A succesfully held meeting under the hospitality of the IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section 

The IEEE Region 8 Committee meeting is one of the most demanding meetings in which the IEEE Region 8 members participate at. A two-days meeting, during which the participants take decisions, make suggestions, express worries and find solutions, but also get the chance to meet again with their IEEE friends.

IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section
IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section Chair Vera Markovic

The 111th IEEE Region 8 Committee meeting was held successfully in the beautiful city of Belgrade, Serbia on 20-21 of October 2018. The IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section showed its warm hospitality making everyone feeling as being home, through its volunteers and its Chair Vera Markovic who was always there. Starting with the welcome ceremony on Friday 19 of October, the IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section Chair Vera Markovic welcomed all attendees with a historical presentation of the Section through the years until the achievements of today.

 

Petar Kocovic

Niκola Tesla, the Serbian inventor and electrical engineer, best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system, couldn’t be missing from this meeting. Petar Kocovic with his presentation “ Tesla & Pupin Heritage, Serbs Who Built America”, described through historical references in a practically way the unique role Tesla and Pupin had to America’s development to what it is known-for today.

The awards ceremony is definitely a special moment during an IEEE Region 8 Committee meeting, and of course it couldn’t be missed. The awards given during the 111th IEEE Region 8 Committee meeting focused on the dedication, effort and work of the outgoing officers of the IEEE Region 8.

Saturday 20th of October was bringing a full-day schedule for all attendees, starting in the early morning until the late evening. IEEE Africa Council was presented by the Africa Council’s chair, Gloria Chukwudebe giving a speech on the background story of the council’s official approval, the IEEE Africa Council’s Inaugural Meeting , the work which has been done until now, and the upcoming future plans.

The first half of the day was focused on reports. A positive result was presented by the member activities committee, showing an increase of 1,9% in the Region’s membership for 2018 comparing with 2017.

ieee region8 opcomDuring the second half of this day everyone had the opportunity to see and listen the presentations from all candidates of the elections for the upcoming Region 8 officers. The elections took place in closed doors right after the presentation, in participation of the Region 8 OpCom and the Region 8 Section Chairs. IEEE Region 8 Today had the opportunity to share the first comments of the new Region 8 Officers.

Sunday 21st of October was unique for the IEEE Region 8 Today, as it was officially presented for the very first time in front of all IEEE Region 8 Section Chairs, receiving a warm feedback and engagement. This day was marked by great announcement and decisions (not officially announced yet. Moreover, the Director-Elect Mrs.Magdalena Salazar Palma, who will be the Director for 2019-2020, presented and welcomed the new OpCom. During her speech she presented her main goals for the coming years.  Some are:

  • retaining students’ interest and continuing the good work already happening,
  • increase the benefits for the Young Professionals, such as career development opportunities: soft skills, technical lectures, training; networking
  • Keep the good work between the IEEE and the industry, with Industry Ambassadors network, workshops, mentorships, internships, but also to increase and retain members coming from the industry
  • Support Africa Counsil Operations

Of course Belgrade and Nikola Tesla is a perfect match. For that reason, the IEEE Serbia & Montenegro Section Chair, Vera Markovic, had organized a visit to the Tesla Museum where everyone lived the Tesla experience by live experiments happening in front of their eyes. Among others the museum visitors had the chance to live the Tesla Coil experience. Stamatis Dragoumanos shared a video with us showing live the experiment.