Dear Colleagues, 

As I approach the end of my term as Technical Activities Vice President, I am pleased to share with you some highlights from the past year, and closing thoughts. 

This year has been a tremendous year for me, an exceptional year in so many ways. It is exciting to chair this board, where people know more than me on so many topics! 

Dealing with the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, Technical Activities meetings – from the Society, Council and Technical Community (S/C/TC) level to the Technical Activities Board (TAB) –progressed from virtual meetings to in-person meetings.  In particular, I was pleased by the way our interactions went at the TAB meetings:  there were some lively discussions, thrilling proposals, but always a congenial atmosphere. This atmosphere permeates the value of participating in Technical Activities functions, from S/C/TC’s to serving on the TAB board, and powers the synergy of cross-Society collaboration. 

A sense of community

IEEE President Ray Liu has emphasized the value of IEEE as your professional home. I believe Technical Activities  is an important extension of this idea. Being actively involved in a S/C/TC, particularly at the board level, or  the TAB Board provides a sense of community! We learn each other’s names, mobile phones, what they do, some personal things and interests, and you know you can reach out to your fellow board members to share information and ask for information about things that extend beyond TAB or even IEEE. 

I want to thank all  members for what we did together this year, and I also want to thank the S/C/TC  members. Although I have chaired my last meeting in the role of TAB chair,  I hope to continue speaking to groups to share the story of what we accomplish in Technical Activities and how people can join us and become part of our community within IEEE. 

I believe we can do more of this community building within Technical Activities, as together, we can strengthen and obtain even more benefits from IEEE as your professional home, and in working together to advance technology for the benefit of humanity. 

If you would like to be a part of our Technical Activities community by getting involved in IEEE S/C/TC’s  or if you would like to know more about how you can get involved in Technical Activities, please submit your question to TA Answer Central, at: https://ta.ieee.org/ta-answer-central 

Year-end wrap-up

As we approach year-end, I would like to acknowledge the progress being made in the following focus areas thanks to the dedicated efforts of Technical Activities volunteers and staff. 

• Creating a Technical Activities Board (TAB)  program on climate change
  • 42 members from 18 Societies currently engaged
  • Currently Four Initiatives:
    • Education Contents and Workforce Development
    • Wildfire Prevention, Detection, Prediction, and Mitigation
    • Managing the Food-Water-Energy Nexus for Sustainable Development (UN SDG 17)
    • Sustainable Technologies (Circular Economy)
• Identifying disruptive technology while sharing and favoring cross-disciplinary work amongst Societies/Councils
  • Current work is being done at the Society/Council level; we hope to build to TAB level to enable knowledge-sharing and synergies
• Increasing visibility of the TAB Value Proposition with IEEE members
  • Accomplished through Spotlight newsletter and speaking engagements 
• Promoting diversity and attracting “new blood” in committees
  • Progress in building Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Grass roots level in Societies and Councils
• Continuing to build on existing good practices in place at TAB level

See my Q3 column for more of my thoughts on my primary goals of nurturing Technical Activities Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, and promoting the value of Technical Activities to IEEE’s membership. 

Closing

In closing, I believe the role of the Technical Activities VP and “Chair” of TAB does not mean trying to convince people to do things, but rather, to encourage them to work together. I had some targets when I started my term; I believe I met some of them and some I did not, but that is part of life, and the learning process. But the joy of working together with so many talented people has been even greater than I had imagined it would be when the year began, and for that, I am grateful to my fellow board members and to all of you. I extend my best wishes to the incoming TAB Chair, John Verboncoeur, and the 2023 TAB Board for continued success!

“As advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), we lead by the philosophy that if someone is the smartest person in the room, they are in the wrong room,” says Dalma Novak, Chair of the IEEE Technical Activities Board Committee on Diversity & Inclusion (TAB CDI) and Division X Director. “It is only by ensuring diverse representation on all levels – including, but not limited to, age, gender, geographic region, professional sector – that we build successful technological communities.”

Novak, who has led TAB CDI since the beginning of 2021, has been a proponent of the DEI activity in TAB from its early beginnings as a 2016 TAB ad hoc committee addressing Women and Underrepresented Groups, led by then-Vice President, Technical Activities, Jose M.F. Moura. “It has been rewarding to see how DEI has evolved over the past 5+ years, from mostly gender-focused activities to promote women in STEM, to fully realized (and still evolving) activities in IEEE, TAB, and Societies/Councils (S/Cs).”

