Wesley L. Harris’s life is a testament to the power of mentorship and determination. Harris, born in 1941 in Richmond, Virginia, grew up during the tumultuous years of the Civil Rights Movement and faced an environment fraught with challenges. His parents, both of whom only had a third-grade education, walked to Richmond from rural Virginia counties when the Great Depression left the region’s farming communities destitute. They found work as laborers in the city’s tobacco factories but pushed their son to pursue higher education so he could live a better life.

Today, Harris is a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and heads the school’s Hypersonic Research Laboratory. More importantly, he is committed to fostering the next generation of engineers, particularly students of color.

“I’ve been keeping my head down, working with students of color—especially at the Ph.D. level—to produce more scholars,” Harris says. “I do feel good about that.”

From physics to aerospace engineering

Harris’s journey into the world of science began under the guidance of his physics teacher at the all-Black Armstrong High School, in Richmond. The instructor taught Harris how to build a cloud chamber to investigate the collision of alpha particles with water droplets. The chamber made it possible to visualize the passage of ionizing radiation emitted by radium 226, which Harris sourced from a wristwatch that used the substance to make the watch hands glow in the dark.

The project won first prize at Virginia’s statewide Black high school science fair, and he took the bold step of signing up for a separate science fair held for the state’s White students. Harris’s project received the third-place prize in physics at that event.

Those awards and his teacher’s unwavering belief in Harris’s potential pushed him to aim higher. He says that he wanted nothing more than to become a physicist like her. Ironically, it was also her influence that led him to shift his career path from physics to aeronautical engineering.

When discussing which college he should attend, she spoke to him as though he were a soldier getting his marching orders. “Wesley, you will go to the University of Virginia [in Charlottesville],” she proclaimed.

Harris applied, knowing full well that the school did not allow Black students in the 1960s to pursue degrees in mathematics, physics, chemistry, English, economics, or political science.

The only available point of entry for him was the university’s School of Engineering. He chose aerospace as his focus—the only engineering discipline that interested him. Harris became one of only seven Black students on a campus with 4,000 undergrads and the first Black student to join the prestigious Jefferson Society literary and debate club. He graduated in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. He went on to earn his master’s and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from Princeton in 1966 and 1968, respectively.

Harris’s Ph.D. thesis advisor at Princeton reinforced the values of mentorship and leadership instilled by his high school teacher, urging Harris to focus not only on his research but on how he could uplift others.

Harris began his teaching career by breaking down barriers at the University of Virginia in 1968. He was the first Black person in the school’s history to be offered a tenured faculty position. He was also the university’s first Black engineering professor. In 1972, he joined MIT as a professor of aeronautics and astronautics.

Harris’s dedication to supporting underrepresented minority groups at MIT began early in his tenure. In 1975, he founded the Office of Minority Education, where he pioneered innovative teaching methods such as videotaping and replaying lectures, which helped countless students succeed. “Some of those old videotapes may still be around,” he says, laughing.

“I’ve been keeping my head down, working with students of color—especially at the Ph.D. level—to produce more scholars. I do feel good about that.”

Over the years, he has periodically stepped away from MIT to take on other roles, including Program Manager in the Fluid and Thermal Physics Office and as manager of Computational Methods at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 1979 to 1980. He returned to NASA in 1993 and served as Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, overseeing personnel, programs, and facilities until 1995.

He also served as Chief Administrative Officer and Vice President at the University of Tennessee Space Institute in Knoxville from 1990 to 1993 and as Dean of Engineering at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, from 1985 to 1990.

He was selected for membership in an oversight group convened by the U.S. House of Representatives Science Subcommittee on Research and Technology to monitor the funding activities of the National Science Foundation. He has also been a member and chair of the U.S. Army Science Board.

Solving problems with aircraft

Harris is a respected aeronautical innovator. Near the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army approached MIT to help it solve a problem. Helicopters were being shot down by the enemy, who had learned to distinguish attack helicopters from those used for performing reconnaissance or transporting personnel and cargo by the noise they made. The Army needed a solution that would reduce the helicopters’ acoustic signatures without compromising performance. Harris and his aeronautics team at MIT delivered that technology. In January 1978, they presented a lab report detailing their findings to the U.S. Department of Defense. “Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Model Helicopter Rotor Noise” was subsequently published in The Journal of Sound and Vibration. A year later, Harris and his colleagues at the Fluid Dynamic Research Laboratory wrote another lab report on the topic, “Parametric Studies of Model Helicopter Blade Slap and Rotational Noise.”

Harris has also heightened scientists’ understanding of the climate-altering effects of shock waves propagating upward from aircraft flying at supersonic speeds. He discovered that these high-speed airflows trigger chemical reactions among the carbon, oxides, nitrides, and sulfides in the atmosphere.

For these and other contributions to aerospace engineering, Harris, a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, was elected in 1995 to the National Academy of Engineering. In 2022, he was named the academy’s vice president.

A model of educational leadership

Despite his technical achievements, Harris says his greatest fulfillment comes from mentoring students. He takes immense pride in the four students who recently earned doctorates in hypersonics under his guidance, especially a Black woman who graduated this year.

