In his January column, IEEE-USA President John W. Meredith focused on Competitiveness as IEEE-USA's Strategic Focus for 2007.

IEEE-USA’s 2006 Government Fellows began their Fellowships at the start of the new year:

On Jan. 24, IEEE-USA released an Ebook on "Engineering a Communication Bridge: Common-Language Correspondence Between Engineers and Policy-Makers."

During January, IEEE-USA sponsored a student professional awareness conference at Virginia Polytechnic and State University (Jan. 26).
 

On Feb. 13, IEEE-USA joined with the American Geophysical Union in organizing a briefing for the Congressional Research Caucus on "Using Airborne Radar to Understand Our Changing Earth."

On Feb. 15, President Bush signed into law FY 2007 appropriations legislation endorsed by IEEE-USA, which provides for increases in R&D at NSF, NIST and DOE's Office of Energy Sciences.  IEEE-USA's efforts were recognized by House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

IEEE-USA played a key role in Engineers Week 2007, 18-24 Feb, including sponsorship of the Discover Engineering Family Day at the National Building Museum (17 Feb.), support for the Future Cities Competition, and promotion of the new engineering-based PBS television show, Design Squad, which debuted during EWeek.  On Feb. 21, Turkey Valley Community School of Jackson Junction, Iowa, won the seventh annual IEEE-USA Best Communications System Award at the National Finals of the National Engineers Week Future City Competition.

As part of the EWeek festivities, IEEE-USA arranged for Carlos Cordeiro, Ph.D. (right) of Philips Research North America to be recognized as one of the New Faces of Engineering featured in a full-page ad which appeared in U.S.A Today on Feb. 20.

In late February, IEEE-USA, IEEE-Technical Activities and the IEEE Life Members Committee announced the selection of IEEE student members Andrew F. Quecan (Univ. of South Florida), David Pietrocola (Trinity College) and Sara Rovito (Case Western Reserve Univ.) to participate in the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering Summer 2007 program.

On. Feb. 22, IEEE-USA released the IEEE-USA Consultants Profile 2006,a survey report which provides a profile of typical self-employed and independent technical consultants, including their education, experience, business practices, median earnings and hourly fees.

On Feb. 26, IEEE-USA released the IEEE-USA Unemployment Survey 2006, a report which provides a comprehensive portrait of IEEE's unemployed U.S. membership and offers insights into the causes — and remedies — for loss of employment among technical professionals.

IEEE-USA also released its 2006 Program Book on Feb. 26.  The Program Book highlights IEEE-USA’s mission, goals and programs, and serves as a handy reference for members seeking information about specific programs or issues.

During February, IEEE-USA sponsored student professional awareness conferences at University of Portland (Feb. 3), Michigan State (Feb. 19), Georgia Tech (Feb. 21), Virginia State University (Feb. 21) and Rowan University (Feb. 22).
 

On 1 March, IEEE-USA and AeA organized a congressional briefing on RFID and Innovation for the Senate RFID Caucus in association with the RFID Technology Council.

In his March column, IEEE-USA President John W. Meredith focused on the rewards of job ownership as it relates to career management, innovation and competitiveness.

On March 12, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote IEEE-USA-supported legislation to amend the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (H.R. 1068).

On March 13, IEEE-USA joined with nearly 300 other organizations in presenting an American Innovation Proclamation to the U.S. Congress. Following the press conference, the House Science Committee convened a hearing on maintaining S&T Leadership in a Global Economy.

IEEE student members Andrew F. Quecan (Univ. of South Florida), David Pietrocola (Trinity College) and Sarah Rovito (Case Western Univ.) have been selected to participate in the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering Summer 2007 program.

IEEE-USA helped promote the third-annual "Global Marathon For, By and About Women in Engineering" a 24-hour global series of teleconference meetings held 22-23 March in which women engineers shared information on engineering careers with high school and college students, their teachers, counselors and parents.

In partnership with Region 5, the IEEE New Technology Directions Committee and eight IEEE technical society co-sponsors, IEEE-USA sponsored the first IEEE RFID Conference on 26-28 March in Grapevine, Texas. With 117 paid registrants, the 2007 IEEE RFID Conference featured over 34 paper presentations, plenaries on RFID issues in healthcare and “Fly by Wireless” and video remarks by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), co-chair of the Senate RFID Caucus. The conference was held in conjunction with RFID WORLD 2007, the largest trade show and exhibition for the worldwide RFID industry. Plans are underway for a 2008 conference.

