IN THIS ISSUE

The quarterly newsletter of IEEE GOLD for young professionals

HIGHLIGHTS

JUNE 2010

WELCOME FROM THE 2010

MGA GOLD CHAIR William Sommerville

1ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

Dear IEEE GOLD members,

It is said that 99% of the people in the

world want to do a good job. People go to

work, go to school, and interact with their

families with good intentions and not always

good results. It can be tremendously frustrat-

ing when hard work leads to failure and when

sincere efforts lead to hurt feelings. I suppose

that this helps us appreciate our wins even

more when we are successful.

Failure is not a sign of weakness, in fact

quite the opposite. As one of the world great-

est leaders, Sir Winston Churchill once said

“Success is the ability to go from failure to

failure without losing your enthusiasm.” We,

the IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade, are

at a difficult time in our lives in part because

of the inevitable failures we must encounter as

our careers develop. I have had my share of

failures before – and frankly I am thankful for

them. Every failed relationship, failed job,

and failed opportunity has given me the hu-

mility, wisdom, and patience that I need to

advance myself both personally and profes-

sionally. These mistakes have certainly not

made me into a failure – but rather they have

allowed me to become successful.

One of my favorite aspects of the GOL-

DRush newsletter is the opportunity to gather

wisdom from people all over the world who

are not so different than me. We are a com-

munity of young professionals and graduate

students with similar interests, goals, and a

shared vision of a better world. We are look-

ing for opportunities to make a difference in

the world and use our technical skills for good

purposes.

So what makes an engineer or an aca-

demic good? How can we make that positive

impact? How do we get our names

known? Some people might say that we need

to fight for a good cause, like alternative en-

ergy or fighting diseases. My contention is

that we simply need to learn from our failures

Readers’ Forum 4

GOLD Member Profile 5

GOLD News 6

IEEE GOLD Affinity

Group Profile

11

Peer-Reviewed

Contributions

14

Notices 17

GOLD Committee 19

IEEE GOLD MGA

Meeting

10

IEEE GOLD & WIE New

Hampshire AG Profile

12

Breaking into IT Security 14

Do we still need data

compression?

15

THz Waves: Possible

Sources for Endoscopic

Ultrasound Medical

Imaging

16

JUNE 2010

2 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

and become as good at our jobs as we can

possibly get. A good, competent engineer will

create more jobs and generate more value in

the world than a mediocre engineer fighting

for a good cause.

good job, but eventually I intend to be doing a

fantastic job.

Will Sommerville

2010 MGA GOLD Committee Chair

This is why I am involved with IEEE and

why I read every edition of GOLDRush. My

goal is to become as good as I can be as an

engineer and as a person so that I can do

more and make a bigger impact in the

world. They say 99% of people want to do a

W elcome to the June edition of the

IEEE GOLDRush newsletter.

One of the things that have

continued to amaze me about the IEEE as a

worldwide professional organization is the

diversity found from within. When I think

about it, the world is really made much

smaller by the IEEE community and is an

exciting organization to be a part of because

of the people, one of its greatest assets. I am

constantly and fondly reminded that our

world is not homogeneous. The world is

made up of this colorful spectrum of diverse

people from all walks of life. Through this, I

find myself constantly empowered to strive

for excellence and to dare to dream and dare

to not stop dreaming.

As an organization we need to embrace

this diversity if we are to continue to prosper,

grow, support and learn from each other.

IEEE is a truly fantastic organization when it

comes to embracing and supporting diversity.

It has a worldwide presence with a strong

membership base of over 380,000 members

in 160 countries which is continuing to grow.

Of this, there are over 50,000 young profes-

sionals who belong to IEEE GOLD. This is

truly something we should be proud of and

celebrate. As young professionals we are the

future of the organization and agents of

change. The decisions we make today will no

doubt affect the IEEE, our future way of life

and the world around us. The power is in our

hands to advance the profession, society and

technology for the benefit of mankind. With

all of this comes the responsibility of ensuring

that we make the wisest decisions. The world

is counting on us to make it a better place. We

should aim to look both outwards as well as

inwards in our day to day decision making to

ensure that we make the most informed and

best choices possible.

On May 22-23, the joint Member and

Geographical Activities (MGA) GOLD and

Student Activities Committee (SAC) meetings

were held in New Brunswick in the state of

New Jersey, USA. This meeting united both

IEEE staff and volunteers of various diversi-

ties from the different IEEE regions. The

United Through Diversity By Timothy Wong, IEEE GOLDRush Editor

volunteers who attended this meeting came

from all walks of life and different parts of the

world including Australia, Bolivia, New Zea-

land, India, The Netherlands, South Africa,

South America, Singapore, Canada and the

USA. There was a buzz of excitement and

intent within the meetings, which resulted in a

united front in the strategic planning sessions,

aimed at achieving the very purpose of IEEE

GOLD. The main purpose of this meeting

was to plan the direction of GOLD to con-

tinue to better serve IEEE members. There

was certainly that warm fuzzy feeling from

volunteers who have sacrificed many hours of

their spare time to make IEEE a better place

for its members and the world. Through the

times, many IEEE volunteers have become

close friends. They laugh and cry together,

celebrate their successes, learn from their

failures and support each other through the

times.

This meeting reminded me of how we as

professional volunteers are united through

altruism and diversity through the

IEEE. Altruism is a common trait among

volunteers who have an unselfish devotion

and concern towards serving the wider com-

munity. At this meeting new friendships were

formed and old friendships strengthened

among the IEEE staff and volunteers. The

spirit of volunteering was well and truly alive

and only became stronger. The slogan

“The slogan „Networking the World‟ once again continues to apply”

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your

enthusiasm.” - Sir Winston Churchill

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GOLDRush “Networking the World” continues to apply

as many new friendships are made around the

world through networking within the IEEE.

Be sure to take a look at the featured article

on the GOLD meeting in this edition of

IEEE GOLDRush.

There has been a working group estab-

lished for IEEE GOLDRush at the MGA

GOLD meeting to develop our strategic di-

rection with the vision that “GOLDRush will

be the leading source of information for

young IEEE professionals”. It is our very

mission to ensure that GOLDRush continues

to provide relevant information to empower,

enlighten, and engage young professionals.

With the ever changing environment in which

publishing occurs, IEEE GOLDRush must

and will continue to evolve to engage you, our

valued reader.

It has been an exciting past three months

since the last edition of GOLDRush, with

many ground breaking events happening in

IEEE GOLD around the world. I am pleased

to announce that from this edition onwards,

we will be profiling a GOLD affinity group

from the different worldwide IEEE re-

gions. In this edition we take a look at the

New Hampshire joint GOLD and Women In

Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group, reader’s

forum, GOLD News around the world and

three peer reviewed articles, which have been

selected by our editorial team. We hope that

you enjoy reading what this edition has to

offer. We are always interested in hearing

from you about your thoughts on GOL-

DRush. If you have any suggestions or com-

ments on the content or direction of IEEE

GOLDRush, please send your feedback to

timothy.wong@ieee.org.

