2007 IEEE Region 7 Director Elections

Letter from the Past President IEEE Canada W.O. (Bill) Kennedy

 Next year, 2007, IEEE Canada will elect a Director-Elect. The Director-Elect will serve for a six year term; two years as Director-Elect, two years as Director and two years as Past Director. During two years as Director-Elect, the successful candidate will serve on one or more Regional Activity Board committee including attendance at IEEE Board meetings and participate in IEEE Canada activities as a member of all three governance boards. During the two years as Director, in addition to the previous responsibilities, the successful candidate will serve on the IEEE Board of Directors; the Engineering Institute of Canada's Board and conduct all IEEE Canada business. As Past Director, the successful candidate will be IEEE Canada's representative and member of the IEEE Canada Foundation Board and may serve on one or more IEEE committees. In the IEEE world, IEEE Canada is Region 7.

 As Past President and Past Region Director it is my duty to find suitable candidates and conduct the screening process for the Director-Elect position. Although any qualified member can run, the next Director-Elect will nominally come from the Canada West Area. The purpose of this note is to inform you about the election and provide you with an overview of how the screening process works.

 Nominations - typically potential candidates are nominated by their respective Section, however self-nominations are allowed. The candidates must be an IEEE Senior Member and ideally have served on one or more Region Committees. Potential candidates are required to submit an IEEE biography outlining their involvement in IEEE Canada's activities along with a position statement. Potential candidates are advised to familiarize themselves with IEEE Canada's Bylaws and Operations Manual and IEEE Regional Activities Bylaws and Operations Manual.

 IEEE Canada's Steering Committee will conduct telephone interviews with all potential candidates who meet the requirements to run for Director-Elect in February 2007. The candidates will be allotted a15-minute time slot. The first 5-minutes will allow the candidate to introduce themselves and state why they are running and how they can make a difference. The next 5-minutes the candidate will answer a common set of questions prepared by the Steering Committee. For the final 5-minutes the Steering Committee may ask additional and specific questions to the candidate on their experience and suitability. Strict time limits will apply to the call.

 After all candidates have been heard the Steering Committee will rank the candidates and pick a minimum of two, maximum of three candidates for Director-Elect. The names will be submitted to IEEE for final screening, i.e. eligibility to run for office. The Past President will notify the candidates of the outcome of the screening results. Finally, the selected candidates will be invited to IEEE Canada's Spring Meeting in Vancouver to address the Region Committee and take questions on their candidacy from IEEE Canada's Board. IEEE Canada will provide the candidates with an allowance to cover their travel expenses.

 Should you be interested in nominating a potential candidate or self-nominating, please forward a statement of interest along with a biographical sketch outlining your IEEE activities stating your qualifications for office to w.kennedy-at-ieee.org with a copy to c.lowell-at-ieee.org before January 15, 2007. IEEE Canada will notify the qualified candidates of the date and time of their telephone interview with the Steering Committee.

 Petition Candidate - IEEE allows for petition candidates. Candidates must get valid signatures from 2% of the IEEE Canada voting members as of December 31, 2006. Typically this means the petition candidate requires the valid signatures of between 250 to 300 members. The numbers will be confirmed based on December 31, 2006 membership statistics. For 2007 a new category of membership Graduate Student Member (GSM) will eligible to vote and run for IEEE office. To be eligible to run as a petition candidate, IEEE must receive the petition and signatures prior to June 15, 2007. IEEE will verify that the petition candidate has satisfied IEEE requirements to run as a petition candidate.

 W.O. (Bill) Kennedy, P.Eng., FEIC

Past President IEEE Canada

Senior Member Upgrades

The following members were upgraded to Senior Member status at the September 2006 IEEE Admission and Advancement Panel meeting:

Newly Elected IEEE Senior Members Featured in this Issue

Walaa Hamouda

Montreal Section

Walaa Hamouda, Ph.D., P.Eng. is an Assistant Professor Concordia University Research Chair in Communications and Networking. He received the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada in 1998 and 2002, both in Electrical and Computer Engineering. From 1994 to 1996, he worked as a system engineer for Siemens R&D, Cairo, Egypt. During his Ph.D study, Dr. Hamouda received many fellowships and scholarships including Ontario Graduate scholarships (OGS) and Queen's graduate fellowship, Queen's graduate award. He also received many awards including, IEEE Student Conference Award (ICC2001), IEEE VTS Certificate of Appreciation, and Outstanding Engineering award (Siemens). In 2002, Dr. Hamouda joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Concordia University as an assistant professor.  His research interests are wireless communications, channel coding, channel estimation and signal detection. In June 2006, Dr. Hamouda has been appointed as a Concordia University Research Chair (CURC Tier II) in Communications and Networking.

