Celebrating 10 Years of IEEE Day with Our Impact Creators

September 30, 2019

This year October 1 marks the 10th year celebrating IEEE Day — a day to honor IEEE members, the valued role they play in their local communities, and the work they do to contribute to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Across the globe, IEEE members are gearing up for educational workshops, volunteer events, contests, scavenger hunts and exciting activities large and small, all in the name of “Leveraging Technology for a Better Tomorrow,” the theme and concept for IEEE Day.

To celebrate the occasion, we asked our IEEE Impact Creators to share how IEEE is benefitting their profession and the world, and why being an IEEE member is so enriching both personally and professionally. They shared with us the inspiration they found from their colleagues and fellow IEEE members.

Jacquelyn Adams, IEEE Senior Member

“In any field, there’s a tendency to become siloed into working on just our products or solutions without any external considerations. IEEE bridges together engineers, scientists and tech enthusiasts from all different industries empowering us to learn about theories perhaps outside of our scope, and challenging us to leverage this into our own solutions.”

Babak Beheshti, IEEE Senior Member

IEEE is a change agent in these transformative times. Through identifying and developing new technologies and standards, IEEE paves the way for engineers to have the latest tools and technologies available to them to affect positive change. It is equally important that IEEE does not only develop new technologies and standards; IEEE is equally concerned with social and ethical impacts of these new technologies. Misuse of any new technology can have catastrophic consequences for humanity. As an example, IEEE recently released its comprehensive report titled “Ethically Aligned Design – A Vision for Prioritizing Human Well-being with Autonomous and Intelligent Systems” free of charge. This tremendous guide will provide an invaluable reference as we embark on our fast-paced journey toward integrating AI in all aspects of daily life.

Kaitlyn Bunker, IEEE Member

“I think IEEE has several key roles to play, but the most impactful for me personally has been bringing people together, and providing platforms and opportunities for engineers to connect, learn from one other and design global solutions.”

Esther Luna Colombini, IEEE Member
“IEEE helps us set high-level standards as our reference models. It comprises top researchers and professionals that aim at using the engineer to help to improve the world around us on many levels. It is also very relevant for expanding science to the general audience.”

Tom Coughlin, IEEE Fellow

“IEEE fosters new technology developments and provides forums where people can engage with technologies at the local and global level. IEEE provides technologists a way to engage with other folks of similar interests to increase their knowledge and discoveries and to work together to create a better world.”

Kerstin Dautenhahn, IEEE Fellow

“IEEE initiatives are shaping the research landscape and benefiting societies worldwide beyond engineering, for example, the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems.”

Todd Richmond, IEEE Member

“IEEE helps by bringing people and ideas together in a non-partisan way. Getting systems to work together is the first step in allowing people to better work together. IEEE really is about getting ideas into the world and trying to figure out how they can come together into a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Standards help drive integration, and integration, done thoughtfully, can help improve society.”

Shervin Shirmohammadi, IEEE Fellow

“IEEE is all about building new technologies that benefit society and humanity. All of their effort is aimed at this, one way or another, so IEEE is a major enabler for me. It has provided me with a platform to disseminate my work, find out about other people’s work, meet them at conferences, and collaborate with them to create new technologies. All of these are made possible through IEEE.”

IEEE Impact Creators are members who inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow. IEEE Impact Creators from around the globe share insights on engineering, computing and technology. We are grateful for their commitment to their work, to IEEE and to advancing society and humanity.

For more information about IEEE Day, or to find an event near you, check out the IEEE Day Website, Facebook and Instagram!