April 30, 2024
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2020 IEEE Region 10 Annual General Meeting

Due to the potential public health risks and uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Region 10 Annual General Meeting, initially scheduled to be held at the Lotte Legend Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on 7th & 8th March 2020, was cancelled and replaced with a one-day virtual meeting instead. The virtual meeting was conducted via WebEx on 7th March 2020, with the help from IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events (MCE) team in New Jersey, USA. Besides the Executive Committees and Section Chairs from Region 10, which itself spans members from eight different time zones, the meeting was also joined by IEEE President, Toshio Fukuda; IEEE Executive Director, Stephen Welby; IEEE Vice-President MGA, Kukjin Chun; MGA Managing Director, Cecelia Jankowski; as well as 2021 IEEE President-Elect Candidates, K. J. Ray Liu (University of Maryland, College Park, USA) and S. K. Ramesh (California State University, Northridge, USA). To ensure a smooth proceeding of the meeting, a 2-hour dry run session was conducted on 4th March 2020. Despite some minor hiccups, the virtual meeting went smoothly, started at 9.30am and concluded at 5.00pm Japan Standard Time, with over 100 participants.

The meeting started with a roll call by the Secretary, Takako Hashimoto, followed by a welcome address by the Director, Akinori Nishihara. After brief addresses by IEEE President, IEEE Executive Director, IEEE Vice President MGA, and Managing Director MGA, the Director presented the Section Incentive Scheme and the proposed Region Re-alignment for discussion. The Director briefed that discussion on IEEE region re-alignment started in March 2018 to improve diversity at Board level. The total number of Regions has to be kept at 10, and after the Governance Committee denied having 2 Directors in a Region, the only option left was to split or merge existing Regions. Eleven options were presented, with the Section Chairs and Executive Committees asked to select their top 3 preferences through online form (the list of alignment options can be obtained from the Regional Realignment poster below).

Then Takako Hashimoto presented a motion on R10 e-Notice Fee. The motion was put forward as a way to avoid mailbox flooding of IEEE R10 members. The motion was discussed and subsequently approved with some changes. Ramakrishna Kappagantu then chaired a discussion session between the delegates and the 2021 IEEE President-Elect Candidates, K. J. Ray Liu and S. K. Ramesh. The election statement for both candidates is attached in Page 45-47 of this newsletter. In the afternoon session, the meeting continued with presentations by the three R10 Vice-Chairs on their activities and plans, financial reporting and budget by the Treasurer, as well as updates on 2020 Sections Congress. Nominations and Advisory Committee Chair, during his presentation informed the candidates for 2020-2021 Director-Elect: Lance Fung (Australia), Norliza Noor (Malaysia) and Supavadee Aramvith (Thailand). The rest of the afternoon session focused on the reports and updates from the region’s three flagship conferences (TENCON, TENSYMP, HTC) for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions, as well as SYWL2020 Congress.

Despite the virtual nature of the meeting, every R10 Committee Chair was asked to prepare a poster for their activity reports and plans, to be uploaded to IEEE Collaboratec® for Virtual Q&A. All posters can be accessed through the links below, and important messages from some of the posters are highlighted in the next Section.

With this successful virtual meeting, IEEE Region 10 truly leverages on its motto “Advancing Technology for Humanity”.

Conference and Technical Seminar

Michael Ong, IEEE Region 10 Conferences and Technical Seminar Chair

The Conference and Technical Seminar Committee has the following activities planned for 2020:

  1. Monitor R10 flagship conferences, provide information and assistance to conference organizers and liaise with IEEE MCE on issues related to conferences.
  2. Organize conference leadership programs and R10 POCO workshops for conference organizers, and working with other regional CTS coordinators for best practices.
  3. Provide updates on emerging technologies most relevant to our economic activities and most beneficial to the professional development of our members through technical seminars.

