Operating Committee

With the arrival of 2009, comes a transition of the Region’s Management and on this occasion, I would like thank the entire outgoing R8 Directory  for their contribution and involvement, especially the Past Director Jean-Gabriel Remy and our OpCom members who ended their terms of office, in particular Baldomir Zajc, Martin Baastians, and George Paunovic, but also all outgoing Coordinators and Section Chairs. At the same time, I would like to welcome on board the members of our new Management. For a complete list of 2009 Directory please look up the Committee fold.

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January 24-26, 2009 at Doha, Qatar – Under a friendly atmosphere and lots of pre-arranged activities with the host, IEEE Qatar Section, the R8 OpCom has completed their first meeting in 2009 with a positive note of pursuing new initiatives and facilitating the right environment for more collaboration with R8 Committee members. “The R8 OpCom goals for 2009 is to build a friendly atmosphere, increase number of young industry engineers, encourage Chapters and Student Branches to enhance their activities and continue implementing best practices”, Prof. Jozef Modelski, R8 Director, opened up the OpCom meeting.
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Jointly with IEEE Qatar Section, the R8 OpCom members have participated in several IEEE technical activities to support and promote IEEE local activities in the 5-years old local section. The focus of these activities was about IEEE and the energy sector. A separate meeting was held with local Qatar Section Committee members and Student Branch chair to discuss their activities and current issues and concerns. “We are honored to be part of this IEEE technical gathering to better understand your needs and we will jointly, with Qatar Section, try to address them”, Jozef said during the opening remarks of local technical dinner meeting. More than 60 people from local industry and academic institutes attended the technical dinner meeting. The Qatar Section Chair Yacob Almulla welcomed everybody in Qatar and Qatar Section Secretary Tariq Masood introduced the two speakers; Ghaleb Dandan, R8 Energy Initiative Champion; Tim McGhee, Inspection Specialist in Saudi Aramco, from energy industry sector, sponsored by Saudi Arabia Section, whom presented two interesting topics; IEEE R8 Energy Initiative and Risk base inspection (methodological approach), respectively.

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A visit to Qatar Petroleum (QP) facilities was well received by both QP management and OpCom members during which high delegates from Texas A&M and Qatar universities accompanied the OpCom members. After the opening remarks by Jozef, two technical presentations were presented by OpCom members; Jean-Gabriel REMY, R8 past Director; and Rami Mushcab, Vice Chair of R8 Technical Activities. The presentations entitled “Convergence of Mobile and Media Technologies” and “Case Study of selecting the best SCADA connectivity technology for new Oil Fields”. Several plagues and gifts were exchanged between OpCom and QP management. Following, a short visit to Dukhan Oil and Gas facilities were performed by OpCom accompanied by QP management.

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The OpCom members were very delighted about the accomplishments and well arrangements of this meeting by the local section host. This meeting has set precedence for future OpCom meetings.

The 92nd Region 8 Committee Meeting is to be held on the 25th to the 26th of April 2009 in Venice, Italy. Section chairs and other Committee members will meet there to examine the future plans of the Region.

Most of the Subcommittees of Region 8 will meet on Friday 24th. A meeting with the Italy Section will follow, where a presentation of the Sections’ achievements will be given by the Italy Section Chair Professor Silvano Donati. A lecture by Pietro Palella (General Director of STMicroelectronics) “Innovation in a global environment: the STMicroelectronics case” will follow. Finally a reception will be given for all attendees in order to promote the get to know among members, encourage the exchange of ideas and the creation of personal contacts.

The formal Region Committee meeting will be held on the 25th and 26th. The meeting will be addressed by the Region 8 Director, the IEEE President and other IEEE officials. In the afternoon of Sunday the 26th, some workshops will take place, educating the Section leaders on various aspects of IEEE.

