August 2020 Issue

IEEE Member Benefit for August 2020

• IEEE member travel insurance (US and Canada)- IEEE offers travel solutions to IEEE members for protection and peace of mind when traveling anywhere in the world, for business or pleasure. The Gateway International Insurance Plans offer solutions for special insurance needs when traveling abroad. Plans are available to IEEE members in the US and Canada. For more information, visit: https://www.ieee.org/membership/discounts


• Wolfram Products- IEEE members worldwide qualify for a 20% discount on Mathematica, System Modeler, and Wolfram One. Wolfram offers an integrated suite of technologies for multidomain modeling, simulation, and computation across all areas of technical computing-neural networks, machine learning, image processing, data science, and more.


• Additional information on COVID-19 updates from Member Discounts partners:
  https://www.ieee.org/membership/discounts/index.html#cOVID-19-updates-from-member-discounts-partners

Announcements

• 2020 IEEE Young Professionals Hall of Fame Award

  Congratulations to the IEEE Ottawa YP group for winning the 2020 IEEE Young Professionals Hall of Fame Award. Their application really stood out, and we found their activities and initiatives of great value to young IEEE members. Thank you for you and your team’s hard work and dedication!

• 2020 IEEE Canadian Foundation Nick Cercone Graduate Scholarship in Computer Science – Awarded to Amna Liaqat

  Ms. Amna Liaqat is entering her third year in the Ph.D. program in Computer Science at the University of Toronto. She is also a researcher at the Technologies for Aging Gracefully lab (TAGlab). Amna’s research lies at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and education and draws on areas like natural language processing and data analytics.

  This scholarship recognizes a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at a Canadian university who shows exceptional promise in research that will have real-world applications outside Computer Science and who has been active in helping others. The scholarship remembers Nick Cercone, who made many significant contributions to several fields, including artificial intelligence, data mining, knowledge representation, and computational linguistics. He was an IEEE Fellow.

  This scholarship will be awarded every second year, i.e., it will be a biennial award. Starng in 2020, the value of the award is $6,000.

  Link: http://nickcerconescholarship.ca/?page_id=133

• IEEE Canada Review Summer Edition Digital Format

  IEEE Canadian Review summer edition is now available in digital formats. This issue focuses on 'Essential Power' in the context of coronavirus pandemic. Digital versions can be accesses at http://canrev.ieee.ca/cr84/ or through the IEEE app. Print copies will be delivered to members who have opted-in.

• Call for participation - IEEE open source design peer-review

  IEEE SA recently launched an open source platform. Our committee is looking for volunteers that are knowledgeable on publication peer-review (e.g. IEEE's Xplore or conferences) or product release management to help define a new service:

  • peer-review of open source designs
  • a complementary service to publications
  • planned to draw on the technical expertise of IEEE members

  Timeline and time commitment- We will submit our recommendations to the IEEE SA Open Source Committee in the 2020 calendar year. Time commitment requires participation in bi-weekly web conference calls, usually 1 hour long. Action items from these calls may require a few hours of work between calls: time commitment is expected to be light to moderate. Most of the work is expected to be done remotely with most communications being asynchronous (email, group chat, on-line repository, Google docs, etc) For additional information, contact the open source peer-review ad-hoc committee chair via email at alfredo.herrera@ieee.org

Articles and Resources

• IEEE educational activities continue to offer online instruction and IEEE’s pre-university educational resources may be of assistance to families of students whose classroom activities have been disrupted. Home-schooling parents and students can explore the IEEE TryEngineering database to learn about a wide variety of concepts.
• Free Virtual Events to Help You Transition to eLearning
• Helping Students Learn via Online Delivery: Considerations for Pandemic Pedagogy
• Online Networking 101: Five Etiquette Tips for Successful Engagement

Scholarships, and Prizes

• IEEE TFA's, Herz Staff Award, and Medals & Recognitions

  The IEEE Awards Board (AB) administers the highest medals, awards, and recognitions presented by IEEE. The IEEE Technical Field Awards are awarded for contributions or leadership in specific fields of interest of the IEEE. IEEE Medals embrace significant and broad IEEE interests and purposes.

  Nominations are due January 15 annually for the IEEE Technical Field Awards.

  All are encouraged to submit a nomination for a worthy candidate within their technical fields. Nomination guidelines, award-specific criteria, and components of a nomination form can be downloaded from https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/information.html and http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/recognitions/recognitions_herz.html . All nominations must be submitted through the online nomination portal. For more information visit www.ieee.org/awards or e-mail awards@ieee.org.



• McNaughton Centre Grant
  Application Link: http://www.ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/cen_grnt.php
  Application Deadline: November 15, 2020


• Special Grants and Vehicular Technologies Grants
  Grant Link: http://www.ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/sp_grnts.php
  Grant Deadlines: August 15, 2020 and November 15, 2020



• Special Grants cover virtual activities and events

  Special Grants from the IEEE Canadian Foundation can cover virtual as well as in-person activities and events. Special Grants support new and innovative initiatives of interest to the IEEE Canada community.

  By all means, make first use of collaborative tools made available to you from IEEE, such as Collabratec, Webex or Google (Hangouts) Meet, or those from your school/work environment. Beyond those, IEEE Student Branches and other groups are encouraged to apply imagination to what might be possible and achievable in the present COVID-19 situation.

  Or perhaps there are initiatives that could start early as virtual then reasonably anticipate developing into hybrid or in-person, hands-on activities when the time is right.

