March 2024 – Message from the Chair

With the start of 2024, IEEE New South Wales section has new committee with a focus on bringing more value to our members. You can find more details on section’s webpage:
https://r10.ieee.org/nsw/committe/

As Chair for IEEE NSW section, I welcome new committee members and officers of chapters, affinity groups and student branches. I intend to promote more technical and social activities for this year to create and provide more opportunities to our members. As we are coming out of post-COVID phase, it is important to address the challenges we faced during the COVID period and the impacts it has had on all of us. We faced limits on physical activities and social events. Student branches were most impacted by this, as officers have graduated and there were very few students willing to act in the student branches to continue IEEE activities. Our chapter and affinity groups were also impacted, however not to same extent as the student branches. One good effect of the COVID period is that we now have more confidence in virtual events and now most events now offer virtual options. Another strong focus for this year is to actively support hosting key conferences in NSW. In some cases, it is a long journey, and we have to look ahead for the next few years. There are only a few conferences planned for Sydney in 2024. Our members are our key strength, and we would like to get you involved to get the most out of these big events. They provides opportunities for our younger members to exercise their leadership skills. Getting engaged in an organizing committee equips our members with invaluable experience which can help to attract future conferences to Sydney. If you are bidding to host any future conference, please reach out to me and we will actively support you to host it in NSW section. I recently attended an event on compliance, requirements, and suggested timelines for hosting conferences, which are important for hosts.

IEEE NSW Section had the honour to host IEEE President-Elect Kathleen Kramer at Sydney where she interacted with members of NSW section before travelling to Canberra for the Milestone event. It was a great opportunity for our members to meet and talk to the President-Elect and to share their thoughts. She has been presented with IEEE NSW 50th Anniversary Booklet.

IEEE Region 10 Annual meeting was held at the start of March in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a full-on event which offered insight to some past, current, and upcoming events. Updates were given on the split of Region 10 into new two regions (Region 10 and Region 11). Lectures were given on various aspects of conference organisation including compliance, requirements, and timelines on hosting conferences, plans, and opportunities available with various technical committees and working groups and networking to share ideas and experiences with representatives from other IEEE sections and IEEE Region 10 delegates.


2024 IEEE Region 10 Annual meeting, at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I would like all chapters, students, and affinity groups to plan events as early as possible, advertise them in plenty of time via vtools, and make sure that event reports get submitted through vtools. I ask chairs of all chapters, student branches, and affinity groups to attend monthly section’s meeting or send a representative to attend. This will allow us to promote, create, and share more opportunities.

I am also looking forward to getting UNITE back this year – let us make it happen together. Any ideas are welcome, please feel free to share them with me. There are several opportunities in terms of attending IEEE R10 SYWL Congress 2024, IEEE ANZSCON 2024, Robotics competition, etc, keep an eye on the section website and e-notices as more details become available.

I would like to acknowledge and extend my appreciation to all females in our section on International Women’s Day. They have always contributed to bring success to NSW section, and we are proud of you all. I would also like to congratulate the new IEEE Fellows in NSW on their elevations to IEEE Fellow grade.

Regards,
Syed Muzahir Abbas
Chair, IEEE NSW Section

December 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

As 2019 comes to a close I would like to thank you for being or recently becoming an IEEE Member and for your contribution regardless of size.  As this is the final newsletter for the year I hope that you have a great festive season, stay safe and enjoy the New Year.

My time as Chair has come to an end and Colin Elston will be leading the new team from 1 January 2020. To get involved and share ideas etc. feel free to contact him at [email protected]. Colin is filled with many great ideas, but he needs lots of help to make things happen.

Over the last 2 years we have spent a lot of time working on our fundamentals, helping prepare the section grow into the 2020’s. We have many great achievements to share:

Event Growth:

One of the best ways to get value from your IEEE membership is to come along to events occurring around NSW to learn and network. The opportunities available to you as a member have only grown:

– Events in 2016 = 83

– Events in 2017 = 112

– Events in 2018 = 152

– Events in 2019 = 173 (year not over yet)

In particular, UNITE has become a very popular event on our calendar and very important in 2019 was that the NSW Section had its very first milestone celebration (first in milestone in Australia).

Social Media:

We have a refreshed website, Facebook and Linkedin pages providing multiple ways to source information. This year we also created a YouTube channel to share events and presentations. Unfortunately, we did not get many presentations recorded and I hope more will become available in 2020. For that reason this year we added new sections to our e-notices, one on webinars and one on taking notice of the many great events recorded and stored on IEEE tv. Together they provide access to members to learn regardless of time and location.

