IEEE-USA President's Column

 

JANUARY 2008

I would like to wish happy New Year to all our members and their families. IEEE-USA had a very successful year in 2007 and I hope that 2008 will be equally successful. I want to thank 2007 IEEE-USA President John Meredith for his outstanding leadership this past year. He has been a passionate advocate for our priorities and has had outstanding success in his endeavors.

I also want to thank all of IEEE-USA's committed volunteers and dedicated staff for their hard work. It is because of their efforts that 2007 was one of our most successful years.

Upon entering a new year it is customary for IEEE-USA's president to provide U.S. IEEE members with an outline of his or her goals for 2008. Before I do that, I'd like to begin by pointing out current and future challenges faced by the United States and the engineering profession. Past President Meredith, in his first column, pointed out many of the issues to be addressed, and we have been diligent in following his lead. However, because of circumstances beyond our full control, the situation hasn't improved significantly.

In his remarks, John pointed out concerns detailed in the National Academies report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. This report was the impetus for Congress to pass the America Competes Act, legislation that bolsters research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and improves educational programs. IEEE-USA lobbied actively in favor of the bill, which will help the United States maintain its global leadership in science and technology.

Unfortunately, the act only authorized the legislation, and in the hectic end of the 2007 congressional session, the funding — or appropriations — failed to meet the authorization goals. As a result, many of our priorities will require even more attention in 2008.

Norm Augustine, an IEEE fellow who chaired the committee that produced the Gathering Storm report, wrote a follow-on treatise entitled, Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth? He concluded that we must excel in innovation. To that end, he makes two observations: (1) America must repair its failing K-12 educational system, particularly in mathematics and science, and (2) the federal government must markedly increase its investment in basic research. These issues dovetail with IEEE-USA priorities that have been in place since 2006 when Ralph Wyndrum served as IEEE-USA president. I plan to continue working toward these priorities in 2008.

Here are the strategic goals IEEE-USA will focus on this year. These goals generally align with the IEEE's Envisioned Future 3- to 5-year goals relating to promoting career success, professional competency through education, balanced dialog on technology-related issues, advocating policies that enhance quality of life and the environment, and member involvement. IEEE-USA will focus on:

1. Promoting innovation and competitiveness

• Urging Congress and the administration to fund federal science and technology programs at levels authorized in the America Competes Act
• Continuing to implement and evaluate progress of IEEE-USA's Innovation Institute
• Promoting immigration reforms that enable our country to admit technical talent as new Americans rather than as "guest workers"
• Identifying and recommending policies to strengthen U.S. manufacturing capabilities. This is a particular goal of mine.

2. Supporting K-12 math and science education to encourage technical literacy and train future technologists

• Supporting expansion of the IEEE Educational Activities Board's (EAB) Teacher in Service Program into Region 6 with awards and grants that encourage teacher-engineer partnerships
• Supporting other national pre-university programs (e.g. JETS, Future City Competition,
  etc.)
• Helping promote the IEEE-sponsored PBS "Design Squad" television program
• Urging Congress to support funding for key federal K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational programs
• Publicizing the TryEngineering.org Web portal
• Encouraging our members to volunteer to help local school districts enhance their technical instruction

3. Providing serious, career-long continuing education to maintain a competitive U.S. workforce and preserve careers

• Helping EAB promote its Expert Now and Education Partners Program continuing education programs
• Expanding educational content in IEEE-USA/IEEE publications
• Promoting benefits of IEEE technical society membership
• Offering IEEE-USA "soft-skills" courses and a related Webinar series
• Supporting the IEEE-USA Consultants Network and Entrepreneurs Village

4. Offering increased member value in products and services

• Adding to and continuously improving IEEE-USA's Career Navigator and its career-related online tools and resources
• Offering a full schedule of career-enhancement workshops and Webinars
• Targeting assistance to mid- and late-career engineers in the form of a "Globalization Toolkit" This is a particular priority of 2007 President Meredith.

As you can see, IEEE-USA is working diligently on behalf of U.S. IEEE members and has ambitious plans for 2008. Our volunteers and staff are working hard to improve your career prospects, promote U.S. innovation and competitiveness and enhance the U.S. engineering enterprise.

If you have some good ideas or suggestions on how we can do a better job representing your interests, feel free to contact me (president@ieeeusa.org) or other members of our volunteer leadership. I look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Please join us in keeping the United States the most technologically advanced nation on earth.

Updated:  15 January 2008
Contact: Pender M. McCarter, p.mccarter@ieee.org