ieee goldrush june 2010 edition
DESCRIPTION
IEEE GOLDRush June 2010 Newsletter. The GOLDRush Newsletter, published quarterly and sponsored by IEEE GOLD, is your source for information for young professionals. Each GOLDRush issue contains GOLD news from around the world, GOLD notices, Member Profiles, and special messages from GOLD committee members. Also featured in GOLDRush are invited articles and peer-reviewed contributions on subjects ranging from humanitarian efforts to career development to cultural experiences as volunteers work across the globe to continue and promote IEEE activities.TRANSCRIPT
IN THIS ISSUE
The quarterly newsletter of IEEE GOLD for young professionals
HIGHLIGHTS
JUNE 2010
WELCOME FROM THE 2010
MGA GOLD CHAIR William Sommerville
1ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
Dear IEEE GOLD members,
It is said that 99% of the people in the
world want to do a good job. People go to
work, go to school, and interact with their
families with good intentions and not always
good results. It can be tremendously frustrat-
ing when hard work leads to failure and when
sincere efforts lead to hurt feelings. I suppose
that this helps us appreciate our wins even
more when we are successful.
Failure is not a sign of weakness, in fact
quite the opposite. As one of the world great-
est leaders, Sir Winston Churchill once said
“Success is the ability to go from failure to
failure without losing your enthusiasm.” We,
the IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade, are
at a difficult time in our lives in part because
of the inevitable failures we must encounter as
our careers develop. I have had my share of
failures before – and frankly I am thankful for
them. Every failed relationship, failed job,
and failed opportunity has given me the hu-
mility, wisdom, and patience that I need to
advance myself both personally and profes-
sionally. These mistakes have certainly not
made me into a failure – but rather they have
allowed me to become successful.
One of my favorite aspects of the GOL-
DRush newsletter is the opportunity to gather
wisdom from people all over the world who
are not so different than me. We are a com-
munity of young professionals and graduate
students with similar interests, goals, and a
shared vision of a better world. We are look-
ing for opportunities to make a difference in
the world and use our technical skills for good
purposes.
So what makes an engineer or an aca-
demic good? How can we make that positive
impact? How do we get our names
known? Some people might say that we need
to fight for a good cause, like alternative en-
ergy or fighting diseases. My contention is
that we simply need to learn from our failures
Readers’ Forum 4
GOLD Member Profile 5
GOLD News 6
IEEE GOLD Affinity
Group Profile
11
Peer-Reviewed
Contributions
14
Notices 17
GOLD Committee 19
IEEE GOLD MGA
Meeting
10
IEEE GOLD & WIE New
Hampshire AG Profile
12
Breaking into IT Security 14
Do we still need data
compression?
15
THz Waves: Possible
Sources for Endoscopic
Ultrasound Medical
Imaging
16
JUNE 2010
2 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
and become as good at our jobs as we can
possibly get. A good, competent engineer will
create more jobs and generate more value in
the world than a mediocre engineer fighting
for a good cause.
good job, but eventually I intend to be doing a
fantastic job.
Will Sommerville
2010 MGA GOLD Committee Chair
This is why I am involved with IEEE and
why I read every edition of GOLDRush. My
goal is to become as good as I can be as an
engineer and as a person so that I can do
more and make a bigger impact in the
world. They say 99% of people want to do a
W elcome to the June edition of the
IEEE GOLDRush newsletter.
One of the things that have
continued to amaze me about the IEEE as a
worldwide professional organization is the
diversity found from within. When I think
about it, the world is really made much
smaller by the IEEE community and is an
exciting organization to be a part of because
of the people, one of its greatest assets. I am
constantly and fondly reminded that our
world is not homogeneous. The world is
made up of this colorful spectrum of diverse
people from all walks of life. Through this, I
find myself constantly empowered to strive
for excellence and to dare to dream and dare
to not stop dreaming.
As an organization we need to embrace
this diversity if we are to continue to prosper,
grow, support and learn from each other.
IEEE is a truly fantastic organization when it
comes to embracing and supporting diversity.
It has a worldwide presence with a strong
membership base of over 380,000 members
in 160 countries which is continuing to grow.
Of this, there are over 50,000 young profes-
sionals who belong to IEEE GOLD. This is
truly something we should be proud of and
celebrate. As young professionals we are the
future of the organization and agents of
change. The decisions we make today will no
doubt affect the IEEE, our future way of life
and the world around us. The power is in our
hands to advance the profession, society and
technology for the benefit of mankind. With
all of this comes the responsibility of ensuring
that we make the wisest decisions. The world
is counting on us to make it a better place. We
should aim to look both outwards as well as
inwards in our day to day decision making to
ensure that we make the most informed and
best choices possible.
On May 22-23, the joint Member and
Geographical Activities (MGA) GOLD and
Student Activities Committee (SAC) meetings
were held in New Brunswick in the state of
New Jersey, USA. This meeting united both
IEEE staff and volunteers of various diversi-
ties from the different IEEE regions. The
United Through Diversity By Timothy Wong, IEEE GOLDRush Editor
volunteers who attended this meeting came
from all walks of life and different parts of the
world including Australia, Bolivia, New Zea-
land, India, The Netherlands, South Africa,
South America, Singapore, Canada and the
USA. There was a buzz of excitement and
intent within the meetings, which resulted in a
united front in the strategic planning sessions,
aimed at achieving the very purpose of IEEE
GOLD. The main purpose of this meeting
was to plan the direction of GOLD to con-
tinue to better serve IEEE members. There
was certainly that warm fuzzy feeling from
volunteers who have sacrificed many hours of
their spare time to make IEEE a better place
for its members and the world. Through the
times, many IEEE volunteers have become
close friends. They laugh and cry together,
celebrate their successes, learn from their
failures and support each other through the
times.
This meeting reminded me of how we as
professional volunteers are united through
altruism and diversity through the
IEEE. Altruism is a common trait among
volunteers who have an unselfish devotion
and concern towards serving the wider com-
munity. At this meeting new friendships were
formed and old friendships strengthened
among the IEEE staff and volunteers. The
spirit of volunteering was well and truly alive
and only became stronger. The slogan
“The slogan „Networking the World‟ once again continues to apply”
“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your
enthusiasm.” - Sir Winston Churchill
JUNE 2010
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GOLDRush “Networking the World” continues to apply
as many new friendships are made around the
world through networking within the IEEE.
Be sure to take a look at the featured article
on the GOLD meeting in this edition of
IEEE GOLDRush.
There has been a working group estab-
lished for IEEE GOLDRush at the MGA
GOLD meeting to develop our strategic di-
rection with the vision that “GOLDRush will
be the leading source of information for
young IEEE professionals”. It is our very
mission to ensure that GOLDRush continues
to provide relevant information to empower,
enlighten, and engage young professionals.
With the ever changing environment in which
publishing occurs, IEEE GOLDRush must
and will continue to evolve to engage you, our
valued reader.