Other Accomplishments:

As a committee we achieved many things, some of the highlights include:

– Started to place important information and documents on the section website for all to see (ongoing)

– Set in place a policy and procedure to support conferences

– Changed funding model for student branches to one based on rewards and incentives

– Grown the number of student branches with an active committee to be one of the largest to date with branches as MQU, USYD, UTS, UNSW, UOW and WSU

– Commenced an annual Chapter Chair meeting to align strategy and events

– Commenced a mid-year IEEE network event called UNITE to bring our communities together

– Put in place and executed a formal mentoring program

– Created an annual meeting of student branch leaders and section executive to exchange ideas, cross promote events and pool resources for greater outcomes

– Highlighted opportunities available to members from across the IEEE network

– Started an Opening Doors initiative to get our student members engaging with industry

– Established new chapters: Sensors Council and Robotics and Automation Chapter. We also had the Electronic Devices Chapter change from joint to stand alone

– Started an award series that recognises the valuable contributions NSW members make to the IEEE

– Strongly supported the IEEEXtreme competition

Value:

Everything listed has come from a handful of volunteers that spend their free time to make opportunities for the NSW community. I thank them all for the contribution made. Volunteering is a great way of getting membership value and I encourage more members to get actively involved.

The IEEE provides many opportunities to extract value from your membership fee including conference discounts, free e-books, IEEE TV, Spectrum, funding opportunities for humanitarian activities and leadership plus more. Locally if members simply participated at UNITE and the Section AGM most of the membership fee would be returned, for students returned many times over.

Think about that value and please ensure you renew your membership. Students especially, don’t let your membership lapse. If you didn’t find value in 2019 that is simply because you didn’t engage with the opportunities, meaning that you didn’t let yourself develop professionally as much as you could have.

NSW Outstanding Volunteer Awards

At the AGM the winners were announced. Please help in congratulating the following recipients for their enormous volunteering efforts.

The 2019 IEEE NSW Outstanding Volunteer Award Winners:

Sudipta Chakraborty overall winner for her outstanding contributions to Women in Engineering, IEEE Education Society and IEEE New South Wales

Syed Muzahir Abbas Young Professional winner for his outstanding contributions to IEEE Young Professionals and IEEE New South Wales

Rukmi Dutta WIE winner for her outstanding contributions towards enhancement of women in power engineering

Khushboo Singh student winner for her outstanding contributions to Macquarie University IEEE Student Branch

A commendation went to:

Budhaditya Majumdar (young professional) for his contributions to IEEE Student Engagement and IEEE NSW Section

Luke Wicent Sy (student) for his contributions to University of NSW IEEE Student Branch, IEEE NSW Section and IEEE Extreme

Final words:

It has been an honour to serve as Section Chair and I thank everyone once again for their support and contributions. Have a great December and reach out to Colin to get more involved in 2020! A big thank you to the University of Wollongong for the support!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

November 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

We come to the end of a very busy year. In the first 10months of the year we have had 153 events held and reported on vTools. These events have provided members with a range of opportunities to engage with the IEEE and members. I hope you have taken advantage of as many of these opportunities as you can.

The 2020 IEEE membership renewals have begun, and I encourage all members to renew and encourage your peers to renew and join. Don’t forget you can get membership renewal discounts for your membership referrals.

AGM – Chapter AGMs commence at 6pm, Section AGM commences at 6:45pm

The next big section event is the AGM and this is your opportunity to get connected, reach out and get involved. Attending the AGM is free and to join the AGM dinner (about 35 tickets left) it only costs $6. Details and registration: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2019-ieee-nsw-section-annual-general-meeting-dinner-tickets-73890491449

IEEE Xtreme Congratulations

NSW did an excellent job once again in this years IEEE Xtreme competition. We had 3 teams (2 from UOW and 1 from UNSW) in the Australian top 5 in world rankings from 31 to 111th. This is a great achievement. In particular, I would like to single out Duc Thien Bui from the University of Wollongong, who in a team of one, came 1st in Australia and 31st in the world! A huge congratulations

Newsletters

NSW Circuit available here: https://site.ieee.org/nsw/newsletters/

R10 newsletter available here: https://www.ieeer10.org/r10-newsletter/

Have a great November and I hope to see you at the AGM. Come along and meet the new 2020 Executive Committee and hear about their plans and find out how you can help them take the IEEE to the next level.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

October 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

October is an important month. This week we celebrate IEEE day, celebrating the first time in history when engineers worldwide and IEEE members gathered to share their technical ideas in 1884. Macquarie University held a celebratory event on Tuesday and I encourage all other universities and companies to hold a morning tea to celebrate this important milestone.

