Category Archives: Announcements

Announcements

2020 IEEE Region 1 Award Recipients

On behalf of the Region 1 Awards and Recognition Committee, we are pleased to announce the following 2020 IEEE Region 1 Award recipients. 

Congratulations on your remarkable accomplishments!

 

Qinru Qiu (Syracuse) – Technological Innovation (Academic) Award

For pioneering contributions in stochastic power management and brain-inspired architectures to achieve energy efficient computing    

 

David S. Wei (New Jersey Coast) – Technological Innovation (Academic) Award

For contributions to information security in wireless and satellite communications and cyber-physical systems    

 

Mustafa C. Gursoy (Syracuse) – Technological Innovation (Academic) Award

For significant contributions in wireless communications and networking

 

Martin Ohmacht (Mid-Hudson) – Technological Innovation (Industry or Government) Award

For contributions to the development of high-performance microprocessors and systems

 

Dong Chen (Mid-Hudson) – Technological Innovation (Industry or Government) Award

For contributions to high-performance networks in supercomputers, including three generations of IBM BlueGene systems    

 

Honggang Wang (Schenectady) – Technological Innovation (Industry or Government) Award

For industrial innovation on reliability-oriented modeling and control with commercialization to fuel cell, energy storage, and power transmission system    

 

Ulrich L. Rohde (North Jersey) – Technological Innovation (Industry or Government) Award

For pioneering research and leadership in signal processing

 

Lauren M. Huie (Mohawk Valley) – Technological Innovation (Industry or Government) Award

For outstanding technical accomplishment and leadership in characterizations of spectrum by establishing a DoD communications framework for all-season, year-round, large-scale measurement campaign    

 

Ilya Grinberg (Buffalo) – Outstanding Teaching in an IEEE Area of Interest (University or College) Award

For outstanding contributions to education in the power industry

 

Raymond W. Ptucha (Rochester) – Outstanding Teaching in an IEEE Area of Interest (University or College) Award

For outstanding teaching and graduate course development in Machine Learning and Deep Learning

Habib Ahson (Princeton/Central Jersey) – Outstanding Support for the Mission of the IEEE, MGA, Region 1 and/or Section Award

For sustained contribution and development of Princeton/Central Jersey Section activities

Francis X. O’Connell (Princeton/Central Jersey) – Outstanding Support for the Mission of the IEEE, MGA, Region 1 and/or Section Award

For continued and outstanding service to the Princeton/Central Jersey Section and METSAC

Naresh Chand (North Jersey) – Outstanding Support for the Mission of the IEEE, MGA, Region 1 and/or Section Award

For leadership and sustained contribution to the IEEE North Jersey Section and its Chapters

David T. Clarke (Providence) – Outstanding Support for the Mission of the IEEE, MGA, Region 1 and/or Section Award

For outstanding performance as Event Chair for the dedication of the Milestone Achievement Award to the French Cable Station Museum, Orleans, MA

 

Katherine G. August (New Jersey Coast) – Outstanding Support for the Mission of the IEEE, MGA, Region 1 and/or Section Award

For role model actions and activities while rejuvenating PACE chapter with wide impact

 

Vince Socci (Binghamton) – The William Terry Distinguished Service Award

For significant and sustained service and innovative contributions to IEEE that resulted in enhanced membership experiences and opportunities for its members at the Chapter, Section, and Region levels    

 

 

Jason K. Hui, Ph.D., PMP

MGA Awards and Recognition Committee Chair 

 

Announcements

Maine Artificial Intelligence Webinar Series

Maine Artificial Intelligence 2020 Webinar Series

First Thursday of the month, Sept. through Dec. 12–1 p.m. (live via Zoom) This webinar is for the business community, policymakers, attorneys, healthcare providers and other members of the public interested in learning about AI. Each topic will be followed by Q&A opportunities. Moderator: Ali Abedi, Assistant Vice President for Research, UMaine and IEEE R1 Northeastern Area Chair.

Join us for this free webinar series.

