Madeline Loui, recipient of the 2020 scholarship from the Rochester IEEE section, has been awarded a scholarship for her graduate study. Read about it here.

Members interested in AI should take advantage of the Boston IEEE AI Webinar Series. Up next, on March 17, Ken Washington, CTO of Ford will speak about directions Ford is taking with AI, and the disruptive role of AI in Ford’s digital transformation.

Visit their web site for registration details

AI Webinar Series

IEEE-USA E-Books are free for IEEE members. See the IEEE-USA bookstore announcement:

IEEE-USA E-Books Are Now Free for IEEE Members

Do you know any young aspiring engineers? Are you a parent or teacher looking for curriculum ideas for remote learning? Are you a photonics professional looking to get more involved in STEM Outreach? The IEEE Photonics Society and IEEE Educational Activities invites you to a special IEEE TryEngineering event.

Our hope is to encourage K-12 students, their parents and STEM teachers to explore and learn more about Photonics, which is considered the technology of the 21st Century. With light, photonics makes items like computers, mobile phones and medical devices, faster and more efficient. It is also the backbone to the internet and sustainable energy, like solar.

During the event, TryEngineering is going to speak with three engineers who have professional/academic careers in Photonics and are advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

The conference organizers have announced that the 2021 Stratus Conference will be fully virtual, with no in-person meetings. Please see http://stratus-conference.com/ for details.

WASHINGTON (1 March 2021)–The noted engineer and business executive, Dinish Paliwal, once remarked, “Problem solving is essential to engineering. Engineers are constantly on the lookout for a better way to do things.”

In the fifth – and final – volume of his valuable e-book series, Critical Thinking Skills for Engineers, Sridhar Ramanathan offers ten proven strategies that offer a better way to do just that. His discussion of each method should motivate even the most jaded technical professional to explore and manage engineering challenges with a fresh perspective.

One especially intriguing problem-solving strategy the author recommends is that of Analogy. “Many engineering problems that arise have actually already been solved in another context or situation,” he writes, “Instead of starting from scratch, the author asks: Why not see whether an analogous problem in a totally different field might have a working solution?”

The author packs this final volume with many helpful ideas to help increase one’s problem-solving abilities using these methods: The problem statement; root cause analysis; abstraction; analogy; brainstorming; trial-and-error; hypothesis testing; divide and conquer; lateral thinking; and reduction.

The first four e-books in the Critical Thinking series are devoted to analytical skills, communication, creativity and open-mindedness, and all are available free to members at: http://shop.ieee.usa.org.

Sridhar Ramanathan has 30 years of experience in technology companies, ranging from startups to blue-chip firms. In his role with Aventi Group, he has been instrumental in leading many high-tech organizations through high-growth phases. Prior to to-starting Aventi, he was the marketing executive for Hewlett-Packard’s Managed Services business. Ramanathan has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business; and a B.S. in Engineering Physics, from the University of California, Berkeley.

All IEEE Members: Beginning 1 March, you can download Critical Thinking Skills for Engineers–Book 5: On Problem Solving for free!

Go to: https://ieeeusa.org/shop/careers/career-resources/critical-thinking-skills-for-engineers-book-5/

log in to your IEEE Web Account; add the book to your cart — and checkout!

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IEEE-USA’s Free, New March Audiobook Explores Boosting Team Creativity

WASHINGTON (1 March 2021)–If you are a manager or team leader seeking innovative strategies to help your organization succeed, veteran engineering educator Harry T. Roman’s free audiobook could be just the ticket.

In Boosting Team Creativity, Roman discusses that when people come together to use their imaginations and diverse perspectives, creativity becomes “nothing less than rocket fuel.” In fact, he believes that creativity is not only vital to the health and vigor of a project team, but can also “change a business, give it new perspective, re-envision it, and perhaps, even disrupt it completely.”

The author presents a persuasive case for encouraging employees’ creativity, which he says can help a company to zoom past the competition and gain strategic advantages. Roman presents a multitude of approaches to encourage employees’ abilities to generate ideas for problem solving. He also provides helpful advice on how individuals can regain creativity lost to email, and other technological distractions.

“Sharing information about each other’s interests, passions, hobbies, favorite topics and leisure pursuits can spur unexpected creative thinking,” Roman says. “Potential friendships can also blossom.” He recommends lunches, staff meetings, off-site gatherings and social events to encourage individual team members to learn from – and about – each other.

The author also shares his thoughts on how easily employees, teams and organizations can lose their creative edge – and how they can get it back again. Roman recommends practicing self-discipline to achieve a happy and productive flow state. He suggests charting and recording one’s day to understand what you’re really spending time to actually do, as well as visualizing what needs to be done on a given day – and then — doing it.

An IEEE Life Senior Member, Harry Roman holds 12 U.S. patents. He has published more than 550 scientific papers, articles, monographs and books. His many honors and recognitions from IEEE, and other organizations, for his contributions to technology education include the 2015 Region 1 Excellence in Teaching Award. He also has published more than 70 resource books, science kits and other educational resources.

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Join the Microwave Theory and Techniques and Antennas and Propagation meeting about phased array antennas on Friday, February 19th, at 12:20. This is an online meeting. Click on

Design of Phased Array Antennas for Radar Applications : vTools Events (ieee.org)

for registration and details.