In regards to milestones the NSW Section celebrates a very important milestone on the 11th of October in Parkes. We celebrate the Reception of First Communication to Earth from a Human Walking on the Moon in 1969 thanks to the Parkes radiotelescope and Honeysuckle Creek stations in Australia receiving voice and video signals from the Apollo 11 moonwalk.

This is the last week for undergraduate and postgraduate students to register for IEEE Xtreme. Again, I encourage all academics to invite their students to get involved and challenge themselves and compete with 5,000 worldwide teams. Deadline for registrations is on the 7th. Please get in contact with me if you’re willing to help supervise students between 11:00AM Saturday – 11:00AM Sunday (19 and 20 October). Supervising students is a great way to give back.

On behalf of everyone in the NSW Section a HUGE congratulations is in order to share the news that Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay has been recognised with a 2019 Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) Outstanding Volunteer Award in recognition of outstanding contribution and services to the IEEE New South Wales Section and IEEE Region 10. Some other great local news is that Jie Lu, Chair of the Computational Intelligence Chapter has been awarded a prestigious Australian Laureate Fellowship

Congratulations to Budhaditya Majumdar for becoming the inaugural Chair of the IEEE New South Wales Section Robotics and Automation Society Chapter Chapter. Additionally, congratulations to Subhas Mukhopadhyay for becoming the inaugural Chair of the IEEE New South Wales Section Sensors Council Chapter. Please get in touch with them if you would like to get involved.

Don’t forget to register for the NSW Section AGM and AGM dinner. It will be held on Wednesday the 20th of November at Rydges Sydney Central (same venue as last year). The cost for participating in the dinner is once again only $6 and a great opportunity to network across the NSW network. Dinner is restricted to 120 and is on a first come, first served basis. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2019-ieee-nsw-section-annual-general-meeting-dinner-tickets-73890491449

Look out in our second October newsletter for the next issue of Circuit!

Have a great October and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

September 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

It has been a busy month and I would like to thank those members that submitted nominations for the NSW Section Awards and for Committee positions. Recognising others and engaging with the Sections activity is important.

A big thank you for those that attended UNITE2019. The networking was great and I met many IEEE members across many societies for the first time. It was a pleasure to listen to many great ideas. The presentations were very interesting and I was so happy to see most sessions were over flowing. We had close to 200 members attend and I hope this free event really supported the way you value your membership. Video highlights can be seen in the YouTube video in Section 6 below. Photos can be found on our Facebook page.

Through our sponsorship of some major local events we have a number of free registrations to give away this month. Check them out in Section 3.

You may have seen a number of posts recently in regards to the IEEE Milestone. While this event is in Parkes and a little out of the way it is a very important event. I encourage as many members as possible to take part. The dedication ceremony will emphasise the important role Australia played in mans first steps on the moon. Register today!

IEEE Xtreme is a very important event and is only a month away. This is a programming competition with about 5,000 teams worldwide. I would really like all members that teach or supervise students to encourage them to reach out to their student branches and participate in this programming and problem-solving competition. More information here: https://ieeextreme.org/ The USYD, UNSW and UTS student branches need IEEE members to supervise them during the 24hour competition (across the 19th and 20th of October). Please get in contact with me if you’re willing to help.

Have a great September and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

August 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

UNITE is this Friday. You have seen all the notices and promotion. You now know your timetable for this week. If Friday afternoon is clear then just please do yourself a favour and register to attend UNITE. This is a chance to regain the full value of your membership fee. For those that are new to networking with the ability to take a partner, you can still have a safety net to ensure you maximise the experience. Register right now. Over 200 people have already done so www.nswunite.org

Over the last few years we really have been having a surge of opportunities in the WIE front. This is not by accident. This is due to our volunteers putting in great effort to make a positive contribution in this space in NSW. What is more important is that these efforts are recongised. It is with great please to share that the IEEE Women in Engineering Committee has recognised our members efforts on two fronts. The first is that Naila Muktar from MQU has been selected as the winner of the 2019 WIE Inspiring Student Member Award. The second is that the IEEE WIE MQU Student Branch Affinity Group is the recipient of an Honourable Mention in the 2019 WIE Student Branch Affinity Group of the Year Award. A huge congratulations. I hope this inspires more people to volunteer.

The world recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and Australia played an important role. The UNSW SB created a short video that you can share with your students and friends to highlight local NSW achievements https://youtu.be/8EjsxeqdWS0. This achievement is being followed up with a milestone dedication ceremony to be held in Parkes on the 11th of October. While all the details are currently being finalised for those interested in taking part in such a historic event please earmark this date on your calendar. Please keep an eye out for future notices.

