When IEEE Student Member Stanley Wang was elected vice president of the IEEE Student Branch at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last year, he had one goal: to create a stronger connection with the IEEE communities in the MIT area. Likewise, the IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade group in Boston has wanted to get more involved with student branches, notes May Wan, its 2006 chair. So it was no surprise that a joint seminar organized by the two groups in November on “Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur” drew more than 40 students and GOLD members to MIT’s Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences.

The free seminar offered valuable advice on the skills it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. It also created networking opportunities: the students got to mingle with young professionals, while the GOLD group could talk up the value of students’ staying with the IEEE after graduation. IEEE GOLD is made up of members who received their first professional degree within the previous 10 years.

“The seminar was definitely a good learning opportunity for students, and they got to meet professionals working in different engineering fields,” Wang says.

Such events are important, says Wan, because many students about to graduate don’t know what job opportunities are out there.

The seminar speaker, Kevin Krauss, director of Suffolk University’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, also in Boston, has over 30 years of experience in business and entrepreneurship. He has been CEO of several technology companies, including Teksource Inc., a computer and network service company located in Littleton, Colo. At the seminar, which, with questions and answers and a refreshment period, lasted about 2 hours, Krauss talked about the business skills a typical master of business administration course in entrepreneurship should include, such as problem-solving and the creativity needed to come up with new ideas. He also spoke of turning failure into success by learning from mistakes and discussed the personal characteristics entrepreneurs need, such as ambition and self-confidence.

PARTNERSHIP The two groups became partners last June when Wang was looking for activities that would get his fellow students excited about the IEEE. He contacted Kristen Fitzpatrick, manager of the IEEE University Partnership Program (UPP), in Piscataway, N.J. UPP works with student branches from some of the country’s best engineering schools with the aim of creating a lifelong relationship between students at these key technical universities and the IEEE. Fitzpatrick put Wang in touch with Wan, and the two started brainstorming on a topic for a seminar.

They decided on entrepreneurship—a hot topic for both students and young professionals. For the speaker, Wan suggested Krauss, whom she had heard at one of his own seminars.

The groups divided up the duties. The student branch provided the sound equipment and found a venue for the event at MIT—and Boston GOLD booked Krauss, who did the presentation for free, and provided refreshments. “We both used our strengths,” Wang says.

The student branch and Boston GOLD found it easy to work together, Wan says, and plan to continue their collaboration by setting up more seminars.

For more information on IEEE Boston GOLD, visit http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r1/boston/gold/webpage/. To learn more about the MIT IEEE Student Branch, go to http://web.mit.edu/ieee/www/.