IS THE IEEE FOR YOU?

What is the IEEE? And what is its relevance to you and me?

IEEE is an acronym for the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers . A global organization headquartered in New York, USA, it has (of the date of this Post) over 423,000 members in more than 160 countries and likes to call itself  "The world's largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology".  More specifically,  it seeks to advance technology for the benefit of humans worldwide, starting with the most poor and under-served communities. 

If you look around a bit, you'll find that there's a bit of the IEEE already in each of our lives(*) .

 
IEEE is a global association of practicing engineers, technologists, researchers,  technology shapers, curators, teachers, students, prophets, visionaries, day-dreamers, hobbyists and so on in the domains of electrical and electronic engineering, telecommunications, computer science and allied disciplines (the collective name for all these fields is "electro-technology"). Put in one sentence, IEEE is a worldwide "manager" of electro-technology, whose borders keep expanding as electro-technology grows and its prevalence increases across the globe! 

By virtue of being "not-for-profit", IEEE has a distinctly academic flavour.  This means that it provides an atmosphere in which  an individual can network, collaborate,  learn and innovate freely with other electro-technology professionals worldwide without being  shackled by limitations of profit oriented organizations as well as geographical boundaries and distances. Another important outcome is that meeting deadlines is not governed by the fear of consequences, enabling one to contribute his/ her best and in more of a  self-paced manner.

Since there are no profit-imposed objectives, IEEE's activities are driven purely by the interests and of its members and society needs. As the best talent in electro-technology are IEEE members, quite naturally, the result is excellence!

IEEE has 39 "Societies". Each one specializes in a specific technology application domain. Examples are "Aerospace and Electronic Systems", "Computer", "Electron Devices", "Photonics", "Robotics and Automation", "Signal Processing" & "Vehicular Technology". The complete list is displayed below.
 

The 39 Societes of the IEEE

Can you spot your field(s) of interest in the list above?

One very popular misconception about the IEEE is that you need to become a paid member to participate/ benefit from it. ABSOLUTELY FALSE! All that you need to sign up, get involved, keep abreast, contribute, collaborate, use resources etc. is an EMAIL-ID, period!

Here are two IEEE entities that you can sign-up for FREE TODAY and enjoy a highly fruitful association with:

• IEEE Internet Initiative
• IEEE Collabratec

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(*) The proof is easy but I'll leave it to you to figure out. Almost certainly, you own a mobile phone or smart-phone, that offers Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) connectivity to the Internet. Wi-Fi protocols are governed by a well known family of standards code named 802.xxxx (where x = an alphabet or number e.g. 802.11). Look up the Internet and find who owns the 802.xxxx series of standards ... Without knowing it, there was a bit of the IEEE in your life all these years, isn't it?