IEEE Member Budhaditya Majumdar is in the process of forming an IEEE Robotics and Automation Society NSW Chapter. He will be at UNITE on Friday so if you are interested in making the most of this opportunity please have a talk with him.

If you know someone that has made a substantial contribution to the IEEE please take the time to nominate them for the NSW Outstanding Volunteer Awards. Deadline Friday 31 August!

If you are interested in giving back to the community and taking on a leadership role nominate for a position on the section executive. See July Circuit for details. Deadline Friday 31 August!

Have a great August and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

July 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

The best way to spend funds allocated to the section is on events and opportunities that allow as many members as possible to engage and extract value. That is the reason we commenced the NSW flagship event in 2018. This year we are taking the event to the next level and have added a technical and professional development component. We have most of the events set in stone and just waiting for confirmations on a few more. I strongly encourage all members to attend as there is something for everyone. But make sure you register. You need to register for each of the components – the networking component and each of the technical sessions that you would like to attend. Space is limited so register to avoid disappointment!

Also, at UNITE the Education Chapter is holding its first poster competition. This is a great way to disseminate your projects and research to a very diverse audience. You never know who will look at your work and provide feedback or discuss further opportunities. I strongly recommend all supervisors encourage their students to apply!

If you know someone that has made a substantial contribution to the IEEE please take the time to nominate them for the NSW Outstanding Volunteer Awards. Volunteering is the foundation of how the IEEE operates and the section wants to recognise such efforts!

If you are interested in giving back to the community and taking on a leadership role nominate for a position on the section executive. See Circuit for details.

Due to UNITE there will be no section meeting in August.

Have a great August and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

June 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

June paves the way for the release of important annual items. The first is the launch of the UNITE2019 website https://www.nswunite.org/. UNITE is a FREE technical and network event for IEEE members and is a must attend event. We are calling for companies to come and exhibit at UNITE for the cost of a donation. The second is the launch of nominations for the NSW Outstanding Volunteer Awards. Volunteering is the foundation of how the IEEE operates and the section wants to recognise such efforts!

It is with great pleasure to announce that the NSW Section has had an IEEE Milestone approved. A huge congratulations to Trevor Bird and his team for this great accomplishment. The IEEE Board of Directors approved the IEEE History Committee’s recommendation for the following citation:

Reception of First Communication to Earth from a Human Walking on the Moon, 1969

Parkes radiotelescope and Honeysuckle Creek stations in Australia received voice and video signals from the Apollo 11 moonwalk, which were redistributed to millions of viewers. Parkes’ televised images were superior to other ground stations, and NASA used them for much of the broadcast. One of the first to use the newly developed corrugated feed horn, Parkes became the model for the NASA Deep Space Network large aperture antennas

Congratulations to the new student branch committee at Western Sydney University. It is great to see the start of many great events that will be showcased at the university. To get engaged please reach out to SB Chair Ms Manisha Arde ([email protected]).

We also have an updated committee at the University of Sydney. To get engaged please reach out to new SB Chair Nahidul Ambia ([email protected])

Items to be included in the July issue of Circuit is due on the 15th of June. Please submit content to Bill Sloman [email protected]

Have a great June and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

May 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

Over the last few months we have been looking for industry members to give back via the new mentoring program. A very big thank you to the four members that are happy to give back to the younger generation. This month we launch applications for mentees. Students, YP and WIE I strongly recommend you explore this opportunity to be a mentee. Never let a great opportunity pass you by.

We have also been advertising funding opportunities for our student, YP and WIE members to attend ANZSCON2019 being held in New Zealand https://attend.ieee.org/anzcon-2019/. Funding opportunities are generally awarded to those members that show a strong track record of volunteering for the organisation. For those not selected, please continue to contribute to the IEEE to build your application for other funding opportunities. Congratulations to the following members: Uzma Amin (MQU), Vivek Sharma (MQU), Alice James (MQU), Alanna Vial (UOW) and Luke Sy (UNSW).

Items to be included in the July issue of Circuit is due on the 15th of June. Please submit content to Bill Sloman [email protected]

Nominations for executive positions within the IEEE NSW Committee will be opening soon. If you have energy and passion and want to make a difference please start considering about an application now.

