1)  Short History about the Brazilian PES SB Chapters

The first Brazilian PES SB chapter was created at UFABC PES SB chapter on November 30, 2012. We had only 2 Brazilian PES SB chapters before May 2016. However, we have started to promote IEEE PES NwB (Networking without Borders) project with other Brazilian IEEE Student Branch in May 2016. In 2014, PES NwB project was created after first partnership and collaborative PES project between PES SB chapters in 2 different IEEE Regions: UFABC PES SB chapter (Brazil, IEEE Region 9) and Monash University PES SB chapter (Australia, IEEE Region 10). Later, the PES NwB project was presented by Thiago Alencar (former chair of the Monash University PES SB chapter) in the 1^st PES student congress (Ankara, Turkey) to PES SB chapter chairs from different part of the world in 2014. So, we have started work without borders with PES SB chapters from 23 countries after the 1^st PES student congress.

In 2016, we had IEEE Chapter workshop made by Waldir Filho (former IEEE UFABC SB chair) and Thiago Alencar (IEEE Brazil Council Membership Development office and former PES YP Latin America 2014/2017) at IEEE RNR & RNYP (Brazilian IEEE National meeting of Student Branch and Young Professionals) 2016. This event was held as part of the IEEE RNR & RNYP activities at IEEE UFABC Student Branch (Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) with PES MDI (Member-Driven Initiatives) financial support provided to Andressa Lodi (former IEEE UFABC SB chair and UFABC PES SB chapter chair).

The first PES NwB presentation to another Brazilian IEEE Student Branches was held by Thiago Alencar at IEEE RNR & RNYP 2016. We had many IEEE SB volunteers that had interesting to open new PES SB chapters and work with PES NwB project after this presentation. So, we created PES NwB Brazil WhatsApp group on June 19^th, 2016 after IEEE RNR & RNYP 2016. Since June 2016, we have worked and made different interdisciplinary and thematic projects with different Brazilian IEEE SBs and Brazilian PES SB chapters through PES NwB Brazil group, for example:

• PES RES (Renewable Energy in Schools) with educational kits;
• PES RES (Renewable Energy in Schools) for kids;
• First Brazilian PES YP (Young Professionals) and PES Student Chapter Meeting 2017 (article published on PES eNews Update http://site.ieee.org/pes-enews/2017/10/18/first-brazilian-pes-yp-and-pes-student-chapter-meeting/);
• Second Brazilian PES YP and PES Student Chapter Meeting 2018;
• 1^st Brazilian IEEE PES WiP(Women in Power) month 2018.

Since May 2016, we have increased number of chapters from 2 to 23 PES SB chapters (Figure 1) in the IEEE Brazil Council because great environment, brainstorming and collaborations between PES SB chapters into PES NwB Brazil WhatsApp group.Nowadays, we have 191 PES volunteers working without borders into  PESNwB Brazil group.

In 2017, 85.71% (18 PES chapters) of the Brazilian PES SB chapters sent annual report to 2018 IEEE PES HPSBCP (High Performing Student Branch Chapter Program). In total, 16 worldwide PES SB chapters were ranked in the first 10 positions on the 2018 IEEE PES HPSBCP. We had 8 Brazilian PES SB chapters ranked in the first 10 positions on the 2018 IEEE PES HPSBCP. The first position on the 2018 IEEE PES HPSBCP and 2018 IEEE PES HPSBCP award was provided to UFPB PES SB chapter (IEEE Bahia Section, Brazil) with only 6 months of activities because UFPB PES SB chapter was created on June 9^th, 2017 in the same period of the First Brazilian PES YP and PES Student Chapter Meeting 2017. The PES NwB Brazil WhatsApp group have helped new PES SB chapters make brainstorming, collaborative projects and learn with best practices of the older Brazilian PES SB chapters. These are some examples how PES NwB project can help in the country level of the PES SB chapter activities. However, we have another PES NwB initiatives in global level that we will show in another PES eNews Update article in next editions.

On October 20, 2017, PES South Brazil Section with support of the IEEE YP South Brazil Section and UFABC PES SB chapter sent the Brazilian proposal to organize the 3^rd PES student congress. In total, 15 Brazilian PES SB chapters, 5 Brazilian PES Section chapters and 1 IEEE YP AG provided institutional letters to support the Brazilian proposal. Finally, we received PES approval (January 15, 2018) to organize 3^rdPES student congress in Brazil.