This year Region 10 flagship events will be held in the following cities:

  • TENSYMP2020 – Dhaka, Bangladesh, 5th – 7th June 2020
  • TENCON2020 – Osaka, Japan, 16th – 19th November 2020
  • R10HTC2020 – Kuching, Malaysia, 1st – 3rd December 2020
  • SYWL2020 – Bangkok, Thailand, 24th – 27th September 2020

We are also pleased to announce the following organizational units have been awarded the 2021 R10 flagship conferences:

  • TENSYMP2021 – Seoul Section
  • TENCON2021 – New Zealand North Section
  • R10HTC2021 – Bangalore Section
Professional Activities

Nirmal Nair, IEEE Region 10 Professional Activities Chair

Web:  http://pa.ieeer10.org   email: ieeer10pac@ieee.org

We would like to share with members the overall objectives and 2020 project directions of R10 Professional Activities Committee (PAC). Our objectives are: (1) Maintain and enhance members’ lifelong employability and career prospects, (2) Enhance the R10 PA process and leadership for professional activities, (3) Support R10 versions of SMARTECH/HARDTECH & IEEE Future Directions workshops, (4) Design events for members interested in reaching out for Government Activities & Technical Policy Activities.

The 2019 activity report can be obtained at the link below:   Embed URLPaste a link to the content you want to display on your site.EmbedLearn more about embeds(opens in a new tab)Sorry, this content could not be embedded.Try again Convert to link

Our planned projects/tasks for 2020 are:

Educational Activities

Lance Fung, IEEE Region 10 Educational Activities Chair

The 2020 IEEE EAC Plan was presented at the recent IEEE R10 Virtual meeting on 7th March 2020. A copy of the poster summarizing the 2019 report and 2020 plan can be found at: https://www.ieeer10.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2020-EAC-Lance-Fung.pdf

Four projects have been proposed and approved:

  1. Call for 2020 EAC New Innovative Challenge – Support for up to 10 projects will be provided and the focus has to align with the MGA, EAB goals and the IEEE 2020-2025 Strategic Plan on Life-Long-Learning.
  2. Call for 2020 EA Awards to acknowledge and recognise the contributions made by outstanding individuals and groups towards EA within the Region.
  3. EA Awareness Sessions will be organised in the forms of Webinar and forums in R10 Flagship events.
  4. EA and TISP workshops are encouraged and will be supported by R10 EAC budget. Please contact Emeritus Professor Lance Fung for any queries at Lanceccfung@ieee.org.
Industry Relations

Chris Lee, IEEE Region 10 Industry Relations Chair

The vision of the Industry Relations Committee (IRC) is to provide leadership in bridging industry and academia. Our mission is to cross pollinate between industry and academia to foster innovation, internship & entrepreneurship.  With good experiences accumulated in innovating industry forums in 2019, IRC should further extend to foster internship and entrepreneurship in 2020. With the theme for this year being “Human-Centric: Thriving for Health & Wellness in Balancing Mind Body Soul,” we have proposed to extend our experience in IEEE TENCON2019 to TENCON2020 in Osaka, Japan and IEEE HYDCON in Hyderabad, India for the organization of one-day Special Industry Track. A half-day special industry track should also be organized in our biannual SYWL congress in Bangkok, Thailand.  Furthermore, industry forums shall also be organized in IEEE R10HTC2020 in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia and IEEE Life Science Workshop in Tainan, Taiwan.

Humanitarian Activities

Jing Dong, IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Activities Chair

The IEEE R10 Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC) provides multiple opportunities for IEEE individuals and organizational units (OUs) to apply for and receive funding for projects, events, and conference participation support and awards to encourage our members to contribute for humanitarian activities. In 2019, the R10 HAC supported 2 projects for the HAC proposal competition (TENHUMCH 2019) and 3 regional HAC event activities. We also awarded the R10 HTA Outstanding Volunteer Award to Ms. Celia Shahnaz from Bangladesh Section and the R10 HTA Outstanding Section Award to Pune Section.