Timothy Wong

2010 IEEE GOLDRush Editor In Chief

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GOLDRush READERS’ FORUM Your questions and opinions

The Young Researcher in

the 21st century A young researcher in the 21st century will find themselves faced with a lot of challenges in today’s dynamic world. Global issues relating to the economy, environment and terrorism make media headlines and this raises many questions in the mind of the young researcher. With so many other issues taking up media and political attention, a young researcher has many reasons to believe that commitment towards research and development is lacking from authorities. However, they will probably soon realize that it has always been like this. The researcher finds themselves to be a “problem solver” and not a “problem maker”. With this belief they set out and take on the challenges in solving problems in a highly dynamic world. They look around and see many who are in the same position as them. There are people who have trodden the path of research and development and have much more experience than them. The timeline for career progression through research and development has always been there. They realize that those who have trodden this path have made a significant difference in the world and left a legacy for their successors, who subsequently realize this fact and see the evidence for themselves. A sense of respect arises, in the mind of the budding researcher, for all who have lived their lives as the “problem solvers”. The budding researcher realizes that they carry on the legacy of their predecessors and will eventually build upon what previous researchers have already discovered. The young researcher realizes that there are many others like them trying to solve a problem. This problem they are solving is generally part of a bigger problem. Every researcher sees a part of the whole problem and tries to find optimal solutions for it, thus, in a way contributing towards finding a

solution to the bigger problem. It is just like a cartwheel wherein everyone contributes little by little and with the joint effort makes the wheel turn. Suddenly the realization of responsibilities and expectations dawns in the minds of the young researcher in the 21st century. They find themselves to be an

integral part of the future. A future which they have the power to shape and influence. It gives them a sense of pride and honor to take forward the legacy of their predecessors for the progress and empowerment of mankind. The next question arising in the mind of the budding researcher is what their contribution in the field is and what kinds of tools they have. They look around at the discoveries and

inventions of preceding researchers and to their great surprise finds that most of the tools are inspired from nature or are nature’s gifts. They realize that every problem is just like a big puzzle whose solution is waiting to be unravelled in nature. A sense of curiosity arises in the heart of the young researcher which had till now been hidden in a plethora of confusion and dismay. The young researcher is inspired to unlock the hidden mysteries and decipher the puzzle, and so focuses on devising new innovative solutions to solve problems. The researcher learns from predecessors and then creates new innovative algorithms for solving complex problems. The young researcher knows that their hard work will make a significant impact in the lives of people. They find that their toolbox is full of sophisticated equipment that is not only being inspired by nature but also developed by their predecessors in order to face the challenging problems affecting society. In the end, they feel lucky to be a part of the global IEEE research community who continuously decipher and solve problems for the better of mankind. Dr. Manish Kakar

Express your opinions on GOL-DRush articles and ask questions to the authors by submitting a letter to the GOLDRush Readers’ Forum. Send your submissions to GOL-DRush@ieee.org before 6 August 2010 for inclusion in the September 2010 edition. Submissions must be no more than 200 words and may be edited if necessary. We look for-ward to hearing your thoughts!

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GOLDRush MEMBER PROFILE

Aisha Yousuf

Career description:

I recently graduated from the

University of Michigan – Dear-

born with a Master’s in Electrical

Engineering and my bachelor’s

in EE is also from the same univer-

sity. I will be starting my new posi-

tion with GE Global Research in

Niskayuna, NY at the end of June

2010. I love research in Artificial

Neural Networks, Pattern Recog-

nition, Machine Learning, and

Computer Vision and the most

exciting thing about this field is its

wide applicability. During my re-

search at grad school I worked

on projects such as intelligent

vehicle power management,

implementation and detection

of watermarks in images, and

multi-modal biometrics. While in

school, I also had a chance to

work on some fun and challeng-

ing internships. At Charles River

Analytics in Cambridge, MA I

worked on hidden target detec-

tion using LADAR for Air force.

While at Mayo Clinic in Roches-

ter, MN, I designed their very first

automatic ultrasound quality

evaluation system that uses intel-

ligence to find targets of interest

in ultrasound images and applies

various evaluation methods to

determine how well the objects

of interest are depicted in the

ultrasound image. I am looking

forward to exploring many excit-

ing new research opportunities

and challenges at GE and also

pursuing a PhD in a few years.

What are your personal interests

(i.e. hobbies)?:

I love swimming and I try to swim

at least twice a week. I also en-

joy reading a lot although I

mostly prefer fiction. Travelling

and being outdoors is another

one of my passions. While travel-

ling to far and exotic places is

always exciting, I really think that

you don't always have to take

long expensive vacations to re-

lax and have fun and you never

know what you might find in your

own "backyard". I also collect

postcards from places I have

been to.

How has IEEE helped your ca-

reer?:

I got involved in IEEE as a student

and IEEE has helped in all as-

pects of my career. I gained

leadership skills from starting an

inactive student branch to host-

ing my first student professional

awareness conference. In addi-

tion, I gained many other skills

such as proposal writing and get-

ting funding; skills that are vital to

a research career. I also got my

first internship (with a leading re-

search role) through the IEEE job-

site. I make sure to read IEEE arti-

cles or attend webinars that dis-

cuss topics not taught in schools

such as how to negotiate a sal-

ary and ways to ensure that em-

ployers see your resume. IEEE has

been essential in connecting me

to people who have helped

shape my career and also many

professionals that I now consider

friends. Having a global IEEE

presence and a network of peo-

ple world-wide also helped when

moving to new places for work.

And most importantly, I use IEEE

to do almost all my research and

to stay up to date with new re-

search and technologies.

Any words of advice for young

professionals?:

Being a recent grad and having

gone through many interviews, I

would really like to emphasize

the importance of IEEE involve-

ment to young professionals. Em-

ployers do ask about professional

and leadership activities in inter-

views. During one of my inter-

views, one of the managers was

very impressed with the fact that

I was the publicity chair for one

of IEEE's international confer-

ences, a kind of experience that

he said that even he didn't have.

Another employer mentioned

that they also look at profes-

sional activities when considering

promotions for their current em-

ployees. So IEEE is beneficial for

not only getting job but getting

ahead in your career as well.

Having IEEE volunteer experi-

ence really counts as it gives you

skills that most other young pro-

fessionals don't have and puts

you one step ahead. Most im-

portantly you build your profes-

sional networks, something that

you won't be doing sitting at your

desk at work. Getting involved in

IEEE is one of the many ways your

IEEE membership works for you

and you should make the most

of your IEEE membership.

