Yearly Archives: 2020


IEEE Connecting Experts webinars by IEEE Young Professionals – June 2020

Building on the successful May edition, we are now growing and bringing you 13 webinars in June on topics of Entrepreneurship, Profession and Technology, with a new category introduced this month – Space. The program is also extended by additional collaboration of several local, regional and global IEEE organizational units: Lebanon, Denmark, Turkey and Sweden affinity groups, IEEE Region 8 Women in Engineering, IEEE Microwaves Theory and Techniques Society Young Professionals and IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Initiative.

 

 

For IEEE members who would like to actively participate in the session by providing text, voice or video comments and questions during discussion, there is a possibility to participate in the Webex calls. For this, please register your e-mail within the following form (you may use IEEE login as well) and you will receive details for each upcoming webinar. You can also find this option in the IEEE Connecting Experts Calendar that will be regularly updated with Webex registration details together with events, topic and speaker descriptions.

 

For all others who are interested, we are going to live stream on our Facebook page and Youtube channel so feel free to share info with all of your friends and colleagues.

 

Keep healthy and safe,

IEEE Region 8 Young Professionals


IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Initiative – Call for Ambassadors, by June 15, 2020

IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Initiative, a program led by IEEE Region 8 Young Professionals and IEEE Region 8 Professional and Educational Activities, aimed at the segment of existing and potential members that habit the entrepreneurship ecosystem. We believe that IEEE encompasses a unique strength in this domain with the technical foundations of the organization and offers ability to shape an entrepreneurship endeavor innovative and impactful.

 

After we achieved a significant success in 2019 with 130 ambassadors from more than 20 countries in the region, who held 25 local events that resulted in over 35 technical innovations, finally leading to 6 finalist startups from all over our region, we are now kicking off a new edition. In 2020, we are planning a competition phase organized locally in sections, student branches and affinity groups, with local ambassadors, organizers and competition expert evaluators.

 

The role of motivating, organizing and implementing the competition in sections is the role of an IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Initiative Ambassadors. While we are all adjusting to new ways of operation in the time of epidemics, response hackathons and datathons are already taking place around the world , with a hope that in-person events will be possible in 2nd half of the year. If you are a motivated volunteer interested in the technical innovations and shaping them to the entrepreneurship endeavor, we encourage you to fill the form – by June 15, 2020.

 

More information about the program can be found at our social media page and through the application form.

 

Check the photos of 2019 local events in the collage below.

 


IEEE Connecting Experts webinars by IEEE Young Professionals – May 2020

Dear IEEE Region 8 Young Professionals,
we hope you are all in good standing, healthy and safe in these difficult times.

 

Since the lock-down unfortunately cancelled or postponed plenty of our events, we are all turning to digital and online versions. With this, our IEEE Connecting Experts program of bringing speakers to industry is now also transferring to the online version, open for participation and streamed through our social media.

 

The program is consisted of series of webinars that are bringing a technical topic by an expert in a given field in form of a conference keynote style presentation of 30-45 minutes duration followed by Q&A, to the wide audience of young professionals, including MSc and PhD students, young industry professionals and young tech-entrepreneurs from Region 8. The online version is kicked-off as a response to the current pandemic confinement with a goal to provide education and engagement to the electrical engineering young professionals.

 

For IEEE members who would like to actively participate in the session by providing text, voice or video comments and questions during discussion, there is a possibility to participate in the Webex calls. For this, please register your e-mail within the following form (you may use IEEE login as well) and you will receive details for each upcoming webinar. You can also find this option in the IEEE Connecting Experts Calendar that will be regularly updated with Webex registration details together with events, topic and speaker descriptions.

 

The program will continue beyond May 2020 and we will send you regular monthly schedule over IEEE eNotice system.

 

For all others who are interested, we are going to live stream on our Facebook page and Youtube channel so feel free to share info with all of your friends and colleagues.

 

In cooperation with IEEE Region 8 Women in Engineering and IEEE Industry Engagement Committee, we are bringing you few events in May on the following topics:

 

 

Keep healthy and safe,

IEEE Region 8 Young Professionals


R8 YP Team at Tunisian Student and Young Professionals Congress 2019

The Tunisian Students and Young Professionals congress is the annual congress for the IEEE student and young professionals in Tunisia. The congress attracts over 1000 IEEE members from different cities in Tunisia as well some other participants from neighbor countries. The congress is the unique event which brings more than 30 IEEE student branches to interact, collaborate, and increase effective networking. Furthermore, student branches compete to organize the next year congress.

 

IEEE Region 8 Young professionals committee was honored to participate in the 7th edition of the congress organized by IEEE ENIT Student Branch, from 15th December to the 17th December 2019 and held a YP introduction workshop that gathered more than 200 attendees.

 

During this workshop IEEE Members in Tunisia had the change to discover the Young professionals by asking questions to the YP committee. They also had fun by dancing Macarena with the Subcommittee Team.