We would like to share our overall project directions in 2020 with all members and encourage submissions on time. Among our projects for 2020 are:

  • R10 HAC Initiate Program Supporting Fund: Inviting proposals supporting impactful humanitarian activities at the regional and local level. The goals for this supporting fund is to connect with R10 Sections and Councils to interact with international HT-focused organizations and pre-design of R10 HTC for maximum activities for IEEE members and volunteers, promote and train volunteers, and networking/meeting of hundreds of members within R10. The proposals must demonstrate consultation with and a clear understanding of the needs of target communities, and demonstrate a needs-driven approach to strengthening local capacity through technology deployment. The R10 HAC committee will review all submissions and support the best proposal up to USD2000 per proposal.
  • TENHUMCH2020 in R10 Flagship Conferences (such as R10HTC, TENCON, TENSYMP, SYWL): Proposals are encouraged to be submitted across sections as we encouraged before. Proposals also needs to demonstrate humanitarian-driven technology. USD1000 will be funded for each selected proposal. The R10 HAC committee together with R10 Flagship Conference TPC will review the submissions.
  • Training Sections & Volunteers in HTA: Training/discussion will be made online or during conferences and IEEE mementos or certificates will be awarded for the best activity in the whole year.
  • 2020 HAC Awards and Recognition: Implement and administer 2 categories of awards: 1) R10 Outstanding HAC Section Award and 2) R10 Outstanding HAC Individual Award to recognize significant work and projects done by IEEE R10 Sections and individual members.

Thank you for supporting R10 HAC!!!

Women in Engineering (WIE)

Emi Yano, IEEE Region 10 WIE Chair

Region 10 WIE promotes women involvement in STEM by enhancing networking, knowledge sharing and recognition of outstanding WIE achievement in R10. Our objectives are: (1) Promote women involvement in science and engineering in R10, (2) Facilitate the development of supporting program and activities of WIE in R10, (3) Enhance networking and knowledge sharing of WIE, (4) Recognize WIE’s outstanding achievement in R10 and promote nominations for MGA awards from R10.

Among our projects for 2020 are:

  1. WIE Engagement Project: We still have 14 sections without WIE Affinity Group in R10. WIE Engagement Program is aiming to promote R10 Section WIE Affinity Groups initiatives as well as WIE membership development and retention. We will support the establishment of new WIE Affinity Groups and motivate and guide less active or inactive groups in performing activities. We will also encourage and guide inactive WIE affinity groups and engage them in activities via networking and connecting with each other through R10 SYWL Congress, website and social media.
  2. WIE Change Makers: Opportunities to attend WIE ILS (partial travel funding): We will offer partial travel funding to WIE volunteer members for attending IEEE WIE International Leadership Summit 2020 in Coimbatore (India), Lahore (Pakistan), Nagpur (India). This will provide opportunities for active volunteers to meet & learn from successful people, especially from women who have successfully built their careers. It is also hoped that attendees will take back the knowledge gained at the summits to implement best practices in their Sections, Student Branches, and Affinity Groups.
  3. WIE Visibility Enhancement through R10 Events: We will promote networking, sharing of knowledge and launch new initiatives to support R10 WIE objectives through R10 flagship conferences. We will support WIE track at TENSYMP/TENCON/R10HTC and WIE track across sections.
  4. 2020 IEEE R10 WIE Awards: IEEE R10 WIE will identify outstanding WIE Affinity Groups, Student Branch WIE Affinity Groups and outstanding WIE volunteers (student/professional) for IEEE R10 WIE awards. 2020 R10 WIE awards are for activity/contributions during 2019.
Young Professionals (YP)

Takuo Suzuki, IEEE Region 10 YP Chair

Region 10 Young Professionals Committee support activities of YP Affinity Groups and strive for establishment of YP Affinity Groups in Sections that do not have one. It is important to increase the number of active YP volunteers to vitalize YP AGs and establish new YP AGs. So, we have set up the following projects for 2020 and continue to discuss other projects.