Chair, IEEE Montreal chapter, Communications and Information Theory Societies, Sept. 2005- Present.

Associate Editor, International Journal of Communication Systems.

Research Interests:

·         Digital communications

·         Satellite and wireless communications

·         Error control coding 

·         Channel modeling and estimation theory

·         Smart antennas for wireless applications

·         Signal detection

Peter Liu

Ottawa Section

 Dr. Liu is an assistant professor at Carleton University's Department of Systems and Computer Engineering. His research interests include theory and applications of wireless on-line robots, telehaptics, tele-operation, soft computing, and sensor networks. Having received his B.S. and M.S. from Northern Jiaotong University Canada(now named Beijing Jiaotong University), he worked for four years as an engineer, before attending the University of Alberta where he received his Ph.D. He currently teaches courses at Carleton on communication theory, interactive networked systems and telemedicine, simulation and modeling.

Sam Roweis

Toronto Section

                                                               Sam Roweis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. His research interests are in machine learning, data mining, and statistical signal processing. Roweis did his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in the Engineering Science program and earned his doctoral degree in 1999 from the California Institute of Technology working with John Hopfield. He did a postdoc with Geoff Hinton and Zoubin Ghahramani at the Gatsby Unit in London, and was a visiting faculty member at MIT in 2005. He has also worked at several industrial research labs including Bell Labs, Whizbang! Labs and Microsoft. He is the holder of a Canada Research Chair in Statistical Machine Learning, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the winner of a Premier's Research Excellence Award, a Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Sivaneaan Tulasidas

Toronto Section

Sivaneaan Tulasidas is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario, currently working as a System Architect for Motorola Canada.  He received his B.Eng. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and M.S. in Systems Engineering, in 1987 and 1990, respectively, from Guindy Engineering College, Anna University, India and University of Surrey, UK. He has diversified industry experience in oil exploration instrumentation, bio medical engineering, aerospace, automatic train control (ATC) and Telecommunication (both in IP networks and Wireless). His interests include missions critical communication systems, applications of telecommunication in medical industry, embedded systems and data modeling for effective testing.  He also has extensive project management experience, having managed many R & D and engineering projects. He also taught as a part-time professor at Photonics Engineering, Algonquin College, Ottawa. His current work include APCO P25 (Public Safety Communication) system Architecture development. He is an active member of IEEE standards committee. Also, he is member of ACM and IEE (UK). He is very interested in medical informatics research.

NAV Canada Tour, Moncton, 2006-10-24

Report from Owen Kaser.

Many thanks to NAV Canada staff Mike (who arranged the tour), and technical staff Brenda and Roger who gave the tour. An initial briefing was given by one of the air-traffic controllers. (And yes, there is an especially strong coffee blend in the cafeteria. This "ACT Blend" is favoured by the controllers.)

As one of the smaller area control sites, Moncton often gets to be the initial test deployment site when new technology is rolled out.

Simulator

The site has a simulator room for training.

Control Station

Roger explains aspects of the display systems used by controllers. Despite all the modern computer displays, the flight plans are still read manually from little strips of paper in holders, visible on the right side of the last picture. There was a background clicking noise in the control area, as the flight-plan strips were physically moved from one control zone work area to another. The site is an interesting mix of older and new technologies deployed side by side.

Equipment Control

This is an equipment control area (home base for our tour guides) near the equipment rooms. There's a smaller one as one in the main traffic control area. From these sites, tech staff can test the quality of radio and land links, configure the displays in the control areas, and do other tasks.

From these areas, they can monitor, diagnose and control beacons and other remote equipment scattered across the Maritimes.

Getting ready to leave

A few of us in the parking lot, afterward.

A Distinguished Lecturer Tour in Six Western Canadian Cities

This November will present a unique opportunity for members in the Western Canada Area. A distinguished lecturer tour will be making stops in several major cities featuring Dr. Michael R. Neuman, a respected researcher in the field of biomedicine and bioengineering.

Dr. Neuman received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio in 1961, 1963 and 1966 respectively. In 1974 he was also awarded the M.D. Degree from Case Western Reserve University. He has served as guest professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Zurich, Switzerland in 1980 and was the Lilly Visiting Professor at the Engineering Research Center for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies at Duke University in 1990. Currently, Dr. Neuman is the Department Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty at Michigan Tech.

