A Message from Nirwan Ansari, Director, IEEE ComSoc Educational Services Board

It is a great honor to be re-appointed Director of IEEE ComSoc Educational Services Board (ESB) for 2022-2023. Despite facing the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during my first term, we had a cohesive team of volunteers and staff; we learned to adapt and continued to spearhead the ESB’s objectives, albeit void of in-person activities. I would like to use this opportunity to particularly acknowledge and thank the volunteers who have completed their terms in serving on the ESB: Periklis Chatzimisios, Michael Devetsikiotis, Nelson Fonseca, Fabrizio Granelli, and Carlos Lozano Garzon; they have contributed greatly to the ESB’s progress.

Fast-forward two years, we are embarking on new initiatives with renewed energy with the current team to support lifelong journeys in learning in various fields of communication technologies. The ESB has been evolving from the original focus on professional education to also include University and PreUniversity/STEM education programs. An ad hoc committee was established last year to look into how the ESB may support PreUniversity/STEM education. The goal of such activities is to sow seeds of inspiration in primary, middle, and high school students, our future generation of communications engineers. This effort has started to bear fruits with the first ComSoc TryEngineering Tuesday webinar held in November 2021, in collaboration with IEEE Education Activities Board, to excite high school students’ interest in the field of communications. This webinar on 5G had the highest registration and live participation numbers for this program in 2021. By leveraging this momentum, I have appointed Nury Gabriela Ramirez Cely to form a working group to expand the ESB’s effort on PreUniversity/STEM education.

For the remaining year, the ESB plans to 1) start the process of modifying the ComSoc Bylaws with respect to expanding the ESB’s responsibilities with inclusion of University and Pre-University/STEM education; 2) review existing ComSoc training courses, identify and recruit effective instructors, and offer new training courses such as Smart Cities, Quantum Communications, Machine Learning, and ORAN; 3) enhance the ESB website to ease navigation for information relevant to ComSoc Education; 4) facilitate on-demand training courses via the ComSoc Media Center, 5) offer two hybrid ComSoc school series in Kuala Lumpur and Delhi, explore a student event in connection with GLOBECOM, and solicit proposals for 2023 school series; and 6) spearhead PreUniversity/STEM education via the newly established working group. ESB stands ready to grow and improve ComSoc Education Programs to meet the needs of the technical community.

TryEngineering Tuesday: Extended Reality and 5G

IEEE ComSoc in collaboration with IEEE Educational Activities is excited to offer a TryEngineering Tuesday live webinar on the topic of Extended Reality and 5G featuring Dr. Lola Awoniyi-Oteri, Principal Systems Research & Development Engineer within the Qualcomm Research organization.  In this webinar, Dr. Awoniyi-Oteri will share her work in extended reality and 5G, discussing how extended reality (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality) works and how 5G supports these applications.

TryEngineering Tuesday webinars are designed for young students looking to explore different technology topics to get inspired about STEM as well as for their teachers or parents who would like to encourage their students to learn more about engineering.  Please share details about this webinar with anyone who you feel may be interested in learning more about these technologies.

We hope that you can join us for this exciting new webinar.  If you can't participate in the live webinar, register and you will be notified when the recording is available for viewing.

IEEE ComSoc School Series Events in 2022

The IEEE ComSoc School Series Program is designed to provide unique opportunities for university students to learn more about cutting-edge trends in communication technologies and to connect with other students and experts currently working on these technologies.  At this time, there are two ComSoc School Series events being planned as hybrid events in June and July 2022.  For each event, a limited number of ComSoc Student Members from the local region will be accepted to participate in-person, while online participation will be open any ComSoc Student Member. 

IEEE ComSoc School Series Hybrid Kuala Lumpur Event, 20-23 June 2022
The focus of the program will be on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on communication technology. 

IEEE ComSoc School Series Hybrid Delhi Event, 6-9 July 2022
The theme of this event is “Technologies for Enhancing Security & Privacy in Future Communication Networks.”

IEEE Education Week

IEEE ComSoc is proud to join in with the rest of IEEE in celebration of the valuable educational programs offered across the organization. During this inaugural IEEE Education Week taking place on 4-8 April 2022, ComSoc is happy to share with you special offerings and resources and to highlight ComSoc’s education programs and events. 

Check out the IEEE Education Week page on the ComSoc website which features a short video from Nirwan Ansari, Director of ComSoc’s Educational Services Board highlighting ComSoc’s broad education offerings including some you may not know about!  Be sure to visit ComSoc’s IEEE Education Week page during 4-8 April 2022 to learn about a ComSoc Training offer valid only during this special week and for special announcements and activities happening throughout IEEE.

