A Stronger IEEE

Stronger in Emerging Technologies

IEEE is dedicated to enabling people to discover, develop, and deliver innovations that will change the world. Our effectiveness depends on our ability to understand the life cycle of different technologies and to provide the right resources at the right time. These emerging technologies include:

Transportation Electrification Initiative Drives Electric Vehicles

The first IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference was held in March 2012, bringing together technologists and policy makers for three days of discussions about the future of electric transportation. 2012 also saw the launch of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Portal, a new source of news and intelligence from IEEE and other expert sources. IEEE members are heavily engaged in the development of electric vehicle technology. For example, the computers that control the Chevrolet Volt contain more than 10 million lines of code that were developed using processes, standards, and technologies promulgated by IEEE.

IEEE in the Cloud

In 2012, IEEE organized the first of a series of international conferences on Cloud Computing held in India, China, and Brazil. A new library of eLearning courses on topics pertaining to cloud security, reliability, architecture, and economics are now available to both members and non-members. The IEEE Cloud Computing Web Portal was launched as a definitive site for new information in the field.

IEEE Smart Grid Initiative Powers Toward Reality

IEEE conferences on smart grid technology have become important gathering places for experts in the field. The third annual IEEE Smart Grid World Forum, held in Geneva, Switzerland, and the second annual Smart Grid for Practitioners Conference, held in New York, N.Y., were prominent among seven major IEEE conferences in the field. At the same time, IEEE volunteers are becoming widely recognized for their expertise and leadership in smart grid technology—Twelve of GreenTechGrid’s Networked Grid 100, the field’s movers and shakers, are active in the IEEE Smart Grid Initiative and three IEEE Smart Grid experts were named among FierceEnergy’s “15 Most Influential People in Energy.”

IEEE Addresses Life Sciences Challenges

Expanding its support of the life sciences community, IEEE organized the inaugural IEEE Life Sciences Grand Challenges Conference, which brought together international innovators and thought-leaders at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The event explored the most pressing challenges in engineering, life sciences, and healthcare over the next decade. Speakers and panelists covered a wide array of topics, including disorders of the brain and nervous system, disorders of the heart and cardiovascular system, and engineering challenges in fighting cancer.

Stronger in Publications

IEEE publications form the core of the information we provide to technologists around the world. Our archival, rigorously peer-reviewed journals are valued for their quality and reliability. Our topical magazines provide broader views of technologies. IEEE Spectrum, our award-winning flagship magazine, provides a consistently insightful view of technology at large.

IEEE Journals: Continuing Leadership in Our Field

In the most recent analysis of journal impact factors by Thomson Reuters, seven IEEE journals were ranked first in their categories: computer science, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, automation and control systems, transportation science and technology, and engineering manufacturing. IEEE publishes 17 of the top 20 journals in electrical and electronic engineering, eight of the top 10 journals in telecommunications, and four of the top five journals in computer science, hardware, and architecture.

Open Access: Our Commitment to Authors

Today, many scholars want to make their research freely available to all reader communities and several government and funding agencies around the world now require that publications resulting from their funded research be freely available. IEEE is committed to meeting the needs of authors who want, or are required, to publish in open access formats, and took important steps forward in 2012.

To help authors gain maximum exposure for their groundbreaking research and application-oriented articles, IEEE will now be offering three options for open access publishing—Hybrid Journals, a Multidisciplinary Open Access Mega Journal, and fully Open Access Journals—all designed to meet the varying needs of our authors throughout their careers.

• Some IEEE journals and transactions operate with a hybrid model, in which authors have the option of making their work available through subscription or as Article Processing Charges (APC) supported open access publications.
• Three new topical open access journals were launched and are accepting submissions: the IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society, the IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing and the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine. Additionally, the IEEE Photonics Journal converted from a hybrid to a fully open access topical journal, and is also accepting submissions.
• IEEE Access, a new, multidisciplinary, open access mega-journal was developed for launch as an electronic journal in 2013. APC will cover the cost of publication.

