Reconnect with a Revitalized IEEE Life Members Committee

Because the saying goes, you’re by no means too outdated to begin over. It holds true for the IEEE Life Members Committee, which has been revitalized after COVID-19 pandemic disruptions.

The committee helps these at the very least 65 years outdated who’ve been members lengthy sufficient in order that their age and years of membership equal or exceed 100. Life members’ dues, regional assessments, and society charges are waived, and a few convention registration charges are diminished.

In the course of the pandemic, fewer life members had been attending in-person actions and becoming a member of native teams, and donations to the Life Members Fund, which helps a number of applications, dropped off.

“As we rebounded from COVID,” says Howard Wolfman, previous chair, “the Life Members Committee took a deep breath and mentioned, ‘Let’s transfer ahead. What are our points?’” A life senior member, Wolfman has been an lively IEEE volunteer for 64 years and a beneficiant donor to the Life Members Fund.

“We re-established connections, developed new objectives, and launched new applications,” he says.

In the course of the previous 5 years, the committee launched a number of initiatives together with an annual convention and a mentoring program. It additionally labored to reactivate affinity teams that had gone dormant, and it shaped new ones. Affinity teams are a part of an IEEE part or area.

The committee additionally ran campaigns to extend donations to the Life Members Fund, which the IEEE Basis manages. The campaigns showcased how the donations are used to assist member actions and IEEE applications.

The variety of life members elevated from 25,000 in 2019 to just about 39,000 final yr. IEEE now tasks a 58 p.c improve by 2034. The group says it desires to utilize its most skilled and educated engineers.

Tech for an ageing inhabitants

The inaugural Life Members Convention was held in April 2024 in Austin, Texas. Its theme was “Evolution: Know-how, Purposes, and Contributions.” Open to all IEEE members, the occasion centered on offering a greater understanding of how rising applied sciences and new purposes might influence senior residents. Greater than 180 individuals attended.

This yr’s convention, “Studying By no means Stops,” is scheduled for 11 to 13 June at Tufts College in Medford, Mass. Subjects embrace improvements in well being expertise, synthetic intelligence, and robotics. A session on techniques that influence society is anticipated to debate the power grid and telecommunications.

“Life members have the chance to share the knowledge they’ve gained via their membership in addition to careers in trade or academia.”

In response to the World Well being Group, by 2030, one in six individuals on the planet will likely be 60 or older.

With that in thoughts, a convention dialogue on ageing and longevity will cowl applied sciences to reinforce the standard of life for older individuals, Wolfman says, including that it’ll contact on independence and general well-being. The age tech area contains well being and wellness monitoring, sensible home equipment, and home-care robots.

The IEEE Requirements Affiliation’s Know-how Requirements for the Getting older exercise plans to supply a session to debate technical requirements being developed to make sure such merchandise are interoperable, protected, and safe. The keynote speaker is Rick Robinson, vice chairman and common supervisor of AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative, which helps builders within the area. Dean Kamen, an honorary IEEE member who most likely is greatest recognized for inventing the Segway scooter, is anticipated to ship the closing keynote handle.

You don’t should be a member to attend the convention. Registration continues to be open.

Sharing experiences with youthful generations

The idea of mentoring just isn’t new. Conventional mentoring applications usually contain one-on-one periods. However Wolfman says he had an epiphany for a brand new kind of program the committee ought to launch: group mentoring.

Launched final yr, the group periods contain life members assembly with highschool college students, school college students, and younger professionals. The members share the ups and downs of their skilled and private lives, classes realized, and pitfalls to keep away from, Wolfman says.

Group periods have been held in Ottawa; San Marcos, Texas; and Tokyo.

“One factor I realized in speaking to the individuals is that mentoring works each methods,” Wolfman says. “Life members get mentored as properly. We find out about what’s occurring in at this time’s world, so it’s a two-way avenue.”

He’s exploring increasing the mentoring program to different IEEE teams, together with Ladies in Engineering and Younger Professionals, so individuals can get completely different views.

Affinity group actions

There are greater than 190 life member affinity teams in 66 international locations. The Africa Council shaped one of many latest. Its members come from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Zambia, and three different international locations.

A number of affinity teams had been reactivated after a number of years of inactivity, together with the Dallas group final yr.

The teams maintain several types of actions. Final yr the IEEE Benelux group visited the European House Company in Noordwijk, Netherlands. The members additionally toured medical gear firm Cochlear’s manufacturing plant in Mechelen, Belgium. In Colorado, the IEEE Denver and Pikes Peak teams visited the U.S. Basic Companies Administration’s Skaggs Analysis Middle, in Boulder.

Affinity teams additionally set up instructional periods on cybersecurity, electrical security, spintronics, and related topics.

Supporters of 15 applications

Life members are beneficiant. Final yr they gave greater than US $1.7 million to IEEE’s philanthropic applications, in line with the IEEE Basis. Life members account for 65 p.c of the overall donations given by people to the greater than 215 IEEE Basis accounts.

The IEEE Life Members Fund helps greater than 15 applications together with awards, conferences, instructional outreach, fellowships, and humanitarian tasks.

The fund, for instance, helps EPICS in IEEE tasks world wide. Final yr, greater than 12,800 college students and a few 1,600 volunteers participated within the service-learning program of their neighborhood.

One other program that receives funding is IEEE MOVE (Cell Outreach utilizing Volunteer Engagement). Within the United States, three MOVE autos present communities with energy and communications capabilities in areas affected by widespread outages because of pure disasters. Prior to now yr they’ve been deployed to help survivors of floods in Kentucky, hurricanes in Florida, and wildfires in California.

MOVE India performed a number of applications final yr, together with disaster-awareness periods, STEM workshops, and volunteer coaching. MOVE India donated photo voltaic lanterns and cell chargers to survivors of the Wayanad landslides who had been with out energy.

“Life members have the chance to share the knowledge they’ve gained via their membership in addition to careers in trade or academia,” Wolfman says. “We obtain the satisfaction of understanding that we’re giving again to the following technology of innovators, IEEE basically, and society.”