Prepared by: Utkal Mehta, Secretary for IEEE Fiji Subsection
IEEE Fiji Subsection was established in 2015. Initially, it was closely associated with the IEEE New Zealand North Section. Though the Fiji Subsection is small, it looks after IEEE USP Student Branch and the IEEE USP Industry Applications Society (IAS) Student Chapter. The Section is continuously engaging students and young engineers with various seminars and workshops free of charge.
The Fiji Islands, a pacific island country, is a popular tourist destination with a hidden paradise and thus very attractive for events and conferences. In 2016, Fiji was the host for the 7th IEEE International Symposium on Sensorless Control for Electrical Drives (SLED 2016) in Denarau, Nadi Fiji. Fiji was also the host country for IEEE Asia Pacific World Congress on Engineering from 2015 to 2017.
The major objective of this Subsection is to prepare young engineers to excel and provide a solid foundation in core competencies, inculcate professional and ethical attitudes, and an academic environment. It always focuses on students making global connections with people who can help them along the targeted career path through IEEE’s international community of members and volunteers. Recently after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Subsection has been able to make a contribution to society with funding from IEEE SAC/HAC. Looking at various challenges for Fiji such as climate change, the remote location of the islands and limited access to the internet and electricity, a wide range of activities are possible to promote IEEE and STEM as a subject. Nevertheless, our second focus would be to prepare students to excel and provide a solid foundation in core STEM areas. Therefore, the Subsection’s plan is to encourage members to come forward and help people with innovative technological solutions. This will not only provide a platform to IEEE but also provide an opportunity to promote humanitarian values.
Moving forward, the focus of the Subsection will be to connect the community via better ways of communication. The Subsection has decided to appoint the experts to upgrade the website, and Facebook page and regularly conduct meetings with members. The Fiji Subsection has won several awards and honors. Some of these recent achievements include:
-2016 IEEE Young Engineers Humanitarian (AIYEHUM) Challenge – awarded funding for the Eye-Slate project covering educational slate to teach blind and visually impaired children.
-2017 Best Paper award by members from Fiji for the paper title “Experimental application of the least-squares technique for estimation of double-layer supercapacitor parameters” at the 20th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS), Australia.
The project team at a remote village school, namely Bureivanua District School, Fiji for setting up a computer center.