TISP Week 2019 will run during the last week of October. The call for participation has already been announced

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) education is gaining over the years more and more recognition and awareness. Many schools have adopted STEAM-based educational programs and activities. Through STEAM-based education, children are being taught through real problems solving, while this increases their creativity.  It goes beyond the concepts of science and mathematics, while it helps on developing skills, including the 21-st century skills.

The skills included in the 21st-century skills, are, media and technology literacy, productivity, social skills, communication, flexibility and initiative. Skills attained through STEAM education include, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, decision making, leadership, entrepreneurship, acceptance of failure and more.

IEEE as the world’s largest professional organization, recognizes the importance of STEAM education, offering solutions and opportunities to teachers through its Educational Programs. Such program is TISP, where tryengineering.org lesson plans are being demonstrated to teachers.

TISP stand for the “Teacher In-Service Program”, which enables IEEE volunteers to share their technical expertise and demonstrate the application of engineering concepts to support the teaching and learning of science, mathematics, and technology disciplines.

Looking over the last 3 years, over 2,000 teachers have been trained in 30 IEEE Sections in IEEE Region 8 and Region 10 during the TISP week. As described, the TISP week is a program to facilitate the conduct of teacher training workshops in multiple Sections. The objective is to train teachers to deliver Inquiry Based Science Education sessions and help the training of volunteers in the local sections. The workshops also help the local volunteers in delivering public services. 

TISP Week was first launched in IEEE Region 8, getting expanded last year also in IEEE Region 10. This year TISP Week is getting even bigger, getting expanded in 3 Regions. Region 8, Region 9 and Region 10 are joining forces to organize a significant educational event spreading across 5 continents: Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, Latin America.

The Chair of Professional and Educational Activities sub-committee of IEEE Region 8, Mr.Stamatis Dragoumanos, share with Region8Today how TISP Week got expanded in 5 continents.

“TISP Week was a very successful Region 8 initiative and immediately draw EAB’s attention. During the EAB-mini series meetings, Educational Activities Officers from other Regions were impressed by the number of teachers trained and the resources given by EAB. In 2018 Region 10 also had it’s TISP week with a significant impact. This year Region 9 was also interested in organizing TISP Week. This is when the Global TISP Week idea was proposed. Regions 8, 9 and 10 joined forces and with the valuable help of EAB a unique global TISP Week event was created that expands in 5 continents.“

This year’s TISP Week will be held during the last week of October 2019. An Educative week, during which all participants around the world will be sharing the same passion and enthusiasm for knowledge and education.

All Sections are invited to organize a workshop for teachers during TISP Week and be part of this big event. The IEEE EAB (Educational Activities Board) offers 250USD per workshop for the lesson’s plan materials, through a reimbursement process.

Follow the official website of the TISP Week https://tispweek.ieee.org/ to find all the details to participate in this big educational event!

Author: region8today

The 2019 IEEE Region 8 Chapter of the Year Award Winners

It is well known that IEEE covers a variety of technical interests, from Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Computational Intelligence, Oceanic Engineering to Vehicular Technology. In total, IEEE has 39 technical societies that provide benefits to members within specialized fields of interest. Chapters are local units associated with one or more technical societies and they are your first level of contact points to join technical activities and network with other IEEE members.

IEEE’s work is based on volunteering, and IEEE aims to recognize the work done and time offered by each member-volunteer. This is being applied in every Organizational Unit that makes up IEEE, such as Chapters. In IEEE Region 8, there are over 1000 technical Chapters and Student Branch Chapters running exciting technical events and linking the triangle of members, Societies and Section.

Every year, all Chapters have the opportunity to apply for the IEEE Region 8 Chapter of the Year Award. Specifically, the Award is intended to recognize the outstanding performance of Region 8 by

• Technical Chapters, and
• Student Branch Chapters

in serving their members and the technical community and establishing goodwill within and between the Region 8 Sections. Any active single or joint Society or Council or Student Branch Chapters of Region 8 is eligible for the award. The selection is based on the outstanding performance of the nominated chapter, reflected by the completed nomination form and supporting documents.

