2021 WIE Inspiring Student Member of the Year Award Recipient
Syed Sadia Hossain is a graduate student of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) from Bangladesh University of Professionals. She started her IEEE journey as a general member of IEEE BUP Student Branch in 2018 and also actively contributed as a volunteer of IEEE Bangladesh Section. In 2019, she started working for the establishment of the Women in Engineering Affinity Group in her Student Branch, and eventually became the Chairperson of IEEE BUP Student Branch WIE Affinity in 2020-2021. She was elected as the Administrative Executive of IEEE Computer Society Bangladesh Chapter (Student Body) in the year 2020. She represented her Section and Student Branch in IEEE platforms by being a volunteer or Ambassador of IEEEXtreme, IEEE Rising Stars Conference, and IEEE Bangladesh Section’s International Congress, etc. At WIE, Sadia tried to promote a community of strong individuals who hold each other’s best interests in heart, validate self-worth before anything and dignify accomplishments irrespective of gender. Keeping that notion in her heart, Syed Sadia Hossain was able to achieve significant victories.
In Bangladesh, she won the “Inspiring Women Award” in the category of Leaders of Tomorrow by Bangladesh Brand Forum in 2020 and for her efforts and active participation in IEEE and WIE, she received the Honorable Mention of the “WIE Outstanding Student Volunteer Award” during the IEEE Bangladesh Section’s Awards Night in 2020. Recently, she became the “2021 IEEE Women in Engineering Inspiring Student Member of the Year” awarded by IEEE Women in Engineering Committee. Her strongest support behind these successes were her advisor Mahdia Tahsin and her hardworking team of IEEE BUP SB WIE Affinity Group.
Working as the Chairperson of IEEE BUP Student Branch WIE Affinity Group was the turning point of Sadia’s IEEE journey. This Affinity group was formed in November 2019 and it was a big challenge for her to start amidst the global pandemic in 2020. But her goal was to increase the membership retention and brand value of IEEE WIE by working in versatile sectors of engineering and society. She tried to motivate her team to engage in every area of development through IEEE WIE platform. Her suggestion to her peers was – “Through technical or humanitarian activities, an IEEE volunteer should always contribute to the betterment of the society”. With this concept in mind, she and her team managed to organize 15 successful events including national and international career sessions, technical and research workshops, competitions, etc. She also took a humanitarian initiative for a fundraising program during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Chair, she made the events not limited to only university students but also organized outreach and mentorship programs to promote women in engineering for the pre-university young women, for which the group was awarded the ‘Reaching Locals’ project and also been selected amongst the top 16 OU’s to receive funding support by the IEEE Region 10.
The biggest reward for Sadia was to bring one of the most prestigious awards of Bangladesh for her affinity group within the very first year. Her leadership and teamwork helped the group to hold the glory of obtaining the “IEEE Bangladesh Section Outstanding Women in Engineering Affinity Group Award” in just its first year of activities.
There were a lot of struggles behind this success but any first experience is always hard and memorable. To cherish these memorable experiences, Sadia and her team planned to create a newsletter named “SHE”- the first official publication of IEEE BUP SB WIE AG. This newsletter was published to promote the theme of reconstructing the stereotypes against gender discrimination and to re-narrate a world without any gender narratives defining someone’s work. https://drive.google.com/…/1FizYGXBEw727MzVYAMfHq8…/view