It has been an exciting past three months
since the last edition of GOLDRush, with
many ground breaking events happening in
IEEE GOLD around the world. I am pleased
to announce that from this edition onwards,
we will be profiling a GOLD affinity group
from the different worldwide IEEE re-
gions. In this edition we take a look at the
New Hampshire joint GOLD and Women In
Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group, reader’s
forum, GOLD News around the world and
three peer reviewed articles, which have been
selected by our editorial team. We hope that
you enjoy reading what this edition has to
offer. We are always interested in hearing
from you about your thoughts on GOL-
DRush. If you have any suggestions or com-
ments on the content or direction of IEEE
GOLDRush, please send your feedback to
Timothy Wong
2010 IEEE GOLDRush Editor In Chief
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GOLDRush READERS’ FORUM Your questions and opinions
The Young Researcher in
the 21st century A young researcher in the 21st century will find themselves faced with a lot of challenges in today’s dynamic world. Global issues relating to the economy, environment and terrorism make media headlines and this raises many questions in the mind of the young researcher. With so many other issues taking up media and political attention, a young researcher has many reasons to believe that commitment towards research and development is lacking from authorities. However, they will probably soon realize that it has always been like this. The researcher finds themselves to be a “problem solver” and not a “problem maker”. With this belief they set out and take on the challenges in solving problems in a highly dynamic world. They look around and see many who are in the same position as them. There are people who have trodden the path of research and development and have much more experience than them. The timeline for career progression through research and development has always been there. They realize that those who have trodden this path have made a significant difference in the world and left a legacy for their successors, who subsequently realize this fact and see the evidence for themselves. A sense of respect arises, in the mind of the budding researcher, for all who have lived their lives as the “problem solvers”. The budding researcher realizes that they carry on the legacy of their predecessors and will eventually build upon what previous researchers have already discovered. The young researcher realizes that there are many others like them trying to solve a problem. This problem they are solving is generally part of a bigger problem. Every researcher sees a part of the whole problem and tries to find optimal solutions for it, thus, in a way contributing towards finding a
solution to the bigger problem. It is just like a cartwheel wherein everyone contributes little by little and with the joint effort makes the wheel turn. Suddenly the realization of responsibilities and expectations dawns in the minds of the young researcher in the 21st century. They find themselves to be an
integral part of the future. A future which they have the power to shape and influence. It gives them a sense of pride and honor to take forward the legacy of their predecessors for the progress and empowerment of mankind. The next question arising in the mind of the budding researcher is what their contribution in the field is and what kinds of tools they have. They look around at the discoveries and
inventions of preceding researchers and to their great surprise finds that most of the tools are inspired from nature or are nature’s gifts. They realize that every problem is just like a big puzzle whose solution is waiting to be unravelled in nature. A sense of curiosity arises in the heart of the young researcher which had till now been hidden in a plethora of confusion and dismay. The young researcher is inspired to unlock the hidden mysteries and decipher the puzzle, and so focuses on devising new innovative solutions to solve problems. The researcher learns from predecessors and then creates new innovative algorithms for solving complex problems. The young researcher knows that their hard work will make a significant impact in the lives of people. They find that their toolbox is full of sophisticated equipment that is not only being inspired by nature but also developed by their predecessors in order to face the challenging problems affecting society. In the end, they feel lucky to be a part of the global IEEE research community who continuously decipher and solve problems for the better of mankind. Dr. Manish Kakar
Express your opinions on GOL-DRush articles and ask questions to the authors by submitting a letter to the GOLDRush Readers’ Forum. Send your submissions to [email protected] before 6 August 2010 for inclusion in the September 2010 edition. Submissions must be no more than 200 words and may be edited if necessary. We look for-ward to hearing your thoughts!
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GOLDRush MEMBER PROFILE
Aisha Yousuf
Career description:
I recently graduated from the
University of Michigan – Dear-
born with a Master’s in Electrical
Engineering and my bachelor’s
in EE is also from the same univer-
sity. I will be starting my new posi-
tion with GE Global Research in
Niskayuna, NY at the end of June
2010. I love research in Artificial
Neural Networks, Pattern Recog-
nition, Machine Learning, and
Computer Vision and the most
exciting thing about this field is its
wide applicability. During my re-
search at grad school I worked
on projects such as intelligent
vehicle power management,
implementation and detection
of watermarks in images, and
multi-modal biometrics. While in
school, I also had a chance to
work on some fun and challeng-
ing internships. At Charles River
Analytics in Cambridge, MA I
worked on hidden target detec-
tion using LADAR for Air force.
While at Mayo Clinic in Roches-
ter, MN, I designed their very first
automatic ultrasound quality
evaluation system that uses intel-
ligence to find targets of interest
in ultrasound images and applies
various evaluation methods to
determine how well the objects
of interest are depicted in the
ultrasound image. I am looking
forward to exploring many excit-
ing new research opportunities
and challenges at GE and also
pursuing a PhD in a few years.
What are your personal interests
(i.e. hobbies)?:
I love swimming and I try to swim
at least twice a week. I also en-
joy reading a lot although I
mostly prefer fiction. Travelling
and being outdoors is another
one of my passions. While travel-
ling to far and exotic places is
always exciting, I really think that
you don't always have to take
long expensive vacations to re-
lax and have fun and you never
know what you might find in your
own "backyard". I also collect
postcards from places I have
been to.
How has IEEE helped your ca-
reer?:
I got involved in IEEE as a student
and IEEE has helped in all as-
pects of my career. I gained
leadership skills from starting an
inactive student branch to host-
ing my first student professional
awareness conference. In addi-
tion, I gained many other skills
such as proposal writing and get-
ting funding; skills that are vital to
a research career. I also got my
first internship (with a leading re-
search role) through the IEEE job-
site. I make sure to read IEEE arti-
cles or attend webinars that dis-
cuss topics not taught in schools
such as how to negotiate a sal-
ary and ways to ensure that em-
ployers see your resume. IEEE has
been essential in connecting me
to people who have helped
shape my career and also many
professionals that I now consider
friends. Having a global IEEE
presence and a network of peo-
ple world-wide also helped when
moving to new places for work.
And most importantly, I use IEEE
to do almost all my research and
to stay up to date with new re-
search and technologies.
Any words of advice for young
professionals?:
Being a recent grad and having
gone through many interviews, I
would really like to emphasize
the importance of IEEE involve-
ment to young professionals. Em-
ployers do ask about professional
and leadership activities in inter-
views. During one of my inter-
views, one of the managers was
very impressed with the fact that
I was the publicity chair for one
of IEEE's international confer-
ences, a kind of experience that
he said that even he didn't have.
Another employer mentioned
that they also look at profes-
sional activities when considering
promotions for their current em-
ployees. So IEEE is beneficial for
not only getting job but getting
ahead in your career as well.
Having IEEE volunteer experi-
ence really counts as it gives you
skills that most other young pro-
fessionals don't have and puts
you one step ahead. Most im-
portantly you build your profes-
sional networks, something that
you won't be doing sitting at your
desk at work. Getting involved in
IEEE is one of the many ways your
IEEE membership works for you
and you should make the most
of your IEEE membership.