IEEE Xplore Debuts HTML Formatting and Other Upgrades

On average, 25,000 new documents are being added to the IEEE Xplore digital library each month. Seven new software releases during the year provided new features, including HTML-based interactive articles. HTML display format adds powerful navigation features and links to relevant multimedia content and makes it easier for researchers and customers to engage with IEEE’s high-quality publications. By year-end more than 100,000 articles had been converted to HTML.

eBooks from MIT Press Now Available

To further enhance its value to the global research community, IEEE teamed with MIT Press in 2012 to offer a special selection of 400 computing and engineering eBooks. Titles are available through the MIT Press eBooks Library-Computing and Engineering Collection.

Proceedings of the IEEE Celebrates Centenary

2012 marked the 100th anniversary of Proceedings of the IEEE, which has documented the past century’s remarkable technology progress with seminal papers from luminaries including Guglielmo Marconi, Lee de Forest, and Claude Shannon. The journal commemorated its 100th volume with a variety of editorial features, including a special centennial issue in May and monthly postings of classic Proceedings papers. Today Proceedings addresses such timely topics as cyberphysical systems, audiovisual communications frontiers, the evolution of optical networking, and quality-of-life technologies such as wearable healthcare devices.

Publication Timelines Improve

Continuous process-improvement efforts in publishing operations led to an impressive 50 percent reduction in single-article production time for all journals produced at the IEEE Operations Center in New Jersey. A typical fully edited journal article is now produced in three weeks, down from six weeks.

IEEE Spectrum Creates Robots App

IEEE’s new Robots App shows how robots are becoming more sophisticated and more common. Created by IEEE Spectrum magazine, the Robots App features 126 robots from 19 countries, with 360-degree views, interactive animations, technical specs and hundreds of photos, videos, and articles. Robot enthusiasts can review in-depth technical data about each robot, while beginners can learn how robots work and how to get started in robotics.

Stronger in Conferences

IEEE sponsored more than 1,300 conferences in 2012, including some important new and notable conferences:

Two Important Conferences in India

The first IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing for Emerging Markets took place 16-18 October in Bangalore. The event brought together industry, government, and academic leaders in cloud computing from around the world to address the unique challenges and opportunities of cloud computing in emerging markets.

The 2012 Annual International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communications (ADCOM) was also held in Bangalore, 14-16 December. Its focus was virtualization, with participants exploring many aspects of the technology, including emerging architectures and sustainable designs, software approaches to virtualization, and energy efficiencies with virtualization.

Cutting-Edge Developments in Medicine and Biology

The inaugural IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Micro and Nanotechnology in Medicine Conference brought leaders in the field to Maui, Hawaii in 2012 to discuss challenges and advancements in the field. Professor John Rogers, winner of a “MacArthur Genius” grant and the Lemelson-MIT Prize, gave the opening-night keynote on flexible and printed electronics for biomedical applications and impressed the audience with the electronic tattoos on his forearm. These so-called tattoos are actually stretchable, ultrathin electronics that hug the skin like a tattoo and record electrical activity from the body. Dozens of other innovators presented recent groundbreaking research results in their respective areas.

Stronger in Standards

Expanding the Adoption of IEEE Standards Through Collaboration and Partnership
In 2012, IEEE signed memoranda of understanding with three global standards developing organizations, reinforcing IEEE’s leadership in the development of global standards:

• IEEE and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will continue the organizations’ longstanding cooperation in advancing the development of global standards and increase the acceptance of IEEE standards throughout Europe.
• IEEE signed an MoU with CIGRE, a Paris-based international nonprofit association that promotes global collaboration in support of electrical power systems. CIGRE and IEEE will work together to foster the global cooperation and information sharing that is vital to the electricity grid’s modernization process.
• IEEE signed an MoU with the Standards Institution of Israel to facilitate cooperation between the two organizations and promote standards coordination.

