IEEE Committee:Women in Engineering

Allan Johnston

NPSS Liaison

July 19, 2014

WIE Structure

Currently part of Member and Geographic Activities• They provide budget and oversight• They attend the WIE in-person meeting, and are actively

involved in overall management

The WIE has nine voting members• President is appointed by MGA• Society liaisons do not vote

Most of the communication is in monthly hour-long telecons• There are typically about 25 people on each call• Much of the business involves small amounts of funding for

affinity groups• The current president has (wisely) required prior discussion on

those funds before the telecons

WIE In-Person Meeting

The annual in-person meeting was held May 4-5 in San Francisco

Thirty-seven people attended• John Day, Director for Member Products and Geographic actitvities• About 20% of the IEEE Society liaisons attended

Main topics discussed• University activities, particularly affinity groups• Membership (slight decline; still 70% students)• Additional telecons with selected groups

Society LiaisonsMembers of selected subcommittees (charter, business plan,

etc.)

WIE Budget Issues

WIE has a very limited revenue stream• Membership fees: $25 for members, $0 for students• Some advertising income from the WIE magazine• An annual conference has been proposed, but there is no associated

publication

I am a member of a subcommittee working on a better budget model• Income in kind needs to be counted, particularly society activities

• Some direct revenue from society activities would help the overall budget picture

• The initial proposal is a voluntary 10% tax on society WIE functions

This is small enough to avoid undue penalty

For the NPSS, it would amount to about $2.5k annually

Overall revenue from the various societies could be as high as $30k

Society Liaison Telecon

The first society liaison telecon was held on June 26th

• About 15 members attended

• Good opportunity to focus on that part of the WIE program

A number of societies have had WIE events for several years• The Circuits and Devices society provides a complimentary luncheon

• The Systems and Control society has had WIE events for 20 years

• Everyone agreed that networking was one of the key advantages of these events

Scheduling WIE events in busy conferences was a problem for everyone

Society liaison telecons will be held approximately every two months

Publicizing WIE Events at NPSS Conferences

The majority of NPSS Conferences now have WIE events

In some cases it is difficult to find out about them• e.g., the 2012 WIE event at NSS/MIC was “buried”

• The 2013 WIE event at the same conference was clearly identified

We need to make sure that WIE events are clearly identified in conference brochures as well as at the conference

• I can help with this, but I need contact information for WIE events at each conference

At the 2014 NSREC, the WIE event is called out as a special event on the registration form

• It is also listed in the Technical Program (invited speaker)

WIE Functions at 2013 NPSS Conferences

Up to $5000 per function is authorized by AdCom

Pulsed Power

Radiation Effects

NSS/MIC

Complex activity involving students and teachers

Reception and panel discussion

Breakfast with keynote speaker

The Radiation Effects Committee approved a similar function for the 2014 Conference (Paris)

Summary

WIE functions continue to take place at several NPSS conferences• I need to report these to the WIE

• Evening receptions and panel discussions appear to be effective formats

• NSREC added a WIE function for the first time in 2013, and is continuing to do so

These activities fill an important gap between the WIE Committee, which is largely focused on student activities, and working professionals

Please advise me of conference functions so that I can include them in my report to the WIE (an important metric for WIE)