 

by Seif El Hajjem

 

 


IEC and YP sponsored “Harnessing Indigenous Talents for Sustainable development” Panel discussion at Power Africa

The 2019 IEEE PES/IAS Power Africa conference was held at the beautiful city of Abuja, Nigeria between the 20th to 24th August. Power experts, students, young professionals, government agencies, researchers and industry leaders assembled in the capital city of Nigeria during the conference. The first Panel sessions on day 1 of the Power Africa Conference was jointly sponsored by the Industry Engagement Committee and IEEE young professionals. It was attended by over 200 plus conference Attendees and also it was open to over 60+ non-conference Attendees. The panel session was the last activity of day 1 after which a cocktail Welcome party for power Africa was held.

 

The event commenced around 5:30pm (UTC+1) after the Tutorial sessions at the Auditorium. The title was “Harnessing Indigenous Talents for Sustainable Development”. The session was moderated by Engr. John Funso Adebayo providing the brief about the topic and further invite the panellist to the stage for the discussions. The Panelist are Mr. Aliyu Folorunsho (MD/CEO of Telnet), Dr Joyce Wigwe ( General Electric Africa) providing legal and regulatory perspective, Prof. Gloria Chukwudebe (Africa Area Chair) providing the academia angel and bridging the gap with the industry and  Philippa Ngaju Makobore (UIRI) providing research and development perspective.

 

Each Panellist was provided with 5-7 mins to express his or her view on the topic and moderator further engage them with questions on topic. Audience were provided with opportunity to contribute. Amongst many contributors is Co-Founder of ISV Robin Podmore and Energy Expert Bai Blyden. Participants were satisfied with the take home from and session with the zeal to apply lesson learnt for their day to day activities.

 

by Abdullateef Aliyu

 


A great year for Young Professionals Germany

Just a few years ago, the IEEE Germany Section was a host of our IEEE R8 Student and Young Professionals congress. Today, Germany is a place of big events again. In 2019, IEEE Germany Young Professionals Affinity Group elected a new committee. This new committee, chaired by Ali Aboosaidi, started with a set of new activities and events, spread all over the Germany section. In just 6 months they managed to organize 5 events which were attended with more than 100 participants.

The activities started with a distinguished lecture on Autonomous Driving Testing and Validation, by Dr Hadj Hamma Tadjine, held at German International University in Berlin.
It is important to mention active participation of IEEE German YP AG at Symposium on Schottky barrier MOS devices “Towards neuromorphic and quantum computing applications”, which was held in France. The symposium was full day activity with several keynote talks and discussions, but it was also an opportunity for young people to meet some of the most recognized experts in this field like Dr John Snyder, Dr Satender Kataria, Dr Francesca Chiodi and many others.

The IEEE Germany YP AG also organises, in cooperation with the Robert Bosch GmbH, a company visit at the semiconductor headquarters of Bosch in Reutlingen, Germany. The visit took place on 20th April 2020 and offers a MEMS fab tour, marketplace, and workshops in specific semiconductor topics of integrated circuits (IC) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
Beside of local activities, members of Germany YP AG took active participation in IEEE West Europe Student-Young Professional Congress (WESYP) where they exchanged knowledge and idea with other IEEE members.

More interesting events and activities are coming in 2020 in Germany.  Some of the already planned activities are Workshop on Smart Antennas,  distinguished lecture on the topic of  “Electromagnetic Compatibility for Wireless Power Transfer”, as well as some networking events. If you find your self around, our warm recommendation is to join these activities.


Reflection on 5th IEEE Hellenic Student and Young Professionals Congress, November 8-10, 2019

The 5th IEEE Hellenic Student and Young Professional Congress took place at Greece’s City of Thousand Colors, Xanthi! Bring industry and academia together, 5th IEEE Hellenic Student and Young Professional Congress was a three-day event, including four technical speeches, eleven IEEE presentations, eight workshops, one students and young professionals expo, two stands for carrier development, as well as many networking sessions and parallel events. You can find more information at the Congress’ official website https://site.ieee.org/hsyp/.

 

The event was very successful in terms of participation. A total number of 120 participants from student to young professionals and academia and industry representatives from all over Greece and Cyprus took part, with above 20% of them being recent graduates or close to graduation. There were also officers from the IEEE Greece Section and the IEEE Region 8, presenting IEEE activities and external speakers from industry and academia.

 

The IEEE Hellenic SYP Congress was an excellent opportunity for Student Members & Young Professionals from Greece and Cyprus to get together, exchange knowledge, build relationships, share ideas and have a great time. During the event, the student members were introduced to the Young Professionals and already several graduating students expressed their interest to make the transition to the YP.

The program of the event included the presentation of various IEEE activities and initiatives, as well as technical and soft-skills workshops. The Young Professional local activity spanned into two days. On the first day (November 9th), a presentation of the YPs program was held followed by related workshops. On that evening, a networking session in the form of a formal dinner took place. On the following day (November 10th), a live Q&A session was realized, followed by the IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Initiative Greece Section Semi-Finals Start-Up Pitch. There was also a networking event where scientists from both academia and the industry, as well as IEEE student members and YPs were brought together.

 

In the end, the overall feedback during the event was very positive, appreciation of the event being mostly excellent and ranging all its aspects from good to excellent, characterizing it as the best SYP event attended. Additionally, after the event we promoted to our participants the survey, created by the Young Professionals. The results obtain where very much in line with the comments gather throughout the event itself and mentioned above.

