REGION 10 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE — JANUARY 2020
Dear all IEEE Region 10 Members,
Happy New Year!
It is my great honor and privilege to serve Region 10 in 2020 – which will be my second year as Director. I’d thus like to take this opportunity to express my appreciattion and extend my very best wishes to all the volunteers who have been working hard and plan to continue their efforts – or start new initiatives – in the New Year on behalf of Region 10 and IEEE.
This year 2020 is special for Region 10: We have Toshio Fukuda as IEEE President from Region 10, the first time in the history of our organization. Both Kukjin Chun, Vice President for Member and Geographic Activities, and Kazuhiro Kosuge, Vice President for Technical Activities, are also from Region 10. Division VIII Director Elizabeth Burd and I will serve on the Board of Directors for the second year. So there are now 5 members in total from Region 10 on the Board of Directors. This number looks big, but it is really not sufficient given that Region 10 comprises 25% of the total voting members of IEEE. In fact, this is one of the reasons why we have been mooting a region realignment. The discussion will continue this year aimed at improving diversity among the Board of Directors.
Region 10 is the only Region in IEEE showing a steady growth in membership and counts more than 135,000 members by the end of 2019, or nearly 32% of the entire membership of IEEE. We have 58 Sections and 6 Councils in Asia and Pacific along with
- 35 Subsections
- 46 YP Affinity Groups
- 44 WIE Affinity Groups
- 14 Life Members Affinity Groups
- 697 Chapters, and
- 1,600 Student Branches.
I hope these Organizational Units will collaborate ever more closely in order to deliver better services and value to our members. There are also 5 IEEE offices: in Singapore, Beijing, Bangalore, Tokyo and Shenzhen to assist IEEE members in all sorts of ways.
We are most proud of the fact that the number of IEEE Fellows in Region 10 has swelled from a mere 18 Fellows (out of 2,759 IEEE Fellows worldwid) in 1967 to a present count of 1,244 Fellows (out of 7,752 IEEE Fellows), as well as 39 IEEE Medals, 28 Recognitions, and more than 100 Technical Field Awards.
Thanks to the diversity of Region 10, an opportunity is available for us to be recognized by IEEE/MGA committees by technically and socially contributing to our society. I encourage all of you to engage yourself in various IEEE activities at local and global levels.
I look forward to your continued strong support and hope for a wonderful and flourishing 2020 for the entire Region 10 of IEEE.
Sincerely,
Akinori Nishihara
Region 10 Director