Have a great May and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

April 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

At the 2018 AGM I spoke with a number of industry members, all providing me with the same message, provide access to opportunities that don’t require travel. For that reason in each enotice this year you will have seen a new section on webinars. We have been looking for events around the world that will be of interest to you, and we plan on hosting a few webinars ourselves. The next supplementary initiative that launches today is the Sections YouTube channel. On this channel we will try and record as many local events as we can. We will be limited by venues with recording capability and approval by speakers to record and upload their presentations. We hope that you see this as a step in the right direction and we hope to build our library over the coming months and years. Please subscribe and once we reach 100 subscribers we can change the URL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcHapDQ69e6XXlzH2R1Ui9Q

On the same token, we all know that IEEE TV is a great resource that comes with membership, but how many of us every check what is on it? For that reason, our newsletters will start to highlight some recent additions so you don’t miss out.

The Joint Institution Lecture Series (JILS) is a fantastic opportunity to give your research, technology or company vital exposure across the IEEE and IET network throughout the year. We need presenters, so if you would like the expose see section 2 for more details.

Progress has been made and a Student Branch Councillor has been appointed at Western Sydney University. For students interested in developing their leadership skills and driving IEEE activities at the university, please contact Dr Ranjith Liyanapathirana [email protected].  We are still actively looking for a councillor to represent the University of Newcastle.

The first issue of IEEE Region 10 Newsletter for 2019 is now available and can be downloaded at https://www.ieeer10.org/r10-newsletter/

A huge thank you to ResMed for becoming one of the first companies agreeing to open their doors to our student members, providing a great industry opportunity. If you work for a large company. Why don’t you consider joining the initiative? It is a great way to give back and to gain access to great talent.

Have a great April and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

March 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending the IEEE Australia Council and R10 meetings in Melbourne. Key IEEE personnel from around the world was in attendance. Some of the key messages from the meeting included: the future of Region 10 within the IEEE; membership value creation; doing more for our industry/corporate members; and initiatives/opportunities that we should be considering locally.

If you have a great idea on a new program, product or service that would benefit the IEEE and its members then please consider applying for funding via the IEEE New Initiative Program with funding over US$100,000 available. Please see https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/initiatives/index.html for more details.

The IEEE’s slogan is based on advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. The Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC) plays an important role in helping the IEEE make a big difference. Funding up to US$60,000 is available for projects that will help make a difference. Can your idea help another community? Please see https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/humanitarian-activities-committee.html for more details.

On the 12th of March we are having the first Young Professionals meetup for the year. This is an opportunity to come together after work and grow your network, share ideas, engage and learn. Something as simple as a meetup is at the heart of the value that the IEEE can bring. If you have never been before, give it a try. You never know who you will meet and the connections you can make.

Have a great March and please feel free to get in touch with any feedback you may have on what we do here in NSW.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

February 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

I hope everyone is having a great start to February. It is definitely moving fast. As everyone returns to the work, the number of events available has started to pick up. As with our push last year there is great diversity in the locations of our various events. This includes our section meeting. Our March meeting will be held in the CBD, see section 6 for more information. Just remember, that the greatest value from IEEE membership comes from getting out and attending events and networking.

If you have not renewed your IEEE membership for 2019 time is running out. The 23rd of February is the date that 2018 memberships will expire. We have a jammed packed year of events planned with a special focus on Young Professionals. Don’t miss out.

We are currently 11 members away from reaching the 3000 membership level. Never a better time to encourage a friend to join. Just don’t forget the IEEE runs a referral program https://www.ieee.org/membership/join/member-get-a-member.html  to help you spread the benefits of membership!

A huge congratulations to the University of Wollongong PES SB Chapter for winning the IEEE PES High Performing Student Branch Chapter Award.

Congratulations to Past Section Chair Karu Esselle and his team for sending up the first Australian-designed antenna system deployed in space in almost two decades.

If you have any role in student branches or are interested in how you can better engage with student branches, please feel free to come to the training/planning meeting scheduled on the 22nd. More information in Section 3 below.

The Australia Council and R10 meeting will be held in Melbourne at the end of this month. All major IEEE leaders will be making their way to Australia.

Have a great February!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

January 2019 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

Welcome to 2019. I hope the celebrations and start to the year has been great. The NSW Section had a great year in 2018 and if you didn’t take the opportunity last month please respond to the following anonymous survey with 12 quick questions to help us reflect and guide us for the year ahead.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSWSection2018Feedback

The NSW Section enters the new year with 2,945 members. I would like to encourage all members that have not renewed to do so as soon as possible to ensure your benefits continue. Don’t miss out on all the opportunities to engage with our large member base.

I would like to highlight to our student members the value in renewing your membership. For the small fee you pay you have access to events and opportunities worth many multiples of your membership fee.

Don’t forget the IEEE runs a referral program https://www.ieee.org/membership/join/member-get-a-member.html to help you spread the benefits of membership!

