Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering with its corporate office in New York City and its operations center in Piscataway, New Jersey. It was formed in 1963 from the amalgamation of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers.
Due to its expansion of scope into so many related fields, it is simply referred to by the letters I-E-E-E, except on legal business documents., it is the world's largest association of technical professionals with more than 423,000 members in over 160 countries around the world. Its objectives are the educational and technical advancement of electrical and electronic engineering, telecommunications, computer engineering and allied disciplines.
History
Origins
The IEEE traces its founding to 1884 and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. In 1912, the rival Institute of Radio Engineers was formed. Although the AIEE was initially larger, the IRE attracted more students and was larger by the mid 1950s.The IEEE headquarters is in New York City at 3 Park Ave, but most business is done at the IEEE Operations Center in Piscataway, NJ, first occupied in 1975.
Growth
The AIEE and the IRE merged to create the IEEE on 1 January 1963. At that time, the combined group had 150,000 members, 93% in the United States. By 1984 there were 250,000 members, 20% of whom were outside the U.S. Today, IEEE has over 400,000 members in 160 countries, with the U.S. based membership no longer constituting a majority.Controversies
Huawei ban
In May 2019, IEEE restricted Huawei employees from peer reviewing papers or handling papers as editors. As members of its standard-setting body, Huawei employees could continue to exercise their voting rights, attend standards development meetings, submit proposals and comment in public discussions on new standards.The ban sparked outrage among Chinese scientists on social media. Some professors in China decided to cancel their memberships.
On June 3, 2019, IEEE lifted restrictions on Huawei's editorial and peer review activities after receiving clearance from the United States government.
Publications
IEEE produces over 30% of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, publishing well over 100 peer-reviewed journals and magazines; it also sponsors over 1800 conferences and events.The published content in these journals as well as the content from several hundred annual conferences sponsored by the IEEE are available in the IEEE online digital library and research database, IEEE Xplore, for subscription-based access and individual publication purchases.
In addition to journals and conference proceedings, the IEEE also publishes tutorials and standards that are produced by its standardization committees. The organization also has its own IEEE format paper. In writing IEEE papers, it is not just a matter of mentioning the author's name or the page number or the date an article was published. The most important aspect is referring to the source by indicating its number in a square bracket and ensure it corresponds with the full citation as mentioned in the reference list.
Educational activities
The IEEE provides learning opportunities within the engineering sciences, research, and technology.IEEE offers educational opportunities such as IEEE e Learning Library, the Education Partners Program, Standards in Education and Continuing Education Units.
IEEE eLearning Library is a collection of online educational courses designed for self-paced learning. Education Partners, exclusive for IEEE members, offers on-line degree programs, certifications and courses at a 10% discount. The Standards in Education website explains what standards are and the importance of developing and using them. The site includes tutorial modules and case illustrations to introduce the history of standards, the basic terminology, their applications and impact on products, as well as news related to standards, book reviews and links to other sites that contain information on standards. Currently, twenty-nine states in the United States require Professional Development Hours to maintain a Professional Engineering
license, encouraging engineers to seek Continuing Education Units for their participation in continuing education programs. CEUs readily translate into Professional Development Hours, with 1 CEU being equivalent to 10 PDHs. Countries outside the United States, such as South Africa, similarly require continuing professional development credits, and it is anticipated that IEEE Expert Now courses will feature in the CPD listing for South Africa.
IEEE also sponsors a website designed to help young people better understand engineering, and how an engineering career can be made part of their future. Students of age 8–18, parents, and teachers can explore the site to prepare for an engineering career, ask experts engineering-related questions, play interactive games, explore curriculum links, and review lesson plans. This website also allows students to search for accredited engineering degree programs in Canada and the United States; visitors are able to search by state/province/territory, country, degree field, tuition ranges, room and board ranges, size of student body, and location.
Through the Student Activities Committee, IEEE facilitates partnership between student activities and all other IEEE entities.
Membership grades
Most IEEE members are electrical and electronics engineers, but the organization's wide scope of interests has attracted people in other disciplines as well.An individual can join the IEEE as a student member, professional member, or associate member. In order to qualify for membership, the individual must fulfill certain academic or professional criteria and abide to the code of ethics and bylaws of the organization. There are several categories and levels of IEEE membership and affiliation:
- Student Members: Student membership is available for a reduced fee to those who are enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education as undergraduate or graduate students in technology or engineering.
- Graduate Student Members: Graduate Student Membership is discounted but members at this level have greater privileges than do Student Members.
- Members: Ordinary or professional Membership requires that the individual have graduated from a technology or engineering program of an appropriately accredited institution of higher education or have demonstrated professional competence in technology or engineering through at least six years of professional work experience. An associate membership is available to an individual whose area of expertise falls outside the scope of the IEEE or who does not, at the time of enrollment, meet all the requirements for full membership. Students and Associates have all the privileges of members, except the right to vote and hold certain offices.
- Society Affiliates: Some IEEE Societies also allow a person who is not an IEEE member to become a Society Affiliate of a particular Society within the IEEE, which allows a limited form of participation in the work of a particular IEEE Society.
- Senior Members: Upon meeting certain requirements, a professional member can apply for Senior Membership, which is the highest level of recognition that a professional member can directly apply for. Applicants for Senior Member must have at least three letters of recommendation from Senior, Fellow, or Honorary members and fulfill other rigorous requirements of education, achievement, remarkable contribution, and experience in the field. The Senior Members are a selected group, and certain IEEE officer positions are available only to Senior Members. Senior Membership is also one of the requirements for those who are nominated and elevated to the grade IEEE Fellow, a distinctive honor.
- Fellow Members: The Fellow grade is the highest level of membership, conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon persons "with of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest". It cannot be applied for directly by the member; the candidate must be nominated by others, and of the Institute's voting membership no more than one in one thousand can be selected as Fellows in any given year.
- Honorary Members: Individuals who are not IEEE members but have demonstrated exceptional contributions, such as being a recipient of an IEEE Medal of Honor, may receive Honorary Membership from the IEEE Board of Directors.
- Life Members, Life Senior Members and Life Fellows: Members who have reached the age of 65 and whose number of years of membership plus their age in years adds up to at least 100 are recognized as Life Members, Life Senior Members or Life Fellows, as appropriate.
Technical societies under the IEEE
Technical councils
IEEE technical councils are collaborations of several IEEE societies on a broader knowledge area. There are currently seven technical councils:- IEEE Biometrics Council
- IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation
- IEEE Nanotechnology Council
- IEEE Sensors Council
- IEEE Council on Superconductivity
- IEEE Systems Council
- IEEE Council on RFID
Technical committees
IEEE Regions, Sections and local Subunits
IEEE Geographically consists of Regions and Sections, which include local Subunits.IEEE Foundation
The IEEE Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 1973 to support and promote technology education, innovation and excellence. It is incorporated separately from the IEEE, although it has a close relationship to it. Members of the Board of Directors of the foundation are required to be active members of IEEE, and one third of them must be current or former members of the IEEE Board of Directors.Initially, the role of the IEEE Foundation was to accept and administer donations for the IEEE Awards program, but donations increased beyond what was necessary for this purpose, and the scope was broadened. In addition to soliciting and administering unrestricted funds, the foundation also administers donor-designated funds supporting particular educational, humanitarian, historical preservation, and peer recognition programs of the IEEE. As of the end of 2014, the foundation's total assets were nearly $45 million, split equally between unrestricted and donor-designated funds.