News

[singlepic id=1280 w= h= float=left] In the recent IEEE elections, Prof. Roger Pollard, a former Chair of the UKRI Section and a long-term active member and former President of the IEEE Microwaves Theory and Techniques Society was elected by a large majority as Technical Activities Vice-President Elect for 2009.  This is a very high-level position in IEEE, and the first time that it has been filled by a member from Region 8.   Roger is Dean of Engineering at Leeds University in England, where he was previously Head of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

[singlepic id=1279 float=left] The Annual IEEE Honors Ceremony was held in Québec City on 20th September 2008, at IEEE Sections Congress, before an audience which included IEEE members from all the 10 IEEE Regions and representatives from almost every IEEE Section.   This was the first time that the Honors Ceremony had taken place at a Sections Congress, which brought this important and spectacular event to a much wider audience than usual.

Dr. Maurice Papo, from the France Section, a former Director of Region 8 received the IEEE Haraden Pratt Award (given for outstanding service to IEEE).     Others honoured at the ceremony included Tim Berners-Lee who is credited with the initial ideas (while at CERN in Switzerland) from which the World Wide Web developed, and Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation, who received the IEEE Medal of Honour, who has become a household name among technical people for the ‘Moore’s Law’ which in 1965 defined properties of the semiconductor industry which led to its universal impact on so much of all our lives today.

The photo shows Maurice Papo and his wife, just after the presentation of the Award.

Nadezhda A. Dvurechenskaya, Vice Chair of IEEE R8 Russia Siberia Section, founder Member of IES/IAS/PELS Siberia Section Chapter, Novosibirsk, Russia, Member of the IAS Inter-Society Cooperation Committee, has been named 2008 IEEE IAS Andrew W. Smith Outstanding Young Member Award recipient. The honour is given each year to an individual “in recognition of his/her outstanding achievement in IEEE Industry Applications Society activities by an engineer less than 35 years of age”.

Nadezhda has been judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the profession in the form of IEEE IAS activities in IAS Chapter leadership, IAS committee work, conference leadership, and R8 Siberia Section leadership. The award consits of a suitably inscribed plaque, honorarium and expenses to attend the IAS Annual Meeting. Nadezda´s award has been presented in the President´s Banquet of the 2008 IEEE Industry Applications Society 43rd Annual Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Oct. 8, 2008.

[singlepic id=1278 float=center]

S Mark Halpin, IAS President (l) presents the award to Nadezhda A Dvurechenskaya (r)

[singlepic id=1277 float=left] IEEE members in University of Sharjah, Ghassan Dabbour, Ahmed Nahidh Alghefari, and Mohamed EL-Khatib have been participating in organizing a conference hosted by Vision Club (www.myvisionclub.com) in the University to combat poverty as what’s known by “Blog Action Day Poverty 08”.

Thousands of bloggers worldwide were addressed the tough subject of poverty. Dozens of poverty relief organizations, companies and popular blogs are participating.

United Nations Development Programme represented by Mrs. Naoual Driouich – The Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in the UAE was participating in this day to show statistics from the United Nations established figures and discussed what the United Nations is doing in the fight against poverty. She went to explain that poverty is a violation of human rights. There are 1.4 million people who die of hunger and thirst in the world, we must feel for them and feel their suffering.

Direct Aid Foundation from Kuwait represented by Dr. Nabil Trekiet Deputy Director-General of the Assembly and the two Volunteers ladies Shaymaa and Fatima participated in this conference as well to show the Foundation role in Africa and how they helped hundreds of people there.

Then, a 15 minutes countdown was introduced, declaring the start of Direct Aid’s campaign to educate 171,600 children, teenagers, women and men in Africa.

At the end of the ceremony, Majd Elmashharawi – Vision Club President – thanked the audience for their attendance and their noble humanitarian work, showing a very impressive short documentary movie on the poor and their experience in this world.

To watch the video, photos and summary of the conference, please visit the Web site: http://www.myvisionclub.com.

Written by Eng. Soha Jawabreh
WIE reporter in Sharjah
[email protected]

The Region 8 Volunteer Award is introduced with the goal of encouraging all volunteers in the Region and of recognizing those volunteers who have made an outstanding contribution to a particular Region 8 Section. The Award is a Certificate.