TAB CDI, which was approved in February 2017, has grown from a simple vehicle launched to collect demographic data from S/Cs to a valuable resource covering many facets of DEI. Designed to support TAB’s advocacy efforts in making progress toward a diverse, equitable, and inclusive technical community, the committee has been tasked with an especially broad charter. “We like to view DEI not as a program or initiative, but a reflection of our values and leadership” says Novak, who notes that TAB CDI’s ultimate responsibility is to ensure that TAB policies, procedures, and practices are conducive to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment that is valuable for all members.

To address the growing interest around DEI, in 2021, the committee identified and approved a number of focus areas by which to prioritize and structure its activities ongoing:

• Promotion: Celebrating the IEEE and TAB DEI mission and showcasing best practices
• Education: Raising awareness and developing tools to advance DEI within TAB
• Accountability: Collecting and analyzing DEI data for benchmarking and tracking impact
• Communication: Sharing information and resources through outreach to the community
• Engagement: Building support and increasing participation to further DEI goals

“The objective of these focus areas is for the committee to not only celebrate and reward the Societies, Councils, and organizational units of TAB that are already doing exceptional work, but to educate and raise awareness among those who are looking to get started on their DEI journey(s),” says Novak. “Ultimately, TAB CDI should serve as a valuable resource to them: a unit that builds bridges and creates opportunities for all to learn together.”

One of TAB CDI’s most recent accomplishments was the creation and pilot of a training module on Understanding & Mitigating Implicit Bias. This activity is unique as it came out of many separate requests from volunteers for development material that could be delivered to their respective organizational units. This resulted in the first implicit bias training designed specifically for IEEE volunteers, by IEEE volunteers. Nearly ¼ of S/Cs have opted in to the training to-date, choosing to learn more about why implicit bias occurs, how to identify it, and how to disrupt it. Of particular interest to the TA volunteer groups for whom it was created are targeted action-item checklists that present suggestions for various IEEE volunteer activities, including Nomination & Appointments (N&A), Fellow, Awards committees; conference audience and organizers; and communications and outreach. The presentation also includes a brief overview of accessibility guidelines for volunteers to consider.

One of the greatest strengths of TAB CDI has been its ability to bring together many different individuals and organizational units for the purpose of sharing knowledge, learning about successes, and unpacking challenges. To this effect, the committee requests that each Society and Council identify a point of contact to liaise with the committee. This not only allows the committee to call on these individuals to collaborate and fulfill the DEI mission; it also provides TAB CDI with a steady flow of information about the many activities and initiatives taking place across TA.

The culmination of this desire for info-sharing led to the May 2021 launch of a new virtual roundtable series. In each of the three sessions that have taken place to date, Society/Council presenters shared their respective activities around DEI and discussed best practices to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in TAB by responding to the following questions:

• What is your S/C’s vision of DEI?
• What are your S/C’s top 3 practices for DEI?
• Please share your experience working on DEI initiatives in your S/C.
• Please share a success story from your S/C’s DEI efforts.

In putting each roundtable together, the committee was meticulous in ensuring that the sizes and scopes of all S/Cs, as well as varying resources and levels of support, were represented. It was particularly insightful to understand more about where each of the presenting S/Cs were in their respective DEI journeys, how they support these initiatives, how they plan to measure impact, and how they are building sustainable DEI activities that also have adequate pipelines to carry them forward. To learn more about how S/Cs are addressing DEI, recordings of the roundtables conducted to-date are available here:

• IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Photonics Society, and IEEE Power & Energy Society
• IEEE Council on Superconductivity, IEEE Information Theory Society, and IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society
• IEEE Computational Intelligence Society and IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society

To further acknowledge the S/Cs that are “moving the needle” via their DEI activities, TAB CDI recently launched a new award that will honor an IEEE S/C that has had a significant impact driving DEI efforts within their S/C. The S/C must demonstrate a strategic approach that encourages DEI for its volunteers, members, and the wider technical profession and support that strategy through the development of DEI-focused activities, programs, and services. The nominations period for the first awardee recently concluded, but the selection committee is excited to share more about the significant impact S/Cs are making in DEI.

As the field of DEI evolves, and we learn more about the needs of the members and volunteers the committee supports, TAB CDI will continue to be flexible and evolve with it.  Says Novak: ”A number of S/Cs have already started the process to create sustainable DEI strategies within their OUs.  TAB CDI is working to support these efforts and help transfer the knowledge to other communities to keep building the DEI culture within TAB.”

