Leah H. Jamieson, Gerald H. Peterson, and James M. Tien, all running for 2006 IEEE President-Elect, delivered their views on outsourcing, continuing education, free access to IEEE publications, and more at a June forum hosted by the Philadelphia Section. Tien recently joined the two Board of Directors–nominated candidates after successfully petitioning to get on the ballot. Each of the candidates hopes to succeed Michael R. Lightner, who will be president in 2006.

James M. TIEN

I think we—industry, academia, and the IEEE—all have to help the engineering profession keep up with changing technology.

Gerald H. PETERSON

We need to enrich and preserve what we have of value while moving the IEEE into an ever-changing future.

Leah H. JAMIESON

As the half-life of technology knowledge continues to shrink, the IEEE needs to become a leader in continuing education.

The 17th Annual Candidates night was held at the Sheraton University City Hotel in Philadelphia. The candidates answered written questions from the audience as well as others submitted by readers of The Institute. Merrill W. Buckley, 1992 IEEE President, moderated the event. Each candidate had five minutes for opening and closing statements and three minutes to answer each question or group of questions.

QUESTION: What is the biggest problem the IEEE faces, and how would you solve it?

TIEN, whose petition was signed by more than 3000 members, said the IEEE’s greatest problem is that members don’t appreciate how well known and respected the organization is.

“Members have to realize that we have a great franchise,” said Tien, who most recently was vice president of IEEE Educational Activities, in 2003 and 2004. “We should all make better use of it to acquire technical knowledge, obtain recognition, enroll in member benefits, and network for jobs.”

Tien also noted that in the last five years the computing, electronics, and telecommunications industries have experienced an extended downturn, resulting in layoffs and the technical obsolescence of many IEEE members’ knowledge. “As a learned society, the IEEE must lead the way to overcome these and related challenges,” he said.

PETERSON said the IEEE’s biggest problem—the one that volunteers spend the most time and energy on—is providing “value to members.” Many recent college graduates working in industry do not continue their memberships because the IEEE fails to provide enough value for them, said Peterson, the 2003 president of the IEEE Standards Association. “Members’ needs and the technological world engineers work in have changed, and the IEEE needs to adapt,” he continued. “We need to find the next Internet—the next technology that is going to unite IEEE members, expand the IEEE’s fields of interest, and attract future members.”

JAMIESON, the vice president of IEEE Publication Services and Products, agreed with Peterson that providing value to members is a key issue, but she said that the institute is slow and ponderous, rather than agile and nimble. “The engineering field changes quickly,” she said. “The IEEE has adapted to change slowly, so it has not been quick enough to develop services, products, and activities that are attractive for fields and markets that are changing.”

She wants the culture within the IEEE to value entrepreneurship and experimentation. “Over the next five years, the factor having the greatest impact on the IEEE will be our ability to navigate change and turn challenges into opportunities in a rapidly changing world,” she said.

QUESTION: How can the IEEE slow the flow of U.S. tech jobs to countries such as India and China?

PETERSON pointed out that the IEEE president represents an international organization, barring him or her from addressing region-specific problems such as outsourcing. Instead, Peterson encourages all IEEE regions to develop ways to meet their members’ needs.

“Outsourcing is not a dirty word,” he said. “It is the way a free economy works. The company with the lowest price will often get the job, regardless of where the organization is physically located.” He depicts outsourcing as a symptom of a larger problem: the United States is not producing enough engineers.

“More than job outsourcing, I worry about the loss of the intellectual capital that has made the United States a dominant player in the world,” he said.

JAMIESON said that as industries involving electrical engineering change, it is in the IEEE’s best interest to ensure that all engineers have good jobs—regardless of where they live. “We have a responsibility to help our members advance in their careers, and to see that they have current technical knowledge as well as the attributes, such as communication skills, customer focus, and flexibility, that they may not have had when they started working but that are so valuable,” she said.