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Soon, the picturesque town of Venice will be the host for the first in 2009 meeting of IEEE Region 8 Committee. The program of activities and initiatives for this year seems interesting and productive despite the current financial obstacles. The Venice event will serve as a base for the exchange of new concepts and solutions. One of our goals for the future is to continue our best practices and at the same time respond relevantly to the regional and global challenges. The format of our meetings will change its formula – it will be characterized by a lower number of reports and more time will be spent on interactive discussions. For final version of the reports please see the Venice page. Special thanks should go to Region 8 Secretary who has put a lot of effort and dedication into preparations and coordination of the Committee meeting. See you in Venice!

Jozef Modelski
Region 8 Director

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On the 25th-26th of April, the picturesque city of Venice was the host for the 92nd meeting of the IEEE Region 8 Committee. The program of activities and initiatives for this year was very interesting and productive. One of our goals for the future is to continue our best practices and at the same time respond relevantly to the regional and global challenges. There was a lot of idea exchange and the caucus groups produced some very interesting results. The format of our meeting was characterized by a lower number of reports and more time was spent on interactive discussions. OpCom gave its priorities and expressed its vision for the Region’s future. The meeting was attended by the IEEE President and Past President as well as by the new IEEE Executive Director. The three candidates for the IEEE President-Elect were also present, they addressed the meeting and answered the questions from the participants. One of the newly introduced element was also the technical presentation, which was given on Friday evening, following the meeting with the Italy Section officers. Pietro Palella , the CEO of STMicroelectronics gave an excellent speech on the topic “Innovation in a global environment”. The social event on Saturday evening was sponsored by the Italy Section and took place in Venice and included a boat ride, a walk around St. Marks Square and an excellent dinner. For the final version of the reports and the presentations please visit the Venice page.
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I would like to express my appreciation to all the participants of the meeting for their active involvement and valuable contribution; in particular to the Italy Section, R8 Secretary and R8 Treasurer for an outstanding preparation of the event.

Jozef Modelski,
Region 8 Director

The last OpCom meeting of Region 8 took place in Hammamet, Tunisia from July 9th -11th. The meeting was combined with the celebrations of Tunisia’s Section 1st year anniversary and the IEEE 125th year anniversary celebrations in Tunisia.
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A very well organized and successful event took place in the Elgazala Technology Park. First The Tunisia Section Secretary Professor Jejel Ezzine made the welcome address. Region 8 Director Jozef Modelski talked about the IEEE and its 125 years history and achievements, then Tunisia’s Section Chair Mourad Loulou talked about the first year of the Tunisia Section. The main lecture was given by Professor Khaled Ben Letaief from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which was enjoyed by the audience and stirred a lot of discussion and questions afterwards. The whole event ended by a reception and the cutting of the two anniversary cakes, one for IEEE Tunisia Section and one for IEEE. Ly expanding Tunisia SectionAll the OpCom members had a chance to talk and socialize with the local members and students and some powerful connections were made. This event will give a further push in the rapidly expanding Tunisia Section.
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The OpCom during their stay in Tunisia visited several technological companies in the Elgazala Technology Park and had the chance to meet with local industry engineers and learn about Tunisia’s Technologies.
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The OpCom also had a chance to meet with the local Tunisia Section Officers in a separate event and dinner and talked to them and exchanged ideas on various aspects of mutual interest.

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Special thanks have to go to the Tunisia Section and especially to its Chair Professor Loulou Mourad, for organizing all the successful events and for the great work done in organizing a great OpCom meeting.

Following the recommendations by the R8 N&A Committee and OpCom, Fritz Bekkadal was appointed as the acting Region 8 Vice-Chair for Technical Activities since January 1, 2010.
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He is replacing Rami Mushcab who was elected MGA Vice Chair – Strategic Planning. Rami has offered great contributions as 2009 R8 VC/TA!

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Congratulations to Fritz Bekkadal for his appointment and to Rami Mushcab for his great work!

Fritz Bekkadal’s CV

Background:
MSc in Solid State Electronics and Micdal‘s CVrowave Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.