JUNE 2010

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GOLDRush

GOLD NEWS From around the world

Mind the Gap

By Greg Hovagim

(New Hampshire WIE/GOLD Joint

Affinity Group)

the universities where over twenty six (26)

students discussed their post-graduation plans

and learned about GOLD. Events were held

on April 22, UNH Manchester & Daniel

Webster College; April 30, Dartmouth Col-

lege; May 2, UNH Durham. This is the sec-

The New Hampshire Women In Engi-

neering (WIE) /Graduates Of the Last Dec-

ade (GOLD) affinity group held three Univer-

sity Graduation Luncheons to support the

graduating students in their transition to

young professionals and to encourage

younger students to get and stay involved

with the IEEE. Each luncheon was a success

and we believe that our efforts to “mind the

gap” between student membership and the

larger IEEE Community will be fruitful. The

luncheons were held at local restaurants near

IEEE Hyderabad STEP

By Prashant Venkatasubban

(Secretary, GOLD Hyderabad

Affinity Group )

T he IEEE Hyderabad GOLD affinity

group hosted the Student Transition

Elevation Partnership Program

(STEP) at NIT Warangal and DIET Vizag on

the 27th of May 2010. Both of the STEP

events were largely interactive with a good

number of students showing up.

The STEP events were conducted with

the objective of helping students transition to

a professional life ahead of their student days.

The event mainly focused on 2 topics of in-

teraction:

1) Crafting a successful engineering career

2) Entrepreneurship as a viable career

option

The speakers for both of these topics

were IEEE Section Members who have been

largely successful in their career. All of the

speakers stressed the importance of IEEE

Membership and how it could help fuel the

right career growth. The speakers gave many

inspiring examples from their own experi-

ences and those of their colleagues of how

IEEE membership could be useful.

STEP Event at NIT Warangal

The event had two guest speakers which

included Mr. H. Niranjan, a Senior Engineer

from Google India and Mr. B. Satyam, co-

founder and Managing Director of Neo-Silica.

The near 100 strong audience were mainly

senior year students with a mix of junior and

sophomore year students from 5 different

colleges in the Warangal zone. Both IEEE

members and non-members were in atten-

dance. The event kicked off with high tea

where the students, speakers and student

branch counselor had an informal interaction

and got introduced to each other. This was

followed by a presentation by Mr. U Niranjan

from the GOLD team welcoming the audi-

ence and delivering the introductory speech.

The first speaker, Mr. B. Satyam en-

thralled the audience with an interactive and

Pictured: Graduating students enjoying lunch with the New Hampshire WIE/GOLD affinity Group.

informative session on entrepreneurship. He

showed the audience ways to develop the

"attitude of an entrepreneur" and the impor-

tance of entrepreneurship in a developing

country like India.

The second speaker, Mr. H. Niranjan

presented on "Transitioning from student life

to professional life". His humorous remarks

and anecdotes from his life experiences

turned out to be very informative for the

senior year students. Both of the speakers

were also IEEE members and they spoke

about the importance of continuing IEEE

Pictured: STEP Event at DIET Vizag.

ond year that graduation luncheons were

hosted by NH WIE/GOLD, and we hope

this will continue as an annual event. Best

wishes to all new graduates!

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GOLDRush

GOLD NEWS From around the world

What is IEEE STEP?

STEP stands for Student Transition and Elevation Partnership and is an initiative that was developed to provide a standard-

ized yet localized program for facilitating the transition from student member to young professional, by introducing the

opportunities and benefits of IEEE membership during the onset of a career. The IEEE STEP Program Objectives are:

Identify a local IEEE entity beyond the student branch for members to contact

Plan a joint Section and GOLD event to introduce local IEEE resources

Illustrate IEEE member benefits appropriate for young professional members

Identify recent IEEE Student members who have graduated with an undergraduate or graduate degree; help re-

taining members by capturing any change of address, email or other contact information

Funding is available for STEP activities including a graduation reception for groups holding an event with a minimum of 10

recent graduates. Basic funding will be provided up to the amount of $500 and additional funding may be available if

the number of additional recent graduates attending exceeds 25.

IEEE will provide each STEP sponsor with a package of supplies to help make your workshop a success. The resources in-

cluded in the STEP Kit will assist you in organizing and executing a Student Transition Event, as well as a successful IEEE

membership campaign to help retain student members as young professional members and keeping them actively en-

gaged with IEEE.

For more information please visit: http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/gold/step.html

membership for senior year students entering

the professional world. The speakers were

impressed with the turnout and quality of

interaction, with the students enlightened and

hopefully, convinced to continue with their

IEEE membership.

STEP Event at DIET Vizag Around 180 students from the different

colleges around Vizag attended this event. Dr.

Nagarajan of CouthIT, the founder of a

successful start-up in 1999, spoke on En-

trepreneurship as a career option. He led the

crowd with a presentation that encouraged

interaction through series of questions and

answers. The perspective of an Entrepreneur

was propagated among the crowd. He spoke

about the ideals of risk taking, listed the sim-

ple rules of entrepreneurship and shared his

experiences during the start-up stage of his

firm. The students were excited with the idea

of entrepreneurship and many of them

wanted to choose the path as a career. Asankhaya Sharma, the former Chair of

the Warangal OpenSolaris Users group who is

currently working as the Lead Developer for

one of the internal products of Microsoft IT

at Hyderabad, enthralled the participants with

his presentation on Crafting a Successful

Engineering Career. He spoke about the ex-

periences gained by an engineer in a new and

well established product firm. His suggestions

about choosing the work place suited to one’s

career choice was well received. Finally, Prashant Venkatasubban, the

Secretary of the GOLD Hyderabad Affinity

Group educated the students on how GOLD

will help graduates with their engineering

career and those who would like to take entre-

preneurship as a career. He presented

GOLD’s plan for young professionals and

informed about other interactive activities

that GOLD would be conducting for mem-

bers this year.

Pictured: One Section of the Audience - STEP at

NIT Warangal.

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GOLDRush Region 8 GOLD

News

By Salima Kaissi

(Region 8 GOLD Committee)

During 2010, IEEE R8 GOLD has been

aiming at continuously increasing the visibility

of GOLD around IEEE. The committee

started the year by making a GOLD Book,

which shall be distributed on the R8 GOLD

website. The idea of this book is to gather all

the activities organized by each AG in our R8

in the previous year, failed and successful

stories as well. After this, our committee

launched the "R8 GOLD Outstanding Activ-

ity Award" for the first time as a form of

recognizing GOLD members for their efforts

towards the GOLD vision. Currently we are

in the selection phase. Apart from this, several

ideas have been brainstormed and a few have

started to take shape. For instance, the IEEE

Day is an idea that was recently born and aims

at defining a date in the year to celebrate all

ing an IEEE member, the humanitarian

workshops, on the other hand, aim to encour-

age young engineers to become involved in

activities for the benefit of humanity and is

delivered in the form of a workshop.

Last but not least, our committee is very

involved in the organization of the Student

B r a n c h a n d G O L D C o n g r e s s

（www.sbcleuven.org） that will be held

from 4 to 8 of August in Leuven – Belgium.

This Congress is the opportunity for us to

meet GOLD delegates in each section and

help them in leading their mission by propos-

ing a rich program of sessions and work-

shops.

