Curtin Sarawak represented at IEEE AGM in the United States

Miri – 28 October 2016 – The 51st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) – Industry Application Society (IAS) was held in Portland, Oregon, USA earlier this month, involving members from all over the world.

Among the delegates were two from Malaysia – Dr Garenth Lim and Esther Ling Pi Ya.

Dr Lim is a senior lecturer of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science at Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak), and advisor to the Curtin Sarawak IEEE-IAS Student Chapter.

Ling, meanwhile, is the IEEE Young Professional Malaysia Representative and a Curtin Sarawak alumnus.

On the first day of the event, a workshop on ‘Chapter and Membership Development (CMD)’ was conducted to allow student chapters to share their recent developments and showcase collaborative events they have organised in their respective countries.

Following welcoming remarks by IEEE-IAS president David B. Droucher and head of chapter and membership development Dr Peter Magyar, delegates from China, Tunisia, India, Italy and Colombia gave presentations on their student chapter activities.

Day two included a keynote address by Dr Kamiar J. Karimi, senior researcher in energy management systems at The Boeing Company, in which Dr Kamiar spoke about the development of the aircraft industry, its contributions to advanced technology for fuel efficiency and the role of power electronics in More Electric Aircraft (MEA).

Parallel technical workshops on industrial automation and control, metals industry process, power quality, power distribution, power system protection and power system engineering were also held.

On the third day, 40 delegates joined a technical site visit to the Bonneville Lock and Dam located 145 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River and approximately 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The delegates toured the dam and fish hatchery and also made a stop at the scenic Multnomah Falls.

The AGM ended with a President Banquet where awards such as the IEEE Richard Harold Kaufman Award, IEEE-IAS Distinguished Service Award, Andrew W. Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award, and Outstanding Young Member Service Award were presented. The evening ended with a closing speech by President-Elect of IEEE-IAS Tomy Sebastian and a promotional video of the next IAS AGM to be held in Cincinnati, Ohio.

According to Dr Lim, the IAS provides opportunities and travel grants for members worldwide to participate in events such as the AGM and those opportunities are also given to students who are members of IAS. He encourages student members to take part in the Ohio 2017 event to enhance their technical knowledge.

The IEEE Curtin Sarawak Student Branch was established in 2008 and currently has about 120 members. In April this year, the IEEE-IAS Student Chapter was established to promote technology and knowledge in multidisciplinary industrial applications. To learn more about them, visit www.facebook.com/CurtinSarawak.IEEE or email ieee.curtinsarawak@gmail.com.

President of IEEE-IAS David B. Droucher delivering speech.

(L-R) Dr Lim, Sebastian, Ling and Chair of Chapter and Membership Development Peter Mayger.