With lots of event planning already in the works, be prepared for many great IEEE opportunities throughout the year.

The first section meeting of the year will be held on the 4th of February, 7pm at Seminar Room 2 at the Library, Building Q, Northern Institute of TAFE St Leonards Campus, Gore Hill.

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

December 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

As 2018 comes to a close I would like to thank you for being or recently becoming an IEEE Member and for your contribution regardless of size.  As this is the final newsletter for the year I hope that you have a great festive season, stay safe and enjoy the New Year.

This year has been an extremely active year with over 120 events held in NSW. We have also worked hard to make progress on our strategic plan to provide greater value to our local members. We would appreciate your help in letting us know how well we went by completing the following anonymous survey (12 quick questions):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSWSection2018Feedback

Renewal

As we move towards 2019 I would like to encourage all members that have not renewed to do so as soon as possible to ensure your benefits continue into the New Year. Some reflection on the year:

Student Value

In particular, I would like to highlight to our student members the value in renewing your membership for 2019. Our retention rates for students are generally on the low side and I would like to reflect on some of the opportunities that were available in 2018. For the small fee paid you had access to:

  • Discounted registration fees at IEEE conferences
  • IEEE magazine
  • FREE networking and dinner at UNITE valued at over $55
  • Discounted $55 dinner and networking at the Section AGM
  • Over $3,500 spent on student branches (in 2019 we now have active student committees at USYD, UNSW, MQU, UTS and UOW) spent on networking lunches, field trips, technical activities and other professional development opportunities
  • Four (3 female and 1 male) $750 grants to attend the WIE International Leadership Summit in Brisbane
  • A Student and Young Professional received funding approval to attend the IEEE SYWL Congress in Bali
  • A student funded to attend IEEE Rising Stars in the USA
  • IEEE Day networking celebrations
  • Access to IEEE Xtreme
  • Access to local and international paper/project competitions
  • FREE access to Industry Day at TENSYMP2018
  • FREE access to many technical events around the state
  • And much, much more!

IEEE membership is a ticket to building your future and network. If you took advantage of all or some of the items listed above you would have gained much more in value than what you paid in membership fees. If you did not take advantage of the opportunities, please ask yourself why? Engaging in activities and leadership opportunities enhances your development and employment value substantially more than what your university experience can provide alone. Ensure you renew your IEEE membership and get involved and take on leadership positions wherever possible. Just remember it is best to learn from the mistakes and experiences as student branch leader than making those mistakes when employed. In 2019 we are also starting up a local mentor program with industry members. Don’t wait, renew today and increase your engagement!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

November 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

Welcome to November, the month we hold the many Chapter AGMs along with the Section AGM and Section AGM Dinner. Please note that registrations have been purchased at a great rate and we now only have 17 tickets left for sale for the dinner. Purchase one before you miss out. http://site.ieee.org/nsw/agm-2018/

Lots of congratulations are in order, on top of the two great announcements in our last e-notice. Congratulations to Mohamed Awadallah from UTS for achieving 2nd place and Harith Roshana Wickramasinghe from UNSW for achieving a commendation in the IEEE AC 2017 Postgraduate Student Paper Contest.

Congratulations also to our student branches for really standing out as being some of the best in the country. Second place for the IEEE AC 2017 Student Branch Contest was shared by Macquarie University and University of Wollongong. A commendation was awarded to University of Technology Sydney. I personally know how hard the student branches have worked to engage students with the IEEE and this recognition is truly deserved!

Last night we had the last section meeting for the year. I would like to thank all committee members for taking the time out of their busy lives to help shape the future of the section. We made a lot of progress this year and I am very thankful for everyone’s efforts. I would also like to thank John Aitken and Ray Brown as outgoing Secretary and Treasurer for the very large contributions they have made to the section over the many years. Thank you, you both have made a big positive impact on our section.

I hope I get a chance to meet you at our AGM on the 21st. Please feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or comments. Have a great November!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

October 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

October brings about IEEE Day, a celebration to mark the first time IEEE members gathered to share their technical ideas in 1884. This year the UTS Student Branch is hosting a gathering for all members. This is an opportunity to celebrate, network and share in some free pizza (see Section 3 below for more information). As part of the celebration the IEEE is providing a US$30 membership discount to first time members. If you know of anybody that would like to celebrate and share the benefits that the IEEE has to offer, they can register via the IEEE website between the 30/9 and 6/10 and enter in the code IEEEDAY18 to receive the discounted membership.

