REGION 10 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE — July 2021
Dear IEEE Colleagues,
Hope you and your families are doing well, keeping safe and healthy. It has been over a year since the world has been facing the current global medical and health challenges due to ongoing pandemic. We continue witnessing very alarming situations in many countries, especially within the Asia Pacific region. I express my sincere concern to members and families who have been affected.
I urge every member to take all precautions and follow the necessary safety protocols on Covid-19 and adhere to the guidelines issued by local authorities.
Despite these challenges, our volunteers continue to amaze us with their brilliant creative and innovative ideas. Since we have always considered all-round development of our volunteers and members to be of prime importance, we have done numerous excellent programs to engage members for their professional and technical development and continue to create leadership opportunities and programs.
Collaboration is our focus in Region 10 and we understand the enormous benefits which we can reap while working as a team. Region 10 Industry Relations, WIE, YP, Professional Activities and Student Activities committees joined hands together and designed a new program – ‘R10 Talk Series’ on trending topics by leading experts from industry and academia. We have already organized five ‘R10Talks’ and please stay tuned for future programs.
We continue to educate our volunteers on ‘conferences’ and we are planning few more training workshops in association with IEEE MCE (Meetings, Conferences & Events). The Region 10 Conference and Technical Seminar and Conference Quality Management committees have received several proposals from sections for organizing the conference organizers workshop and members will receive details soon.
Region 10 flagship conference TENSYMP 2021 shall be held in hybrid mode on 23-25 August, 2021 at Grand Hyatt Jeju, Republic of Korea. The theme of the conference is “Good Technologies for Creating Future” and its aim is to bring together researchers and engineers from academia and industry to overcome the present difficulties and create prosperous future.
Humanitarian Technology has always been most sought-after activity of Region 10, where members get opportunity to explore innovative ideas to translate those into working prototypes to be used for the benefit of underserved community. This time, we have also collaborated with IEEE HAC (Humanitarian Activities Committee) for a joint call for proposal focussed on ‘Addressing local needs during COVID19’. I am glad to share that there was a huge response and we received several proposals from various parts of Region 10. Members have delivered well with their innovative ideas of technological interventions to deal with the present challenging situation.
Region 10 Educational Activity Committee continues its ‘Reaching Local Initiative’ and has also announced various projects under STEM activities, capacity building workshops, and innovation challenges. I urge members to definitely use this opportunity.
The Region 10 Membership Development Committee has announced winners of 2021 MDC Projects. Nine sections, who have submitted impactful projects, have been selected.
Region 10 Newsletter, ‘IEEE Region 10 Connect’ is out now with a new look and new name, along with many new features. Hope you enjoyed reading our previous edition. Please feel free to provide your feedback and contributions to make it more member friendly and valuable for members.
The Region 10 Newsletter Committee has started a new column named as “COVID-19 Heroes” to feature outstanding efforts done by Region 10 members, which has been receiving an overwhelming response.
Region 10 Professional Activities Committee has issued few calls for proposals – ‘Future Direction Project’ and ‘Online Professional Development Courses’. Region 10 Student Activities Committee recently announced ‘Region 10 SAC Funding’, ‘Student Research Paper Contest’ and ‘Undergraduate Student Project Video Contest’. I again urge all members to please make use of these opportunities.
Region 10 Young Professionals came-up with many innovative plans such as ‘Student-YP Joint Activities’, ‘Rejuvenation of dormant YP affinity groups’, ‘YP REVOL 2021’, ‘Skill Upgradation program – UpSkill 2021’ and ‘Sparklers Summit’. It would be a great opportunity for learning, training and networking.
Region 10 has also achieved highest senior member elevations as per the latest report. Let us encourage all our eligible members to apply for the same.
Region 10 Life Member committee is very active and working on formation of new LMAGs in the Region, and 4 new LMAGs (in Singapore, Taipei, Kolkata and Sapporo Sections) have already been formed. I am happy to share that 2021 IEEE Life Members Committee Affinity Group Achievement Award was won by Tokyo Life Members Affinity Group. I congratulate all associated with this recognition.
We are the largest, fastest-growing and most diverse region in IEEE. In 2021 we have formed 3 new Subsections (Kuala Lumpur – in Malaysia Section; Guwahati and Silchar – in Kolkata Section), one subsection was elevated to a Section (Madhya Pradesh – in India). We also formed several Student Branches and Society Chapters in Sections and Student Branches across Region 10 within 6 month. We have also added 1 YPAG (in Shanghai Section) and 32 New Student Branch WIE AGs in 2021.
It is inspiring to see what our volunteers and members have achieved in the last few months, in spite of the adversities being faced.
I would like to thank each one of you for your continued interest in IEEE and I request you to explore the possibility of technological interventions to deal with the present challenging situation. But at the same time, please ensure your safety, and the safety of your peers, as highest priority. I am sure the present crisis will be over soon and there will be better and brighter tomorrow.
Kind regards,
Deepak Mathur
IEEE Region Director