On 6 Jan., IEEE-USA President Dr. Gerard Alphonse appeared on CNN TV's Lou Dobbs Tonight. Dr. Alphonse was interviewed on the recently released IEEE-USA salary survey, which shows a decline in median EE wages for the first time in 31 years, and the causes and implications of that decline.

On 13 Jan., IEEE-USA’s Ron Hira gave testimony to the U.S. government’s U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission on the offshoring of software and high technology jobs.

On 24 Jan., IEEE-USA filed amicus curiae ("friend of the court" briefs) on reverse engineering for interoperability filed in Davidson vs. Blizzard (8th Cir. Ct. App.) and on inducement of copyright infringement in electronic file sharing in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster (U.S. Supreme Ct.).

IEEE-USA President-Elect Ralph Wyndrum and Ron Hira, IEEE-USA Vice President, Career Activities, discussed the potential fallout of offshoring U.S. high-tech jobs abroad in a story for Time Magazine (24 Jan.).
 

During National Engineers Week (20-26 Feb.), IEEE-USA hosted the annual Family Day at the National Building Museum, which attracted nearly 7000 parents and children who interacted with engineers and hands-on projects. IEEE-USA also funded an “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” ad campaign, which was featured in over 150 cinemas in eight cities and sponsored a special Communications Award for the Future Cities Competition finals held in Washington. IEEE-USA President Gerard Alphonse participated in the Asian-American Engineer of the Year award ceremony during E-Week.  IEEE member Mark Hersam was featured in the 2005 New Faces of Engineering released during E-Week.

IEEE-USA's Russ Harrison addressed the Seattle Section (22 Feb.) on employment issues, H-1B visas and Congress' likely legislative agenda for 2005.

During February, IEEE-USA supported Student Professional Awareness Conferences at the University of Hawaii-Manoa (19 Feb.), Michigan State University (21 Feb.), Temple University (23 Feb.), Georgia Tech (24 Feb.) and the New York Institute of Technology (24 Feb.).

In late February, IEEE-USA released its first annual report, highlighting 2004 achievements and activities.
 

On March 1, IEEE-USA's Tech Policy Vice President Russell Lefevre participated in the first meeting of the President's Council on the National Innovation Initiative, a coalition of 35 association business and academic organizations that have joined together to promote innovation in America.

IEEE-USA’s 3rd annual Careers Fly-In (8-9 March) brought 33 IEEE U.S. members to Washington to participate in visits with their Senators and U.S. Representations designed to raise congressional awareness on offshoring and related policy issues affecting engineers and their careers.

On 8 March, IEEE-USA released the results of its 2004 IEEE-USA Unemployment Survey, which identifies offshoring as the second-highest cause of unemployment among U.S. technical professionals. The survey, which provides a high-level picture of unemployment trends and attitudes, is the fifth such survey conducted by IEEE-USA in its continuing efforts to assist U.S. IEEE members during periods of high unemployment.

On March 8, IEEE-USA played a key role in a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) technical conference, "Principles for Efficient and Reliable Reactive Power Supply and Consumption", held at FERC headquarters in Washington, D.C.  Fernando L. Alvarado, chair of IEEE-USA's Energy Policy Committee (EPC), spoke and answered questions on technical issues associated with reactive power, with emphasis on "prospective reactive power solutions." 

Released special report on Electrotechnology-Related Research in the FY 2006 Budget (9 March).

IEEE-USA’s 2005 Leadership Workshop (11-13 March) brought over 150 section, region, society and division PACE leaders to Tucson for a three day program designed to help promote professional activities at the local level.

During our Awards banquet in Tucson, IEEE-USA presented the Walleigh Award for engineering professionalism to Charles Rubenstein, the Harry Diamond Award to  Robert Parker for his work in vacuum electronics, a Public Service award to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher for his support of IEEE-USA's Government Fellows, and a host of other awards and recognitions.

Also the 2005 IEEE-USA Leadership Workshop, IEEE-USA announced plans to offer IEEE-USA Job Navigator, a member benefit developed in partnership with Spherion to provide members with a slate of employment transition services.

On 17 March, IEEE-USA joined with the Institute for Analysis of Global Security in sponsoring a congressional forum on energy independence, entitled "Set America Free: A Blueprint for Energy Security."

EWeek's "Global Marathon" for, by and about Women in Engineering (24-25 March) will feature 24 hours of live Internet chats and teleconferences to help young students understand what engineers do, explain the excitement of engineering careers, and encourage young students to pursue engineering in college and beyond.  As part of the marathon, IEEE-USA arranged for Dr. Ayanna Howard to discuss "Dream Jobs for Engineers" via teleconference on Thursday, 24 March from 10-10:30 a.m.  Dr. Howard was profiled in the February 2005 issue of IEEE Spectrum as a NASA "robot wrangler," who is "designing future generations of robotic explorers to bring back even more science for the buck."  Also participating from IEEE's Women in Engineering are Maryam Al Thani on "Encouraging Young Women in Engineering in the United Arab Emirates" (25 March, 1:30-2:00 a.m.) and Jyothi Ramaswamy on "Being a Women Engineer in India" (March 25, 5:00-5:30 p.m.).

On March 28, Ron Hira, IEEE-USA vice president, career activities appeared on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight commenting on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's approval of 10,000 H-1B visas this fiscal year over the congressional limit of 65,000.