The following are eligible as candidates for the Award:

• An IEEE member of any membership grade (Student, Graduate Student, Associate, Member, Senior Member,Fellow, Life Fellow).
• The candidate’s volunteer work is, or has been, on behalf of a Section. The candidate must have been active for at least 2 years in the Section and is not currently the Section Chairman.
• The candidate receives no remuneration for his work for the Section except possibly expenses.
• The members of the Region 8 Awards and Recognition Subcommittee, the Past Region 8 Director or the Director-Elect and Region 8 Secretary are ineligible for the Award.

The Region 8 volunteer Award is now open for nominations; deadline for nominations is 31 december 2008. For more information, download:

• the description ( region_8_volunteer_award_description ) of the Region 8 Volunteer Award
• the nomination form ( region_8_volunteer_award_nomination ) of the Region 8 Volunteer Award

[singlepic id=1276 float=left] 2nd International Conference on Adaptive Science & Technology (ICAST’09)
14 – 16 December 2009, Accra, Ghana, West AFRICA
http://www.edictech.com/ICAST09/index.html

“Advancing Technology Further”

ICAST is a refereed international conference for researchers, academics, industry professionals, practicing technologists & anybody engaged in technology and related issues. ICAST 2009 solicits contributions in all areas in Information & Communications Technology (ICT), electrical/electronic engineering and related areas. ICAST also provides an opportunity for companies to showcase their products, and for entrepreneurs to explore investment opportunities. The first ICAST meeting was successfully held 10-12 Dec 2007 with two ministerial addresses and participants from several countries.

In 2009, ICAST will be held in Accra, Ghana. Ghana is one of the most politically stable, safest and hospitable countries in Africa. It’s a country rich of cultural diversity. You are invited to submit original full papers to any of the featured conference areas. ICAST 2009 program will include Technical Sessions, Symposia, Tutorials, Workshops, Design and Developers Forum and a Student Program.

Your participation in ICAST 2009 is surely to be an enduring experience. It is an opportunity for you to experience the spectrum of opportunities available to you at ICAST 2009, including technical knowledge, networking & investment opportunities. The organizing committee will be privileged to welcome you to Ghana & ICAST’09 on 14 Dec 2009.

Selected papers will be published as special issues in international journals such as AJICT. We have also accepted invitations from Rivers Publishers, Denmark and IGI Global, USA to publish extended versions of selected papers as chapters of edited books.

IMPORTANT DATES (Hard Deadlines)

• Submission of Abstracts: 14 May 2009
• Full Paper Submission: 14 June 2009
• Author Notification: 14 September 2009
• Camera-Ready Paper: 1st October 2009
• Early-Bird Registration: 14 October 2009
• Conference Dates: 14-16 Dec 2009

[singlepic id=1275 float=left] During the 2008 IEEE Annual Election, the Region 8 members elected Marko Delimar as their next Director. Marko will serve as Region 8 Director-Elect in 2009 and 2010 andRegion 8 Director in 2011 and 2012. For more details please visit www.ieee.org/elections.

Marko is a Professor at University of Zagreb. His many previous IEEE volunteer duties included IEEE Region 8 Vice-Chair – Student Activities (2005-2006) and IEEE Region 8 Vice-Chair – Membership Activities (2007-2008). He is currently also serving on the IEEE 125th Anniversary Committee, IEEE Alternative Membership Models Committee and IEEE Student Activities Committee.

The IEEE Region 8 Director in 2009 and 2010 will be Józef Modelski who was elected in the 2007 IEEE Annual Election.

We would like to let you know that the IEEE 125th Anniversary website launched in September. Please visit http://www.ieee125.org and join the party!

On all IEEE Materials, until the end of 2009, please use the 125th Anniversary Mark, in place of the IEEE Master Brand. For more information please visit http://www.ieee.org/web/publications/rights/125th.html.

Also, please join the Anniversary celebration groups and networks on Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

[singlepic id=1274 float=left] It is in the multicultural city of London (England) that the SBC 2008 took place between the 28th August and 1st September 2008. Around 150 Student and GOLD members coming from 33 Sections attended the event. To support these younger members, to learn about their ideas, to provide them with solutions and suggestions, no less than 50 speakers, guests, and IEEE officials also joined this congress (among them: Lewis Terman, IEEE President; John Vig, IEEE President-Elect; Jean-Gabriel Remy,  IEEE Region 8 Director; Jozef Modelski, IEEE Region 8 Director-Elect; Karen Panetta, WiE Chair; Marko Delimar, IEEE Region 8 Vice Chair Membership Activities, Sean Mcloone, UKRI Section Chair and of course Martin Bastiaans, IEEE Region 8 Vice Chair Student Activities and Eva Lang, IEEE Region 8 GOLD Coordinator).