  1. Construction of Sustainable R10 YP System
  2. Support for Efficient Operation of YP AGs
  3. Enhancement of YP-Industry Interaction
  4. Synergy with Local Professional Societies

In the first project, we will request Council Chairs to build a position for YP volunteers as the Council YP Coordinator. Council YP Coordinators will support activities of YP AGs under their Councils and may organize nationwide activities with the help of their Councils. In the second project, we will support operations of YP AGs using the official website of R10 YP, the mailing list for YP AG Chairs, and on-site workshops that will be held at R10 flagship conferences.

In the third project, we will deepen the exchange with industry through SNSs to make the IEEE YP programs well-known. We hope we can find cooperative local industries and conduct technical tours along with R10 flagship conferences. In the fourth project, we will collaborate with the Chinese Institute of Electronics to organize a special session in order to introduce the IEEE YP Program to Chinese young researchers. This is a pilot study, but we hope this project leads to the establishment of YP AGs in China.

We believe that we need to provide YP Membership value not only for YP AGs but also for YP individuals, so if you have any ideas, please let us know.

Student Activities

Huynh Thi Thanh Binh, IEEE Region 10 Student Activities Chair

Saaveethya Sivakumar, IEEE Region 10 Student Representative

The Region 10 Student Activities Committee takes care of the needs of 45,000+ student members spread over 1250+ student branches in the Asia-Pacific region (R10) of the IEEE. The committee conducts regular and special activities for students to improve technical knowledge and management skills and to enhance networking among members and student branches.

Our objectives are: (1) Improve student engagement in IEEE R10 SAC activities, (2) Improve student member retention rate in R10, (3) Progress students to Young Professionals transitions.

We propose some projects which are given below:

  1. Contests:
    • Postgraduate Paper Contest: Aims to improve the engineering students’ written communication skills and reporting research results to science & technology community. The contest will facilitate the recognition of these skills and encourage other student members to develop technical, written and verbal communication skills.
    • Student Website Contest: Aims to motivate student volunteers to use electronic media.
    • Undergraduate Project Video Contest: Aims to improve the engineering students’ communication and presentation skills to a wider online viewing community.
  2. Awards: Three awards will be considered including IEEE Region 10 SAC Student Branch Award and IEEE Region 10 SAC Volunteer Award. The purpose of these awards is to recognize the work done by individual IEEE members in (a) their service to members and (b) increasing student membership by conducting activities beneficial to student members.
  3. SAC Student Ambassador Program: To reach out to inactive sections/student branches locally via appointment of student ambassadors.
  4. Joint SB Initiative: The initiative is targeted so that the newly revived student branches (SBs) will have guidance after revamping the committee in order to make it active.
  5. Webinar Series: The topics focus on leadership, education and IEEE resources.
  6. SAC Operation Manual: The Operations Manual for Section Student Activities Committee Chair and Student Representative issued by IEEE Region 10 SAC provides guidelines for Council/Section Student Activities Committee Chair (SAC Chair) and Council/Section Student Representatives (SSR) for conducting student activities, managing Student Branches and streamlining their operations. It can be accessed from http://bit.ly/R10SACnSSR.
Life Member (LM)

Rajendra K. Asthana, IEEE Region 10 Life Member Committee Chair

2020 Region 10 Executive Committee meeting was held in Queenstown, New Zealand on 11th January 2020. Few highlights for 2019 were that 5 new LMAGs were formed against the initial plan of 3. New LMAGs were established at Bangalore, Sendai, Hyderabad, Thailand and Madras Sections. Activities like lectures, seminars, symposium, lunch/dinner get together, visit to historical places, support to Section events etc. were accomplished. Total number activities during the year exceeded 50. Australia received its first IEEE milestone in May 2019. Life Member track was part of the SYWL Congress held in Hyderabad on 29th September 2019. A meeting was also arranged for LMAG Chairs from India. 6 LMAG Chairs plus a few more Life Members attended the meeting at SYWL Congress. Similar activities are planned for 2020 but these may be affected by the COVID19 pandemic. Immediately after this, Life Members Committee face-to-face meeting was held at San Antonio, Texas on 17th & 18th January 2020, where plans & budget were discussed.