JUNE 2010
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GOLDRush
GOLD NEWS From around the world
Mind the Gap
By Greg Hovagim
(New Hampshire WIE/GOLD Joint
Affinity Group)
the universities where over twenty six (26)
students discussed their post-graduation plans
and learned about GOLD. Events were held
on April 22, UNH Manchester & Daniel
Webster College; April 30, Dartmouth Col-
lege; May 2, UNH Durham. This is the sec-
The New Hampshire Women In Engi-
neering (WIE) /Graduates Of the Last Dec-
ade (GOLD) affinity group held three Univer-
sity Graduation Luncheons to support the
graduating students in their transition to
young professionals and to encourage
younger students to get and stay involved
with the IEEE. Each luncheon was a success
and we believe that our efforts to “mind the
gap” between student membership and the
larger IEEE Community will be fruitful. The
luncheons were held at local restaurants near
IEEE Hyderabad STEP
By Prashant Venkatasubban
(Secretary, GOLD Hyderabad
Affinity Group )
T he IEEE Hyderabad GOLD affinity
group hosted the Student Transition
Elevation Partnership Program
(STEP) at NIT Warangal and DIET Vizag on
the 27th of May 2010. Both of the STEP
events were largely interactive with a good
number of students showing up.
The STEP events were conducted with
the objective of helping students transition to
a professional life ahead of their student days.
The event mainly focused on 2 topics of in-
teraction:
1) Crafting a successful engineering career
2) Entrepreneurship as a viable career
option
The speakers for both of these topics
were IEEE Section Members who have been
largely successful in their career. All of the
speakers stressed the importance of IEEE
Membership and how it could help fuel the
right career growth. The speakers gave many
inspiring examples from their own experi-
ences and those of their colleagues of how
IEEE membership could be useful.
STEP Event at NIT Warangal
The event had two guest speakers which
included Mr. H. Niranjan, a Senior Engineer
from Google India and Mr. B. Satyam, co-
founder and Managing Director of Neo-Silica.
The near 100 strong audience were mainly
senior year students with a mix of junior and
sophomore year students from 5 different
colleges in the Warangal zone. Both IEEE
members and non-members were in atten-
dance. The event kicked off with high tea
where the students, speakers and student
branch counselor had an informal interaction
and got introduced to each other. This was
followed by a presentation by Mr. U Niranjan
from the GOLD team welcoming the audi-
ence and delivering the introductory speech.
The first speaker, Mr. B. Satyam en-
thralled the audience with an interactive and
Pictured: Graduating students enjoying lunch with the New Hampshire WIE/GOLD affinity Group.
informative session on entrepreneurship. He
showed the audience ways to develop the
"attitude of an entrepreneur" and the impor-
tance of entrepreneurship in a developing
country like India.
The second speaker, Mr. H. Niranjan
presented on "Transitioning from student life
to professional life". His humorous remarks
and anecdotes from his life experiences
turned out to be very informative for the
senior year students. Both of the speakers
were also IEEE members and they spoke
about the importance of continuing IEEE
Pictured: STEP Event at DIET Vizag.
ond year that graduation luncheons were
hosted by NH WIE/GOLD, and we hope
this will continue as an annual event. Best
wishes to all new graduates!
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GOLDRush
GOLD NEWS From around the world
What is IEEE STEP?
STEP stands for Student Transition and Elevation Partnership and is an initiative that was developed to provide a standard-
ized yet localized program for facilitating the transition from student member to young professional, by introducing the
opportunities and benefits of IEEE membership during the onset of a career. The IEEE STEP Program Objectives are:
Identify a local IEEE entity beyond the student branch for members to contact
Plan a joint Section and GOLD event to introduce local IEEE resources
Illustrate IEEE member benefits appropriate for young professional members
Identify recent IEEE Student members who have graduated with an undergraduate or graduate degree; help re-
taining members by capturing any change of address, email or other contact information
Funding is available for STEP activities including a graduation reception for groups holding an event with a minimum of 10
recent graduates. Basic funding will be provided up to the amount of $500 and additional funding may be available if
the number of additional recent graduates attending exceeds 25.
IEEE will provide each STEP sponsor with a package of supplies to help make your workshop a success. The resources in-
cluded in the STEP Kit will assist you in organizing and executing a Student Transition Event, as well as a successful IEEE
membership campaign to help retain student members as young professional members and keeping them actively en-
gaged with IEEE.
For more information please visit: http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/gold/step.html
membership for senior year students entering
the professional world. The speakers were
impressed with the turnout and quality of
interaction, with the students enlightened and
hopefully, convinced to continue with their
IEEE membership.
STEP Event at DIET Vizag Around 180 students from the different
colleges around Vizag attended this event. Dr.
Nagarajan of CouthIT, the founder of a
successful start-up in 1999, spoke on En-
trepreneurship as a career option. He led the
crowd with a presentation that encouraged
interaction through series of questions and
answers. The perspective of an Entrepreneur
was propagated among the crowd. He spoke
about the ideals of risk taking, listed the sim-
ple rules of entrepreneurship and shared his
experiences during the start-up stage of his
firm. The students were excited with the idea
of entrepreneurship and many of them
wanted to choose the path as a career. Asankhaya Sharma, the former Chair of
the Warangal OpenSolaris Users group who is
currently working as the Lead Developer for
one of the internal products of Microsoft IT
at Hyderabad, enthralled the participants with
his presentation on Crafting a Successful
Engineering Career. He spoke about the ex-
periences gained by an engineer in a new and
well established product firm. His suggestions
about choosing the work place suited to one’s
career choice was well received. Finally, Prashant Venkatasubban, the
Secretary of the GOLD Hyderabad Affinity
Group educated the students on how GOLD
will help graduates with their engineering
career and those who would like to take entre-
preneurship as a career. He presented
GOLD’s plan for young professionals and
informed about other interactive activities
that GOLD would be conducting for mem-
bers this year.
Pictured: One Section of the Audience - STEP at
NIT Warangal.
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GOLDRush Region 8 GOLD
News
By Salima Kaissi
(Region 8 GOLD Committee)
During 2010, IEEE R8 GOLD has been
aiming at continuously increasing the visibility
of GOLD around IEEE. The committee
started the year by making a GOLD Book,
which shall be distributed on the R8 GOLD
website. The idea of this book is to gather all
the activities organized by each AG in our R8
in the previous year, failed and successful
stories as well. After this, our committee
launched the "R8 GOLD Outstanding Activ-
ity Award" for the first time as a form of
recognizing GOLD members for their efforts
towards the GOLD vision. Currently we are
in the selection phase. Apart from this, several
ideas have been brainstormed and a few have
started to take shape. For instance, the IEEE
Day is an idea that was recently born and aims
at defining a date in the year to celebrate all
ing an IEEE member, the humanitarian
workshops, on the other hand, aim to encour-
age young engineers to become involved in
activities for the benefit of humanity and is
delivered in the form of a workshop.
Last but not least, our committee is very
involved in the organization of the Student
B r a n c h a n d G O L D C o n g r e s s
(www.sbcleuven.org) that will be held
from 4 to 8 of August in Leuven – Belgium.
