Reconnect with a Revitalized IEEE Life Members Committee

Because the saying goes, you’re by no means too previous to start out 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 least 65 years previous 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.

Through the pandemic, fewer life members have 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 stated, ‘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.

Through 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 fashioned 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 almost 39,000 final yr. IEEE now initiatives a 58 p.c improve by 2034. The group says it desires to utilize its most skilled and educated engineers.

Tech for an growing old inhabitants

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

This yr’s convention, “Studying By no means Stops,” is scheduled for 11 to 13 June at Tufts College in Medford, Mass. Matters embody improvements in well being know-how, synthetic intelligence, and robotics. A session on methods that influence society is predicted to debate the power grid and telecommunications.

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

In keeping with the World Well being Group, by 2030, one in six folks on this planet will probably be 60 or older.

With that in thoughts, a convention dialogue on growing old and longevity will cowl applied sciences to reinforce the standard of life for older folks, 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 Expertise Requirements for the Getting older exercise plans to supply a session to debate technical requirements being developed to make sure such merchandise are interoperable, secure, and safe. The keynote speaker is Rick Robinson, vp and common supervisor of AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative, which helps builders within the area. Dean Kamen, an honorary IEEE member who in all probability is finest recognized for inventing the Segway scooter, is predicted to ship the closing keynote deal with.

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

Sharing experiences with youthful generations

The idea of mentoring shouldn’t be new. Conventional mentoring applications sometimes contain one-on-one classes. 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 classes 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 discovered, and pitfalls to keep away from, Wolfman says.

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

“One factor I discovered in speaking to the contributors is that mentoring works each methods,” Wolfman says. “Life members get mentored as effectively. We study what’s happening in in the present day’s world, so it’s a two-way avenue.”

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

Affinity group actions

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

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

The teams maintain various kinds 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. Common Companies Administration’s Skaggs Analysis Middle, in Boulder.

Affinity teams additionally set up instructional classes 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, based on the IEEE Basis. Life members account for 65 p.c of the entire 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 initiatives.

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

One other program that receives funding is IEEE MOVE (Cellular Outreach utilizing Volunteer Engagement). Within the United States, three MOVE autos present communities with energy and communications capabilities in areas affected by widespread outages as a result of pure disasters. Up 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 classes, STEM workshops, and volunteer coaching. MOVE India donated photo voltaic lanterns and cell chargers to survivors of the Wayanad landslides who have been with out energy.

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