The issue of outsourcing is complicated by the relationship between the IEEE and IEEE-USA. Most countries have an independent national professional engineering organization that looks out for its members’ interests. Electrical engineering in the United States has no such organization, so IEEE-USA has stepped in to work for the interests of U.S. engineers, she explained.

“The IEEE is and should be a transnational organization. I think one of the IEEE’s challenges is to balance the viewpoints and needs of members in specific countries and regions with the needs of a global organization and profession,” Jamieson said.

TIEN urged the IEEE leadership to think and act globally on behalf of the profession but also to think and act locally for its members. As a global organization, the IEEE should not adopt a position on outsourcing, he said, but instead, for example, let IEEE-USA lobby the U.S. Congress on employment issues. Also, the engineering profession needs to create new and better jobs in emerging technologies, he said, predicting that otherwise, engineers will become replaceable commodities.

Tien also wants the engineering profession to recognize that to be well trained, an engineer requires more than a bachelor’s degree. “In professions like law or medicine, the bachelor’s degree is only the beginning of one’s professional education,” he said. “Engineers need to enter the workforce with at least a master’s degree. If they don’t, they are in danger of becoming commodities.”

QUESTION: Given that technical information is so essential to the engineering profession, why aren’t IEEE publications free to members after a reasonable time?

JAMIESON pointed out that in a sense IEEE articles are free. An author may post his or her paper on a personal or corporate Web site, where it would be available for free to anyone. But the agglomeration and organization of all IEEE articles through the IEEE Xplore document delivery system adds value and is not free.

“The open-access movement is young, and the economic implications of offering the IEEE’s largest product—the more than 1 million papers in IEEE Xplore—under a fundamentally different business model are not yet known,” she said. The open-access movement is a relatively recent campaign to make articles available to all readers for free.

More testing is needed to understand what type of open-access system might work, and what the long-term implications for the IEEE would be, Jamieson said. A few IEEE societies, including the Computer and Information Theory societies, are experimenting with open-access business models for some of their publications. Experiments such as these will help the organization understand how it could change business models in the future.

TIEN pointed out that sales of IEEE publications account for approximately half of the IEEE’s revenue and therefore are not something the organization can unilaterally and easily abandon. [For example, total IEEE revenues reached US $247.5 million for the year ending 31 December 2003.] But the IEEE can lessen its dependence on publication revenues by cutting the cost of producing its journals and considering new sources of income, he said. For example, the IEEE is considering selling tutorials and short courses through a program called Expert Now, an electronic collection of material presented at IEEE technical conferences. Previously known as XELL, Expert Now will be marketed and accessed through Thompson Publishing Group, a global training and educational organization. IEEE societies identify the best courses presented at IEEE conferences—which are then packaged and made available in the Web-based Expert Now learning library.

Tien is against another suggestion that has been made: that authors pay the costs of having their work published so it can be given away for free. “That means that if an author is poor he or she wouldn’t be able to afford to publish work through the IEEE,” he noted.

PETERSON suggested the IEEE look to the IEEE Standards Association’s corporate membership program that allowed free downloads of its popular wireless networking suite of standards, IEEE 802.11 [popularly known as Wi-Fi], six months after its initial publication. He noted that industry members of the IEEE 802.11 working groups had decided that wide dissemination of the new technologies in their new suite of standards took precedence over generating revenue. Industry donations and fees are taking care of lost revenue. Peterson said revenues from all forms of IEEE publications do more than cover costs; they provide a surplus that is used to pay for new programs and invest in reserves.

QUESTION: What will you do to make IEEE publications more relevant to working engineers?

PETERSON conceded that working engineers—those not in research and who do not use higher mathematics and physics daily—cannot understand or make use of some details in articles from an IEEE journal or transaction. He proposed having companies encourage their engineers to submit practical application-oriented articles. That, in turn, could improve the value of IEEE publications to industry, he said.

“As a member from industry, I can say that companies would be motivated to encourage their employees to publish articles if this will show customers that employees are knowledgeable in practical fields,” Peterson said.