  Projects that benefit or engage more people or have a broader impact on society will normally be given preference. Projects that are part of student’s normal course requirements (e.g. capstone design projects) will not normally be funded.

  Submissions for the next round of Special Grants are due Nov. 15, 2020.

  Learn more here: http://www.ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/sp_grnts.php
  Apply here: http://www.ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/forms/sp_gr_app_e.php

IEEE Canadian Foundation

• IEEE Canadian Foundation – Giving Through IEEE Dues Renewal

  Each year, at dues renewal time, IEEE Canada members have the opportunity to transform the lives of students and enhance the future of electrical and computer engineering in Canada. Be sure to look for the option to donate to the IEEE Canadian Foundation.

  The full value of donations made this way is received by the IEEE Canadian Foundation, for the General Fund which supports national scholarships, grants and McNaughton Learning Resource Centres. You will be billed in the same currency as your renewal, with tax receipts suitable for Canadian tax purposes issued early in the new year by the IEEE Canadian Foundation, for gifts of $25CAN or more.

  Life Members enjoy membership renewal at no cost – you have enjoyed your career, why not support the next generation by donating the equivalent of your dues to support the IEEE Canadian Foundation.

• IEEE Canadian Foundation 25/25 Campaign

  2020 is IEEE Canada 25th Anniversary! IEEE Canadian Foundation 25/25 Campaign invites a first-time or incremental $25 gift to celebrate 25 years of IEEE Canada – IEEE Canadian Foundation successful work that benefited many IEEE members and nonmembers.



• Double Your Gift to the IEEE Canadian Foundation

  Your employer may have a charitable gift matching program. Typically, these programs match your personal contribution to registered Canadian charities. Each plan is different, and not always publicized, so please ask your HR department or look into your employee benefits. The IEEE Canadian foundation is a registered charity and operates under Canada Revenue Agency registration number 102450376RR0001.
  You may be eligible to participate in your company's charitable gift matching program if you are a:
  • full time or part time employee,
  • pensioner/retiree,
  • spouse of an employee,
  • widow(er) of someone formerly employed at that company,
  • member of the Board of Directors.
  If gift matching is available in your workplace, please spread the word with your IEEE colleagues there – and let us know about your experience.

Events

• IEEE Canada Technology Leadership Monthly Webinar

  IEEE Canada is hosting a webinar series on Technology Leadership. We are inviting professional associations, learnt societies, think tanks, governmental agencies, and other institutions to participate and contribute speakers. This webinar series is a platform bringing our thought leaders from different stakeholders, from all walks of life to present their views and advocate their positions on science, technology, society, and future economy. It will be open and free to the general public. Many, among the audience, will be members of IEEE.

  • Date: Sept 24th, 2020
  • Time: 02:00 PM to 03:00 PM EDT
  • Speaker: Ken Coates, Professor, University of Saskatchewan
  • Topic: Technology-Enabled Indigenous and Remote Communities
  • Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/238665
  Overview

  As the COVID-19 Pandemic demonstrated, almost all Indigenous and remote communities suffered from serious infrastructure deficits. With limited or unreliable Internet, poor quality electricity, and weak health care services, these communities were uniquely vulnerable to the disease and the economic and social challenges that accompanied the pandemic. But Canadians already knew that Indigenous and remote communities are poorly served and largely lift out of the so-called "innovation economy." It is time to develop a strategy for bringing technology-enabled opportunities to Indigenous and remote communities. This webinar presents a model for digitally-enabled Indigenous and remote communities, explores the barriers to implementing this "inversion" of Canadian innovation and that contemplates strategies for addressing quality of life issues in collaboration with residents and local governments.

  Biography

  Ken Coates is Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan. His work focuses on the development of strategies to promote 21st century well-being in small town, rural, Indigenous and remote Canada. Ken's major project examines the potential contributions -- and negative impacts -- of emerging technologies on rural and remote communities.

  For more information and speaking opportunity, please contact, Dr Kexing Liu, IEEE Canada Outreach and Partnership Committee Chair, kexing.liu@ieee.org

• Webinar: Hazardous Locations - Code, markings, drawings and more

  • Date: Sept 29, 2020
  • Time: 12:00 PM to 02:00 PM (Mountain time; UTC-6)
  • Presented by: Allan Bozek, P.Eng, MBA of EngWorks Inc. and Tim Driscoll, P.Eng, F.IEEE of OBIEC Consulting Ltd.
  • Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/221080 Registration closes Sep 27

  Learning Objectives:

  • Reading and interpreting a hazardous area classification drawing
  • Determining if a product is certified for use in a hazardous location
  • Interpreting hazardous location equipment markings
  • Application of the Canadian Electrical Code
  
  Overview
  This webinar will cover the basics in reading and interpreting a hazardous area classification drawing and how to use the information to determine the Class, Zone/Division, Group and Temperature code requirements for electrical or instrumentation equipment intended to be installed. Product certification requirements and how to interpret Division and IEC markings on HazLoc (hazardous location) equipment will be covered as well as how to determine if the equipment to be installed is suitable for the location in accordance with the Canadian Electrical Code.

  We will also provide a preview of major changes coming into the 2021 edition of the Canadian Electrical Code, primarily Section 18 Hazardous Locations. Also, a couple of related and very important changes in other Sections for industrial facilities will be touched on. A couple of major changes to API 505, area classification for Zones for the petroleum industry, to be included in the next edition will be highlighted.

  Intended Audience
  Engineers, Designers, Manufacturers, Installers and Inspectors who are responsible for the design, selection and installation of equipment in hazardous locations.