The new membership year has started with any new memberships purchased or renewed attributed to the 2019 year. That means new members get an extra 3months for free! Regardless of your membership type (student, YP, member etc.) I hope you found value in your membership in 2018 and decide to renew. While the section committee worked hard in 2018 the plan is to work harder and offer you more in 2019.

The IEEE AGM will be held in the late afternoon of the 21st of November at Rydges Sydney Central, a 5min walk from Sydney Central Train Station. Please mark this date in your calendar. After the AGM we will hold our AGM dinner and this will be an international buffet dinner valued at $55. A small fee of $6 will be charged to members to attend the dinner this year. We needed to introduce the fee this year to counter the growing number of members registering and not turning up to such catered events. Dinner is limited to 130 so please register soon to avoid disappointment. More information: http://site.ieee.org/nsw/agm-2018/

IEEEXtreme registrations close this week. Make sure that students get a team together and participate in this amazing competition. It pushes students to the limits and provides a great statement piece for a CV or interview question. More information: https://ieeextreme.org/

Thank you to those that coted in IEEE elections and supported our NSW and Australian candidates. Education Society members please note that voting for the BoG ends on the 3rd of October. Please don’t forget we have a NSW member in the election. Vote now: https://eballot4.votenet.com/IEEE/login.cfm

Please feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or comments. Have a great October!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

September 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

The IEEE is what it is because of volunteers that give up their time to provide services and opportunities for others. The NSW section is in such a strong position today thanks to the hard work of previous dedicated members. In particular, the contribution from John Robinson was immense. It is with great sadness I announce the passing of IEEE NSW Section and IEEE Australia Council past Chair John Lowe Robinson. John passed away at Ashburn House aged care facility Gladesville Saturday afternoon 1st of September 2018.

On behalf of the IEEE NSW Section I would like to extend my sincere condolences to John’s wife Olivia, his sons Elliott, and Lloyd, daughter Claire and their families.

The funeral service will take place at 1:30pm on Monday 10 September 2018. Service Refreshments will be served from 2:30pm to 4:00pm at the Crematorium. The funeral service location will be the Camellia Chapel Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium, Corner Delhi and Plassey Roads, North Ryde NSW 2113 https://northerncemeteries.com.au/macquarie-park/

John Robinson served the IEEE NSW Section and IEEE for many years with distinction, great energy and dedication.

John served as IEEE NSW Section Chair (1999-2000), Treasurer (1990-1998 & 2009) and Secretary. He also served as IEEE Australia Council Chair (2003-2004) and PES Chapter Chair (2008-2009). Since joining the IEEE NSW Section Committee in 1980 he held numerous other Committee positions including Nominations, Professional Activities and Life Members Chair. He was nominated and won several Awards including the IEEE Millennium Medal (2000), Region 10 Outstanding Volunteer Award (2010) and PES Outstanding Engineer Award (2015). He was instrumental in the Organisation of GLOBECOM 1998, OCEANS 2010 and PICA 2001 which contributed to the Section’s finances. He was also instrumental in ensuring the success of the Oceanic Engineering Society NSW Chapter (Joint with Communications/Signal Processing) serving as Co-ordinator and Finance Officer.

May he rest in peace!

In other news, UNITE2018 was a huge success with about 7-8% of our membership in attendance. Those that attended really found the value possible from an IEEE membership. This is something that we will continue to build upon in the years ahead.

Congratulations to Catherine Nicholson, Naomi Stringer, Meriam Guy and Ibrahim Anwar for receiving funding to attend the IEEE WIE International Leadership Summit in Brisbane in November. The event has an impressive line-up of speakers and scheduled events and is targeted at both males and females. The cost of the event is extremely low compared to similar commercial offerings. More information: http://site.ieee.org/wieils-aus-2018/

We now have a Student Branch committee formed at the University of Sydney. Thank you to everyone involved in making this happen and congratulations to the new leadership team. USYD members please get in touch with Robert Webster and Donald Azuatalam to find out how you can also get involved and make the most from an IEEE membership.

IEEE Elections are underway and I encourage everyone to cast a vote. The three sections in R10 with the highest participation rate will receive funding bonus. Please note we have Australians in the race for R10 Director-Elect and Computer Society Board of Governors.

The IEEE NSW Section AGM will be held in the late afternoon of the 21st of November near Sydney Central Train Station. Please mark this date in your calendar. More details will be provided in the coming weeks. IEEE Day is on the 2nd of October and we hope that we can announce some celebrations shortly.