Harris’s commitment to nurturing young talent extends beyond his graduate students. For more than two decades, he has served as a housemaster at MIT’s New House residence hall, where he helps first-year undergraduate students successfully transition to campus life.

“You must provide an environment that fosters the total development of the student, not just mastery of physics, chemistry, math, and economics,” Harris says.

He takes great satisfaction in watching his students grow and succeed, knowing that he helped prepare them to make a positive impact on the world.

Reflecting on his career, Harris acknowledges the profound impact of the mentors who guided him. Their lessons continue to influence his work and his unwavering commitment to mentoring the next generation.

“I’ve always wanted to be like my high school teacher—a physicist who not only had deep knowledge of the scientific fundamentals but also compassion and love for Black folks,” he says.

Through his work, Harris has not only advanced the field of aerospace engineering but has also paved the way for future generations to soar.

In the 1800s, aluminum was considered more valuable than gold or silver because it was so expensive to produce the metal in any quantity. Thanks to the Hall-Héroult smelting process, which pioneered the electrochemical reduction of aluminum oxide in 1886, electrochemistry advancements made aluminum more available and affordable, rapidly transforming it into a core material used in the manufacturing of aircraft, power lines, food-storage containers and more.

As society mobilizes against the pressing climate crisis we face today, we find ourselves seeking transformative solutions to tackle environmental challenges. Much as electrochemistry modernized aluminum production, science holds the key to revolutionizing steel and iron manufacturing.

Electrochemistry can help save the planet

As the world embraces clean energy solutions such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, and solar panels to address the climate crisis, changing how we approach manufacturing becomes critical. Traditional steel production—which requires a significant amount of energy to burn fossil fuels at temperatures exceeding 1,600 °C to convert ore into iron—currently accounts for about 10 percent of the planet’s annual CO₂ emissions. Continuing with conventional methods risks undermining progress toward environmental goals.

Scientists already are applying electrochemistry—which provides direct electrical control of oxidation-reduction reactions—to convert ore into iron. The conversion is an essential step in steel production and the most emissions-spewing part. Electrochemical engineers can drive the shift toward a cleaner steel and iron industry by rethinking and reprioritizing optimizations.

When I first studied engineering thermodynamics in 1998, electricity—which was five times the price per joule of heat—was considered a premium form of energy to be used only when absolutely required.

Since then the price of electricity has steadily decreased. But emissions are now known to be much more harmful and costly.

Engineers today need to adjust currently accepted practices to develop new solutions that prioritize mass efficiency over energy efficiency.

In addition to electrochemical engineers working toward a cleaner steel and iron industry, advancements in technology and cheaper renewables have put us in an “electrochemical moment” that promises change across multiple sectors.

The plummeting cost of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, for example, has led to more affordable renewable electricity. Advances in electrical distribution systems that were designed for electric vehicles can be repurposed for modular electrochemical reactors.

Electrochemistry holds the potential to support the development of clean, green infrastructure beyond batteries, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. Electrochemical processes and methods can be scaled to produce metals, ceramics, composites, and even polymers at scales previously reserved for thermochemical processes. With enough effort and thought, electrochemical production can lead to billions of tons of metal, concrete, and plastic. And because electrochemistry directly accesses the electron transfer fundamental to chemistry, the same materials can be recycled using renewable energy.

As renewables are expected to account for more than 90 percent of global electricity expansion during the next five years, scientists and engineers focused on electrochemistry must figure out how best to utilize low-cost wind and solar energy.

The core components of electrochemical systems, including complex oxides, corrosion-resistant metals, and high-power precision power converters, are now an exciting set of tools for the next evolution of electrochemical engineering.

The scientists who came before have created a stable set of building blocks; the next generation of electrochemical engineers needs to use them to create elegant, reliable reactors and other systems to produce the processes of the future.

Three decades ago, electrochemical engineering courses were, for the most part, electives and graduate-level. Now almost every institutional top-ranked R&D center has full tracks of electrochemical engineering. Students interested in the field should take both electroanalytical chemistry and electrochemical methods classes and electrochemical energy storage and materials processing coursework.

Although scaled electrochemical production is possible, it is not inevitable. It will require the combined efforts of the next generation of engineers to reach its potential scale.

Just as scientists found a way to unlock the potential of the abundant, once-unattainable aluminum, engineers now have the opportunity to shape a cleaner, more sustainable future. Electrochemistry has the power to flip the switch to clean energy, paving the way for a world in which environmental harmony and industrial progress go hand in hand.

The IEEE Board of Directors shapes the future direction of IEEE and is committed to ensuring IEEE remains a strong and vibrant organization—serving the needs of its members and the engineering and technology community worldwide—while fulfilling the IEEE mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

This article features IEEE Board of Directors members A. Matt Francis, Tom Murad, and Christopher Root.

IEEE Senior Member A. Matt Francis

Director, IEEE Region 5: Southwestern U.S.

Moriah Hargrove Anders

Francis’s primary technology focus is extreme environment and high-temperature integrated circuits. His groundbreaking work has pushed the boundaries of electronics, leading to computers operating in low Earth orbit for more than a year on the International Space Station and on jet engines. Francis and his team have designed and built some of the world’s most rugged semiconductors and systems.