In selecting award recipients, the relevant committee considers contributions of the nominee to chapter activities. Albert Lysko, Chair of the IEEE R8 (EMEA) Chapters Coordination subcommittee (ChCsC) elaborated on the importance of recognizing the achievements and process used to identify the candidates and awardees: “It is of the utmost importance to offer opportunity and recognize the excellence in IEEE chapters. It shows the appreciation for great work and offers opportunities to promote the outstanding Chapters and their leaders both locally, which helps the chapters and their leaders to grow, and globally, giving the due recognition to Sections for the support they provide. It is also important to ensure a fair process in recognizing the best of the best.

Here is how R8 ChCsC did it. First, our subcommittee, especially Matej Zajc, Sarra Ben Rabii and myself prepared an announcement calling for nominations and distributed it via eNotice and social media channels. Next, the submitted nominations were collected and passed onto us. We reviewed each submission and used a system of metrics to score the submissions and selected the Chapters and Student Branch Chapters (SBCs) showing the most vibrant activities. Our decision was then validated by the R8 Awards subcommittee and VC:TA. The rest was to prepare the texts of the awards, make the plaques and use the high podium of the R8 meeting to present the awards via the Section Chairs“.

This year’s award ceremony held during the 113th IEEE Region 8 meeting in Valencia on October 11-13. The winners of 2019 are as follows:

Technical Chapters:

• Large Chapter: IEEE Tunisia Section Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Chapter
• Small Chapter: IEEE Algeria Section Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) Chapter

Student Branch Chapters (SBCs):

• Large SBC: National Institute of Applied Science and Technology (INSAT) IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Chapter, Tunisia Section
• Medium SBC: University of Manchester IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Chapter, UK & IR Section
• Small SBC: Al-Balqa Applied University IEEE Communications Society Chapter, Jordan Section

Congratulations to the winners, their leadership and associated universities and Sections!

Author: region8today

She has led many IEEE organizations including the Computer Society, Standards Association, and Technical Activities

IEEE Fellow Susan K. “Kathy” Land has been chosen as 2020 IEEE president-elect. She will begin serving as president on 1 January 2021.

Land, who was nominated by the IEEE Board of Directors, received 23,147 votes in the elections. Fellow Dejan Milojicic received 18,392 votes. At press time, the results were unofficial until the IEEE Board of Directors accepts the IEEE Tellers Committee report in November.

Land was the 2018 vice president, IEEE Technical Activities. She served two additional terms on the IEEE Board of Directors as Division VIII director/delegate in 2011 and 2012 and as Division V director/delegate in 2014 and 2015. She was president of the IEEE Computer Society in 2009. In 2013 and 2016, Land was a member of the IEEE-USA Board of Directors.

Land has been an active member of the IEEE Standards Association for more than 20 years and served as the Computer Society vice president for Standards in 2004. She was the recipient of the 2007 IEEE Standards Medallion. She has been active in Region 3 supporting local Future City competitions. She was also a member of the region’s Executive Committee, serving as its awards chair.

In 2008 and 2010, she was a member of the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee.

Land is the recipient of several awards including the 2011 IEEE Huntsville Section Outstanding Engineer of the Year Award, the IEEE Computer Society 2017 Richard E. Merwin Award, and the Huntsville Association of Technical Societies 2018 Moquin Award.

To find out who was chosen as IEEE-USA president-elect, IEEE Standards Association president-elect, and more, read the full annual election results.

The Institute

Members are developing standards and e-learning courses and forming local groups

Blockchain has become a buzzword in the past couple of years, but many people still don’t know what the technology can do. Best known as the foundation of cryptocurrency transactions, the decentralized ledger has the potential to replace existing databases, providing more transparency and security. It could be adopted by nearly every industry including energy, finance, health care, manufacturing, real estate, and transportation.

To help advance the technology, IEEE launched its Blockchain Initiative in January, and dozens of activities are underway. They include standards development and e-learning courses, as well as conferences. Groups have been formed worldwide to focus on blockchain applications based on local needs.