During March, IEEE-USA sponsored student professional awareness conferences at the North Dakota State University (March 6), McNeese University (March 8), Louisiana Tech (March 15), Rutgers University (March 22), DeVry University (March 29), Texas Tech University (March 29), Capitol College (March 30), Valparaiso University (March 30), Univ. of Texas at Arlington (March 31) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (March 31)
 

On April 24, the House of Representatives passed the IEEE-USA-supported "10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds" Science and Math Scholarship Act (H.R. 362) by a 389-22 vote.  The House also passed the IEEE-USA supported Sowing the Seeds Through Science and Engineering Research Act (H.R. 363) by a 397-20 vote.

On April 25, the House passed the IEEE-USA-supported Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 493) by a 420-3 vote.  And the Senate passed the IEEE-USA-supported America COMPETES Act (S. 761) by an 88 to 8 vote.

On April 27, IEEE-USA announced that former congressional staff members William B. Bonvillian and David J. Goldston will share the 2006 IEEE-USA Distinguished Public Service Award “for outstanding support of science and technology-related legislation and policy in the U.S. Congress.”

In April, IEEE-USA announced that it has partnered with the American Electronics Association (AeA) to offer special savings on AeA training programs for high-tech executives, including the AeA/Stanford Executive Institute.

During April, IEEE-USA sponsored student professional awareness conferences at University of Washington (April 4), University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (April 5), University of Oklahoma (April 7), University of California, Berkeley (April 10), California State University-Chico (April 12), University of California-Fresno (April 14), University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (April 21), Cleveland State University (April 25), Grove City College (April 28) and University of Colorado, Boulder (April 28).
 

Over 40 IEEE members joined with several hundred engineers and scientists in meetings with Members of Congress and their staff in support for strong federal investments in science, engineering and technology as part of the 2007 Science, Engineering & Technology Congressional Visits Day on 1-2 May.

As part of SET Congressional Visits Day, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) were presented with the 2007 George E. Brown Jr. Science, Engineering and Technology Leadership Award on 1 May for their prominent roles in ensuring that the
United States meet the global competitiveness challenges of the 21st century.

On May 4, IEEE-USA announced the selection of Sourish Basu as IEEE-USA's 2007 Engineering Mass Media Fellow.  A Ph.D. candidate in physics at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., Basu will intern at *Scientific American* for 10 weeks this summer.

On May 8, IEEE-USA joined with other engineering societies in hosting a Congressional Reception for U.S. Representative Gerald McNerney (D-CA), who is also an engineer and wind power entrepreneur.

IEEE-USA joined with other engineering societies in sponsoring the annual Engineering R&D Symposium, which was held on 8 May 2007 in conjunction with the National Academy of Engineering’s annual Convocation of Engineering Societies.

IEEE-USA co-sponsored the IEEE Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security, held in Boston, MA on 16-17 May, and which featured a plenary address by Dr. Luis Kuhn of the National Defense University and chair of the IEEE-USA Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee

On May 18, IEEE-USA unveiled "The Art of the Start", our first production for IEEE.tv, which features  Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Fellow and Managing Director of Garage.Com and others discussing entrepreneurship, venture capital and angel-funding for new business start-ups.

Dr. John Steadman represented IEEE-USA during the third annual meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO held 21-22 May 2007 in Washington, DC.

Over 70 members participated in IEEE-USA's 22 May webinar featuring best-selling author William C. Miller's "Primer on Innovation."

During May, IEEE-USA sponsored student professional awareness conferences at California State University of Long Beach (May 2),  University of California - Los Angeles (May 3), and University of California - Irvine (May 17).

On 31 May, IEEE-USA released an ebook entitled "The Best of Today's Engineer: On Career Transitions."

The IEEE-USA Board of Directors met on 16 June 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In June, a preliminary Call for Papers was released for the 2008 IEEE International Conference on RFID, an IEEE-USA-sponsored conference which will be held in conjunction with RFIDWorld on 17-19 March 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

IEEE-USA joined with the Alliance for Science and Technology Research in America, ASME and others to sponsor a June 22 congressional briefing on the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

IEEE-USA has partnered with JibberJobber to upgrade our CareerNavigator webportal, unveiled in June to provide members with enhanced networking and job search capabilities.