Gerald M. Karam has the title Technology Consultant with AT&T Labs-Research in the Innovative Services Research Department in Florham Park, New Jersey. Previously, he was Associate Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Electrical Engineering. He continues an association with Carleton University as an Adjunct Professor. His current interests include telecommunications software and applications, software design and analysis, concurrent systems, and real-time systems.

An Ottawa native, Dr. Karam received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University in 1987, his M. Eng. (EE) from Carleton in 1984, and his B.A.Sc. (EE) from the University of Ottawa in 1982. During 1993 and 1994, he was director of engineering for the Ontario Telepresence Project, within the Telecommunications Research Institute of Ontario (TRIO) and the Information Technology Research Centre (ITRC). TRIO and ITERC are Province of Ontario Centres of Excellence. In this position he managed a group of full-time research engineers and several graduate students.

Within IEEE Student Activities, Dr. Karam has served as the IEEE-Canada Regional Student Representative (1985-1986), chair of the IEEE-Canada Student Activities Committee (1988-1990), chair of the Student Professional Awareness Activities (SPAA) Subcommittee of the Regional Activities Board's Student Activities Committee (RAB/SAC) (1992-1994), vice chair of RAB/SAC (1995), and chair of RAB SAC (1996-1997).

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CONTINUING EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY

Getting a Bachelor's degree in engineering is really only the start of the education process. To stay on top of the fast-moving pace of technology, today's engineers must constantly update their skill set. This "continuing education" can take many forms, depending on personal objectives. It may range from an IEEE subscription to conference tutorials to short courses to full university courses possibly leading to advanced degrees. This talk will point out some of the options for staying ahead of the "rats" in today's technology "rat race."

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