He is currently helping explore new computing frontiers in supersonic and hypersonic flight, geothermal energy exploration, and molten salt reactors. Well versed in shifting technology from idea to commercial application, Francis has secured and led projects with the U.S. Air Force, DARPA, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and private-sector customers.

Francis’s influence extends beyond his own ventures. He is a member of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Computer, and IEEE Electronics Packaging societies, demonstrating his commitment to industry and continuous learning.

He attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He joined IEEE while at the university and was president of the IEEE–Eta Kappa Nu honor society’s Gamma Phi chapter. Francis’s other past volunteer roles include serving as chair of the IEEE Ozark Section, which covers Northwest Arkansas, and also as a member of the IEEE-USA Entrepreneurship Policy Innovation Committee.

His deep-rooted belief in the power of collaboration is evident in his willingness to share knowledge and support aspiring entrepreneurs. Francis is proud to have helped found a robotics club (an IEEE MGA Local Group) in his rural Elkins, Ark., community and to have served on steering committees for programs including IEEE TryEngineering and IEEE-USA’s Innovation, Research, and Workforce Conferences. He serves as an elected city council member for his town, and has cofounded two non-profits, supporting his community and the state of Arkansas.

Francis’s journey from entrepreneur to industry leader is a testament to his determination and innovative mindset. He has received numerous awards including the IEEE-USA Entrepreneur Achievement Award for Leadership in Entrepreneurial Spirit, IEEE Region 5 Directors Award, and IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Individual Member Achievement Award.

IEEE Senior Member Tom Murad

Director, IEEE Region 7: Canada

Siemens Canada

Murad is a respected technology leader, award-winning educator, and distinguished speaker on engineering, skills development, and education. Recently retired, he has 40 years of experience in professional engineering and technical operations executive management, including more than 10 years of academic and R&D work in industrial controls and automation.

He received his doctorate (Ph.D.) degree in power electronics and industrial controls from Loughborough University of Technology in the U.K.

Murad has held high-level positions in several international engineering and industrial organizations, and he contributed to many global industrial projects. His work on projects in power utilities, nuclear power, oil and gas, mining, automotive, and infrastructure industries has directly impacted society and positively contributed to the economy. He is a strong advocate of innovation and creativity, particularly in the areas of digitalization, smart infrastructure, and Industry 4.0. He continues his academic career as an adjunct professor at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

His dedication to enhancing the capabilities of new generations of engineers is a source of hope and optimism. His work in significantly improving the quality and relevance of engineering and technical education in Canada is a testament to his commitment to the future of the engineering profession and community. For that he has been assigned by the Ontario Government to be a member of the board of directors of the Post Secondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB).

Murad is a member of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management, IEEE Education, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems, and IEEE Vehicular Technology societies, the IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu honor society, and the Editorial Advisory Board Chair for the IEEE Canadian Review Magazine. His accomplishments show his passion for the engineering profession and community.

He is a member of the Order of Honor of the Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canada, Fellow of Engineers Canada, Fellow of Engineering Institutes of Canada (EIC), and received the IEEE Canada J.M. Ham Outstanding Engineering Educator Award, among other recognitions highlighting his impact on the field.

IEEE Senior Member Christopher Root

Director, Division VII

Vermont Electric Power Company and Shana Louiselle

Root has been in the electric utility industry for more than 40 years and is an expert in power system operations, engineering, and emergency response. He has vast experience in the operations, construction, and maintenance of transmission and distribution utilities, including all phases of the engineering and design of power systems. He has shared his expertise through numerous technical presentations on utility topics worldwide.

Currently an industry advisor and consultant, Root focuses on the crucial task of decarbonizing electricity production. He is engaged in addressing the challenges of balancing an increasing electrical market and dependence on renewable energy with the need to provide low-cost, reliable electricity on demand.

Root’s journey with IEEE began in 1983 when he attended his first meeting as a graduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, N.Y. Since then, he has served in leadership roles such as treasurer, secretary, and member-at-large of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES). His commitment to the IEEE mission and vision is evident in his efforts to revitalize the dormant IEEE PES Boston Chapter in 2007 and his instrumental role in establishing the IEEE PES Green Mountain Section in Vermont in 2015. He also is a member of the editorial board of the IEEE Power & Energy Magazine and the IEEE–Eta Kappa Nu honor society.

Root’s contributions and leadership in the electric utility industry have been recognized with the IEEE PES Leadership in Power Award and the PES Meritorious Service Award.

Few devices are as crucial to people’s everyday lives as their household appliances. Electrical engineer Erika Cruz says it’s her mission to make sure they operate smoothly.

Cruz helps design washing machines and dryers for Whirlpool, the multinational appliance manufacturer.

Erika Cruz

Employer:

Whirlpool

Occupation:

Associate electrical engineer

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering, Industrial University of Santander, in Bucaramanga, Colombia

As a member of the electromechanical components team at Whirlpool’s research and engineering center in Benton Harbor, Mich., she oversees the development of timers, lid locks, humidity sensors, and other components.

More engineering goes into the machines than is obvious. Because the appliances are sold around the world, she says, they must comply with different technical and safety standards and environmental conditions. And reliability is key.