A selection of stories highlighting the diversity of recent accomplishments of members, volunteers, and organizational units around Technical Activities

IEEE and Climate Change: Leveraging Global Expertise: 2022 Technical Activities Vice President, Bruno Meyer, believes that IEEE has a key role to play in addressing climate change and sustainability challenges.

Cloud Software Cuts Through Biomedical Data Thickets: The founders of SciosHub, a SaaS platform, met at an IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society event. It is one of 13 companies that is a part of the Powered by IEEE program, which was developed by the IEEE Entrepreneurship initiative, and utilizes IEEE DataPort.

How to Prevent Blackouts by Packetizing the Power Grid: This University of Vermont team has focused on how to coordinate power demand in real time to match the increasingly variable supply. IEEE technical committees, working groups, and task forces are also playing supporting roles, such as the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Smart Buildings, Loads, and Customer Systems technical committee.

Update on IEEE’s Diversity and Inclusion Efforts: As part of a ramp-up of IEEE’s diversity and inclusion focus, IEEE policies have been changed and new partnerships have formed. Many Societies and Councils have introduced programs, including IEEE Photonics Society’s activities geared toward underrepresented groups.

From Introvert to IEEE Influencer: Ramneek Kalra, an active Young Professional with the IEEE Computer Society, discusses how becoming an IEEE volunteer shaped the trajectory of his career. Kalra chairs the Society’s history and research subcommittee, which is part of the society’s Distinguished Visitors initiative.

3 benefits: 5G rollout in emerging economies: IEEE members and volunteers are deeply involved in efforts to expand 5G connectivity via IEEE Future Networks initiative, an IEEE Future Directions activity.

The first in a series of articles illustrating TAB contributions to the vitality of IEEE

Over the next four editions, we will be sharing more about the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) and how it significantly facilitates, enables, and drives the technical component of IEEE while adding value to your membership. In this issue, we start from the very basics: what, exactly, is TAB? And why should you care as an IEEE member?

You may have joined IEEE as a student member or young professional to advance your career by accessing quality conferences, events and publications. 

But just like attending a great performance, you may not have seen the players behind the scenes bringing you these great member benefits, so let us introduce you to the IEEE Technical Activities Board, more commonly referred to as TAB.

First, let’s explain the role of “technical memberships:” Adding a technical membership provides you access to IEEE’s more-than-50 specialized Societies, Technical Councils, and Technical Communities, across a diverse array of fields of interest. As an IEEE member, you can learn more about technical memberships here.

Now, let’s look at TAB. TAB is the governing body of IEEE Technical Activities and is the largest of six major boards with IEEE. Comprised of 63 voting members, TAB includes the Presidents of all 46 Societies and Technical Councils (more on those later), 10 Division Directors (who also sit on the IEEE Board of Directors), and the chairs of key TAB committees. TAB  ensures the technical content you value as an IEEE member meets expectations and lives up to the standards of professionals across the globe.

The scope and oversight of TAB is especially broad, lending credit to its stature as the largest major IEEE board, crossing many facets of technology. Situated under TAB are not only IEEE Societies and Technical Councils and all the products and services they have to offer, but the majority of IEEE conferences and periodicals content. TAB facilitates all aspects of these technical components at the heart of IEEE, from governance and strategy, to portfolio review, tools and quality, the future of intellectual property, and technical program integrity. If you are reading an IEEE publication or presenting at an IEEE conference, there is a good chance TAB has made this happen.

Quality control and sharing of best practices are facilitated by TAB’s  Society/Council Review Committee (SCRC) and Periodicals Review & Advisory Committee (PRAC). These committees conduct reviews every five years to analyze the scope and structure of Societies, Councils, and their portfolios to ensure that technical interest areas are fully covered in appropriate, effective, and efficient ways. The SCRC and PRAC reviews are posted to facilitate the sharing of best practices.

Outside of traditional engineering disciplines embodied by its 46 Societies and Technical Councils, IEEE develops communities around particular technology challenges and cutting-edge subject areas. These new technology connections are identified as primary focus areas by the IEEE Future Directions Committee, which sits under TAB.

TAB also interfaces with other IEEE major boards and programs, including those centered around diversity and inclusion, young professionals, women in engineering, industry engagement, and standards.

In upcoming editions of IEEE Technical Community Spotlight, we will explore different examples of how TAB drives and enables the technical content you have come to trust as part of your membership. In the spirit of the IEEE Technical Activities Vision, TAB facilitates technical communities working together to be the preferred home for all professionals, worldwide: a critical piece of any IEEE membership.

Learn more about IEEE Technical Activities and TAB.