This Congress is the opportunity for us to
meet GOLD delegates in each section and
help them in leading their mission by propos-
ing a rich program of sessions and work-
shops.
By R8 GOLD Committee
http://www.ieee.org/r8gold
MGA GOLD
Achievement Award
for the R8 GOLD
Coordinator
J oao Figueiras is an active IEEE volunteer
since 2006 and is currently the Region 8
GOLD Coordinator. He received the
2009 MGA GOLD Achievement for out-
standing contributions to the public visibility
of IEEE by creating the “GOLD Around the
World” video. This innovative idea was one
of the most common events in 2009 to cele-
brate the IEEE 125th anniversary around the
world by “sending and displaying” the logo in
the video from a country to another. Joao
received his award from Barry L. Shoop,
IEEE Vice-President, MGA and Eva Lang,
R8 Vice–Chair, SAC, during the last R8 Meet-
ing that was held in Riga – Latvia in May
2010. Several countries participated in this
project and the final version of the video will
be published on IEEE TV in the coming
weeks.
Pictured: Joao Figueiras (center) being presented with the MGA GOLD Achievement Award by Eva Lang (left)
VP MGA Barry L Shoop (right).
together around the world, the achievements
of IEEE. The details are being worked out
and proper deliverables will be available by
the end of the year. Apart from the new ideas,
the R8 GOLD committee continues engaged
in supporting as much as possible all the ac-
tivities running in the several Affinity Groups.
Focus has been given to the creation of new
affinity groups, owing to their major role in
retaining student members and showing them
that IEEE can continuously support them
during their professional careers. The Portu-
gal GOLD affinity group, chaired by Joao
Canas ([email protected]) was
established. Furthermore, we continue com-
mitted on helping the affinity groups organize
the STEP (IEEE Student Transition & Eleva-
tion Partnership) program (www.ieee.org/
membership_services/membership/gold/
step.html) and humanitarian activities
(www . i e ee h t n .o rg/ ht n/ i n d ex . ph p/
IEEE_Humanitarian_Workshop). While
the STEP program aims at delivering a mes-
sage to students tailored in a framework cre-
ated to better help them transition to becom-
JUNE 2010
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GOLDRush
IEEE members an opportunity to network.
Finger foods were provided during the
relaxing Friday evening as the sun went down.
As part of the ongoing strategy to engage with
the Student Branches and the Section, student
and section members were invited to attend
this event. This event was attended by
approximately 15 GOLD and student
members from a number of different
T he IEEE GOLD Western Australia
Sundowner was held on 7 May 2010
at the Grapeskin Bar in Northbridge.
The objectives for this event were to recruit
new IEEE members and to provide current Pictured left to right: Members enjoying a Friday
night out at the Grapeskin Bar.
IEEE GOLD
Sundowner
By Timothy Wong
(IEEE GOLD Western Australia
Affinity Group Chairperson)
industries. In the past, this event has resulted
in student members obtaining gainful
employment from the professional networks
which they formed during the evening. Due
to the success of this event, plans have been
made to hold it on a regular basis in the
future. This will allow for additional
professional networking opportunities
alongside other events to enhance the value of
IEEE membership for both GOLD and
student members.
Congressional Day
Visit
By Gloria See
(IEEE WIE/GOLD Affinity Group
New Hampshire)
O n April 28th and 29th, I had the
opportunity to fly to Washington,
D.C. for the 2010 Congressional
Visits Day (http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/
cvd/default.asp). Nearly 300 engineers from a
range of professional societies joined IEEE-
USA to speak to Congressmen and Senators
about the importance of federal research and
development budgets.
We spent Wednesday working on our
statements and discussion points with our
groups to prepare for Thursday’s visits. New
Hampshire was paired with Colorado, so I
had the chance to visit the representatives
from both my current and former home
states. There were also briefings from the
Department of Energy, House Appropria-
tions Committee, and the Federal R&D Of-
fice of Science and Technology Policy. Repre-
sentatives from each of these groups briefed
attendees about the current status and future
plans of their organizations so we would be
better prepared for the next day's meetings. If
you’re interested in the budget information
from Office of Science and Technology Pol-
icy (OSTP) it’s available at: http://
www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/
fy2011rd%20final.pdf and the AAAS is at:
http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/.
We wrapped up the evening with a cele-
bration of the 50th anniversary of the laser. It
was a great time, various universities and
companies displayed the different stages of
laser technology development and how they
were used. I was fortunate to run into two
friends from my undergraduate university,
one representing the Materials Research Soci-
ety and another from the Optical Society of
America. It was a fun reunion and it was won-
derful to see so many technologically diverse
groups coming together in pursuit of the
same goals.
Our meetings with the Congressional and
Senatorial staffers filled up Thursday. The
group I was with had very broad experiences
and interests. Between just the five of us, we
had college professors, college students, re-
cent graduates, and experienced engineers.
Work experience branched across the defence
industry, electronic security, network systems,
education and start ups.
Our diverse experiences and backgrounds
gave us a great range of issues to bring up in
support of federal research and development
budgets. Our conversations focused on the
America COMPETES Act Reauthorization,
which had come up in the House the day
before our meetings. Our discussions with the
staffers included the importance to each of
our fields of interest of both the America
Pictured: Colorado and New Hampshire contingents
with the capital building in the background.
JUNE 2010
10 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
We received a varied response from the
staffers. Some were very knowledgeable and
supportive of research and development.
Other staffers were unfamiliar with the Amer-
ica COMPETES Act. All were very interested
in the discussion that our group brought to
them and planned to look it up for future
COMPETES Act funding and the support of
other research and development initiatives.
One of the most common themes was
the impact that technology research has on
the job market. This was brought home by
the recent 50th Anniversary of the Laser,
which illustrated many technologies take a
long time to mature before becoming ubiqui-
tous in our everyday lives. Without making
early investment in research and development,
all the innovation, entrepreneurship and small
business opportunities that pay off later
would not exist.
Another concern was for education.
Technical education needs to be emphasized
in order to have new technology research take
place. This education should be taking place
at the K-12 level to bring student interest so
that the first technical exposure students have
isn’t once they get to college.
MGA GOLD Meeting
By Timothy Wong
Pictured: The New Hampshire Team in front of
Congressman Hodes's Office.
reference and to take the information back to
the Senator or Congressperson that they were
representing. Not all promised support for
America COMPETES specifically, but every-
one gave a very enthusiastic response towards
research and development and treating it as
priority in the future.
The jobs that develop, quality of life im-
provements and changes to our infrastructure
that result from research and development are
long-term. Not making that investment now
will have ramifications for years to come. If
you’re interested in having an impact, write to
your Congressperson or Senators and empha-
sizing your support for the American COM-
PETES Act Reauthorization or any other
research and development funding that you
think is important. Come to next year’s Con-
gressional Visits Day, or one of the other
policy fly-ins that IEEE-USA supports.
The annual IEEE Member and Geo-
graphical Activities (MGA) Graduates Of the
Last Decade (GOLD) meeting was held from
22nd to 23rd May 2010. There is an old saying
that “if you fail to plan then you plan to fail.”