“If the washer’s door lock gets stuck and your clothes are inside, your whole day is going to be a mess,” she says.

While appliances can be taken for granted, Cruz loves that her work contributes in its own small way to the quality of life of so many.

“I love knowing that every time I’m working on a new design, the lives of millions of people will be improved by using it,” she says.

From Industrial Design to Electrical Engineering

Cruz grew up in Bucaramanga, Colombia, where her father worked as an electrical engineer, designing control systems for poultry processing plants. Her childhood home was full of electronics, and Cruz says her father taught her about technology. He paid her to organize his resistors, for example, and asked her to create short videos for work presentations about items he was designing. He also took Cruz and her sister along with him to the processing plants.

“We would go and see how the big machines worked,” she says. “It was very impressive because of their complexity and impact. That’s how I got interested in technology.”

In 2010, Cruz enrolled in Colombia’s Industrial University of Santander, in Bucaramanga, to study industrial design. But she quickly became disenchanted with the course’s focus on designing objects like fancy tables and ergonomic chairs.

“I wanted to design huge machines like my father did,” she says.

A teacher suggested that she study mechanical engineering instead. But her father was concerned about discrimination she might face in that career.

“He told me it would be difficult to get a job in the industry because mechanical engineers work with heavy machinery, and they saw women as being fragile,” Cruz says.

Her father thought electrical engineers would be more receptive to women, so she switched fields.

“I am very glad I ended up studying electronics because you can apply it to so many different fields,” Cruz says. She received a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering in 2019.

The Road to America

While at university, Cruz signed up for a program that allowed Colombian students to work summer jobs in the United States. She held a variety of summer positions in Galveston, Texas, from 2017 to 2019, including cashier, housekeeper, and hostess.

She met her future husband in 2018, an American working at the same amusement park as she did. When she returned the following summer, they started dating, and that September they married. Since she had already received her degree, he was eager for her to move to the states permanently, but she made the difficult decision to return to Colombia.

“With the language barrier and my lack of engineering experience, I knew if I stayed in the United States, I would have to continue working jobs like housekeeping forever,” she says. “So I told my husband he had to wait for me because I was going back home to get some engineering experience.”

“I love knowing that every time I’m working on a new design, the lives of millions of people will be improved by using it.”

Cruz applied for engineering jobs in neighboring Brazil, which had more opportunities than Colombia did. In 2021, she joined Whirlpool as an electrical engineer at its R&D site in Joinville, Brazil. There, she introduced into mass production sensors and actuators provided by new suppliers.

Meanwhile, she applied for a U.S. Green Card, which would allow her to work and live permanently in the country. She received it six months after starting her job. Cruz asked her manager about transferring to one of Whirlpool’s U.S. facilities, not expecting to have any luck. Her manager set up a phone call with the manager of the components team at the company’s Benton Harbor site to discuss the request. Cruz didn’t realize that the call was actually a job interview. She was offered a position there as an electrical engineer and moved to Michigan later that year.

Designing Appliances Is Complex

Designing a new washing machine or dryer is a complex process, Cruz says. First, feedback from customers about desirable features is used to develop a high-level design. Then the product design work is divided among small teams of engineers, each responsible for a given subsystem, including hardware, software, materials, and components.

Part of Cruz’s job is to test components from different suppliers to make sure they meet safety, reliability, and performance requirements. She also writes the documentation that explains to other engineers about the components’ function and design.

Cruz then helps select the groups of components to be used in a particular application—combining, say, three temperature sensors with two humidity sensors in an optimized location to create a system that finds the best time to stop the dryer.

Building a Supportive Environment

Cruz loves her job, but her father’s fears about her entering a male-dominated field weren’t unfounded. Discrimination was worse in Colombia, she says, where she regularly experienced inappropriate comments and behavior from university classmates and teachers.

Even in the United States, she points out, “As a female engineer, you have to actually show you are able to do your job, because occasionally at the beginning of a project men are not convinced.”

In both Brazil and Michigan, Cruz says, she’s been fortunate to often end up on teams with a majority of women, who created a supportive environment. That support was particularly important when she had her first child and struggled to balance work and home life.

“It’s easier to talk to women about these struggles,” she says. “They know how it feels because they have been through it too.”

Update Your Knowledge

Working in the consumer electronics industry is rewarding, Cruz says. She loves going into a store or visiting someone’s home and seeing the machines that she’s helped build in action.

A degree in electronics engineering is a must for the field, Cruz says, but she’s also a big advocate of developing project management and critical thinking skills. She is a certified associate in project management, granted by the Project Management Institute, and has been trained in using tools that facilitate critical thinking. She says the project management program taught her how to solve problems in a more systematic way and helped her stand out in interviews.

It’s also important to constantly update your knowledge, Cruz says, “because electronics is a discipline that doesn’t stand still. Keep learning. Electronics is a science that is constantly growing.”

IEEE TryEngineering has partnered with Keysight Technologies to develop lesson plans focused on electronics and power simulation. Keysight provides hardware, software, and services to a wide variety of industries, particularly in the area of electronic measurement.

IEEE TryEngineering, an IEEE Educational Activities program, empowers educators to foster the next generation of technology innovators through free, online access to culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate, and educationally sound instructional resources for teachers and community volunteers.

