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Austin Business Consultant Emily Sopensky Serves as Technical Adviser Through IEEE-USA Engineering & Diplomacy Fellowship

WASHINGTON (10 November 2003) — Austin business consultant Emily Sopensky earlier this fall began a one-year fellowship at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. Sopensky is working with the SMART project and eDiplomacy program, both Department-wide initiatives. Now in its second year of funding, the IEEE-USA Engineering & Diplomacy Fellowship provides technical insights into U.S. foreign policy interests.

A business consultant based in Austin, Texas, Ms. Sopensky provides strategic resources to companies of all sizes, especially those with technology products. Using her degrees in business, including an MBA from The Wharton School, she specializes in applying the business case to startups and other entrepreneurial activities.

The State Messaging and Archival Retrieval Toolset (SMART) project is a three-year initiative designed to provide users with state-of-the-art communication technology replacing the State Department’s method of disseminating official communiqués by cable and e-mail systems. SMART is led by Ambassador (ret.) Joe E. Lake, a Dallas-based consultant. The eDiplomacy program assists in linking State Department employees with technology-based tools. Another career foreign service officer, James H. Homes, will direct the new customer service organization within the Department’s Bureau of Information Resource Management.

Long involved as a volunteer with the IEEE, Sopensky is currently a member of the Awards Board that oversees IEEE’s funded medals of distinction. She is also an officer with the Institute’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Council, with worldwide activities. In addition, Sopensky is an officer with the IEEE Central Texas Section, which has 4,500 members. And she was recently appointed chair of the Section’s Technology Policy Forum committee.

For more information on IEEE-USA's Engineering & Diplomacy Fellowship, visit: www.ieeeusa.org/forum/GOVFEL/execfel.html

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers created in 1973 to advance the public good while promoting the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to www.ieeeusa.org.

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Last Updated: 10 November 2003
Staff Contact:  Chris McManes, c.mcmanes@ieee.org