During the Supreme Court's March 29 public hearing on inducement of copyright infringement in electronic file sharing in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, Justices asked counsel for both parties to comment on an "active inducement" test for resolving the dispute without narrowing the rule in the Betamax case. IEEE-USA proposed such an active inducement test in its January 24 amicus brief.

During March, IEEE-USA supported Student Professional Awareness Conferences at Ohio University (2 March), Utah State University (3 March), Grove City College (5 March), California State University-Sacramento (11 March), California State University-Long Beach (17 March), Penn State University-Harrisburg (18 March), Florida Institute of Technology (19 March), Virginia Polytechnic and State University (25 March), Valparaiso (30 March), and Texas Tech University (31 March).
 

Released April 8, a report of the 2004 IEEE-USA Consultants Compensation Survey showed that technical consultants have bucked a downward trend in hourly rates, but that annual medium income continues to drop.

During April, IEEE-USA President-Elect Ralph Wyndrum made presentations to the 2005 Region 5 Annual Technical Conference and Leadership Workshop in Broomfield, CO (8 April) and the IEEE Long Island Section Awards Banquet in Huntington, NY (15 April) emphasizing the importance of continuing education for career viability and highlighting IEEE-USA's programs and related services.  Wyndrum was joined in Region 5 by IEEE-USA VP-Professional Activities Jean Eason, who highlighted IEEE-USA career services and professional activities.

On April 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2005 (H.R. 28), IEEE-USA backed legislation that updates previous legislation instrumental in getting the various Departments of the Executive Branch working together to apply the power of supercomputers to our society’s major challenges.

Spokane, Wash., Mayor James West and Susan Ashe, Spokane’s director of legislative and public affairs, met with IEEE-USA representatives on 26 April to discuss Spokane’s advanced telecommunication initiatives and IEEE-USA’s efforts to advance broadband around the country.

IEEE-USA's new Salary Service was launched, with subscriber-based access to tools to analyze the compensation of technical professionals.  IEEE-USA members participating in the survey enjoy free access to a personal salary calculator.  (28 April)

On April 29, IEEE-USA President Gerry Alphonse and VP-Technology Policy Russell Lefevre addressed IEEE-Canada's Regional Meeting in Saskatoon on IEEE-USA's models for providing career services and technology advice to government.

In April, IEEE-USA supported Student Professional Awareness Conferences (SPACs) or Ventures (SPAVes) at West Virginia University (1 April), Howard University (1 April), University of Michigan-Dearborn (2 April), University of South Alabama (4 April), University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (7 April), University of Colorado-Boulder (9 April), SUNY at Buffalo (10 April), City College of New York (15 April), University of Southern California (17 April), University of Cleveland (18 & 21 April), University of California, Berkeley (20 April), University of California, Los Angeles (21 April), Pennsylvania College of Technology (22 April), University of California, Irvine (29 April) and Youngstown State University (30 April).
 

The House Science Committee successfully reported the IEEE-USA-supported Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act (H.R. 250), which now proceeds to House consideration.  (4 May)

The 2005 Science, Engineering and Technology Congressional Visits Day (10-11 May) brought more than 200 scientists and engineers to Washington for congressional visits to emphasize the importance of strong federal investments in R&D.

At a special ceremony held during the 2005 SET Congressional Visits Day (5/11), IEEE-USA President Gerard Alphonse presented the George E. Brown Award to U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers for his achievements as a leading Congressional advocate for science and engineering. Also recognized was Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).

IEEE-USA's latest unemployment survey results were highlighted in a Fortune magazine article ("Fifty and Fired," by John Helyar) (16 May)

IEEE-USA collaborated with the IEEE Power Engineering Society in offering a tutorial on "Power System Basics for Non-Engineering Professionals" for congressional staff in Washington on May 23.

On May 26, IEEE-USA announced a new subscription-based service for  employers of technical professionals which provides advanced online tools for accurately benchmarking technical professionals' compensation using the data compiled from IEEE-USA's annual Salary & Fringe Benefits Survey.

Launched in late May, IEEE-USA's new Employment Navigator provides tools for subscribers to quickly connect to hiring employers, build and send effective resumes, and link to salary benchmarking and other career resources.

In May, IEEE-USA's Employment and Career Services Virtual Community passed the 2000 member milestone.

In May, IEEE-USA supported Student Professional Awareness Conferences University of Washington (11 May), Drexel University (19 May), and the University of Windsor (21 May).  With school sessions drawing to a close, no SPACs are scheduled for June-August.
 

IEEE-USA's Employment and Career Services Committee offered a webinar on interviewing skills. (4 June)

At its June meeting, the IEEE-USA Board of Directors approved new IEEE-USA position statements on Homeland Security Operations and Use of Personally Identifiable Health Information and the National Health Information Network, with Emphasis on Security and Privacy Issues. (17 June).

The IEEE-USA Board of Directors also approved a $50,000 grant to the IEEE Educational Activities Board to expand the IEEE Teacher-in-Service program in the U.S.

On 23 June, IEEE-USA Career Activities Vice President Ron Hira addressed  a special Roundtable on the Science and Technology Workforce organized by the House Science Committee.

On 24 June, IEEE-USA released its first e-book for members, The Best of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer: On Consulting.

On 27 June, the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision in the MGM vs. Grokster electronic file-sharing case, adopted the active inducement standard and technology protection IEEE-USA proposed in its January amicus curiae brief.
 

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