 

by Ana Inês Inácio

 


Reflection on Central European Student and Young Professionals Congress, July 2-4, 2019

Have you ever heard about the famous music festival EXIT? No? But for sure you heard about the famous EUROCON conference and even more famous Central European Student and Young Professionals Congress! How about that in 2019 all the three events were organised in the same city, in a single hot July week of crowded young people? That beautiful city was Novi Sad in Serbia, strongly argumenting the given title of youth capital of 2019.

 

The 18th edition of EUROCON was held from 1st to 4th July and in parallel, 5th edition of CEuSYP was held between 2nd and 4th of July. IEEE Serbia and Montenegro Section was the organiser of EUROCON and IEEE Student Branch Novi Sad was the organiser of CEuSYP. With 108 participants, this edition of CEuSYP was one of the most attended editions. Participants had an opportunity to attend more than 20 different workshops on different technical and soft skills topics, as well as lectures from EUROCON keynote speakers. The first evening of the Congress was IEEE Young Professional & Women in Engineering Meet Up at EUROCON, joined as a part of Multicultural evening for CEuSYP participants. While spending time at the beach, everyone had a unique opportunity to enjoy delicious food from all around Europe and meet each other in a more relaxing environment. Gala dinner was organised on the second night of CEuSYP where participants from both events had a chance to continue networking and exchange knowledge and ideas.

 

After there days of learning about IEEE and technology, the week was not finished yet. One of the most famous music festivals in Europe, EXIT was started on the 4th of July. Many participants use the chance to visit this, so familiar faces with official CEuSYP T-shirt or EUROCON bag could have been seen mingling everywhere among thousands of people on iconic Petrovaradin fortress.

 

by Almedin Kavaz

 

 

 


Obituary of Roberto Sorrentino

Roberto Sorrentino
PAST CHAIR OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH ITALY SECTION
(1947 – 2020)

 

Professor Roberto Sorrentino passed away on Tuesday, 3 March 2020. He was an electronics engineer who had a distinguished career in the field of microwave and millimeter wave circuits and antennas.

 

He received his doctoral degree in electronic engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy, in 1971 and he began his career as an Assistant Professor at “La Sapienza” University in 1974. From 1986 to 1990 he was a Professor at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and in November 1990 he became a Professor at the University of Perugia. Between 1983 and 1986 he was a Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2007 he founded a successful spin-off company from the University of Perugia. He was the author of more than 150 technical papers in international journals and 200 refereed conference papers.

 

Roberto Sorrentino was an active member of the IEEE, Chair of the Central and South Italy Section, and an active member of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) throughout his career. In 1990 he was elevated to IEEE Fellow. He has received several MTT-S Awards and in 2000 the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.

 

In January 2020 Roberto Sorrentino was awarded the prestigious honor of the Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his commitment in the field of research.

 

Roberto Sorrentino was an outstanding member of IEEE because his achievements combined excellence in different fields. He was a gifted educator and many of his former PhD students are now well-respected members of the scientific community, in Italy and internationally.

 


Obituary of Elias Kyriakides

Elias Kyriakides
IEEE CYPRUS SECTION CHAIR
(August, 1975 – October, 2019)

 

IEEE Region 8 Committee lost on Monday October 28th, 2019, the Chair of the IEEE Cyprus Section, Elias Kyriakides, who passed away peacefully, after a long and courageous battle with cancer with his wife Stella by his side. Elias was an exceptional researcher, a great mentor, an example of a very active IEEE member, and above all a very humble and kind human being.

 

Elias was actively involved in IEEE, serving from January 2018 until its final days as Chair of the IEEE Cyprus Section. During May 2012-December 2017 he was chair of the IEEE Cyprus Section Power and Energy Society (PE-S) Chapter, where he received the IEEE PES High Performing Chapter Awards in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016, as well as the 2015 Region 8 Chapter of the Year Award. Elias had a significant contribution in Editorial Boards of various well established and known IEEE Journals. More specifically, he served as an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, an Associate Editor of the IEEE PES Letters and IEEE Systems Journal and as Editorial Board member of the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. In addition to all these, he was also member of various IEEE Societies (e.g., IEEE Power and Energy Society, IEEE Industry Applications Society, IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS), and so on). Elias served the scientific community and in particular the Cyprus Section with tremendous generosity and dedication.

 

Elias was a leading expert in the areas of electric power systems and critical infrastructure systems with an emphasis on wide area monitoring and control, power system operations, and the integration of renewable energy sources. His research contributions are immense and have been recognized and awarded multiple times at an international level.

 

He was a member of the faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department since 2004 and a co-founder of the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence. Elias was an extraordinary teacher and mentor. His students will remember forever his kindness, generosity and gentle spirit. He will be remembered with love and his legacy will carry on through the excellent work of his students and the support of his colleagues and collaborators.

 

IEEE Region 8 Operating Committee would like to express its deepest condolences to Elias’ family, students, colleagues and friends, and to the IEEE Cyprus Section. It has been a privilege to have him as member of the Region 8 Committee.