The IEEE GOLD meeting was focused on
operations, strategic planning and volunteer
development. This meeting bought together
enthusiastic, dynamic and innovative young
IEEE volunteers and staff from around the
world. The volunteers came from a diverse
range of backgrounds and countries including
the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Pakistan, Ecuador, Netherlands, Malaysia,
Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Uruguay,
India, Zambia, Germany, Israel and South
Africa.
A lot of time and effort was spent on
volunteer development. Each volunteer re-
ceived an information package containing all
of the presentation slides and an array of
different IEEE member promotional bro-
chures. The day began with an activity called
“Your IEEE” exercise where each group was
presented with a hypothetical situation which
current IEEE and prospective IEEE mem-
bers could find themselves in. The task was to
as a group formulate a response to the ques-
tion, “What could IEEE membership offer to
this person?”.
The next two days of the meeting in-
cluded presentations from various senior
IEEE staff on topics to equip the IEEE
GOLD volunteers with the knowledge and
skills to continue the IEEE GOLD mission.
There was a joint meeting with the Student
Activities Committee (SAC) for the first half
of Sunday 23rd May (day two). The SAC is
charged with the responsibility for student
programs and benefits and making recom-
mendations to the MGA board. The SAC
provides a voice and forwards important
viewpoints and information of over 80,000
IEEE student and Graduate Student Mem-
bers (GSM). There is a logical association
between IEEE GOLD and SAC. When Stu-
dent members graduate they automatically
become a member of IEEE GOLD. In the
case of the GSM, they are both a student and
Pictured: Aisha Yousuf (Region 4 GOLD
Coordinator) presenting on the findings of the “Your
IEEE” exercise.
Pictured: Informal get together with GOLD and
SAC committee members.
JUNE 2010
11 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush MGA GOLD Meeting (Continued)
GOLD member. We cannot afford to under-
estimate the importance of having a working
partnership and relationship between the SAC
and GOLD committee. Many GOLD mem-
bers were once Student members at one stage
of the career.
A number of working groups were estab-
lished to focus on target areas within IEEE
GOLD. The second half of day two was
spent in the working group breakout sessions
brainstorming and working on the mission,
vision, goals and strategy for the working
group. Each of the working groups operate
under the guidance of the working group
leader. These include:
Member Value Working Group #1
(Events)
Member Value Working Group #2
(Webinars)
Member Value Working Group #3
(STEP Program)
Awareness & Promotion Working
Group #4 (Brochures, Web Con-
tent)
Awareness & Promotion Working
Group #5 (GOLDRush)
IEEE Operations & Partnering
Working Group #6
Volunteer Development Working
Group #7
The meeting was followed by a tour of
the IEEE operations center in Piscataway,
New Jersey, USA. The IEEE operations cen-
ter is spread across three separate buildings
and staffed by over 650 people. This tour
included an insight into the IEEE contact
center where dedicated staff are available to
assist IEEE members with their enquiries.
There was a brief welcome and thank you
speech to the volunteers by Vice President of
the MGA, Barry Shoop. The next stop along
the tour was the IEEE command center
where the volunteers got to witness firsthand
the monitoring operations of the IEEE. The
computer servers and building are constantly
monitored around the clock to maintain the
integrity of IEEE operations.
Overall the MGA GOLD meeting was an
overall success with many of the working
groups being formed and the strategic plan
being developed to bring IEEE GOLD for-
ward into the future. The quality and dedica-
tion of volunteers within IEEE GOLD
should give all members the confidence that
the future of IEEE is in safe hands.
Pictured: IEEE GOLD and SAC members
enjoying the IEEE Operations Center Tour.
IEEE GOLD Induction
Dinner
By Ruchi Vyas
(IEEE GOLD New Zealand North
Affinity group)
T he IEEE New Zealand North Sec-
tion GOLD Affinity Group gathered
for its first event on the 23rd of April
2010. The event was an induction dinner,
organized at a popular Auckland restaurant to
promote an informal atmosphere for current
and prospective IEEE members. Members
conversed over topics ranging from emerging
technologies to fiber optics broadband, con-
sulting and sales engineering over delicious
food.
The GOLD committee organizes regular
events ranging from social to professional
activities for its members throughout the year.
Some of the activities run in the past included
site visits to the Auckland Sky Tower, Lion
Nathan Brewery and the Auckland Traffic
Control Centre as well as workshops on top-
ics such as time management, leadership and
career development. A list of past events can
be found on http://www.ieeenorth.org.nz/
gold/?page=past_events.
This year, the focus will be on enhancing
the social interaction between GOLD mem-
bers and providing quality workshops and
presentations on topics such as project man-
agement, leadership and career advancement
for the budding professionals. The primary
purpose of IEEE GOLD is to help students
make a smooth transition from academia into
the professional world. It aims to aid the
members’ professional development by offer-
ing training in areas such as leadership, time
management and providing mentoring. Fi-
nally, it seeks to provide and foster a friendly
environment where recent graduates can net-
work with people of similar ages coming from
a wide variety of career paths.
Pictured above: IEEE and prospective members
enjoying dinner with the IEEE GOLD New
Zealand North Section Affinity Group.
JUNE 2010
12 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush IEEE GOLD AFFINITY GROUP PROFILE
IEEE GOLD & WIE
New Hampshire
Fast Facts
Date Founded: 2008
Chairperson: Brian Roberts
Member Count: 166
Committee Members: 9
History
The IEEE New Hampshire Women
In Engineering (WIE)/Graduates
Of the Last Decade (GOLD) Joint
Affinity Group (AG) was started
in 2005 as a WIE AG . In 2008, the
NH GOLD AG was formed and
combined with the NH WIE AG
into a Joint AG. Given New
Hampshire’s small WIE and GOLD
population it made sense to
combine forces as a Joint AG.
This strategy has worked well for
the AG as it has had a steady
volunteer base and been one of
the most active GOLD AG’s in
Region 1 since its inception.
Mission
The mission of the New Hamp-
shire WIE/GOLD joint affinity
group is twofold:
WIE - To inspire, engage, encour-
age, and empower IEEE women
worldwide.
GOLD - To develop and foster
relationships to provide tangible
value to members; Promote the
GOLD program to students; Re-
cruit, develop and nurture volun-
teers.
Why volunteer
The New Hampshire WIE/GOLD
volunteers gave the following
reasons for being involved in the
AG:
To gain professional awareness through networking.
By serving in an affinity group I can make a difference in some capacity for the members of IEEE and its branches.
Among some of the personal
reasons provided by the volun-
teers for becoming involved in
the NH GOLD/WIE Affinity Group
include:
“I volunteer with WIE/GOLD be-cause I believe IEEE is a great or-ganization, but needs more diver-sity, both in age and gender. I enjoy the events and meeting other peo-ple who are passionate about engi-neering.”
“I like meeting new and interesting people, and getting a chance to be exposed to things I didn't know about.”
“I am a member of IEEE WIE/GOLD because I enjoy networking with other young professionals and par-ticipating in events.”
Pictured: IEEE WIE/GOLD Joint Affinity Group Committee.