If you would like to submit an article for the October issue of Circuit, please send your article to the editor Bill Sloman by the 17th of September [email protected]

Please feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or comments. Have a great September!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

August 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

This is your last chance to be a part of a new major initiative aimed at uniting all our members and technical societies for a free dinner, networking and exhibiting products/services/technologies etc. Currently we are at 192 registrations, so it is going to be a great event. Don’t miss out and don’t miss out on the opportunity on exhibiting at the simple cost of a donation. Registration closes on the 7th. More information: http://site.ieee.org/nsw/ieee-unite-2018/

The 24th of August also marks the last day (final extension) for research and practitioner submissions for IEEE TALE2018, the flagship Asia-Pacific education conference of the IEEE Education Society. The conference is on track to be the biggest TALE conference to date, so please if you are interested in making a difference in education this is your last chance to submit. The practitioner stream does not require research papers. More information about the conference: https://tale2018.org

This month is also the last month to apply for the NSW IEEE Volunteer Awards. If you have made a positive contribution to the IEEE or if you know someone please nominate. Great work should be recognised. Awards will be presented at the section AGM in November. More details: http://site.ieee.org/nsw/awards-recognition/

A big thank you to our student branches for being very active over the year. They have really been putting up some great events. If you are a student member, be sure you get involved in the branch as that is how you unlock real value from IEEE membership. We have also had a few student technical chapters created over the last 2 months and this is such a positive thing to do and I congratulate all students involved in doing this.

Also, we have IEEEXtreme 12.0 registrations opening soon. This is a 24hour problem solving/coding competition for undergraduate and postgraduate students with an expectation of having 5,000 teams participate this year. Last year teams from NSW dominated nationally, and we also had a group of first year students come 32nd in the world! Talk to your student branch for more information. If your university does not have a branch please contact our Student Activities Coordinator to start a discussion of starting one up. Email: [email protected]

Over the last few months I have been trying to create a register of IEEE industry/business members willing and available to integrate their experience into universities. Currently, we only have had 3 people register. Supporting universities and sharing knowledge is a great way to give back and I really encourage people to sign up. See the opportunities section for more information.

At Monday’s section meeting we will be spending the second hour looking at the responsibilities of various committee members and looking to refine them to maximise effectiveness and to identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps. Feel free to come along and add your input. Meeting details at the end of this newsletter.

Please explore the opportunities being provided by the section this month and add value to your IEEE membership.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or comments. Have a great August!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

July 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

TENSYMP2018 is currently underway bringing bright minds from throughout region 10 to Sydney. There is still an opportunity to register for Industry Day being held this Friday the 6th of July. We are offering free registrations to our student members.

On Monday Arslan Kiyani was voted in as the new IEEE Student Activities Chair. This month we are looking for someone in industry to take up a Section Mentor Chair. We are looking to start up a mentoring program for our student and young professional members and we need someone that can help make this happen. Please email me an expression of interest.

We are a month away from UNITE2018 a free networking and dinner event uniting all our members and exposing the benefits of the IEEE. Most of our technical chapters are coming on board such as PES, Edu, VTS, AP/MTT and IMS. There will also be opportunities to reach out to TISP, Young Professionals and Student groups. You can also discuss upgrading your membership status. If you have research, products or services that you would like to promote to the IEEE community, exhibits are available and are at the cost of a donation. Register now!

Please explore the opportunities being provided by the section this month and add value to your IEEE membership.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or comments. Have a great July!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section

 

June 2018 – Message from the Chair

Dear IEEE Member

Something discussed frequently is value of membership. To extract value from IEEE membership it is important that you engage with events and opportunities. It is through engagement that you develop your network and advance knowledge. In this month’s newsletter there are many opportunities being advertised that cater to all members. For example, there are multiple opportunities to gain recognition of the work you do including the announcement for the new NSW Section Outstanding Volunteer awards. This month we are also providing funding for the WIE Leadership Summit and calling out for a new Student Activities Chair.

For those in industry a number of opportunities to share and give back are promoted. This commences with the Industry Day at IEEE TENSYMP (see full details here) being held in Sydney in early July, followed by UNITE2018 in August in which we are offering exhibits for the cost of a donation. We also have industry events and day pass associated with IEEE TALE2018 being held in Wollongong in December. More importantly, we are looking for industry members to give back and engage with our student members.

Please explore the opportunities being provided by the section this month and add value to your IEEE membership.

The next issue of Circuit will be released in July. Should you have an article that you would like to share, please send your article to our editor by the 15th of June. [email protected]

There is also a call for articles to the R10 newsletter. If you have something to share with the region submit an article via http://bit.ly/r10nlsjul18

Please feel free to reach out to me with any suggestions or comments. Have a great June!

Sasha Nikolic – Chair, IEEE NSW Section