The lesson plans cover a variety of STEM topics, experience levels, and age ranges. Educators should be able to find an applicable topic for their students, regardless of their grade level or interests.

Lesson plans on circuits

There are already a number of lesson plans available through the Keysight partnership that introduce students to electrical concepts, with more being developed. The most popular one thus far is Series and Parallel Circuits, which has been viewed more than 100 times each month. Teams of pupils predict the difference between a parallel and serial circuit design by building examples using wires, light bulbs, and batteries.

“TryEngineering is proud to be Keysight’s partner in attaining the ambitious goal of bringing engineering lessons to 1 million students in 2024.” —Debra Gulick

The newest of the Keysight-sponsored lesson plans, Light Up Name Badge, teaches the basics of circuitry, such as the components of a circuit, series and parallel circuits, and electronic component symbols. Students can apply their newfound knowledge in a design challenge wherein they create a light-up badge with their name.

Developing a workforce through STEM outreach

“Keysight’s commitment to workforce development through preuniversity STEM outreach makes it an ideal partner for IEEE TryEngineering,” says Debra Gulick, director of student and academic education programs for IEEE Educational Activities.

In addition, Keysight’s corporate social responsibility vision to build a better planet by accelerating innovation to connect and secure the world while employing a global business framework of ethical, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible operations makes it a suitable IEEE partner.

“TryEngineering is proud to be Keysight’s partner in attaining the ambitious goal of bringing engineering lessons to 1 million students in 2024,” Gulick says.

The IEEE STEM Summit, a three-day virtual event in October for IEEE volunteers and educators, is expected to include a session highlighting Keysight’s lesson plans.

Educators and volunteers engaged in outreach activities with students can learn more on the Keysight TryEngineering partnership page.

The arrangement with Keysight was made possible with support from the IEEE Foundation.

Author and leadership expert John C. Maxwell famously said, “The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders, and continually develops them.”

Experts confirm that there are clear benefits to fostering leadership by encouraging employees’ professional growth and nurturing and developing company leaders. A culture of leadership development and innovation boosts employee engagement by 20 percent to 25 percent, according to an analysis in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Companies are 22 percent more profitable, on average, when they engage their employees by building a culture of leadership, innovation, and recognition, according to Zippia research.

Developing professionals into strong leaders can have a lasting impact on a company, and the IEEE Professional Development Suite can help make it possible. The training programs in the suite help aspiring technology leaders who want to develop their essential business and management skills. Programs include IEEE Leading Technical Teams, the IEEE | Rutgers Online Mini-MBA for Engineers and Technical Professionals, and the Intensive Wireless Communications and Advanced Topics in Wireless courses offered by the IEEE Communications Society. IEEE also offers topical courses through its eLearning Library.

Tips for leading teams

IEEE Leading Technical Teams is a live, six-hour course offered both in person and virtually. Addressing challenges that come with leading groups, it is designed for team leaders, managers, and directors of engineering and technical teams.

“Participating benefited me and my employer by enhancing my leadership skills in inspiring others to achieve the goals of our organization,” says Stephen Wilkowski, a system test engineer at CACI International in Reston, Va., who completed the training. “I found the leadership practices assessment to be very valuable, as I appreciated the anonymous feedback received from those who I work with. I would recommend the training to anyone desiring to improve their leadership skills.”

Attendees participate in the 360° Leadership Practices Inventory, a tool that solicits confidential feedback on the participant’s strengths and opportunities for improvement from their team members and managers. The program encompasses instructor-led exercises and case studies demonstrating the application of best practices to workplace challenges.

Participants learn the “five practices of exemplary leadership” and receive valuable peer coaching.

To learn more about in-person and virtual options for individuals and companies, complete this form.

A mini-MBA for technologists

The 12-week IEEE | Rutgers Online Mini-MBA for Engineers and Technical Professionals program covers business strategy, new product development management, financial analysis, sales and marketing, and leadership. It includes a combination of expert instruction, peer interaction, self-paced video lessons, interactive assessments, live office hours, and hands-on capstone project experience. The program offers flexible learning opportunities for individual learners as well as customized company cohort options.

Developing professionals into strong leaders can have a lasting impact on a company, and the IEEE Professional Development Suite can help make that possible.

“The mini-MBA was a great opportunity to explore other areas of business that I don’t typically encounter,” says graduate Jonathan Bentz, a senior manager at Nvidia. “I have a customer-facing technical role, and the mini-MBA allowed me to get a taste of the full realm of business leadership.”

For more information, see IEEE | Rutgers Online Mini-MBA for Engineers and Technical Professionals.

Training on wireless communications

The Intensive Wireless Communications and the Advanced Topics in Wireless course series are exclusively presented by the IEEE Communications Society.

The Intensive Wireless interactive live course provides training necessary to stay on top of key developments in the dynamic, rapidly evolving communications industry. Designed for those with an engineering background who want to enhance their knowledge of wireless communication technologies, the series is an ideal way to train individual employees or your entire team at once.

The Advanced Topics in Wireless series is for engineers and technical professionals with a working knowledge of wireless who are looking to enhance their skill set. The series dives into recent advancements, applications, and use cases in emerging connectivity.