By R8 GOLD Committee

r8gold@ieee.org

http://www.ieee.org/r8gold

MGA GOLD

Achievement Award

for the R8 GOLD

Coordinator

J oao Figueiras is an active IEEE volunteer

since 2006 and is currently the Region 8

GOLD Coordinator. He received the

2009 MGA GOLD Achievement for out-

standing contributions to the public visibility

of IEEE by creating the “GOLD Around the

World” video. This innovative idea was one

of the most common events in 2009 to cele-

brate the IEEE 125th anniversary around the

world by “sending and displaying” the logo in

the video from a country to another. Joao

received his award from Barry L. Shoop,

IEEE Vice-President, MGA and Eva Lang,

R8 Vice–Chair, SAC, during the last R8 Meet-

ing that was held in Riga – Latvia in May

2010. Several countries participated in this

project and the final version of the video will

be published on IEEE TV in the coming

weeks.

Pictured: Joao Figueiras (center) being presented with the MGA GOLD Achievement Award by Eva Lang (left)

VP MGA Barry L Shoop (right).

together around the world, the achievements

of IEEE. The details are being worked out

and proper deliverables will be available by

the end of the year. Apart from the new ideas,

the R8 GOLD committee continues engaged

in supporting as much as possible all the ac-

tivities running in the several Affinity Groups.

Focus has been given to the creation of new

affinity groups, owing to their major role in

retaining student members and showing them

that IEEE can continuously support them

during their professional careers. The Portu-

gal GOLD affinity group, chaired by Joao

Canas (joaoluiscanas@hotmail.com) was

established. Furthermore, we continue com-

mitted on helping the affinity groups organize

the STEP (IEEE Student Transition & Eleva-

tion Partnership) program (www.ieee.org/

membership_services/membership/gold/

step.html） and humanitarian activities

（www . i e ee h t n .o rg/ ht n/ i n d ex . ph p/

IEEE_Humanitarian_Workshop）. While

the STEP program aims at delivering a mes-

sage to students tailored in a framework cre-

ated to better help them transition to becom-

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GOLDRush

IEEE members an opportunity to network.

Finger foods were provided during the

relaxing Friday evening as the sun went down.

As part of the ongoing strategy to engage with

the Student Branches and the Section, student

and section members were invited to attend

this event. This event was attended by

approximately 15 GOLD and student

members from a number of different

T he IEEE GOLD Western Australia

Sundowner was held on 7 May 2010

at the Grapeskin Bar in Northbridge.

The objectives for this event were to recruit

new IEEE members and to provide current Pictured left to right: Members enjoying a Friday

night out at the Grapeskin Bar.

IEEE GOLD

Sundowner

By Timothy Wong

(IEEE GOLD Western Australia

Affinity Group Chairperson)

industries. In the past, this event has resulted

in student members obtaining gainful

employment from the professional networks

which they formed during the evening. Due

to the success of this event, plans have been

made to hold it on a regular basis in the

future. This will allow for additional

professional networking opportunities

alongside other events to enhance the value of

IEEE membership for both GOLD and

student members.

Congressional Day

Visit

By Gloria See

(IEEE WIE/GOLD Affinity Group

New Hampshire)

O n April 28th and 29th, I had the

opportunity to fly to Washington,

D.C. for the 2010 Congressional

Visits Day (http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/

cvd/default.asp). Nearly 300 engineers from a

range of professional societies joined IEEE-

USA to speak to Congressmen and Senators

about the importance of federal research and

development budgets.

We spent Wednesday working on our

statements and discussion points with our

groups to prepare for Thursday’s visits. New

Hampshire was paired with Colorado, so I

had the chance to visit the representatives

from both my current and former home

states. There were also briefings from the

Department of Energy, House Appropria-

tions Committee, and the Federal R&D Of-

fice of Science and Technology Policy. Repre-

sentatives from each of these groups briefed

attendees about the current status and future

plans of their organizations so we would be

better prepared for the next day's meetings. If

you’re interested in the budget information

from Office of Science and Technology Pol-

icy (OSTP) it’s available at: http://

www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/

fy2011rd%20final.pdf and the AAAS is at:

http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/.

We wrapped up the evening with a cele-

bration of the 50th anniversary of the laser. It

was a great time, various universities and

companies displayed the different stages of

laser technology development and how they

were used. I was fortunate to run into two

friends from my undergraduate university,

one representing the Materials Research Soci-

ety and another from the Optical Society of

America. It was a fun reunion and it was won-

derful to see so many technologically diverse

groups coming together in pursuit of the

same goals.

Our meetings with the Congressional and

Senatorial staffers filled up Thursday. The

group I was with had very broad experiences

and interests. Between just the five of us, we

had college professors, college students, re-

cent graduates, and experienced engineers.

Work experience branched across the defence

industry, electronic security, network systems,

education and start ups.

Our diverse experiences and backgrounds

gave us a great range of issues to bring up in

support of federal research and development

budgets. Our conversations focused on the

America COMPETES Act Reauthorization,

which had come up in the House the day

before our meetings. Our discussions with the

staffers included the importance to each of

our fields of interest of both the America

Pictured: Colorado and New Hampshire contingents

with the capital building in the background.

JUNE 2010

10 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

We received a varied response from the

staffers. Some were very knowledgeable and

supportive of research and development.

Other staffers were unfamiliar with the Amer-

ica COMPETES Act. All were very interested

in the discussion that our group brought to

them and planned to look it up for future

COMPETES Act funding and the support of

other research and development initiatives.

One of the most common themes was

the impact that technology research has on

the job market. This was brought home by

the recent 50th Anniversary of the Laser,

which illustrated many technologies take a

long time to mature before becoming ubiqui-

tous in our everyday lives. Without making

early investment in research and development,

all the innovation, entrepreneurship and small

business opportunities that pay off later

would not exist.

Another concern was for education.

Technical education needs to be emphasized

in order to have new technology research take

place. This education should be taking place

at the K-12 level to bring student interest so

that the first technical exposure students have

isn’t once they get to college.

MGA GOLD Meeting

By Timothy Wong

Pictured: The New Hampshire Team in front of

Congressman Hodes's Office.

reference and to take the information back to

the Senator or Congressperson that they were

representing. Not all promised support for

America COMPETES specifically, but every-

one gave a very enthusiastic response towards

research and development and treating it as

priority in the future.

The jobs that develop, quality of life im-

provements and changes to our infrastructure

that result from research and development are

long-term. Not making that investment now

will have ramifications for years to come. If

you’re interested in having an impact, write to

your Congressperson or Senators and empha-

sizing your support for the American COM-

PETES Act Reauthorization or any other

research and development funding that you

think is important. Come to next year’s Con-

gressional Visits Day, or one of the other

policy fly-ins that IEEE-USA supports.

The annual IEEE Member and Geo-

graphical Activities (MGA) Graduates Of the

Last Decade (GOLD) meeting was held from

22nd to 23rd May 2010. There is an old saying

that “if you fail to plan then you plan to fail.”

The IEEE GOLD meeting was focused on

operations, strategic planning and volunteer

development. This meeting bought together

enthusiastic, dynamic and innovative young

IEEE volunteers and staff from around the

world. The volunteers came from a diverse

range of backgrounds and countries including

the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,

Pakistan, Ecuador, Netherlands, Malaysia,

Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Uruguay,

India, Zambia, Germany, Israel and South

Africa.