Approaching the Internet of Things

Addressing standards for the emerging technology commonly known as the “Internet of Things (IoT),” IEEE collaborated with the China Communications Standards Association on an international workshop on IoT standards in Beijing. The conference brought together leading industry experts from around the world to begin exploring ways to achieve a common IoT architecture.

Stronger in Education

IEEE provides educational opportunities for technologists and potential technologists from primary school through the university level and beyond. At the elementary and secondary school level, the emphasis is on understanding science, engineering and mathematics. At the university level, IEEE participates in the accreditation of undergraduate programs, supports student branch activities, and recognizes excellence through IEEE-HKN, the electrical engineering honor society. For the professional, IEEE provides continuing education in both technology and career development.

TryComputing.org Joins TryEngineering.org and TryNano.org

TryEngineering.org, the successful web portal about engineering careers that was developed by IEEE and IBM and launched in 2006, is now available in nine languages. Its resources for students, teachers, parents, and counselors having nearly 12 million hits. It was joined in 2009 by TryNano.org, with similar goals in the field of nanotechnology. Following those successes, in 2012 IEEE launched TryComputing.org to provide resources in computer science and engineering. It features a broad range of information about academic and career preparation in computing, including profiles of computing professionals that show the wide range of careers available, and a cloud tool that suggests careers for visitors to explore further based on their personal interests. The new portal already has 10 highly rated lesson plans.

More than 50 new tutorials and over 100 hours of content were added to the IEEE eLearning Library during the year…

IEEE Supports Accreditation in India, Prepares to Contribute Elsewhere

IEEE met with India’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council to provide an overview of its own accreditation operations. IEEE committed to support the effort in India through the training of accreditation personnel, the provision of documentation for training, and help with the procedures and use of technology tools in accreditation. Progress was also made in identifying other regions where similar accreditation bodies and programs might be developed, especially in Europe, Mexico, South America, the Caribbean, and Africa.

Boosting Engineering Fluency Around the World

IEEE collaborated with Cambridge University Press to launch English for Engineering. The online English-language instruction course is designed to enhance the technical communication skills of engineers and other technology professionals who are non-native English speakers. The program provides 45 hours of training and features four interactive modules: Speaking in Technical English, Listening and Comprehension, Technical Writing, and Reading and Understanding Technical Publications.

IEEE eLearning Library Sees Significant Growth

More than 50 new tutorials and over 100 hours of content were added to the IEEE eLearning Library during the year, including tutorials on cloud computing, sustainable green engineering, nanotechnology, and smart grid standards. A series of engaging interactive courses, the IEEE eLearning Library is designed to keep engineers up to speed on emerging technologies and technology trends. The convenient learning system now delivers more than 260 courses and tutorials in core and emerging technologies, with more added all the time.

IEEE Members Flock to Smart Tech Workshops

IEEE held four very successful Smart Tech Metro Area Workshops in 2012. This series of continuing education programs provides participants a unique opportunity to learn firsthand from field experts about the cutting-edge of technical innovation today. Workshop topics included smart grid, cyber security, cloud computing, and electric vehicles.

Stronger Infrastructure

To fulfill our firm commitments to members and customers, IEEE continuously expands and upgrades its infrastructure.

New IEEE Business Platform Goes Online

An improved IEEE Business Platform was launched, delivering a simple, intuitive, and customer-friendly online experience for members and customers. In its first few months of operation, the online platform enabled nearly 10,000 members to join IEEE, more than 8,000 to renew their membership, and several thousand articles to be sold through the IEEE Xplore digital library.

IEEE Combats Intellectual Property Infringement

In 2012, IEEE expanded its efforts to combat the infringement of its intellectual property with the launch of its own online IP reporting alias that allows anyone worldwide to report potential misuse of IEEE copyrights, trademarks, domain names, etc. IEEE was able to successfully remove unauthorized content from more than 40 websites and 20 blogs. In addition, a tool for the detection of copyright infringement resulted in the distribution of nearly 8,000 takedown notices.