Participants in the live, online course series develop a comprehensive view of 5G/NR technology, as well as an understanding of the implementation of all the ITU-specified use case categories such as enhanced mobile broadband, mIoT, and ultra-reliable low-latency communication. The series also provides a robust foundation on the network architecture and the evolution of technology, which enables fully open radio access networks.

Learn more about the Advanced Topics in Wireless Course Series by completing this form.

Topics in the eLearning Library

Tailored for professionals, faculty, and students, the IEEE eLearning Library taps into a wealth of expertise from the organization’s global network of more than 450,000 industry and academia members. Courses cover a wide variety of disciplines including artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, cyber and data security, power and energy, telecommunications, and IEEE standards.

You can help foster growth and leadership skills for your organization by offering employees access to hundreds of courses. Start exploring the library by filling out this form.

Completion of course programs offers learners the ability to earn IEEE certificates bearing professional development hours, continuing education units, and digital badges.

Sharlene Brown often accompanied her husband, IEEE Senior Member Damith Wickramanayake, to organization meetings. He has held leadership positions in the IEEE Jamaica Section, in IEEE Region 3, and on the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities board. Both are from Jamaica.

She either waited outside the conference room or helped with tasks such as serving refreshments. Even though her husband encouraged her to sit in on the meetings, she says, she felt uncomfortable doing so because she wasn’t an engineer. Brown is an accountant and human resources professional. Her husband is a computer science professor at the University of Technology, Jamaica, in Kingston. He is currently Region 3’s education activities coordinator and a member of the section’s education and outreach committee for the IEEE Educational Activities Board.

Sharlene Brown

Employer

Maritime Authority of Jamaica, in Kingston

Title

Assistant accountant

Member grade

Senior member

Alma mater

University of Technology, Jamaica, in Kingston; Tsinghua University, in Beijing

After earning her master’s degree in public administration in 2017, Brown says, she felt she finally was qualified to join IEEE, so she applied. Membership is open to individuals who, by education or experience, are competent in different fields including management. She was approved the same year.

“When I joined IEEE, I would spend long hours at night reading various operations manuals and policies because I wanted to know what I was getting into,” she says. “I was always learning. That’s how I got to know a lot of things about the organization.”

Brown is now a senior member and an active IEEE volunteer. She founded the Jamaica Section’s Women in Engineering group; established a student branch; sits on several high-level IEEE boards; and ran several successful recruitment campaigns to increase the number of senior members in Jamaica and throughout Region 3.

Brown was also a member of the subcommittee of the global Women in Engineering committee; she served as membership coordinator and ran several successful senior member campaigns, elevating women on the committee and across IEEE.

Brown also was integral in the promotion and follow-up activities for the One IEEE event held in January at the University of Technology, Jamaica. The first-of-its-kind workshop connected more than 200 participants to each other and to the organization by showcasing Jamaica’s active engineering community. The Jamaica Section has 135 IEEE members.

From factory worker to accountant

Brown grew up in Bog Walk, a rural town in the parish of St. Catherine. Because she had low grades in high school, the only job she was able to get after graduating was as a temporary factory worker at the nearby Nestlé plant. She worked as many shifts as she could to help support her family.

“I didn’t mind working,” she says, “because I was making my mark. Anything I do, I am going to be excellent at, whether it’s cleaning the floor or doing office work.” But she had bigger plans than being a factory worker, she says.

A friend told her about a temporary job overseeing exams at the Jamaican Institute of Management, now part of the University of Technology. Brown worked both jobs for a time until the school hired her full time to do administrative work in its accounting department.

One of the perks of working there was free tuition for employees, and Brown took full advantage. She studied information management and computer applications, Jamaican securities, fraud detection, forensic auditing, and supervisory management, earning an associate degree in business administration in 2007. The school hired her in 2002 as an accountant, and she worked there for five years.

In 2007 she joined the Office of the Prime Minister, in Kingston, initially as an officer handling payments to suppliers. Her hard work and positive attitude got her noticed by other managers, she says. After a month she was tapped by the budget department to become a commitment control officer, responsible for allocating and overseeing funding for four of the country’s ministries.

“What I realized through my volunteer work in IEEE is that you’re never alone. There is always somebody to guide you.”

As a young accountant, she didn’t have hands-on experience with budgeting, but she was a quick learner who produced quality work, she says. She learned the budgeting process by helping her colleagues when her work slowed down and during her lunch breaks.

That knowledge gave her the skills she needed to land her current job as an assistant accountant with the budget and management accounts group in the Maritime Authority of Jamaica accounts department, a position she has held since 2013.

While she was working for the Office of the Prime Minister, Brown continued to further her education. She took night courses at the University of Technology and, in 2012, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She majored in accounting and minored in human resources management.

She secured a full scholarship in 2016 from the Chinese government to study public administration in Beijing at Tsinghua University, earning a master’s degree with distinction in 2017.

Brown says she is now ready to shift to a human resources career. Even though she has been supervising people for more than 17 years, though, she is having a hard time finding an HR position, she says.