A lot of time and effort was spent on

volunteer development. Each volunteer re-

ceived an information package containing all

of the presentation slides and an array of

different IEEE member promotional bro-

chures. The day began with an activity called

“Your IEEE” exercise where each group was

presented with a hypothetical situation which

current IEEE and prospective IEEE mem-

bers could find themselves in. The task was to

as a group formulate a response to the ques-

tion, “What could IEEE membership offer to

this person?”.

The next two days of the meeting in-

cluded presentations from various senior

IEEE staff on topics to equip the IEEE

GOLD volunteers with the knowledge and

skills to continue the IEEE GOLD mission.

There was a joint meeting with the Student

Activities Committee (SAC) for the first half

of Sunday 23rd May (day two). The SAC is

charged with the responsibility for student

programs and benefits and making recom-

mendations to the MGA board. The SAC

provides a voice and forwards important

viewpoints and information of over 80,000

IEEE student and Graduate Student Mem-

bers (GSM). There is a logical association

between IEEE GOLD and SAC. When Stu-

dent members graduate they automatically

become a member of IEEE GOLD. In the

case of the GSM, they are both a student and

Pictured: Aisha Yousuf (Region 4 GOLD

Coordinator) presenting on the findings of the “Your

IEEE” exercise.

Pictured: Informal get together with GOLD and

SAC committee members.

JUNE 2010

11 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush MGA GOLD Meeting (Continued)

GOLD member. We cannot afford to under-

estimate the importance of having a working

partnership and relationship between the SAC

and GOLD committee. Many GOLD mem-

bers were once Student members at one stage

of the career.

A number of working groups were estab-

lished to focus on target areas within IEEE

GOLD. The second half of day two was

spent in the working group breakout sessions

brainstorming and working on the mission,

vision, goals and strategy for the working

group. Each of the working groups operate

under the guidance of the working group

leader. These include:

Member Value Working Group #1

(Events)

Member Value Working Group #2

(Webinars)

Member Value Working Group #3

(STEP Program)

Awareness & Promotion Working

Group #4 (Brochures, Web Con-

tent)

Awareness & Promotion Working

Group #5 (GOLDRush)

IEEE Operations & Partnering

Working Group #6

Volunteer Development Working

Group #7

The meeting was followed by a tour of

the IEEE operations center in Piscataway,

New Jersey, USA. The IEEE operations cen-

ter is spread across three separate buildings

and staffed by over 650 people. This tour

included an insight into the IEEE contact

center where dedicated staff are available to

assist IEEE members with their enquiries.

There was a brief welcome and thank you

speech to the volunteers by Vice President of

the MGA, Barry Shoop. The next stop along

the tour was the IEEE command center

where the volunteers got to witness firsthand

the monitoring operations of the IEEE. The

computer servers and building are constantly

monitored around the clock to maintain the

integrity of IEEE operations.

Overall the MGA GOLD meeting was an

overall success with many of the working

groups being formed and the strategic plan

being developed to bring IEEE GOLD for-

ward into the future. The quality and dedica-

tion of volunteers within IEEE GOLD

should give all members the confidence that

the future of IEEE is in safe hands.

Pictured: IEEE GOLD and SAC members

enjoying the IEEE Operations Center Tour.

IEEE GOLD Induction

Dinner

By Ruchi Vyas

(IEEE GOLD New Zealand North

Affinity group)

T he IEEE New Zealand North Sec-

tion GOLD Affinity Group gathered

for its first event on the 23rd of April

2010. The event was an induction dinner,

organized at a popular Auckland restaurant to

promote an informal atmosphere for current

and prospective IEEE members. Members

conversed over topics ranging from emerging

technologies to fiber optics broadband, con-

sulting and sales engineering over delicious

food.

The GOLD committee organizes regular

events ranging from social to professional

activities for its members throughout the year.

Some of the activities run in the past included

site visits to the Auckland Sky Tower, Lion

Nathan Brewery and the Auckland Traffic

Control Centre as well as workshops on top-

ics such as time management, leadership and

career development. A list of past events can

be found on http://www.ieeenorth.org.nz/

gold/?page=past_events.

This year, the focus will be on enhancing

the social interaction between GOLD mem-

bers and providing quality workshops and

presentations on topics such as project man-

agement, leadership and career advancement

for the budding professionals. The primary

purpose of IEEE GOLD is to help students

make a smooth transition from academia into

the professional world. It aims to aid the

members’ professional development by offer-

ing training in areas such as leadership, time

management and providing mentoring. Fi-

nally, it seeks to provide and foster a friendly

environment where recent graduates can net-

work with people of similar ages coming from

a wide variety of career paths.

Pictured above: IEEE and prospective members

enjoying dinner with the IEEE GOLD New

Zealand North Section Affinity Group.

JUNE 2010

12 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush IEEE GOLD AFFINITY GROUP PROFILE

IEEE GOLD & WIE

New Hampshire

Fast Facts

Date Founded: 2008

Chairperson: Brian Roberts

(brian.roberts@ieee.org)

Member Count: 166

Committee Members: 9

History

The IEEE New Hampshire Women

In Engineering (WIE)/Graduates

Of the Last Decade (GOLD) Joint

Affinity Group (AG) was started

in 2005 as a WIE AG . In 2008, the

NH GOLD AG was formed and

combined with the NH WIE AG

into a Joint AG. Given New

Hampshire’s small WIE and GOLD

population it made sense to

combine forces as a Joint AG.

This strategy has worked well for

the AG as it has had a steady

volunteer base and been one of

the most active GOLD AG’s in

Region 1 since its inception.

Mission

The mission of the New Hamp-

shire WIE/GOLD joint affinity

group is twofold:

WIE - To inspire, engage, encour-

age, and empower IEEE women

worldwide.

GOLD - To develop and foster

relationships to provide tangible

value to members; Promote the

GOLD program to students; Re-

cruit, develop and nurture volun-

teers.

Why volunteer

The New Hampshire WIE/GOLD

volunteers gave the following

reasons for being involved in the

AG:

To gain professional awareness through networking.

By serving in an affinity group I can make a difference in some capacity for the members of IEEE and its branches.

Among some of the personal

reasons provided by the volun-

teers for becoming involved in

the NH GOLD/WIE Affinity Group

include:

“I volunteer with WIE/GOLD be-cause I believe IEEE is a great or-ganization, but needs more diver-sity, both in age and gender. I enjoy the events and meeting other peo-ple who are passionate about engi-neering.”

“I like meeting new and interesting people, and getting a chance to be exposed to things I didn't know about.”

“I am a member of IEEE WIE/GOLD because I enjoy networking with other young professionals and par-ticipating in events.”

Pictured: IEEE WIE/GOLD Joint Affinity Group Committee.

JUNE 2010

13 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush IEEE GOLD AFFINITY GROUP PROFILE

“I enjoy giving back to my profes-sion and interacting with other peo-ple in my field.”

Events

The New Hampshire joint WIE/

GOLD Affinity Group runs a vari-

ety of events to serve and sup-

port its members including:

Committee Meetings – At these

monthly dinner meetings the

committee discusses plans for

future events and shares other

i n f o rm at i on about I EEE/

professional events.