TIEN pointed out that every IEEE technical society has tried to publish more application-oriented articles, but none has been successful. Perhaps that is because companies are reluctant to have their employees publish articles on potentially proprietary technologies, he said. With respect to Peterson’s point that working engineers cannot understand some details in IEEE papers, he suggested the Expert Now collection could be a user-friendly forum for publishing technical information. Industry engineers attend tutorials and short courses at IEEE-sponsored technical conferences because they explain esoteric technical information better, Tien said.

JAMIESON said that she endorses a proposal by John Vig, vice president of Technical Activities, to encourage authors to submit a statement with each paper explaining why the paper is relevant to engineers.

The problem is not solely in choosing among submitted papers, she said, but also in recruiting practicing engineers to write articles. Jamieson suggested working with companies to identify authors who can write well about a particular application or technology.

QUESTION: How can the IEEE increase the number of volunteers in IEEE regions outside the United States?

PETERSON said the IEEE has contributed to the perception that it is too focused on the United States. Many volunteers reach leadership positions by getting involved locally, but to become involved in activities outside their home section they must travel to volunteer meetings, which are disproportionately held in the United States. He suggests using communication technologies, such as the Internet, to hold virtual meetings so all volunteers can participate and avoid costly international travel. He suggests the IEEE become multilingual by translating portions of its Web site and meeting minutes into languages other than English.

JAMIESON cited the transnational “scorecard” that the IEEE Board of Directors is keeping to measure how well members from around the world are represented in leadership positions within the organization. The scorecard also shows that the IEEE holds many technical conferences outside the United States but needs more people from different parts of the world in associate editorships of publications and in standards working groups. The IEEE also needs more diverse representation on its major boards, such as the Technical Activities and Educational Activities boards.

Most IEEE volunteers become involved because a colleague, mentor, or friend asks them to participate, Jamieson said, adding, “The challenge I pose to all active IEEE volunteers is to invite someone to volunteer, and in doing so, to pay particular attention to diversity of region, gender, age, and ethnicity.”

For TIEN, a key to regional diversity in the IEEE is language. Because of his extended stays in Brazil, China, and the United States, he jokingly suggested that Portuguese, Chinese, and English be the IEEE’s official languages. Tien said he would like to see more section Web sites in local languages. Members reading IEEE information in their native language are more likely to become active in the institute, he said. Moreover, section volunteers should also help the IEEE develop benefits it can offer members outside the United States, to show that the IEEE is not U.S.-centric.

“Section volunteers should figure out what their members are seeking—what their needs are, including benefits—and help them get it,” he said. “In this way we’ll be able to engage more volunteers and at the same time attract members by providing benefits that meet their needs.”

QUESTION: What role should the IEEE play in continuing education?

JAMIESON proposed that, rather than relying on industry or universities, the IEEE should take the lead in developing continuing education programs.

“As the half-life of technology knowledge continues to shrink—it is now estimated to be less than five years—the IEEE needs to become an international leader in continuing education and lifelong learning,” she said. “The IEEE has started on this effort, but we need to do much more.” She added that the IEEE can draw on its broad base of experts from industry and universities worldwide to provide continuing education in professional and technical skills.

Historically, industry provided continuing education programs for its engineers, she said. That was done, she said, because ensuring that employees were ready to move into a new job was in the company’s best interest, but with changing career paths and increased job mobility, industry no longer shoulders the burden. Universities play a role in continuing education, but professional societies need to step up and fill the gap, she said.

TIEN again pointed to the Expert Now program as an example of how the IEEE is assuming a more prominent role in continuing education. He also pointed out that the IEEE Education Partners program gives members discounts on selected courses offered by companies, universities, and other professional societies.

“I think we—industry, academia, government, and professional societies like the IEEE—all have to help the engineering profession keep up with changing technology, especially critical technical knowledge and skills, which need to be reviewed and updated often,” Tien said.

PETERSON said he sees continuing education as a collaboration between industry and academia. He praised initiatives such as Expert Now and the Education Partners program. The IEEE can fill the space left by dwindling corporate training, he suggested. “I think Expert Now and the Education Partners program are innovative ways of producing quality training material through collaboration among the IEEE, industry, and academia,” he said.