Here is a flyer for distribution!
Registration opens August 1, 2020: ai.umaine.edu/webinars/

Sept. 3, 2020: Advances in Artificial Intelligence

Rebecca Hwa, National Science Foundation, Program Director
Kaushik Chowdhury, Associate Director of the Institute for the Wireless
Internet of Things, Northeastern University
Fawzi Behmann, North American Director of IEEE Communications Society

Oct. 1, 2020: Applications of AI in Business, Industry, Government, Healthcare and Environment

Mohamad Musavi, Associate Dean of Engineering, UMaine
Owen McCarthy, President and Co-founder of MedRhythms Inc.
Somayeh Khosroazad, Software Architect at Activas Diagnostics

Nov. 5, 2020: Education and Workforce Development

Yifeng Zhu, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMaine
Torsten Hahmann, Associate Professor of Computing and Information Science, UMaine
Walter Rawle, Chair IEEE Maine Section

Dec. 3, 2020: Social, Ethical, Policy, and Legal Considerations

Manuel Woersdoerfer, Assistant Professor of Computing and Information Science, UMaine
Leigh Saufley, Dean of the University of Maine School of Law
Jim Isaak, Past President of IEEE Computer Society, IEEE NH Section Chair

Announcements

CEWIT 2020 Conference on November 5th

Region 1 is sponsoring the 16th International Conference on Emerging Technologies for a Smarter World (CEWIT2020).  This meeting will be held virtually on November 5, 2020. The conference will center on the four major fields which are penetrating our business and personal lives: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Computational Medicine.The conference’s Venture Capital Breakout session will address how successful investors and technology companies are responding to the current business climate. It will start with discussion by a Venture Capital Trends Panel composed of lead investors (alphabetically) from India, Israel, the UK, and USA. This will be followed by business Updates presented by exciting early phase technology companies representing a spectrum of external funding cases from minimal through Series B. Commercially viable technologies are in no short supply among university faculty members across geographies. Pitches by a number of faculty researchers looking for their commercial launchpad will also be presented.

For more details, please visit: CEWIT Conference 2020

Announcements

IEEE-USA Calls for Extended Online Class Exemption for Student Visas

Last week, the Administration announced that it would begin enforcing current laws regarding students enrolled in online degree programs.  This would force thousands of students out of the country at a time when health experts are urging people to avoid travel.  IEEE-USA urges the Administration to extend the temporary exemption to the online class rule through at least the end of 2020.  This will allow students already in this country to continue their studies, regardless of the impact COVID-19 has had on their universities.

“With many colleges and universities forced to shift to an entirely online curriculum, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) rule puts students and schools in a difficult place,” said James Conrad, 2020 President of IEEE-USA.  “Those who entered the United States in good faith to pursue their educations should not be penalized because of COVID-19.”

IEEE-USA recognizes and appreciates USCIS’ proposal to soften current law by allowing international students to take more than one online class per semester.  This is a good reform, even without COVID-19.

In normal times, requiring international students to take at least some in-person classes is reasonable, sensible and protects the integrity of the student visa program.  But we need to recognize the extraordinary times we are in. International students who were already in the United States when the COVID-19 pandemic hit should be allowed to remain, regardless of how their courses are taught this fall.

This controversy further highlights the tenuous conditions faced by potential immigrants relying on their skills or educations to join our country.  Because the United States lacks a coherent, skill-based immigration system, we risk losing many of the most innovative, entrepreneurial, and creative people in the world to our overseas rivals.

America benefits when well-educated and innovative people join our nation, but we should not assume that they will always do so if we continue to rely on an antiquated, broken, and confusing immigration system to admit them.

IEEE-USA urges Congress to reform our high-skill visa system to make it simpler, faster and easier to navigate.  Specifically, Congress needs to make F visas dual-intent so that students who desire to immigrate into the U.S. can start the immigration process before they graduate.  Congress should also create 50,000 new EB green cards, specifically to allow STEM graduate students to move directly from their student visas to a green card within a year of graduating.  Both of these reforms will help protect international students from future emergencies and encourage them to stay and add their talents to our country.