University of New Hampshire Stu-

dent Luncheon – This STEP event

brings together graduating engi-

neering students with working

engineers. The events supports

both the WIE and GOLD missions

by engaging students about to

enter the engineering field, de-

veloping relationships with pro-

fessional engineers, and promot-

ing GOLD and WIE to possible

new members

Tea with WIE/GOLD – At this PACE

event, a respected and accom-

plished engineer is invited to

have an open casual discussion

with the WIE and GOLD mem-

bers over tea. This event supports

the group’s missions by inspiring

members and fostering relation-

ships between members.

Networking Events – These events

allow members to come to-

gether in a fun social environ-

ment, which gives great oppor-

tunities for building members net-

works. Past events have included

whitewater rafting, skiing, and

batting cages.

Professional Development – This

event provides tangible value to

members by through seminars,

workshops, and/or conferences.

In 2010, we are planning a semi-

nar on public speaking and pres-

entation skills in collaboration

with the Toastmasters Club.

Joint Regional Events – This event

gives an opportunity for NH

members to collaborate with

other sections in the region on an

event. By collaborating with

other sections NH members in-

crease their social and profes-

sional networks. This year, a joint

whitewater rafting trip is

planned.

Conferences and Other Events –

The group also sends members

to conferences and events for

volunteer development and to

represent the AG on a Regional

or higher level. These events in-

clude: IEEE-USA Annual Meeting,

Congressional Visit Day, MGA

GOLD Annual Meeting, Sections

Congress, and Regional Board of

Directors Meetings.

Visit our website: http://ieee.org/

go/nhwiegold

Join our Facebook Group: http://

www.facebook.com/ref=logo#!/

group.php?gid=148694602738

Pictured: IEEE GOLD and WIE members enjoying white water rafting.

Would you like your GOLD Affin-

ity Group to be profiled?

Contact us at

GOLDRush@ieee.org

JUNE 2010

14 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

PEER-REVIEWED CONTRIBUTIONS

Breaking into IT

Security

By Dustin L. Fritz

(CEO, The Computer Network

Defense Group LLC )

ton study which examined the state of the

federal cybersecurity workforce. The Center

for Strategic and International Studies leads a

consortium sponsoring the U.S. Cyber Chal-

lenge. The goal of this challenge "...is to find

10,000 young Americans with the interests

and skills to fill the ranks of cyber security

practitioners, researchers, and warriors."5

DoD, NSA, and DHS are trying to hire thou-

sands of professionals to support their grow-

ing cybersecurity efforts.6 Many private and

public organizations are recognizing the need

for IT security specialists. All around the

hiring spectrum you can find postings for IT

security related jobs. The demand is high.

Are you ready?

Here are some examples. Odinjobs.com

collects information on over a million jobs

from 50,000 companies. Using their Job

Market Overview tool and looking just at IT

security jobs you will find the median salary is

about $64,000 annually. Their IT Security

Salary & Job Demand map shows that Cali-

fornia, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Maryland,

Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida with the

highest demand for IT security positions. As

far as the highest salaries within the US are

concerned, Washington, Oregon, California,

Arizona, North and South Dakota, Louisiana,

New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts

top the list. Therefore, the jobs are out there

but are you ready?

So how can you break out among your

peers and get an IT security job? Here is an

easy 5 step methodology to help you start

W ho is the greatest cyber threat?

Did you say China or Russia?

China's estimated military

spending was $55.9 billion and Russia's esti-

mated military spending was $44.3 billion in

2007.1 Where does the money go? In March

of 2009 MSNBC reported that "a cyber spy

network hacked into classified documents

from government and private organizations in

103 countries."2 CBS News reported weeks

later that "the Pentagon announced they had

spent more than $100 million in the last six

months responding to and repairing damage

from cyber attacks and other computer net-

work problems."3

So who is protecting cyberspace? CIO

Digest Online Extra “Cyber 9/11” by Alan

Drummer reports that "85% of the Internet's

infrastructure is privately owned." With the

majority of the Internet's infrastructure being

privately owned can we trust the status quo?

Or just expect more exploitation and possible

disruption to key resources? The US Depart-

ment of Homeland Security (DHS) defines

key resources as being water, agriculture and

food, energy, transportation, banking and

finance. All key resources link directly to a

physical infrastructure (power plants, server

rooms, etc), which is connected to a cyber

infrastructure (Email, DNS, Web 2.0, etc).

Those computer networks of networks, called

the Internet.

The "...federal cybersecurity workforce is

significantly challenged by serious shortages

of highly skilled cybersecurity specialists..."4

This was a point made in a Booz Allen Hamil-

your career in IT security. All you have to do

is B-E-G-I-N. 1) Blog yourself into a job.

The greatest resume is someone googling

your name and 76,500 results appear. Yes the

paperless resume has arrived! Well not en-

tirely. I do recommend a strong written re-

sume to go along with your googlized resume.

2) Experience is priceless. If you’re in be-

tween jobs, spend your time with a non-profit

or open-source community to stay engaged

and show your initiative. 3) Googlize your

career. Take advantage of Google, and other

search engines [optimization features] to turn

your resume, professional affiliations, confer-

ence attendances, career interests, Facebook,

Linkedin, Myspace and Twitter accounts into

a sphere of supporting influence of credibility.

Own a presence on the Internet. Remember,

"content is king." Get your face out there.

Watch your web presence, saturate the in-

dexes of Google. 4) Interview for anything.

Interview with any organization that relates to

your field of choice and do it as often as you

can! 5) Network with everyone. Be proactive

and correspond with people in your field of

interest. Find your niche. Intrusion detec-

tion, firewalls, security programming, network

security engineering, information assurance,

incident response, information security man-

ager, etc. Invest in learning new tools, proce-

dures, and policies that surround your career

field of choice. Taking the first step does take

a bit more than technical expertise and leader-

ship, it takes passion.

1“World War III: A Cyber War has begun”, October 2007 by The Technolytics Institute

2http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29935591/

3 h t t p : / / w w w . c b s n e w s . c o m / s t o r i e s / 2 0 0 9 / 0 4 / 0 7 / t e c h / m a i n 4 9 2 6 0 7 1 . s h t m l ?

source=RSSattr=SciTech_4926071

4http://www.boozallen.com/consulting-services/services_article/42415933

5http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/cyber/The%20United%20States%20Cyber%

20Challenge%201.1%20(updated%205-8-09).pdf

6http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/06/12/DHS-infrastructure-unit-hiring-621-more-workers.aspx;

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090727_2075.php

JUNE 2010

15 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

PEER-REVIEWED CONTRIBUTIONS

Do we still need

data

compression?

By Fei Nan

(IEEE Senior Member )

lowing occurrences are labelled with reference

links, which are readily accessible for a pro-

gram to look up. The reference links are

merely two integer numbers which are trivial

in size, thus giving positive compression gain.

