Chamika Sudusinghe

How has IEEE helped you in your career journey?

I joined IEEE in my freshman year as a volunteer at my university, and I’ve now been volunteering with IEEE for almost a decade. There isn’t one specific way IEEE has helped me. It has helped me in many ways, and it’s one of the major contributors to defining who I am today. For example, volunteering with IEEE played a major role in my graduate journey by connecting me with a wider network of researchers and mentors. The collaborations that grew out of those IEEE connections led to multiple research publications and helped me build a much stronger application for graduate studies. I’m certain it will continue to shape my path going forward.

What’s the hottest technology in the next 10 years?

I think we’re going to see huge leaps in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) over the next decade. BCI is moving from a lab curiosity toward something that could realistically become part of everyday life. In a few years, there can be a world where you simply think about what you want and the system responds. Considering the pace at which AI is advancing right now, I see a lot of opportunities opening up in this space. The implications for accessibility, healthcare and human-computer interaction as a whole are enormous, and I believe this combination of AI and BCI will be one of the defining moments in human history.