2)  Overview about the 1^st Brazilian IEEE PES WiP Month

The 3^rd IEEE PES Student Congress (August 27-29, 2018) was held in Sao Bernardo do Campo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) at the same venue of the IEEE RNR & RNYP 2016 (IEEE UFABC SB). We had 133 IEEE PES volunteers (96 PES SB chapters) from 33 countries (55 IEEE sections). Also, we had 31 PES volunteers (Figure 2)from 12 different Brazilian PES SB chapters as part of the total congress audience:

• UFPB PES SB chapter (IEEE Bahia Section);
• UFRB PES SB chapter (IEEE Bahia Section);
• UNIFACS PES SB chapter (IEEE Bahia Section);
• UFRN PES SB chapter (IEEE Bahia Section);
• UFCG PES SB chapter (IEEE Bahia Section);
• UnB PES SB chapter (IEEE Centro-Norte Brasil Section);
• UFJF PES SB chapter (IEEE Minas Gerais Section);
• UERJ PES SB chapter (IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section);
• UFRJ PES SB chapter (IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section);
• UFF PES SB chapter (IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section);
• UFABC PES SB chapter (IEEE South Brazil Section);
• UFSM PES SB chapter (IEEE South Brazil Section).

In this congress, some Brazilian PES volunteers talked about ideas to promote a better integration between all 23 Brazilian PES SB chapters in the country level. One of the ideas was based on the IEEE PES WiP (Women in Power) lecture of Dr. Guadalupe Gonzalez (Latin America PES WiP Regional Representative). The PES volunteers realized the importance to promote and engage women in leadership positions and to discuss some challenges faced daily by them along the labour market.

On September 4, 2018 those Brazilian PES volunteers organized an online meeting to discuss more about these ideas and other projects that could be developed by them and how these PES activities could clearly highlight the importance of PES mission (to be the leading provider of scientific and engineering information on electric power and energy for the betterment of society) and the 5 pillars of the More Power to The Future vision: i) Standards Leadership; ii) Educating the future workforce; iii) Industry activities trends; iv) Participating in regulatory initiatives and v) Advancing global participation.

The 1^st Brazilian IEEE PES WiP Month was created with these aspects in mind. In October 2018, PES SB chapters, IEEE WIE (Women in Engineering) AG (Affinity Group) and IEEE YP (Young Professionals) AG organized 9 IEEE PES WiP events (Figure 3) to empower women since university to job market across 4 IEEE sections in the IEEE Brazil Council.

In total, we promoted PES WiP vision to a great attendance with 313 people into 9 events according the following information:

• IEEE members: 79 people
• PES members: 62 people
• Non-IEEE members: 234 people
• Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 313 people

This 9 PES WiP events was held in seven Brazilian states (Figure 4) and nine different cities:

• Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil(IEEE South BrazilSection).
• Santo Andre, Sao Paulo, Brazil (IEEE South Brazil Section).
• Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil(IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section).
• Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil(IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section).
• Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil(IEEE Centro-Norte Brasil Section).
• Salvador, Bahia, Brazil(IEEE Bahia Section).
• Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil(IEEE Bahia Section).
• Campina Grande, Paraiba, Brazil(IEEE Bahia Section).
• Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil(IEEE Bahia Section).

In the next session, we will provide a short overview about each PES WiP event part of the 1st Brazilian IEEE PES WiP month. Each PES SB chapter sent their reports to publish in this collaborative PES eNews Update article.

3) IEEE PES WiP events

3.1)  PESWiP event (UFF PES SB chapter and UFF WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 3^rd, 2018
  Section: IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section
  Event venue: Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  University: UFF (“Universidade Federal Fluminense”)
  Number IEEE members: 6 people
  Number PES members: 4 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 5 people
  |Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 11 people

Event description: On October 3, 2018 the UFF PES Student Chapter and UFF WiE AG hosted a PES WiP workshop (Figure 5) about basic electrical installation. The PES WiP workshop goal was helped the autonomy of women with basic electrical maintenance. In addition, the PES WiP event helped women to have more freedom and confidence when it comes to performing basic electrical installation tasks. After this PES WiP event women could be able to make more accurate decisions about these services in their homes. The event was conducted by our Young Professional and master student Leticia Fritz.