The data compression helps pattern

recognition by building a dictionary for fast

retrieval. The dictionary is a pre-arranged

management system and data exchange for

those repetitious segments from the input. If

one segment or one portion of the segment

contains some patterns of interest, it is effort-

less to follow reference links in the dictionary

in order to retrieve all occurrences of the

pattern from the input. This is a lot more

efficient than directly searching the original

input to track down the patterns of interest.

Because the chance of finding a match is

much higher in the dictionary, the pattern

matching algorithm can start off searching for

patterns in the dictionary first, before extend-

ing to the remaining parts. This will signifi-

cantly optimize the search operation and

reduce the search latency.

During the process of compressing data,

some long-range tandem structures will be

I recently came across a colleague and

was asked whether we still need data

compression as data storage is becoming

more and more affordable. The floppy drive,

first invented in 1976, became a popular and

ubiquitous form of data storage and exchange

in the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. There

were hundreds of, if not thousands of, data

compression programs available back then to

reduce file size and improve disk usage on the

1.44 MB floppy disk. Nowadays, people can

easily purchase a terabyte scale hard drive

from any electronics store down the street. Is

it still necessary to use data compression pro-

grams to zip data and to save the extra few

bytes? To answer the question, we have to

know what data compression is about, and

what it can bring to us. Then we will under-

stand why we still need compression. We

need compression a lot more than ever.

We need data compression because it can

help reveal hidden structures and recognize

patterns which had never been disclosed be-

fore. The fundamental theory behind data

compression is to search repetition and use

reference links to point at those repeats. The

reference links are abstract conceptions. In

implementation, it would be a dictionary like

data structure such as array lists, etc, which

save the starting and ending positions for

each occurrence of the repeat. Each entry in

the dictionary is considered as a standalone

segment. By following the reference link dic-

tionary, the compression program only re-

cords the verbatim repeat once. All the fol-

revealed. Repetitious structures will have

more meaning to input data. By tracing down

the repetition, it will undoubtedly help expose

key components. This feature is widely ap-

plied on computational biology, biomedical

imaging and bioinformatics. When properly

used on protein or DNA sequences, most

researchers are able to uncover some biologi-

cally meaningful segments, or exons.

Dr. Fei Nan is an IEEE Senior member and cur-

rently a senior research engineer at the Samsung Mo-

bile R&D lab in San Jose, CA.

JUNE 2010

16 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

THz Waves:

Possible Sources

for Endoscopic

Ultrasound

Medical Imaging

By Andrew Nguyen

(IEEE Member)

T erahertz (THz), the upper end of the

electromagnetic spectrum between

300 GHz and 3 THz, is a relatively

untapped resource for biomedical

applications. As compared to other radio

waves at lower frequencies, THz waves have

several unique advantages, including

applications in extremely small medical

devices, extraordinarily fine spatial resolution,

and radiation in very small beams. The

extremely narrow radiation beam allows

energy to be focused on tiny spots and

minimizes the spreading of unwanted

radiation into nearby tissues. Just like other

radio waves, THz radiation is non-ionizing,

avoiding hazards such as cancer production,

chromosome breakage, and tissue damage.

The ultrasound technique has been used for

various medical imaging applications for at

least 50 years and is considered as one of the

most widely used diagnostic techniques in

modern medicine.

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or echo-

endoscopy is a particular ultrasound

technique for medical imaging. It is an

endoscopic procedure implementing

“endoscopy” and “ultrasound technology” to

obtain images of the internal organs such as

abnormalities in the digestive tract.

Endoscopy is a procedure using an endoscope

instrument to examine the interior of a hollow

organ or cavity of the body. Unlike most

other medical imaging devices, endoscopes

are inserted directly into the organ for

imaging purposes. For instance, an endoscope

can be passed through the mouth and

advanced through the oesophagus to the

suspicious area to make images for detecting

abnormalities. The EUS scope is similar to

the traditional endoscope, but is fitted with an

ultrasound transducer similar to that used in

the conventional ultrasound technique.

Through the scope, the transducer can be

placed close to the body’s organs and uses

sound waves just like in the traditional

ultrasound technique. Essentially, EUS is an

ultrasound technique specifically applied to

the internal organs. It has been used to

examine, through detailed images, the

oesophageal and stomach linings as well as

the walls of the upper gastrointestinal tract,

consisting of the oesophagus, stomach and

duodenum, and the lower gastrointestinal

tract including the colon and rectum. EUS

can also be used to obtain images of

abnormalities in other organs near the

gastrointestinal tract, including the lungs,

liver, gall bladder and pancreas.

It was found that the acoustic wave,

which is the basic wave used in constructing

images in the ultrasound technique, in the

heads of animals and humans, can be

generated from an illuminating pulsed radio

wave. Using radio waves to generate acoustic

waves for imaging of biological tissues was

reported. Recent work has shown that fine

imaging of biological tissues using the radio

wave-induced ultrasound technique,

demonstrating its usefulness for medical

imaging applications. The radio wave-induced

ultrasound technique possesses unique

features of non-contact, deep penetration,

fine imaging contrast, and good spatial

resolution. It also has similar imaging speed as

that of the conventional ultrasound technique

since the ultrasound is excited almost

instantaneously as the radio wave is incident

upon the biological tissue. The reported radio

wave-induced ultrasound technique, however,

can only focus energy in relatively large beams

due to the relatively low frequencies used.

This would prevent it from being effective for

certain medical applications under particular

conditions – for instance, examining

biological tissues on a microscopic scale. The

THz wave would overcome this shortcoming.

THz waves can be focused in extremely

narrow radiation beams. It is this unique tiny

beam radiation that makes THz an attractive

candidate for use as a radio-wave source in

the EUS technique to generate the acoustic

waves needed for ultrasound imaging in

microscopic areas such as the internal organs.

Radio-wave medical imaging possesses

high imaging contrast yet poor resolution. On

the other hand, ultrasound imaging has fine

resolution but with poor imaging contrast.

Using radio waves in the ultrasound technique

can potentially resolve the problems of poor

imaging contrast and resolution. Particular

implementation of THz waves in the

endoscopic ultrasound technique allows

possible examination and imaging of

microscopic areas and tissues, such as micro

tumors in the internal organs with enhanced

imaging contrast and resolution. This

implementation is promising substantial

advantages in our quest of seeing “farther,

wider and clearer” into the internal organs of

patients.

Andrew Nguyen is a recent graduate of the University

of California, Irvine.

JUNE 2010

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GOLDRush

NOTICES

GOLD volunteer to

join IEEE staff

T here will be a younger voice on

IEEE’s Corporate Strategy team!

Helene Fung, currently the Region

10 GOLD Coordinator, will commence as

IEEE's new Senior Strategic Planning

Manager in late June, reporting to Matt Loeb

(Staff Executive, Corporate Strategy and

Communications). She will initially work

from home in Perth, Australia, but will be

relocating to the Singapore office before

December.

Helene’s educational background in

engineering, her professional work in

management consulting and strategy, and her

10 years of volunteer experience and

knowledge of the IEEE has successfully

differentiated her from the rest of the

candidates who applied for the job.

