Region, 8 members, to an international audience;
  • Find creative programs which provide value to IEEE membership and the general public.

Awardees will receive financial support up to 500 USD and a certificate of appreciation.

Programs should be built by IEEE volunteers collectives and serve the values and technical fields of the organization. While local collaborations with local associations, administrations, and/or companies are highly appreciated.

  • The pre-university Education contest: Gather initiative working on pre-university education at all levels basic education as well as college education. The program targets pupils, educators, or both and should involve IEEE volunteers as key actors. Proposals focusing on STEM and IEEE try-engineering portals are encouraged to submit.
  • The university education contest: Target educational and technical activities arranged by IEEE volunteers for the benefices of the student members and /or the student community at large.
  • The continuing education contest: focus on activities promoting continuing education among members with a focus on IEEE continuous education resources and related materials.

2. Eligibility

  • Participation can be from an individual or a team (up to 4 team members);
  • Teams that were winners or runner up in previous Acceleration Contests and haven’t delivered the reports requested are not qualified to apply;
  • Individuals or teams can submit up to 2 proposals;
  • At least one IEEE member needs to be part of the team. If the entry is submitted by an individual then the individual should be an IEEE member;
  • The competition is open to all member grades.

3. Submission process

The proposal should should include the following sections, in the same order:

  1. The title of the project.
  2. Team members names and affiliations.
  3. Summary of the idea (abstract, maximum 250 words).
  4. Keywords: main technical field and target audience.
  5. Introduction.
  6. Description of the idea.
  7. Is the program scalable and sustainable? How?
  8. How does the idea align with MGA goals (https://mga.ieee.org/board-committees) – The idea doesn’t have to align with all goals.
  9. Description of educational outcomes of the program.
  10. Descriptions of the skills the participants will develop.
  11. Additional information (optional).

Additionally, the submission shall:

  • Clearly include the full name of all team members and the Section name;
  • If the application is submitted by a Student Branch then the Name and Location of the Student Branch must be included;
  • Be endorsed by the Section Chair or the Section Educational Activities Chair.

4. Judging

Idea proposals will be judged in the following areas:

  • Innovation of the idea;
  • The educational outcomes of the idea;
  • Scalability of the idea;
  • Sustainability of the idea;
  • Humanitarian aspects of the idea;
  • The number of the MGA goals the idea is aligned with.

Acceleration contest is closed for 2025

The deadlines are the following:
– Submission deadline: 31st May 2025
– Decision: 16th June 2025

Titles of the Acceleration Program Activities for the Year 2025

Winners for this year are selected (they will be informed by e-mail personally). Big thanks to all who are interested in participating in the program. The PEAC received 42 applications, of which only 8 were chosen to be supported:

  • ARBoard: See beyond the circuit (Italy Section)
  • Advancing Space Science Education through CubeSat Development: Unlocking Academic and Research Opportunities in Al Sharqiyah (Oman Section)
  • Autonomous Vehicle Design Bootcamp (Kenya Section)
  • ElectroRural: Sparking STEM Interest through Basic Electronics in Rural Nigerian Schools (Nigeria Section)
  • GenAI for RoboticsL University Bootcamp & Challenge (Tunisia Section)
  • InduTech4Edu: Industrial IoT Education for Smart Manufacturing and Predictive Maintenance (Tunisia Section)
  • STEM Analytics for Future Innovators: Empowering UK Secondary School Students and Educators (UK and Ireland Section)
  • STEM Her Future: A Community-Driven STEM Bootcamp for Girls in Eziobodo Village (Nigeria Section)

Congratulations to the winners!

In case of any questions regarding the Acceleration Program please contact us at  [email protected].


Policies and Procedures

 

Interested speakers can be nominated, invited or can apply to be a part of the PEAsC Speakers programs.

