Because the saying goes, you’re by no means too previous to begin over. It holds true for the IEEE Life Members Committee, which has been revitalized after COVID-19 pandemic disruptions.
The committee helps these a minimum of 65 years previous who’ve been members lengthy sufficient in order that their age and years of membership equal or exceed 100. Life members’ dues, regional assessments, and society charges are waived, and a few convention registration charges are decreased.
In the course of the pandemic, fewer life members had been attending in-person actions and becoming a member of native teams, and donations to the Life Members Fund, which helps a number of packages, dropped off.
“As we rebounded from COVID,” says Howard Wolfman, previous chair, “the Life Members Committee took a deep breath and stated, ‘Let’s transfer ahead. What are our points?’” A life senior member, Wolfman has been an lively IEEE volunteer for 64 years and a beneficiant donor to the Life Members Fund.
“We re-established connections, developed new objectives, and launched new packages,” he says.
In the course of the previous 5 years, the committee launched a number of initiatives together with an annual conference and a mentoring program. It additionally labored to reactivate affinity groups that had gone dormant, and it shaped new ones. Affinity teams are a part of an IEEE part or area.
The committee additionally ran campaigns to extend donations to the Life Members Fund, which the IEEE Foundation manages. The campaigns showcased how the donations are used to assist member actions and IEEE packages.
The variety of life members elevated from 25,000 in 2019 to almost 39,000 final 12 months. IEEE now tasks a 58 p.c enhance by 2034. The group says it desires to utilize its most skilled and educated engineers.
Tech for an getting older inhabitants
The inaugural Life Members Conference was held in April 2024 in Austin, Texas. Its theme was “Evolution: Know-how, Purposes, and Contributions.” Open to all IEEE members, the occasion targeted on offering a greater understanding of how emerging technologies and new purposes might influence senior citizens. Greater than 180 individuals attended.
This year’s conference, “Studying By no means Stops,” is scheduled for 11 to 13 June at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. Topics embody improvements in well being expertise, artificial intelligence, and robotics. A session on techniques that influence society is predicted to debate the energy grid and telecommunications.
“Life members have the chance to share the knowledge they’ve gained by way of their membership in addition to careers in trade or academia.”
In line with the World Health Organization, by 2030, one in six individuals on the earth will probably be 60 or older.
With that in thoughts, a convention dialogue on getting older and longevity will cowl applied sciences to reinforce the standard of life for older individuals, Wolfman says, including that it’s going to contact on independence and total well-being. The age tech discipline consists of well being and wellness monitoring, smart appliances, and home-care robots.
The IEEE Standards Association’s Technology Standards for the Aging activity plans to supply a session to debate technical standards being developed to make sure such merchandise are interoperable, protected, and safe. The keynote speaker is Rick Robinson, vice chairman and basic supervisor of AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative, which helps builders within the discipline. Dean Kamen, an honorary IEEE member who most likely is greatest identified for inventing the Segway scooter, is predicted to ship the closing keynote handle.
You don’t should be a member to attend the convention. Registration is still open.
Sharing experiences with youthful generations
The idea of mentoring shouldn’t be new. Conventional mentoring packages sometimes contain one-on-one classes. However Wolfman says he had an epiphany for a brand new sort of program the committee ought to launch: group mentoring.
Launched final 12 months, the group classes contain life members assembly with highschool college students, school college students, and young professionals. The members share the ups and downs of their skilled and private lives, classes discovered, and pitfalls to keep away from, Wolfman says.
Group classes have been held in Ottawa; San Marcos, Texas; and Tokyo.
“One factor I discovered in speaking to the members is that mentoring works each methods,” Wolfman says. “Life members get mentored as effectively. We find out about what’s occurring in as we speak’s world, so it’s a two-way avenue.”
He’s exploring increasing the mentoring program to different IEEE groups, together with Women in Engineering and Young Professionals, so members can get totally different views.
Affinity group actions
There are greater than 190 life member affinity teams in 66 nations. The Africa Council formed one of the newest. Its members come from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Zambia, and three different nations.
A number of affinity teams had been reactivated after a number of years of inactivity, together with the Dallas group final 12 months.
The teams maintain various kinds of actions. Final 12 months the IEEE Benelux group visited the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, Netherlands. The members additionally toured medical gear firm Cochlear’s manufacturing plant in Mechelen, Belgium. In Colorado, the IEEE Denver and Pikes Peak teams visited the U.S. Basic Providers Administration’s Skaggs Research Center, in Boulder.
Affinity teams additionally set up instructional classes on cybersecurity, electrical safety, spintronics, and related topics.
Supporters of 15 packages
Life members are beneficiant. Final 12 months they gave greater than US $1.7 million to IEEE’s philanthropic packages, in line with the IEEE Foundation. Life members account for 65 p.c of the whole donations given by people to the greater than 215 IEEE Basis accounts.
The IEEE Life Members Fund helps greater than 15 packages together with awards, conferences, educational outreach, fellowships, and humanitarian projects.
The fund, for instance, helps EPICS in IEEE tasks world wide. Final 12 months, greater than 12,800 college students and a few 1,600 volunteers participated within the service-learning program of their neighborhood.
One other program that receives funding is IEEE MOVE (Cell Outreach utilizing Volunteer Engagement). Within the United States, three MOVE autos present communities with energy and communications capabilities in areas affected by widespread outages as a consequence of natural disasters. Previously 12 months they’ve been deployed to help survivors of floods in Kentucky, hurricanes in Florida, and wildfires in California.
MOVE India performed a number of packages final 12 months, together with disaster-awareness classes, STEM workshops, and volunteer coaching. MOVE India donated photo voltaic lanterns and cellular chargers to survivors of the Wayanad landslides who had been with out energy.
“Life members have the chance to share the knowledge they’ve gained by way of their membership in addition to careers in trade or academia,” Wolfman says. “We obtain the satisfaction of understanding that we’re giving again to the subsequent technology of innovators, IEEE generally, and society.”
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