Present and past activities:
His work experience comprises: Scientific Assistant and Associate Professor in Microwave Engineering, NTNU (1973-76), Research Scientist and Head of Radio Systems Section, ELAB (Electronics Research Laboratory) (1976-82), Chief Engineer and R&D Director, Kongsberg Maritime/Autronica (1982-90), Director of Research, SINTEF DELAB, Division of Telecommunications and Acoustics (1990-96), Research Director, SINTEF Telecom and Informatics, Division of Radio Systems and Signal Processing (1990-98), Research Manager, TBL-ITF (“The Norwegian Information Technology Industry Association” within NHO – “The Norwegian Confederation of Business and Industry”) (1998-2001), Director of Abelia Innovation (Abelia – NHOs “Association for ICT and knowledge-based enterprises”) (2001-04), CEO, Gersemia – Bekkadal Consultancy and Engineering Services (2004 – ) and Senior Scientist (part-time), MARINTEK e-Maritime (2007- ).

Professional interests and research:
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Telecommunication systems and technologies, Wireless Telecom, Sensor and Surveillance systems, Radio and Radar systems technologies, Microwaves and Antenna Engineering, Electromagnetic wave propagation, Analogue and digital signal processing, Multi-sensor systems and data fusion.

Mr. Bekkadal is holding several international patents within the field of radar-based sensor technologies for surveillance applications.

Publications:
Mr. Bekkadal is the author and co-author of some 100 reports and publications.

IEEE :

• 1990-96  Chairman of Norway Section
• 1996-       Vice Chairman of Norway Section
• 1994-       Chairman of Norwegian Joint Chapter on Communications, Signal Processing and Information Theory
• 2003-09   Industrial Relations Officer, Norway Section

On January 22nd-24th the IEEE Region 8 Operating Committee Meeting was held in Beirut, Lebanon.
On the 22nd the OpCom members had a chance to meet with the IEEE officers of the Lebanon Section, the Chapter officers and the Student Branch officers at an event that was organized by the Section at the Movenpick Hotel.
The Lebanon Section Chair Dr. Elias Nassar welcomed the Operating Committee and gave the backround and activities of his Section, Dr. Jozef Modelski, the Region 8 Director gave the attendees an overall presentation of IEEE and Region 8, Region 8 Past Director Jean-Gabriel Remy, gave a technical presentation on Mobile Communications.
A lively discussion followed with the Lebanon Section members asking various questions about IEEE and Region 8. The discussion continued during dinner as well.

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During the next two days the OpCom members had more contacts with the Lebanon Section OpCom and a friendly and fruitful atmosphere was developed among them.
The OpCom meeting went smoothly. The R8 plans for 2010 were discussed and set down and the preparation for the next Region 8 meeting to be held in Riga, Latvia in May was organized.
The Lebanon Section was very hospitable and its members are very active, energetic and working hard for IEEE.
It is no surprise that the Section has grown to more than 660 members in just a few years of existence.

Taking the opportunity of Easter approaching, we would like to wish you happy holidays and to reveal you some of the exciting news and updates regarding ISABEL 2010 (the 3rd International Symposium on Applied Sciences in Biomedical and Communication Technologies), Rome, November 7-10, 2010

( News and Updates ISABEL 2010 18.03.2010 ).

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The 95th Region 8 Committee Meeting will be held in Prague, Czech Republic on the 8th and the 10th of October 2010, following the invitation of the Czechoslovakia Section. One of the most important parts of the meeting is the Section Workshops on four very interesting subjects:

• SWOT Analysis for the Sections

• Improvement and enhancement of Region 8 Electronic Communications

• Criteria for the Best Section Award

• Increasing joint region-society conferences and improving the quality of R8 conferences

The Sections will be divided into 5 groups and with the help of Coordinators there will be discussions and presentations. The honorary guests of the meeting will be IEEE President-Elect Moshe Kam, IEEE Past President John Vig, VP Educational Activities Tariq Durrani, Executive Director & COO of IEEE James Prendergast, and Region 10 Director Yong-Jin Park. During the meeting elections for the Region OpCom will be held for the positions of the 3 Vice Chairs, Secretary and Treasurer.

More information on the meeting, the reports and the agenda can be found here