Peterson pointed to the IEEE Standards in Education Task Force, a joint effort of IEEE Educational Activities and the Standards Association. A pilot program will be launched later this year at the Colorado School of Mines, in Golden, and the DeVry Institute of Technology, in North Brunswick, N.J., to help educators incorporate standards into undergraduate programs in electrical and computer engineering.

QUESTION: What is the IEEE doing to promote engineering among the general public, especially youngsters, and are you satisfied with what’s being done?

TIEN noted that the Public Awareness and the Pre-College committees of the IEEE Educational Activities Board are developing programs to enhance the quantity, quality, and diversity of students in the engineering pipeline. The best way to attract more students, he said, is to target schoolchildren’s parents, who often strongly influence the career their kids choose.

A poor appreciation of engineers is common in only some countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, Tien said. In China, France, Germany, and many other countries, engineers are well regarded and sometimes paid more than doctors.

PETERSON said getting schoolchildren interested in engineering is part of a larger volunteer effort that includes educational outreach programs and linking of popular standards, such as IEEE 802.11, to the institute, to show the value of IEEE membership and engineering to the greater population. “We need to enrich and preserve what we have of value while moving the IEEE into an ever-changing future,” he said.

JAMIESON agreed that reaching out to young people is related to the greater problem of raising public awareness about the IEEE and engineering. Our technologies are pervasive, she said, but some technologies, such as nanotechnology and miniature sensors, are “scary to those who don’t understand them.” She said the IEEE has an obligation to contribute to public awareness and understanding of technology.

“A public educated about our work could generate enthusiasm for engineering among young people and make a difference in how we’re able to move forward with projects and research,” she continued.

Jamieson said she feels that producing a publication like IEEE Spectrum, whose articles can be understood not just by engineers but by the general public, is a step in the right direction.

QUESTION: The IEEE is about to hire a new executive director. What are the main challenges that person will face, and how do you plan to assist him?  [See “Raynes is New Executive Director,”]

“The new executive director has to understand the priorities of volunteers and staff, and create the best possible relationship between the two groups so ideas move forward gracefully and without tension,” JAMIESON said.

A smooth transition to a new executive director requires open and honest communication. That can ensure the IEEE’s new chief operating officer understands the perspectives, values, and insights from across the organization and is able to avoid venturing down blind alleys or into dead ends, Jamieson said.

TIEN emphasized that the new executive director should understand that the IEEE, as a professional association, is not your typical company. “We have volunteers who are very knowledgeable about what they do, and they give a lot of their time,” Tien explained. “If the IEEE had to pay for that knowledge, the organization couldn’t afford it.” He also said he believes the new executive director must be familiar with the electronics, telecommunications, and computer industries to be an effective leader of the IEEE. Tien said he would help the new director in this regard.

PETERSON said the most important job requirement for the new executive director is that the person be able to deal with abstract and strategic problems without getting bogged down in detail. Like Jamieson, Peterson emphasized open communication among volunteers, the new executive director, and staff members, though with the understanding that the volunteer Board of Directors ultimately is in charge.

The new executive director, Peterson said, will have to upgrade the IEEE’s Web site—which is the institute’s image to the rest of the world—and review the efficiency of the staff.

“I’m not saying the IEEE is overstaffed,” he said, “but I think that an organization needs to carefully analyze its staff structure to make sure it is as efficient as possible.”

MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS from the forum can be found at http://www.ieee.org/theinstitute. To learn more about the candidates for President-Elect, visit the IEEE election site, http://www.ieee.org/organizations/corporate/candidates.htm.

In addition, each candidate has a Web site.

Visit LEAH JAMIESON at http://www.ece.purdue.edu/~lhj/IEEE; GERALD PETERSON at http://ghpeterson.home.att.net; JAMES TIEN at http://www.rpi.edu/~tienj/IEEE/statement.htm.