The initiative’s efforts are in collaboration with the IEEE Computer Society, the IEEE Reliability Society, and the IEEE Standards Association. Nearly 200 volunteers are involved.

“This is a grassroots effort that gives technical communities the ability to advance blockchain, and inform one another about aspects of the technology they haven’t thought about,” says Tim Kostyk, who is overseeing the initiative. He is the senior program director of IEEE Future Directions, the organization’s R&D arm. “The more people who are involved, the more the technology benefits.”

BEYOND THE HYPE

One of the biggest advantages of a blockchain system over current databases, Kostyk says, is that it provides provenance: proof of ownership. “Blockchain allows for traceability in which users can see who had their hands on a product or service and at what point in time,” he says.

A blockchain database records every transaction and makes that record visible to all participants. Moreover, each transaction is blocked by the transaction that comes after it, making it nearly impossible to delete or edit previous records.

The health care industry could benefit from adopting the technology for medical records to help ensure a medical professional was not negligent. Doctors would record detailed information about medications prescribed, vaccines given, exams conducted, and surgeries performed. That information would be locked in a permanent ledger, not only providing the ability for patient records to be accessed by different medical providers but also making it nearly impossible for information to be deleted or edited—protecting against false malpractice allegations. IEEE is holding workshops and developing standards to advance blockchain technology for medical records.

Blockchain technology also could help ensure food safety. Retail giant Walmart, for example, is using it to track its produce, from farms to store shelves. That helps ensure items have not been contaminated and are not past their sell-by date.

The IEEE initiative is holding the Blockchain for Agriculture Forum in November in Honolulu. The conference covers recording seed plantings, changes in soil and irrigation, disease outbreaks in livestock, and shipping of produce. During a food recall, for example, those in the supply chain could refer to a single ledger to get to the root of what went wrong.

Another way blockchain technology could be useful, Kostyk says, is for creating and storing smart contracts: legal documents that use digital signatures. Several companies are emerging to provide blockchain systems to handle tasks such as finalizing a will and signing a contract without the need for an attorney or real estate agent. Users have their own private key assigned to each transaction that acts as a personal digital signature. It would be nearly impossible to delete or edit a legal document once it was recorded on the ledger.

FILLING THE GAPS

To advance blockchain technology, and to ensure the systems are secure, more education is needed. That’s why the initiative is offering e-learning courses and webinars to help educate technologists.

In partnership with IEEE-SA, the initiative has a variety of standards development projects in the works. The conformance and authentication project, for example, is developing a rating system to gauge the level of performance of each blockchain platform, measuring its efficiency and security.

Other projects include developing standards for blockchain use for utilities and energy infrastructure as well as for the Internet of Things.

The initiative publishes an e-newsletter, which is distributed to its technical community of 1,600 subscribers.

LOCAL GROUPS

Something unique to the IEEE Blockchain Initiative is its formation of local groups around the globe. The idea is to allow participants to focus on aspects of the technology that suit their local needs, says Senior Member Ramesh Ramadoss, co-chair of the initiative and chair of the IEEE P2418.1 Blockchain Standards Working Group.

“Some groups are interested in blockchain because of cryptocurrency, others for government projects or public financing for projects in underserved areas,” Ramadoss says. “We let them decide how to get involved locally through their section and globally through the initiative.”

Groups are being formed in Canada, China, India, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States, with more on the way.

The local groups network through a virtual forum and at events including the IEEE Global Blockchain Summit, to be held 17 to 19 September in Gaithersburg, Md. Summit attendees can learn about emerging applications and can help inform policy and regulations.

The initiative is becoming so well known that many non–IEEE members from IBM, Oracle, and other companies are getting involved and sponsoring events, Kostyk says.

“The more blockchain advances,” he says, “the more it’s considered credible and the more people are going to invest in, develop, and standardize it.”

The Institute
THE INSTITUTE is the member newspaper of the IEEE. Available monthly as a Web publication, it is mailed quarterly to all members of IEEE.