Also in honor of IEEE Education Week, IEEE members who join ComSoc enjoy 50% off* Society dues, now through April 17 with promo code COMEDWEEK2022. (This discount is applied to IEEE's half-year pricing for benefits through December 31).  Student members can join ComSoc FREE now through April 17 with promo code COMEDWEEK2022-student.

IEEE Academy on Internet of Things (IoT)

Have you seen the new IEEE Academy on the Internet of Things?  This new resource has been developed to help guide individuals through a logical continuous learning path to understand new technical information quickly so they can apply it to their work.   The IEEE Academy on IoT: Communications Standards and the IEEE Academy on IoT: Computing Platforms are now available and upon completion, learners can earn a certificate.  IEEE plans to launch the IEEE Academy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the IEEE Academy on Smart Grid in 2022. Visit the IEEE Academies website to learn more and to subscribe for the most up to date information!

Join IEEE on 7 April at 11am ET for the virtual event, The Internet of Things: Use Cases, Applications, and Key Elements. This event offers a comprehensive overview with easy-to-understand concepts regarding IoT as it pertains to our daily lives. Register today!

Upcoming ComSoc Training Live, Online Courses

IEEE ComSoc has regularly scheduled live, instructor-led continuing education courses focusing on the latest communication technologies.  These courses are 100% online instruction via WebEx.  Courses include the option to earn IEEE CEUs for participation.  

The following courses are being offered in the coming weeks.  Early registration discounts are available for some courses, so be sure to register soon!

Computing in Communication Networks – From Theory to Applications
Dates:  31 March & 1 April 2022, 9:00 am - 1:30 pm EDT    
Instructor:  Fabrizio Granelli and Frank Fitzek

Principles of Satellite Location and Navigation
Dates:  6-7 April 2022, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT       
Instructor:  Alan Bensky

Introduction to Quantum Communications
Date:  14 April 2022, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm EDT          
Instructor:  Lajos Hanzo

Introduction to MIMO
Date:  6 May 2022, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT 
Instructor:  Alan Bensky

Cloud-Native 5G: Architecture, Enablers, and Roadmap
Date:  11 May 2022, 9:00am – 4:30pm EDT
Instructor:  Javan Erfanian

ESB Member Profile: Steve Izzo

Steve joined the Educational Services Board primarily to focus on PreUniversity/STEM education. He comes to this new role after retiring from a long career in industry starting in Broadband Cable, then with AT&T and ending at Nokia Bell Labs.

His career spans a range of functional responsibilities with a focus on network and service operations. Prior to joining Bell Labs, he worked in software engineering, strategy, marketing, technical sales and product management roles. He has a patent awarded for service quality metrics selection, has presented at multiple conferences and is an author of articles and papers in industry publications. At Bell Labs he engaged with global communication service companies leading advisory projects and providing network, business and operations analysis, process and metrics design, and process optimization.

Steve believes that Educational Services delivers one of the most valuable components of IEEE Membership and provides opportunities for both personal growth and career enhancement. He looks forward to working with colleagues on the Board in what will be an exciting and challenging journey to create the next evolution of IEEE Educational Services.    

ESB Member Profile: Shui Yu

I am currently working as a professor at University of Technology Sydney, Australia. I believe lifelong learning is critical for the success of our career in this big science age.

I have been learning all along the way, and will continue to do so in the future. I was inspired, guided, and helped by many good people in various ways on my learning journey. After my PhD graduation, my research topic changed from networking to cybersecurity, then big data privacy, and now AI security and privacy. I was required to learn new skills: technical, theoretical, management, and so on. Thanks to the organizations like ComSoc, there are plenty of resources in place to meet my needs. For example, ComSoc conferences, related tutorials, talks, and the education and training services provide me extraordinary help in these career moves and advancing my learning. ComSoc has opened many new doors for me in my career since the first day I joined the organization.

I worked as a ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer for four years, and gave several talks to different chapters each year during my service. One thing I observed is that there are many energetic young people determined to study hard for their career, but not sure about directions and methodology. Just like the people who helped me and my peers, it is our responsibility to help the new comers to explore the uncharted chapters in technology, and advance the knowledge of humanity.

I am honoured to be a member of the ComSoc Education Services Board. I am set to do my best to serve the board and our young generations to paint a bright future for themselves and the human society.