About
About IEEE
IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through IEEE’s highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.
IEEE, pronounced “Eye-triple-E,” stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The association is chartered under this name and it is the full legal name. To learn more about the association’s name, for more information please read the History of IEEE.
When you join IEEE, you join a community of over 425,000 technology and engineering professionals united by a common desire to continuously learn, interact, collaborate, and innovate. IEEE Membership provides you with the resources and opportunities you need to keep on top of changes in technology; get involved in standards development; network with other professionals in your local area or within a specific technical interest; mentor the next generation of engineers and technologists, and so much more.
About IEEE Section ACT
IEEE ACT Section was chartered on 18th November 1988, having previously been part of the NSW section from 1985-1988.
Since that time it has grown steadily in membership to about 500 today. As one of the smaller Sections within Australia, it still has a wide cross section of membership, ranging from Students, to over 50 Senior Members and 10 Fellows.
For the History of the NSW Section which the ACT was originally part of, click here.
The ACT Section currently supports chapters for the Antennas and Propagation Society, the Communications and Signal Processing Societies (a joint chapter), the Computer Society and the Laser and Electro-Optics and Electron Devices Societies (a joint chapter). The ACT Section currently has members in 34 of the 38 IEEE technical societies and the executive committee is happy to support activities related to any of these societies.
We regularly host seminars, BBQs, the IEEEXtreme programming competition and our AGM for all members, where our Executive Committee is decided. We also offer funding support to attend selected IEEE conferences.
We are also involved in Community Outreach, such as partnering with with the ACT Children’s Week to promote STEM within the region, and participating in the Canberra Mathematical Association Conference.
IEEE Members in NSW
If you are an IEEE member living in NSW close to Canberra, you may wish to consider changing your IEEE Section to the ACT Section. To do this you need to fill in a Contiguous Section Affiliation request.
History of the ACT Section
Pre-Section Formation
The Australia Capital Territory (ACT) region was geographically covered by the original IEEE Australia Section from 1972 to 1985, and was part of the IEEE NSW Section from 1985 through to 1988. The ACT is fully geographically bound by the state of New South Wales.
Dr Harry Green of the ACT was first “elected” Region 10 Director for 1983-84. This coincided with the Region 10 boundary adjustments. While Harry was never represented on the Australia Section committee, he was the key Canberra liaison person and host for many international visitors to the ACT.
The 1983 IEEE President, Dr James Owens and the IEEE General Manager, Eric Herz, visited the Canberra headquarters of the Institution of Engineers (now known as Engineers Australia), Australia in 1983 for discussions about formalising a cooperative ‘Australia wide’ professional institutions member agreement. (to be known as the tri-partite Agreement).
Section Formation
Dr Lal C. Godara prepared the section petition and became the Australian Capital Territory Section’s first Chair. When Lal started section formation petition, Professor Harry Green had already left Canberra for Adelaide.
Lal noted, “I obtained the list of members whose address were in our region from NSW Section Chair. After two three reminders I got the required number of signatures. These documents I sent to IEEE HQ and that was it. In the petition document I also asked people who were willing to help and from there I formed our first committee, we opened a bank account, and started a news letter. In those days we used to fold the news letter and used to stuff in the envelope ourselves as we were short of funds. We used to have our monthly meetings at ADFA after work. I used the ADFA facilities for photo coping, printing, postage and so on. Any way that was the starting of its history.”
The ACT Section was established on 21 August 1987 and officially recognised as having been formed on 18 November 1988.
ACT Section 25 Years Celebrations
Quite a number of activities were held in 2013 to celebrate the section’s 25th anniversary. Most notable was probably the Lake Burley Griffin Clean-up Australia day rubbish clean-up (held on 12 October), thanks to Elias Lopez for IEEE GOLD as it was known then. This venture included canoeing around the edge of Lake Burley Griffin at Black Mountain Peninsula to collect rubbish that had lodged itself into the vegetation at the bank of the lake and also on a nearby island, as well as the Peninsula’s recreational areas.
IEEE Milestones
Deep Space Station 43, 1972-1987
First operational in 1972 and later upgraded in 1987, Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43) is a steerable parabolic antenna that supported the Apollo 17 lunar mission, Viking Mars landers, Pioneer and Mariner planetary probes, and Voyager’s encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Planning for many robotic and human missions to explore the Solar System and beyond has included DSS-43 for critical communications and tracking in NASA’s Deep Space Network.
IEEE Special Citation: Commonwealth Solar – Mount Stromlo Observatory, 1924
Since 1924, the Commonwealth Solar Observatory has preserved the history of solar observation, optical munitions manufacturing, optical stellar research, and world-class development of astrophysics instrumentation in Australia. The Observatory has also become a major partner in developing the Australian space industry, including the design and supply of components for the world’s largest optical telescopes, while simultaneously furthering public education.
TenSymp 2023
The section hosted the 2023 IEEE Region 10 Symposium (TENSYMP) from 6-8 September 2023 at The University of New South Wales, Canberra. The event from sponsored by IEEE ACT Section, IEEE Region 10, The University of New South Wales and Canberra Convention Bureau. The IEEE ACT Section became the smallest section to host this conference in its history. Photos from this conference can be viewed on the IEEE TENSYMP 2023 Facebook page.
The website for the conference, tensymp.org was deactivated in February 2024. Any enquires should be sent to [email protected].