Prepared by: P. N. Kawamoto, Secretary for IEEE Shin-etsu Section
IEEE Shin-etsu Section is the youngest of nine Sections in Japan and covers the regions of the Nagano and Niigata Prefectures. The name “Shin-etsu” is a combination of portions of the old provincial names of Nagano and Niigata. Before the establishment of the IEEE Shin-etsu Section in 2006, its members belonged to the Tokyo Section and for the past decade this small Section has enjoyed a stable membership of 200 to 250 members and received the Outstanding Section Membership Recruitment Performance award in 2018.
When the Section celebrated its 10th anniversary with a commemorative workshop in 2017, the Section was able to have the past Chairs join to share their experiences with the beginnings of the Section and share their hopes for the future direction. Following the keynote by Prof. Hideki Hashimoto of Chuo University, participants were treated to presentations by a representative from the Young Professionals group as well as one of the recipients of the IEEE Shin-etsu Session Young Researcher Presentation Award that year. As a small Section, events are often planned for and with members of mixed grades which makes for lively networking among the younger and older members. The Section appreciates the special support from the IEEE Japan Council, IEEE Japan Office, and extended support from the IEEE Singapore Office on the occasion of this anniversary.
The Section has one active chapter MAG-33 (Shin-etsu Section) and in 2018, a group of students and staff of the three main technical national universities in Shin-etsu (Shinshu University, Niigata University, and Nagaoka University of Technology) successfully petitioned to form the Shin-etsu Joint Section Student Branch (SSB) which is run by officers selected from each of the campuses every year. The SSB board works closely with the Section, in planning events for its members, including its poster session events for bringing together students from all of the campuses. Although the women members of the Shin-etsu Section still number in single digits, in 2020 the Section collaborated with the Tokyo Section to form the Tokyo/Shin-etsu Joint Section Women in Engineering Affinity Group.