JUNE 2010
13 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush IEEE GOLD AFFINITY GROUP PROFILE
“I enjoy giving back to my profes-sion and interacting with other peo-ple in my field.”
Events
The New Hampshire joint WIE/
GOLD Affinity Group runs a vari-
ety of events to serve and sup-
port its members including:
Committee Meetings – At these
monthly dinner meetings the
committee discusses plans for
future events and shares other
i n f o rm at i on about I EEE/
professional events.
University of New Hampshire Stu-
dent Luncheon – This STEP event
brings together graduating engi-
neering students with working
engineers. The events supports
both the WIE and GOLD missions
by engaging students about to
enter the engineering field, de-
veloping relationships with pro-
fessional engineers, and promot-
ing GOLD and WIE to possible
new members
Tea with WIE/GOLD – At this PACE
event, a respected and accom-
plished engineer is invited to
have an open casual discussion
with the WIE and GOLD mem-
bers over tea. This event supports
the group’s missions by inspiring
members and fostering relation-
ships between members.
Networking Events – These events
allow members to come to-
gether in a fun social environ-
ment, which gives great oppor-
tunities for building members net-
works. Past events have included
whitewater rafting, skiing, and
batting cages.
Professional Development – This
event provides tangible value to
members by through seminars,
workshops, and/or conferences.
In 2010, we are planning a semi-
nar on public speaking and pres-
entation skills in collaboration
with the Toastmasters Club.
Joint Regional Events – This event
gives an opportunity for NH
members to collaborate with
other sections in the region on an
event. By collaborating with
other sections NH members in-
crease their social and profes-
sional networks. This year, a joint
whitewater rafting trip is
planned.
Conferences and Other Events –
The group also sends members
to conferences and events for
volunteer development and to
represent the AG on a Regional
or higher level. These events in-
clude: IEEE-USA Annual Meeting,
Congressional Visit Day, MGA
GOLD Annual Meeting, Sections
Congress, and Regional Board of
Directors Meetings.
Visit our website: http://ieee.org/
go/nhwiegold
Join our Facebook Group: http://
www.facebook.com/ref=logo#!/
group.php?gid=148694602738
Pictured: IEEE GOLD and WIE members enjoying white water rafting.
Would you like your GOLD Affin-
ity Group to be profiled?
Contact us at
JUNE 2010
14 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
PEER-REVIEWED CONTRIBUTIONS
Breaking into IT
Security
By Dustin L. Fritz
(CEO, The Computer Network
Defense Group LLC )
ton study which examined the state of the
federal cybersecurity workforce. The Center
for Strategic and International Studies leads a
consortium sponsoring the U.S. Cyber Chal-
lenge. The goal of this challenge "...is to find
10,000 young Americans with the interests
and skills to fill the ranks of cyber security
practitioners, researchers, and warriors."5
DoD, NSA, and DHS are trying to hire thou-
sands of professionals to support their grow-
ing cybersecurity efforts.6 Many private and
public organizations are recognizing the need
for IT security specialists. All around the
hiring spectrum you can find postings for IT
security related jobs. The demand is high.
Are you ready?
Here are some examples. Odinjobs.com
collects information on over a million jobs
from 50,000 companies. Using their Job
Market Overview tool and looking just at IT
security jobs you will find the median salary is
about $64,000 annually. Their IT Security
Salary & Job Demand map shows that Cali-
fornia, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida with the
highest demand for IT security positions. As
far as the highest salaries within the US are
concerned, Washington, Oregon, California,
Arizona, North and South Dakota, Louisiana,
New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts
top the list. Therefore, the jobs are out there
but are you ready?
So how can you break out among your
peers and get an IT security job? Here is an
easy 5 step methodology to help you start
W ho is the greatest cyber threat?
Did you say China or Russia?
China's estimated military
spending was $55.9 billion and Russia's esti-
mated military spending was $44.3 billion in
2007.1 Where does the money go? In March
of 2009 MSNBC reported that "a cyber spy
network hacked into classified documents
from government and private organizations in
103 countries."2 CBS News reported weeks
later that "the Pentagon announced they had
spent more than $100 million in the last six
months responding to and repairing damage
from cyber attacks and other computer net-
work problems."3
So who is protecting cyberspace? CIO
Digest Online Extra “Cyber 9/11” by Alan
Drummer reports that "85% of the Internet's
infrastructure is privately owned." With the
majority of the Internet's infrastructure being
privately owned can we trust the status quo?
Or just expect more exploitation and possible
disruption to key resources? The US Depart-
ment of Homeland Security (DHS) defines
key resources as being water, agriculture and
food, energy, transportation, banking and
finance. All key resources link directly to a
physical infrastructure (power plants, server
rooms, etc), which is connected to a cyber
infrastructure (Email, DNS, Web 2.0, etc).
Those computer networks of networks, called
the Internet.
The "...federal cybersecurity workforce is
significantly challenged by serious shortages
of highly skilled cybersecurity specialists..."4
This was a point made in a Booz Allen Hamil-
your career in IT security. All you have to do
is B-E-G-I-N. 1) Blog yourself into a job.
The greatest resume is someone googling
your name and 76,500 results appear. Yes the
paperless resume has arrived! Well not en-
tirely. I do recommend a strong written re-
sume to go along with your googlized resume.
2) Experience is priceless. If you’re in be-
tween jobs, spend your time with a non-profit
or open-source community to stay engaged
and show your initiative. 3) Googlize your
career. Take advantage of Google, and other
search engines [optimization features] to turn
your resume, professional affiliations, confer-
ence attendances, career interests, Facebook,
Linkedin, Myspace and Twitter accounts into
a sphere of supporting influence of credibility.
Own a presence on the Internet. Remember,
"content is king." Get your face out there.
Watch your web presence, saturate the in-
dexes of Google. 4) Interview for anything.
Interview with any organization that relates to
your field of choice and do it as often as you
can! 5) Network with everyone. Be proactive
and correspond with people in your field of
interest. Find your niche. Intrusion detec-
tion, firewalls, security programming, network
security engineering, information assurance,
incident response, information security man-
ager, etc. Invest in learning new tools, proce-
dures, and policies that surround your career
field of choice. Taking the first step does take
a bit more than technical expertise and leader-
ship, it takes passion.
1“World War III: A Cyber War has begun”, October 2007 by The Technolytics Institute
2http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29935591/
3 h t t p : / / w w w . c b s n e w s . c o m / s t o r i e s / 2 0 0 9 / 0 4 / 0 7 / t e c h / m a i n 4 9 2 6 0 7 1 . s h t m l ?
source=RSSattr=SciTech_4926071
4http://www.boozallen.com/consulting-services/services_article/42415933
5http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/cyber/The%20United%20States%20Cyber%
20Challenge%201.1%20(updated%205-8-09).pdf
6http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/06/12/DHS-infrastructure-unit-hiring-621-more-workers.aspx;
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090727_2075.php
JUNE 2010
15 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
PEER-REVIEWED CONTRIBUTIONS
Do we still need
data
compression?