Still willing to take on challenges, she is increasing her experience by volunteering with an HR consulting firm in Jamaica. To get more formal training, she is currently working on an HR certification from the Society for Human Resource Management.

Sharlene Brown arranged for the purchase of 350 desk shields for Jamaican schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.Sharlene Brown

Building a vibrant community

After graduating from Tsinghua University, Brown began volunteering for the IEEE Jamaica Section and Region 3.

In 2019 she founded the section’s IEEE Women in Engineering affinity group, which she chaired for three years. She advocated for more women in leadership roles and has run successful campaigns to increase the number of female senior members locally, regionally, and globally across IEEE. She herself was elevated to senior member in 2019.

Brown also got the WIE group more involved in helping the community. One project she is particularly proud of is the purchase of 350 desk shields for Jamaican schools so students could more safely attend classes and examination sessions in person during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brown was inspired to undertake the project when a student explained on a local news program that his family couldn’t afford Internet for their home, so he was unable to attend classes remotely.

“Every time I watched the video clip, I would cry,” she says. “This young man might be the next engineer, the country’s next minister, or the next professional.

“I’m so happy we were able to get funding from Region 3 and a local organization to provide those shields.”

She established an IEEE student branch at the Caribbean Maritime University, in Kingston. The branch had almost 40 students at the time of formation.

Brown is working to form student branches at other Jamaican universities, and she is attempting to establish an IEEE Power & Energy Society chapter in the section.

She is a member of several IEEE committees including the Election Oversight and Tellers. She serves as chair for the region’s Professional Activities Committee.

“What I realized through my volunteer work in IEEE is that you’re never alone,” she says. “There is always somebody to help guide you. If they don’t know something, they will point you to the person who does.

“Also, you’re allowed to make mistakes,” she says. “In some organizations, if you make a mistake, you might lose your job or have to pay for your error. But IEEE is your professional home, where you learn, grow, and make mistakes.”

On some of the IEEE committees where she serves, she is the only woman of color, but she says she has not faced any discrimination—only respect.

“I feel comfortable and appreciated by the people and the communities I work with,” she says. “That motivates me to continue to do well and to touch lives positively. That’s what makes me so active in serving in IEEE: You’re appreciated and rewarded for your hard work.”

This article is part of our exclusive career advice series in partnership with the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society.

With technological advancement and changing societal expectations, the concept of work-life balance has become an elusive goal for many, particularly within the engineering community. The drive to remain continuously engaged with work, the pressure to achieve perfection, and the challenge of juggling work and personal responsibilities have created a landscape where professional and personal spheres are in constant negotiation.

This article covers several factors that can disrupt work-life balance, with recommendations on how to address them.

The myth of urgency

In an era dominated by instant communication via email and text messages, the expectation to respond quickly has led to an illusion of urgency. The perpetual state of constant alertness blurs the distinction between what’s urgent and what isn’t.

Recognizing that not every email message warrants an immediate response is the first step in deciding what’s important. By prioritizing responses based on actual importance, individuals can reclaim control over their time, reduce stress, and foster a more manageable workload.

Throughout my career, I have found that setting specific times to check and respond to email helps avoid distractions throughout the day. There are programs that prioritize email and classify tasks based on its urgency and importance.

Another suggestion is to unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters and set up filters that move unwanted email to a specific folder or the trash before it reaches your inbox.

Cutting back the endless workday

Today’s work environment, characterized by remote access and flexible hours, has extended the workday beyond a set schedule and has encroached on personal time. The situation is particularly prevalent among engineers committed to solving complex problems, leading to a scenario where work is a constant companion—which leaves little room for personal pursuits or time with family.

A balanced life is healthier and more sustainable, and it enriches the quality of our work and our relationships with those we love.

Establishing clear boundaries between work and personal time is essential. One way to do so is to communicate clear working hours to your manager, coworkers, and clients. You can use tools such as email autoresponders and do-not-disturb modes to reinforce your boundaries.

It’s important to recognize that work, while integral, is only one aspect of life.

The quest for perfectionism

The pursuit of perfection is a common trap for many professionals, leading to endless revisions and dissatisfaction with one’s work. The quest not only wastes an inordinate amount of time. It also detracts from the quality of life.

Embracing the philosophy that “it doesn’t have to be perfect” can liberate individuals from the trap. By aiming for excellence rather than perfection, one can achieve high standards of work while also making time for personal growth and happiness.

To help adopt such a mindset, practice setting realistic standards for different tasks by asking yourself what level of quality is truly necessary for each. Allocating a fixed amount of time to specific tasks can help prevent endless tweaking.

The necessity of exercise

Physical activity often takes a back seat to busy schedules and is often viewed as negotiable or secondary to work and family responsibilities. Exercise, however, is a critical component for maintaining mental and physical health. Integrating regular physical activity into one’s routine is not just beneficial; it’s essential for maintaining balance and enhancing your quality of life.

One way to ensure you are taking care of your health is to schedule exercise as a nonnegotiable activity in your calendar, similar to important meetings or activities. Also consider integrating physical activity into your daily routine, such as riding a bicycle to work, walking to meetings, and taking short strolls around your office building. If you work from home, take a walk around your neighborhood.