Fields of interest

The topics/focus areas covered in the Speakers program include:

  • Personal Skills e.g. creativity, self-confidence and self-motivation;
  • Influence Skills e.g. leadership, project management and organizational;
  • Relationship Skills e.g. customer relations, networking and communications;
  • Product Skills: Quality Control, Marketing, Assessment, Innovation, Concepts etc
  • Program and Project Management Skills:
  • Writing Skills: Technical Paper/Proposal writing, Project Proposal, Reports of Projects etc
  • Oral Skills: Presentation skills, Speaking, etc
  • Employment: International Careers, Employer Requirements, Retirement programs, etc
  • Entrepreneurship: Business Models, Creating Products, Running a Company etc
  • Disruptive technology: the effect of the latest technology and its development on the business, economy and our future

 

Policies and Procedures

 

  • A PEA Speakers Program Ad hoc Committee (PEA SPC) shall be formed by the PEASC Chair.
  • The PEA SPC has the mandate to run the Speakers Program and appoint speakers.
  • The IEEE PEASC Chair is responsible for forming the PEA SPC
  • The ad hoc committee invites potential Speakers, receives open nominations and evaluates profiles.
  • Evaluation of Speaker profiles and recommendation for appointments are sent to Region 8 OpCom by PEASC chair on behalf of PEA SPC.
  • Speakers are appointed after the approval by Region 8 OpCom.
  • IEEE Sections or OUs can apply for PEA Speaker for their events.
  • Speakers are funded up to $500 for their travel per year. Exceptions are possible and will be decided on a case by case basis.
  • Speakers will be reimbursed for their expenses after the event.
  • Guidelines for claiming reimbursement follows Region 8’s guidelines as described in this document: https://ieeer8.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/12/r8_expenses_guidelines.pdf
  • Furthermore PEASC will only reimburse
    • Transportation expenses to and from the event location
    • Visa or other papers issuing cost needed
  • All local expenses including accommodation, local travel and meals shall be covered by the local OU.
  • All speakers shall be appointed for a two-year term.

From more details on the program please check PEA speakers program manual

PEA Speakers Program Manual Download

PEA Speakers Program Manual

PEA Speakers Request Form

Click here to redirected to our google form for requesting a speaker for your event
Have in mind that according to PEA Speakers manual, a support letter by your OU chair is needed. To upload it you must be logged in with your google account.


PEAC Programs


The Professional and Educational Activities Committee organizes a great variety of programs and contests in order to serve its goals and mission.

Acceleration Program

Proposals on new educational programs are received, for each educational level (pre-university, university, continuing education). The proposal is evaluated by a judging committee and a Seed Funding Prize is given to the winner of each educational level.


Local Language Program

The Local Language program is intended to promote activities (online or in person) and online content in different countries, aside from English, in Region 8.

This program promotes IEEE content and its areas across the entire Region 8 and has funds available to help these activities be developed.

Currently, Region 8 is looking for ambassadors who will arrange several events in their selected local languages. Each ambassador can be nominated in more than one language if they are available.


PEA Speakers Program

PEA Speakers program is a platform through which distinguished and experienced professionals can share their valuable knowledge in PEAsC’s fields of interest to IEEE Region 8 members and help them by providing guidance on developing useful skills for their professional life.

The program contains two tiers of Speaker profiles: Distinguished Speakers and Experienced Speakers.


TISP Week

During a specific week of the year, which is called TISP Week, Sections are encouraged to organize TISP Workshops. The lesson plan materials for the workshop are reimbursed by EAB.


Alpha Engineers

alphaThe program requires sections to organize activities aimed at promoting engineering to pre-university pupils, teachers, and parents.

Activities that are eligible for this project are: TISP workshops, TISP 2.0 (organizing a TISP workshop for children), career talks for pupils, talks for parents, webinars for promoting engineering in schools, training sessions for working with children for IEEE volunteers. After submitting the events they have organized and supporting evidence for the events, they will get different points depending on what activities they performed.


Entrepreneurship Week

Sections are called to organize events that promote Entrepreneurship during Global Entrepreneurship Week (NOVEMBER 18–24, 2019) where talks will be given by CEOs and startuppers, informing participants how to run a business, followed by workshops and hands-on activities.

In these events, Sections are encouraged to organize pitching contests and winners will have to opportunity to participate in a Regional Pitching Contest, be mentored by Action for Industry mentors, and get seed funding for their startup.
Speakers from the PEA Speakers program can hold workshops in Entrepreneurship Week Events.