By Fei Nan
(IEEE Senior Member )
lowing occurrences are labelled with reference
links, which are readily accessible for a pro-
gram to look up. The reference links are
merely two integer numbers which are trivial
in size, thus giving positive compression gain.
The data compression helps pattern
recognition by building a dictionary for fast
retrieval. The dictionary is a pre-arranged
management system and data exchange for
those repetitious segments from the input. If
one segment or one portion of the segment
contains some patterns of interest, it is effort-
less to follow reference links in the dictionary
in order to retrieve all occurrences of the
pattern from the input. This is a lot more
efficient than directly searching the original
input to track down the patterns of interest.
Because the chance of finding a match is
much higher in the dictionary, the pattern
matching algorithm can start off searching for
patterns in the dictionary first, before extend-
ing to the remaining parts. This will signifi-
cantly optimize the search operation and
reduce the search latency.
During the process of compressing data,
some long-range tandem structures will be
I recently came across a colleague and
was asked whether we still need data
compression as data storage is becoming
more and more affordable. The floppy drive,
first invented in 1976, became a popular and
ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange
in the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. There
were hundreds of, if not thousands of, data
compression programs available back then to
reduce file size and improve disk usage on the
1.44 MB floppy disk. Nowadays, people can
easily purchase a terabyte scale hard drive
from any electronics store down the street. Is
it still necessary to use data compression pro-
grams to zip data and to save the extra few
bytes? To answer the question, we have to
know what data compression is about, and
what it can bring to us. Then we will under-
stand why we still need compression. We
need compression a lot more than ever.
We need data compression because it can
help reveal hidden structures and recognize
patterns which had never been disclosed be-
fore. The fundamental theory behind data
compression is to search repetition and use
reference links to point at those repeats. The
reference links are abstract conceptions. In
implementation, it would be a dictionary like
data structure such as array lists, etc, which
save the starting and ending positions for
each occurrence of the repeat. Each entry in
the dictionary is considered as a standalone
segment. By following the reference link dic-
tionary, the compression program only re-
cords the verbatim repeat once. All the fol-
revealed. Repetitious structures will have
more meaning to input data. By tracing down
the repetition, it will undoubtedly help expose
key components. This feature is widely ap-
plied on computational biology, biomedical
imaging and bioinformatics. When properly
used on protein or DNA sequences, most
researchers are able to uncover some biologi-
cally meaningful segments, or exons.
Dr. Fei Nan is an IEEE Senior member and cur-
rently a senior research engineer at the Samsung Mo-
bile R&D lab in San Jose, CA.
JUNE 2010
16 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
THz Waves:
Possible Sources
for Endoscopic
Ultrasound
Medical Imaging
By Andrew Nguyen
(IEEE Member)
T erahertz (THz), the upper end of the
electromagnetic spectrum between
300 GHz and 3 THz, is a relatively
untapped resource for biomedical
applications. As compared to other radio
waves at lower frequencies, THz waves have
several unique advantages, including
applications in extremely small medical
devices, extraordinarily fine spatial resolution,
and radiation in very small beams. The
extremely narrow radiation beam allows
energy to be focused on tiny spots and
minimizes the spreading of unwanted
radiation into nearby tissues. Just like other
radio waves, THz radiation is non-ionizing,
avoiding hazards such as cancer production,
chromosome breakage, and tissue damage.
The ultrasound technique has been used for
various medical imaging applications for at
least 50 years and is considered as one of the
most widely used diagnostic techniques in
modern medicine.
Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or echo-
endoscopy is a particular ultrasound
technique for medical imaging. It is an
endoscopic procedure implementing
“endoscopy” and “ultrasound technology” to
obtain images of the internal organs such as
abnormalities in the digestive tract.
Endoscopy is a procedure using an endoscope
instrument to examine the interior of a hollow
organ or cavity of the body. Unlike most
other medical imaging devices, endoscopes
are inserted directly into the organ for
imaging purposes. For instance, an endoscope
can be passed through the mouth and
advanced through the oesophagus to the
suspicious area to make images for detecting
abnormalities. The EUS scope is similar to
the traditional endoscope, but is fitted with an
ultrasound transducer similar to that used in
the conventional ultrasound technique.
Through the scope, the transducer can be
placed close to the body’s organs and uses
sound waves just like in the traditional
ultrasound technique. Essentially, EUS is an
ultrasound technique specifically applied to
the internal organs. It has been used to
examine, through detailed images, the
oesophageal and stomach linings as well as
the walls of the upper gastrointestinal tract,
consisting of the oesophagus, stomach and
duodenum, and the lower gastrointestinal
tract including the colon and rectum. EUS
can also be used to obtain images of
abnormalities in other organs near the
gastrointestinal tract, including the lungs,
liver, gall bladder and pancreas.
It was found that the acoustic wave,
which is the basic wave used in constructing
images in the ultrasound technique, in the
heads of animals and humans, can be
generated from an illuminating pulsed radio
wave. Using radio waves to generate acoustic
waves for imaging of biological tissues was
reported. Recent work has shown that fine
imaging of biological tissues using the radio
wave-induced ultrasound technique,
demonstrating its usefulness for medical
imaging applications. The radio wave-induced
ultrasound technique possesses unique
features of non-contact, deep penetration,
fine imaging contrast, and good spatial
resolution. It also has similar imaging speed as
that of the conventional ultrasound technique
since the ultrasound is excited almost
instantaneously as the radio wave is incident
upon the biological tissue. The reported radio
wave-induced ultrasound technique, however,
can only focus energy in relatively large beams
due to the relatively low frequencies used.
This would prevent it from being effective for
certain medical applications under particular
conditions – for instance, examining
biological tissues on a microscopic scale. The
THz wave would overcome this shortcoming.
THz waves can be focused in extremely
narrow radiation beams. It is this unique tiny
beam radiation that makes THz an attractive
candidate for use as a radio-wave source in
the EUS technique to generate the acoustic
waves needed for ultrasound imaging in
microscopic areas such as the internal organs.
Radio-wave medical imaging possesses
high imaging contrast yet poor resolution. On
the other hand, ultrasound imaging has fine
resolution but with poor imaging contrast.
Using radio waves in the ultrasound technique
can potentially resolve the problems of poor
imaging contrast and resolution. Particular
implementation of THz waves in the
endoscopic ultrasound technique allows
possible examination and imaging of
microscopic areas and tissues, such as micro
tumors in the internal organs with enhanced
imaging contrast and resolution. This
implementation is promising substantial
advantages in our quest of seeing “farther,
wider and clearer” into the internal organs of
patients.
Andrew Nguyen is a recent graduate of the University
of California, Irvine.
JUNE 2010
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GOLDRush
NOTICES
GOLD volunteer to
join IEEE staff
T here will be a younger voice on
IEEE’s Corporate Strategy team!
Helene Fung, currently the Region
10 GOLD Coordinator, will commence as
IEEE's new Senior Strategic Planning
Manager in late June, reporting to Matt Loeb
(Staff Executive, Corporate Strategy and
Communications). She will initially work
from home in Perth, Australia, but will be
relocating to the Singapore office before
December.