3.2)  PESWiP event (UFABC PES SB chapter)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 4^th and 5^th, 2018
  Section: IEEE South Brazil Section
  Event venue: Santo Andre, Sao Paulo, Brazil
  University: UFABC (“Universidade Federal do ABC”)
  Number IEEE members: 10 people
  Number PES members: 10 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 50 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 60 people

Event description: The UFABC PES WiP event (October 4^th and 5^th) was held as part of the 5^th UFABC Engineering Week Event at Federal University of ABC (Sao Paulo, Brazil) in partnerships with local companies and university professors. The UFABC PES SB chapter held two workshops (Figure 6): off-grid solar energy use and wind power use as part of the PES WiP month. The goal was to promote renewable sources of energy for the academic community in partnership with women engineer professors in a way to promote leadership, empowerment and representation for women in engineering. The week event organizers, Dr. GraziellaColato Antonio and Dr. Juliana Tófano, were the leaders managing the agenda and type of audience. During the first day (October 4^th), our partner Gabriel Araújo, an alumnus student from UFABC and NeoSolar company, taught to an audience of 25 people about solar off grid photovoltaic issues. In the second day (October 5^th), Dr. Alfeu Filho and Dr. AhdaGrillo Pavani, an IEEE WIE member and UFABC professor, taught to an audience of 30 people together topics related to Wind Power during the second day.  Part of the IEEE PES UFABC commission were formed by student engineers (mostly women) who joined UFABC PES SB chapter after the event.

3.3)  PESWiP event (UFRN PES SB chapter and IEEE YP Bahia Section AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 16^th, 2018
  |Section: IEEE Bahia Section
  Event venue: Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
  University: UFRN (“Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte”)
  Number IEEE members: 8 people
  Number PES members: 5 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 17 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 25 people

Event description: The UFRN PES SB chapter and IEEE YP Bahia Section AG hosted a joint PES WiP event (Figure 7) namely “CoffIEEEssional: WiE Love Power”. The event was a conversation moment in a restaurant, a relaxed and informal atmospherefor discussion about women’s opportunities and activities in the area of power and energy. The idea was precisely to make the public entertain and interact in order to have a different experience and accessible to professionals of the area. The PES WiP event audience included technicians, undergraduate and graduate students of related courses (Electrotechnics, Energy Engineering, Electrical Engineering) to interact with the guests at the table, where they also mentioned the role of men in the context and the profession in general.

3.4)  PESWiP event (UFT PES SB chapter and UFT WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 19^th, 2018
  Section: IEEE Centro-Norte Brasil Section
  Event venue: Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil
  University: UFT (“Universidade Federal do Tocantins”)
  Number IEEE members: 8 people
  Number PES members: 5 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 5 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 13 people

Event description: On October 19, 2018 the UFT PES Student Chapter organized a round table discussion (Figure 8) with professors Stefani Caroline and Gisele Parmezzani as part of the PES WiP month. They talked about their careers and challenges, mainly in the college. The professors mentioned the problems with the coworkers and how they gained space in this field.

3.5)  PESWiP event (UERJ PES SB chapter and UERJ WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 23^rd, 2018
  Section: IEEE Rio de Janeiro Section
  Event venue: Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  University: UERJ (“Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro”)
  Number IEEE members: 13 people
  Number PES members: 10 people
  Number non-IEEE members:37 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 50 people

Event description: During the IEEE Electrical Engineering Week, PES UERJ promoted the Women in Power Day (Figure 9) as part of the 1^st Brazilian PES WiP month. The event was composed by a short presentation about the history of women in science. Later, the professor Leny Medeiros and her colleagues made lecture about the “Front of Women in Engineering Group”. The event was organized by our empowered women Roberta Figueiredo, Julia Freitas, Leticia Soares and Thaysa Maximo. Also, we received two inspiring messages from our PES friends from Palestine (ButhaynaQutaina) and Jordan (Helda Khader). The audience was very happy with the PES WiP event and asked for more similar activities soon. The PES UERJ participated in the Women in Power Day and Brazilian PES WiP month initiative since the very beginning, contributing with the first ideas of the event during the 3^rd PES Student Congress.

 3.6)  PESWiP event (UFRB PES SB chapter and UFRB WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 25^th, 2018
  Section: IEEE Bahia Section
  Eventvenue: Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil
  University: UFRB (“Universidade Federal do Reconcavo da Bahia”)
  Number IEEE members: 5 people
  Number PES members: 5 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 10 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 15 people

Event description: The UFRB PES WiP Day (Figure 10) was held as part of the 1^st Brazilian IEEE PES WiP month. The PES WiP event goal was acquaint women in activities related to electrical installations starting with a training given by other women. Although, women were our target audience, however we had the participation of men too. Among activities, we shared knowledge about switches, sockets, shower’s changing and maintenance information, always followed by practices provided by women. The event was organized by seven women, three of them are not in the picture, under guidance of our advisor and supported by UFRB PES SB chapter and UFRB WIE AG.