His research includes physiological measurements, perinatal medicine, and the development and use of miniature sensors and instrumentation for use in clinical medicine and life science research. His work in biotelemetry led him to become the President of the International Society on Biotelemetry from 1984-1988. He also served as editor in chief of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering for over seven years and several biomedical engineering journals.

Dr. Neuman's presentation, entitled "Miniature Biomedical Sensors: An Emergent technology for Biomedical Research", will introduce examples of miniature biomedical sensors developed by Dr. Neuman, his students and colleagues. He will discuss how they function in biologic environments and examine the biologic and engineering issues encountered in their use.

As stated, the tour will be making stops in six western Canadian cities over two separate weeks. This will include Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Regina on November 6, 7, and 8 respectively and Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria on November 27, 28 and 29 respectively. Be sure to check with your local Section for full details to be sure that you do not miss this event.

Jason Kuyp

IEEE Toronto 2006 Annual General Meeting and Awards Dinner

IEEE Toronto Section held its AGM on October 28, 2006.

Guest Speaker - Ted Sargent delivered a talk on his latest book "The Dance of Molecules". "This marvelous book, written by one of the field's leading investigators, makes the wonders of nanotechnology accessible to us all. Ted Sargent is to be congratulated for having written a book which is both entertaining and substantive, an unusual combination in our increasingly complex world. Sargent is the Stephen Hawking of the nano world." - Robert J. Birgeneau, Professor of Physics and Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley.  
Ted Sargent holds the rank of Professor and Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology at the University of Toronto.   In 2004-6 he was also Visiting Professor of Nanotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   You can read more about Ted and his book on his website (http://light.utoronto.ca/tsargent/thedance.html ).

Toronto Section Chair Alagan Anpalagan and featured speaker Ted Sargent

IEEE President Bob Hanna with Sri Krishnan - exemplary work with Signal Processing chapter

IEEE President Bob Hanna with Wai Tung Ng - exemplary work with Student Activities        

IEEE Canada Members in the News

IEEE Fellow Takes on Innovation in New Academic Post

After nearly 40 years with the University of Toronto, IEEE Fellow Anastasios ("Tas") Venetsanopoulos found himself last July at a crossroads in his career. He was considering whether to return to research when a new job came knocking that not only allowed him to expand his research interests to include new areas of innovation but also to apply his administrative skills. Learn more about Venetsanopoulos at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/4258/06925895

Canadian Elected President of International Standards Commission

Jacques Régis, former President of Hydro-Québec TransEnergie and chair of the Transmission Council of the Canadian Electrical Association was elected today as the next president of the International Electrotechnical Commission.

Jacques Régis has become the first Canadian elected as president of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). He begins his one-year term as IEC President-elect on January 1, 2007 and a three-year term as IEC President effective January 1, 2008.

In his acceptance speech Régis said, "As President-Elect my priority will be listen to the preoccupations and expectations of the IEC community. I look forward to working together as we face the challenges that lie ahead at the start of this exciting second century for the IEC."

Régis is no stranger to executive positions, having served as chairman of the board for organizations such as the Transmission Council of the Canadian Electricity Association, and Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie Inc., where he was also President and Chief Operating Officer from 1997 to 2003. Most recently, Régis has represented Canada at the IEC Council Board, a position he assumed in 2005.

Active participation within international standardization bodies strengthens global ties and ensures that Canadian interests are considered in the development of voluntary standards that impact global trade. 

IEC leads the development of international standards for electrical, electronic and related technologies. Its standards provide industry and governments with the framework for economies of design, greater product and service quality, and better production and delivery efficiency. IEC standards also encourage an improved quality of life by contributing to safety, human health and the protection of the environment. As one of the world's leading economies, Canada has played a pivotal role in the work of the IEC and this presidency further reinforces our position as a leader in international standardization.

The Standards Council of Canada coordinates Canada's participation at IEC through its sponsorship of the Canadian National Committee of IEC. SCC is a Crown corporation with the mandate to promote efficient and effective voluntary standardization in Canada. It facilitates the development and use of national and international standards and accreditation services to enhance Canada's competitiveness and social well-being.  For more information, visit www.scc.ca, or contact the Standards Council via e-mail at info@scc.ca.

For additional information on the IEC, visit www.iec.ch.

The IEEE Canadian Foundation Announcements

The IEEE Canadian Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2006 winner of the IEEE Canada Women in Engineering prize is Lori Hogan of Mount Pearl, Newfoundland & Labrador. Lori was the IEEE Canada Student Representative prior to her current role as chair of IEEE Canada's GOLD committee.