Helene’s educational background in
engineering, her professional work in
management consulting and strategy, and her
10 years of volunteer experience and
knowledge of the IEEE has successfully
differentiated her from the rest of the
candidates who applied for the job.
Combined with that, her origin from Region
10 makes her a welcomed addition to the
staff, at a time when IEEE is focused on
capitalizing on opportunities in Asia.
Helene’s involvement with the IEEE
started in her university days, when she re-
started the University of Western Australia
student branch in 2000. She became the R10
Student Representative in 2001 and 2002, and
has served on a number of committees such
as the IEEE and RAB Nominations and
Appointments (N&A) Committees, EAB
Continuing Professional Education
Committee and Volunteer Leadership
Development Ad-hoc Committee. She has
been on the MGA GOLD committee since
2008 as R10 GOLD Coordinator.
However, to avoid any real or perceived
conflict of interest, taking up the new role as
an IEEE staff means Helene cannot continue
to hold office as a volunteer. She will work
with the Region 10 Director and Director-
Elect on transition plans once a successor has
been appointed.
Helene would like to thank everyone very
much for their support in previous years, and
she looks forward to continue working with
you for years to come, just in a different
capacity!
Pictured: Helene with “Father of the Internet” and
Google VP, Vinton Cerf, at a recent IEEE work-
shop on the future of information held in Washington,
DC (which she attended as “new strategy staff”).
feature that allows the member to organize
their favorite myIEEE content exactly how
they want it:
Customizable selection of all
myIEEE modules and gadgets
Multiple layout options with drag-
and-drop gadget placement
Choice of several technology-based
themes to further personalize the
page
RSS tools to import feeds from IEEE or
content sources outside of IEEE. Members
can log in to myIEEE, www.ieee.org/myieee,
select the “Customize” tab and begin person-
alizing the myDesktop page.
The Volunteer Desktop will have similar
customization capabilities in the next
myIE E E re l e a s e in Q 4 20 10 .
MyDesktop Begins
myIEEE‟s Charge into
Customization
G reat News. The capabilities of
myIEEE has expanded at an ex-
ponential scale through the intro-
duction of "myDesktop," a customizable
Check Out
MemberNet
Messaging
M emberNet introduced a new
enhancement with the addition
of memberNet Messaging. This
improved e-mail messaging capability facili-
tates member-to-member communications,
while insuring member privacy. Send a mes-
sage to another IEEE member by selecting
the “Send a Message” button on the mem-
ber’s profile. Only members who have opted-
in their email address will be able to receive
messages.
JUNE 2010
18 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
GOLD Representatives on IEEE
Societies
Society Overseer
Matthias Reumann
Aerospace & Electronic
Systems Society
Mike Roberts
Antennas & Propagation
Society
Ryan S. Adams
Broadcast Technology Society
Heidi Himmanen
Circuits & Systems Society
Sunil Pai,
Delia Rodriguez de Llera,
Martin Di Federico,
Pui-In (Elvis) Mak
Communications Society
Angela Yingjun Zhang
Computational Intelligence
Society
Justin Zhan
Computer Society
Carlos Rueda-Artunduaga
Consumer Electronics Society
Tom Wilson
Council on Electronics Design
Automation
David Atienza
Education Society
Aju Thomas
Electron Devices Society
Ravi Todi
Engineering in Medicine &
Biology Society
Matthias Reumann
Geoscience & Remote
Sensing Society
Shannon Brown
Magnetics Society
John Nibarger
Microwave Theory &
Techniques Society
Sergio Palma Pacheco,
Jenshen Lin
Photonics Society
Lianshan Yan
GOLD Representatives on IEEE
Societies (continued)
Power & Energy Society
Glen Tang
Robotics Society
Agostino Desantis
Society on Social Implications
of Technology
Emily Anesta
Solid-State Circuits Society
Sean Nicolson
Systems, Man & Cybernetics
Society
Ferit Sahin and Wing Ng
Technology Management
Council
Marisa Bazanez-Borgert
Vehicular Technology Society
William Sommerville
IEEE GOLDRush Volunteers
Editor
Timothy Wong
Immediate Past Editor-In-Chief
George Gordon
Editorial Assistants
Stuart Bottom
Claudio Camasca
Lara Fast (MGA Staff)
Kheng Swee Goh
Lori Hogan
Kristi Hummel
Lisa Lazareck
Sabarni Palit
Michael Pearse
Brian Roberts
Rajnish Sharma
Agusti Solanas
Mohnish Tuladhar
Aisha Yousuf
Graphic Designer
Alex Wong
Assistant Graphic Designer
Kenny Wong
Chair
William Sommerville
Past Chair
Adrian Pais
TAB Representatives to GOLD
Elya Joffe
Roelof Swanepoel
Gim Soon Wan
MGA Representatives to GOLD
Gustavo Giannattasio
Guruprasad Madhavan
Megha Joshi
Regional Coordinators
Region Overseer
Jeffry Handal
Region 1
Uri Moszkowicz
Region 2
Michael Pearse
Region 3
Wah Garris
Region 4
Aisha Yousuf
Region 5
Kheng Swee Goh
Region 6
Gigi Lau
Region 7
April Khademi
Region 8
Joao Figueiras
Region 9
Salomon Herrera
Region 10
Helene Fung
GOLD COMMITTEE 2010
JUNE 2010
19 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush
GOLDRush
NOTICES
Call for Articles: GOLDRush September
Edition
I EEE GOLDRush invites you to submit an article for publication in the
September 2010 edition. The article topic(s) shall be of interest to young
professionals, the primary readers of the publication. Articles must be
strictly no more than 700 words and should be sent to the IEEE
GOLDRush editor at [email protected] on or before 6
August 2010. Please feel free to include captioned photos or pic-
tures with your submission. All articles and photo(s) will be peer
reviewed and edited if necessary. Full submission guidelines must be
adhered to and can be found at http://www.ieee.org/web/
membership/gold/newsletter/goldrushPolicy.html
Make the most of this great opportunity to express your ideas!
Cop
yrig
ht M
icro
soft
Upcoming GOLD Webinars
Perspectives on Smart Grid from Gen-
eration to the Meter and Into the Home
This webinar, presented by Dr. Alan Man-
tooth, will describe many of the Smart Grid
concepts that people have espoused start-
ing with generation and transmission, pro-
gressing into distribution, and onto the
meter. The description will delve both into
the home and workplace describing cool
features consumers may see in the coming
months and years.
Webinar Date: Thursday, 24 June 2010
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm EDT
Register: https://icm3.ieee.org/
eventmanager/onlineregistration.asp?
eventcode=jqs
Copyright Microsoft
People Skills in a Competitive Envi-
ronment
This professional development webinar,
presented by Joe Lillie will help individu-
als working in technical fields by provid-
ing useful knowledge on people skills
and other topics not included in the
engineering educational environment.
Participants should expect to learn more
about the competitive environment and
how to maximize professional opportu-
nities through development & use of
people skills.
Webinar Date: Thursday, 22 July 2010
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm EDT
Register: https://icm3.ieee.org/
eventmanager/onlineregistration.asp?
eventcode=khz