Combined with that, her origin from Region

10 makes her a welcomed addition to the

staff, at a time when IEEE is focused on

capitalizing on opportunities in Asia.

Helene’s involvement with the IEEE

started in her university days, when she re-

started the University of Western Australia

student branch in 2000. She became the R10

Student Representative in 2001 and 2002, and

has served on a number of committees such

as the IEEE and RAB Nominations and

Appointments (N&A) Committees, EAB

Continuing Professional Education

Committee and Volunteer Leadership

Development Ad-hoc Committee. She has

been on the MGA GOLD committee since

2008 as R10 GOLD Coordinator.

However, to avoid any real or perceived

conflict of interest, taking up the new role as

an IEEE staff means Helene cannot continue

to hold office as a volunteer. She will work

with the Region 10 Director and Director-

Elect on transition plans once a successor has

been appointed.

Helene would like to thank everyone very

much for their support in previous years, and

she looks forward to continue working with

you for years to come, just in a different

capacity!

Pictured: Helene with “Father of the Internet” and

Google VP, Vinton Cerf, at a recent IEEE work-

shop on the future of information held in Washington,

DC (which she attended as “new strategy staff”).

feature that allows the member to organize

their favorite myIEEE content exactly how

they want it:

Customizable selection of all

myIEEE modules and gadgets

Multiple layout options with drag-

and-drop gadget placement

Choice of several technology-based

themes to further personalize the

page

RSS tools to import feeds from IEEE or

content sources outside of IEEE. Members

can log in to myIEEE, www.ieee.org/myieee,

select the “Customize” tab and begin person-

alizing the myDesktop page.

The Volunteer Desktop will have similar

customization capabilities in the next

myIE E E re l e a s e in Q 4 20 10 .

MyDesktop Begins

myIEEE‟s Charge into

Customization

G reat News. The capabilities of

myIEEE has expanded at an ex-

ponential scale through the intro-

duction of "myDesktop," a customizable

Check Out

MemberNet

Messaging

M emberNet introduced a new

enhancement with the addition

of memberNet Messaging. This

improved e-mail messaging capability facili-

tates member-to-member communications,

while insuring member privacy. Send a mes-

sage to another IEEE member by selecting

the “Send a Message” button on the mem-

ber’s profile. Only members who have opted-

in their email address will be able to receive

messages.

JUNE 2010

18 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

GOLD Representatives on IEEE

Societies

Society Overseer

Matthias Reumann

Aerospace & Electronic

Systems Society

Mike Roberts

Antennas & Propagation

Society

Ryan S. Adams

Broadcast Technology Society

Heidi Himmanen

Circuits & Systems Society

Sunil Pai,

Delia Rodriguez de Llera,

Martin Di Federico,

Pui-In (Elvis) Mak

Communications Society

Angela Yingjun Zhang

Computational Intelligence

Society

Justin Zhan

Computer Society

Carlos Rueda-Artunduaga

Consumer Electronics Society

Tom Wilson

Council on Electronics Design

Automation

David Atienza

Education Society

Aju Thomas

Electron Devices Society

Ravi Todi

Engineering in Medicine &

Biology Society

Matthias Reumann

Geoscience & Remote

Sensing Society

Shannon Brown

Magnetics Society

John Nibarger

Microwave Theory &

Techniques Society

Sergio Palma Pacheco,

Jenshen Lin

Photonics Society

Lianshan Yan

GOLD Representatives on IEEE

Societies (continued)

Power & Energy Society

Glen Tang

Robotics Society

Agostino Desantis

Society on Social Implications

of Technology

Emily Anesta

Solid-State Circuits Society

Sean Nicolson

Systems, Man & Cybernetics

Society

Ferit Sahin and Wing Ng

Technology Management

Council

Marisa Bazanez-Borgert

Vehicular Technology Society

William Sommerville

IEEE GOLDRush Volunteers

Editor

Timothy Wong

Immediate Past Editor-In-Chief

George Gordon

Editorial Assistants

Stuart Bottom

Claudio Camasca

Lara Fast (MGA Staff)

Kheng Swee Goh

Lori Hogan

Kristi Hummel

Lisa Lazareck

Sabarni Palit

Michael Pearse

Brian Roberts

Rajnish Sharma

Agusti Solanas

Mohnish Tuladhar

Aisha Yousuf

Graphic Designer

Alex Wong

Assistant Graphic Designer

Kenny Wong

Chair

William Sommerville

Past Chair

Adrian Pais

TAB Representatives to GOLD

Elya Joffe

Roelof Swanepoel

Gim Soon Wan

MGA Representatives to GOLD

Gustavo Giannattasio

Guruprasad Madhavan

Megha Joshi

Regional Coordinators

Region Overseer

Jeffry Handal

Region 1

Uri Moszkowicz

Region 2

Michael Pearse

Region 3

Wah Garris

Region 4

Aisha Yousuf

Region 5

Kheng Swee Goh

Region 6

Gigi Lau

Region 7

April Khademi

Region 8

Joao Figueiras

Region 9

Salomon Herrera

Region 10

Helene Fung

GOLD COMMITTEE 2010

JUNE 2010

19 ieee.org/gold twitter.com/IEEEGOLDRush

GOLDRush

NOTICES

Call for Articles: GOLDRush September

Edition

I EEE GOLDRush invites you to submit an article for publication in the

September 2010 edition. The article topic(s) shall be of interest to young

professionals, the primary readers of the publication. Articles must be

strictly no more than 700 words and should be sent to the IEEE

GOLDRush editor at GOLDRush@ieee.org on or before 6

August 2010. Please feel free to include captioned photos or pic-

tures with your submission. All articles and photo(s) will be peer

reviewed and edited if necessary. Full submission guidelines must be

adhered to and can be found at http://www.ieee.org/web/

membership/gold/newsletter/goldrushPolicy.html

Make the most of this great opportunity to express your ideas!

Cop

yrig

ht M

icro

soft

Upcoming GOLD Webinars

Perspectives on Smart Grid from Gen-

eration to the Meter and Into the Home

This webinar, presented by Dr. Alan Man-

tooth, will describe many of the Smart Grid

concepts that people have espoused start-

ing with generation and transmission, pro-

gressing into distribution, and onto the

meter. The description will delve both into

the home and workplace describing cool

features consumers may see in the coming

months and years.

Webinar Date: Thursday, 24 June 2010

Time: 2:00-3:00 pm EDT

Register: https://icm3.ieee.org/

eventmanager/onlineregistration.asp?

eventcode=jqs

Copyright Microsoft

People Skills in a Competitive Envi-

ronment

This professional development webinar,

presented by Joe Lillie will help individu-

als working in technical fields by provid-

ing useful knowledge on people skills

and other topics not included in the

engineering educational environment.

Participants should expect to learn more

about the competitive environment and

how to maximize professional opportu-

nities through development & use of

people skills.

Webinar Date: Thursday, 22 July 2010

Time: 2:00-3:00 pm EDT

Register: https://icm3.ieee.org/

eventmanager/onlineregistration.asp?

eventcode=khz