The annual IEEE election process begins in August, so be sure to check your mailbox then for your ballot. To help you choose the 2019 IEEE president-elect, The Institute is republishing the position statements of the three candidates. They are Life Fellow Toshio Fukuda, Fellow Vincenzo Piuri, and Life Fellow Jacek M. Zurada.

 

Life Fellow Toshio Fukuda

Nominated by petition

Photo: Meijo University

Professor of mechatronics engineering at Meijo University, in Nagoya, Japan, and at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and professor emeritus at Nagoya University.

Website: www.mein.nagoya-u.ac.jp/personal/fukuda

I would like to make efforts to increase IEEE membership in the world and make the IEEE a more comfortable “home” for everybody to stay in IEEE. Thus, I would like to focus on the following:

  1. Improve financial transparency.
  2. Revise membership fee.
  3. Join at least one technical society.
  4. Introduce corporate membership for industry.
  5. Create IEEE-University, making use of MOOCs (massive open online courses).

We need the sound financial balance of IEEE to enjoy more activities in IEEE. All members can find a technical society as their technical home, as well as geographical location as their geo-home. Everybody will share their interests and “value” of IEEE technically and geographically, and so will collaborate with growing and changing today’s technology in a worldwide manner, globally and locally.

Needs and expectations for IEEE have been changing for technology professionals, in particular for industry practitioners, young professionals, women in engineering, entrepreneurs, and also students seeking to be “connected” with and looking for higher quality interaction opportunities with IEEE and its communities. We need to attract more industry members through corporate membership.

The concept of the IEEE-University, making use of MOOCs from IEEE and its alliances, can be the “home” for them and everybody to update emerging technology and careers, since we create the IEEE “value” of the high quality. IEEE should adapt itself swiftly to the agile and emerging technological demands.

Thus, IEEE can grow and advance technology for humanity.

 

Fellow Vincenzo Piuri

Nominated by the IEEE Board of Directors

Photo: Vincenzo Piuri

Professor of intelligent systems and former chair of the information technology department at the University of Milan, as well as an honorary professor at four other universities.

Website: www.VincenzoPiuri.org

IEEE is uniquely positioned as a global leader in science, technology, and innovation. We should continue to be the premier reference in our field and further grow as a driver of innovation, timely identifying emerging needs and opportunities.

With the extraordinary expertise and dedication that our IEEE community offers, together we can face this challenge and enhance our profession by:

  • Engaging and effectively serving the IEEE members and all people in the scientific and professional community, by ensuring membership fees are affordable everywhere in the world, offering personalized bundles of services, addressing the specific local needs, providing sustainable access to knowledge, and enhancing membership value.
  • Empowering members and promoting transparency, by pervasively ensuring transparency of finance and decision processes, enabling active participation and relevance of members in IEEE management, and supporting underserved groups and areas.
  • Continuing to be the trusted source for high-quality knowledge, by facilitating the access to information with recommendation systems, providing practical knowledge for professionals, offering data, algorithms, and experiment repositories for research and industry innovation, and creating innovative services and delivery methods for the professionals of the future.

I am fully committed to serving our community, with strategic vision and guidance, encouraging participation, galvanizing enthusiasm, and catalyzing the rich and diverse competences and aspirations of members and volunteers. I envision a holistic view for one IEEE while nurturing the local communities. An IEEE in which everybody finds value and feels proud to be. An IEEE by people for people.

 

Life Fellow Jacek M. Zurada

Nominated by the IEEE Board of Directors

Director of the Computational Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, where he is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and former chair of the department.

Website: www.JacekZurada.org

Photo: Jacek Zurada

Although no other technology association can match IEEE’s brand, membership, and knowledge base, our organization has struggled to reverse downward trends and put itself on a winning growth trajectory. Healthy revenues have been drained into operational deficits brought through questionable corporate initiatives and closed meetings. A lack of financial transparency has left our units with little control over their revenue-to-expenses ratio, stifling their productivity. Our industrial membership dropped from 67 percent to 47 percent since 2000. With declining retention of graduating students now at 38 percent, our membership is aging. Finally, though we’ve increased the number of products, returns look lacking as our members report low satisfaction.

To regain the upward momentum, with focus on members, transparency, and technology, as president I’ll launch forward-thinking initiatives while embracing the reform commenced by recent leadership to:

  • Redefine membership valueto meet the needs of our members from different regions, age groups, career objectives, and industry segments.
  • Develop a useful, understandable, financial modelthat eliminates wasteful and duplicative spending while sparking creativity.
  • Leverage technology and design-thinking to deliver personalized services and productsthat have impact and relevancy for our members and paying customers.
  • Initiate a landmark project to transform IEEE from today’s traditional ‘technical paper provider’ to a ‘knowledge provider.’ The new AI-driven IEEE Xplore will deliver highly processed, filtered, on-demand knowledge, be it designs, algorithms, technical solutions, products, standards, or even answers to questions. As a neural networks pioneer, I know this will establish the new ‘AI-aligned IEEE’and bring new revenue streams and opportunities.

To learn more about the candidates, read “Three Candidates Vie for 2019 President-Elect.”