3.7)  PESWiP event (UNIFACS PES SB chapter and UNIFACS WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 26^th, 2018
  Section: IEEE Bahia Section
  Event venue: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
  University: UNIFACS (“Universidade Salvador”)
  Number IEEE members: 10 people
  Number PES members: 8 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 12 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 22 people

Event description: On October 26^th, 2018, the UNIFACS PES SB chapter and UNIFACS WIE AG held the Women in Power Day 2018 (Figure 11) event at UNIFACS (“Universidade Salvador”). A round table discussion was organized to empower women and discuss several points related to women’s work such as their positions in engineering and professional experiences, especially in the power and energy area. Also, we had some topics did not related to the labour market, for instance social, historical and behavioural issues faced by women along the centuries were also part of the discussion.

Engineers Manuela Santana (Electricity Company of the State of Bahia – COELBA), Mariana Cota (AMBEV company), technicians Jeannette Monteiro (J Monteiro CEO / former technician of COELBA company), Jessica Ferraro (National Service for Industrial Training – SENAI Bahia course coordinator) and Julia Silva (recruitment and selection of AMBEV company) were invited to be part of this event that attracted attention of students and coordinators of the UNIFACS university.

3.8)  PES WiP event (UFCG PES SB chapter and UFCG WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 29^th, 2018
  Section: IEEE Bahia Section
  Event venue: Campina Grande, Paraiba, Brazil
  University: UFCG (“Universidade Federal de Campina Grande”)
  Number IEEE members: 9 people
  Number PES members: 9 people
  Number non-IEEE members: 11 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 20 people

Event description: On 29^th of October, 2018 the UFCG PES SB chapter and UFCG WIE AG held the WIP day event (Figure 12). This event was a panel discussion with the presence of three electrical engineers, Camila Guedes (master in electrical engineer, professor and engineer of UFCG university), YasmimMendonça and her business partner Milene Sousa, owners of S&M Projects and Installations.

The event goal was to celebrate women in leadership positions and their path to success. We had a great acceptance even though the event was the day after Brazilian president election. We discussed issues of entrepreneurship and challenges of running a company. Also, talked about the professional life of an electrical engineer, as well as the exchange of experiences between the professionals of the area and undergraduate students.

3.9)  PESWiP event (UFSM PES SB chapter and UFSM WIE AG)

• PES WiP event overview
  Date: October 29^th and 30^th, 2018
  Section: IEEE Bahia Section
  Event venue: Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  University: UFSM (“Universidade Federal de Santa Maria”)
  Number IEEE members: 10 people
  Number PES members: 6 people
  Number non-IEEE members (donators): 87 people
  Total attendance (IEEE and non-IEEE members): 97 people

Event description: In October, the UFSM PES SB chapter promoted a hair donation action (Figure 13) in partnership with the UFSM WIE AG. The activity aimed to give the opportunity to those people who were interested in donating at least 15 centimetres of their hair. All donations were sent to an institution that makes up and donate wigs to women and children who are undergoing cancer treatment. The donor got a free haircut. The haircut was provided by professional hairdressers who support the cause

The activity was applied in two different days. The first day was in October 29 at the Technology Center main building in the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). The second day was in October 30 at the “Cachoeira do Sul” campus. On the first day of donation, 67 donations were received. On the second day, 20 donations were received. After two days, the event received 87 hair donations.

This joint action was only possible because of the comprehensiveness that the UFSM WIE AG and UFSM PES SB chapter have within UFSM, where both chapters have members and perform activities on the two UFSM campuses. With this approach, UFSM students and the community of both cities had the opportunity to help people suffering from hair loss due to cancer treatment.

In 2019, PES SB chapters are planning the 2^nd Brazilian IEEE PES WiP month after the great success of the first edition. Also, we hope to increase this IEEE PES WiP celebration and make collaboration with more IEEE PES SB chapters, IEEE WIE AG and IEEE YP AG in the IEEE Brazil Council.

Thiago Ribeiro de Alencar
IEEE Brazil Council Membership Development Office (2016-2018)
PES YP committee Membership Development Coordinator (R1-10)