The deadline for submitting applications to the IEEE Canadian Foundation for IEEE McNaughton Learning Resource Centre grants is November 15. If your student branch has a centre and wants to purchase new equipment, apply for an upgrade grant. If your student branch does not yet have a centre, consider applying for a grant to establish one. All the information you need, as well as the online web form is on the web at http://ieeecanadianfoundation.org or http://ieeefondationcanadienne.org

Nominations for Awards

- Nov 15 is the deadline for submitting nominations for EIC Fellowships and Medals

- Nov 30 is the deadline for submitting nominations for IEEE Canada major awards in two categories

--- for individual achievement: A.G.L. McNaughton Medal, R.A. Fessenden Medal, Outstanding Engineer Award & Outstanding Engineering Educator Award
--- for service to IEEE Canada; W.S. Read Outstanding Service Award, J.J. Archambault Eastern Canada Merit Award, M.B. Broughton Central Canada Merit Award, E.F. Glass Western Canada Merit Award.

- Full details (information, forms, etc.) at http://ieee.ca/awards/nominate.htm

Help A Fellow IEEE Member!

The IEEE Job Site connects IEEE members with the most promising career opportunities at more than 2,000 leading corporations around the world.

We'd like to speak with your Recruitment Manager about how we can match even more IEEE members with available technology-related positions in your company.

Please help us, and forward this e-mail to your Recruitment Manager and ask them to click here (http://www.ieee.org/jobs/r7newsletter ) for more information on how to post their first position on the IEEE Job Site at no charge.

And be sure to check out the entire list of new Canadian job postings on the IEEE Job Site! Register (http://www.ieee.org/jobs) your own profile and resume on the IEEE Job Site today!

Wanted: Fellow Nominations from Industry

If you know an IEEE Senior Member working in industry who has made

extraordinary contributions in applying technology in the IEEE's fields of

interest, consider nominating that person as a Fellow, the institute's highest membership grade. The deadline to nominate someone for the class of 2008 is 1 March 2007. Read more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/4260/41367725

IEEE.tv: New Broadcaster Hits Town

After more than 100 years as a magazine publisher, the IEEE might be

regarded as an unlikely candidate to become a broadcaster. But in August, the IEEE released IEEE.tv, its Internet broadcasting network, which features coverage of IEEE conferences, interviews with IEEE book authors, primers on technology-related careers, and overviews of IEEE products and services. Learn more at http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3937/06925895

SEPTEMBER MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS: IEEE membership reached 353,102 in September 2006, an increase of 0.8 percent compared to September 2006. Specifically, higher grade memberships are down 0.8 percent, student

memberships have increased 7.7 percent and society memberships have

declined 3.3 percent. Complete details are available in the Membership Development Report at http://www.ieee.org/web/volunteers/membership_dev/md_reports.html.  In

order to access this site, you must use your IEEE Web Account.  If you do not have an IEEE Web Account, please go to

http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/web/accounts/index.html.

IEEE 2005 ANNUAL REPORT NOW AVAILABLE:  The IEEE 2005 Annual report, entitled "Enabling Innovation: Improving Our World," is now available on the IEEE Web site. To view the full contents, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/annualreport/index.html.

MEMBERS SOUGHT TO MENTOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

The IEEE Mentoring Connection Program is looking for "online" mentors tohelp guide younger professionals in career planning and professional

development. Mentor participation is open to all higher grade IEEE members.

For more information, visit: http://www.ieee.org/mentoring

HOW TO WRITE EFFECTIVE WHITE PAPERS

An author of nearly 100 white papers shows engineers how to create

effective white papers in the latest issue of IEEE Professional Communications Society newsletter. Since white papers serve as the method for describing a technical process, the author suggests that well-written white papers are critical for revealing thought leadership and establishing a business rationale. Tips include discussing problems before solutions; using brief, precise language; and inserting a concluding suggestion. Read more:

http://www.ieeepcs.org/newsletter/pcsnews_sept2006_whitepaper.php

JOIN IEEE FOR 2007 AND GET THE REST OF 2006 FREE

Not an IEEE member? Now is a great time to join. Any new member who joins

IEEE now for 2007 will receive membership through the balance of 2006 for

free. IEEE brings members access to the industry's most essential technical

information, networking opportunities, career development tools, and many

other exclusive benefits. To become an IEEE member, visit:

http://www.ieee.org/join

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Many IEEE Canada sections maintain their own listings of upcoming events:

Canadian Atlantic Kitchener-Waterloo Montreal Newfoundland and Labrador New Brunswick Northern Canada

Ottawa Southern Alberta Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg

For more IEEE conferences, visit IEEE Conference Search at http://www.ieee.org/conferencesearch/.

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