Sleep boosts productivity

Contrary to the glorification of overwork and sleep deprivation in some professional circles, sleep is a paramount factor in maintaining high levels of productivity and creativity. Numerous studies have shown that adequate sleep—seven to nine hours for most adults—enhances cognitive functions, problem-solving skills, and memory retention.

For engineers and others in professions where innovation and precision are paramount, neglecting sleep can diminish the quality of work and the capacity for critical thinking.

Sleep deprivation has been linked to a variety of health issues including increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stress-related conditions.

Prioritizing sleep is not a luxury but a necessity for those aiming to excel in their career while also enjoying a fulfilling personal life.

Begin your bedtime routine at the same time each night to cue your body that it’s time to wind down. For a smooth transition to sleep, try adjusting lighting, reducing noise, and engaging in relaxing activities such as reading or listening to calm music.

Relaxation is the counterbalance to stress

Relaxation is crucial for counteracting the effects of stress and preventing burnout. Techniques such as meditation, deep-breathing exercises, yoga, and engaging in leisure activities that bring joy can significantly reduce stress levels, thereby enhancing emotional equilibrium and resilience.

Spending time with friends and family is another effective relaxation strategy. Social interactions with loved ones can provide emotional support, happiness, and a sense of belonging, all of which are essential for limiting stress and promoting mental health. The social connections help build a support network that can serve as a buffer against life’s challenges, providing a sense of stability and comfort.

Allow yourself to recharge and foster a sense of fulfillment by allocating time each week to pursue interests that enrich your life. Also consider incorporating relaxation techniques in your daily routine, such as mindfulness meditation or short walks outdoors.

Guarding time and energy

In the quest for balance, learning to say no and ruthlessly eliminating activities that do not add value are invaluable skills. Make conscious choices about how to spend your time and energy, focusing on activities that align with personal and professional priorities. By doing so, individuals can protect their time, reduce stress, and dedicate themselves more fully to meaningful pursuits.

Practice assertiveness in communicating your capacity and boundaries to others. When asked to take on an additional task, it’s important to consider the impact on your current priorities. Don’t hesitate to decline politely if the new task doesn’t align.

Challenges for women

When discussing work-life balance, it’s essential to acknowledge the specific challenges faced by women, particularly in engineering. They are often expected to manage household duties, childcare, and their professional responsibilities while also supporting their partner’s career goals.

It can be especially challenging for women who strive to meet high standards at work and home. Recognizing and addressing their challenges is crucial in fostering an environment that supports balance for everyone.

One way to do that is to have open discussions with employers about the challenges and the support needed in the workplace and at home. Advocating for company policies that support work-life balance, such as a flexible work schedule and parental leave, is important.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance in the engineering profession—and indeed in any high-pressure field—is an ongoing process that requires self-awareness, clear priorities, and the courage to set boundaries.

It involves a collective effort by employers and workers to recognize the value of balance and to create a culture that supports it.

By acknowledging the illusion of constant urgency, understanding our limitations, and addressing the particular challenges faced by women, we can move toward a future where professional success and personal fulfillment are mutually reinforcing.

A balanced life is healthier and more sustainable, and it enriches the quality of our work and our relationships with those we love.

Schoolchildren around the world are told that they have the potential to be great, often with the cheery phrase: “The sky’s the limit!”

Gladys West took those words literally.

While working for four decades as a mathematician and computer programmer at the U.S. Naval Proving Ground (now the Naval Surface Warfare Center) in Dahlgren, Va., she prepared the way for a satellite constellation in the sky that became an indispensable part of modern life: the Global Positioning System, or GPS.

The second Black woman to ever work at the proving ground, West led a group of analysts who used satellite sensor data to calculate the shape of the Earth and the orbital routes around it. Her meticulous calculations and programming work established the flight paths now used by GPS satellites, setting the stage for navigation and positioning systems on which the world has come to rely.

For decades, West’s contributions went unacknowledged. But she has begun receiving overdue recognition. In 2018 she was inducted into the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame. In 2021 the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences presented her its Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, while the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering gave her the Prince Philip Medal, the organization’s highest individual honor.

West was presented the 2024 IEEE President’s Award for “mathematical modeling and development of satellite geodesy models that played a pivotal role in the development of the Global Positioning System.” The award is sponsored by IEEE.

How the “hidden figure” overcame barriers

West’s path to becoming a technology professional and an IEEE honoree was an unlikely one. Born in 1930 in Sutherland, Va., she grew up working on her family’s farm. To supplement the family’s income, her mother worked at a tobacco factory and her father was employed by a railroad company.

Physical toil in the hot sun from daybreak until sundown with paltry financial returns, West says, made her determined to do something other than farming.

Every day when she ventured into the fields to sow or harvest crops with her family, her thoughts were on the little red schoolhouse beyond the edge of the farm. She recalls gladly making the nearly 5-kilometer trek from her house, through the woods and over streams, to reach the one-room school.

She knew that postsecondary education was her ticket out of farm life, so throughout her school years she made sure she was a standout student and a model of focus and perseverance.

Her parents couldn’t afford to pay for her college education, but as valedictorian of her high school class, she earned a full-tuition scholarship from the state of Virginia. Money she earned as a babysitter paid for her room and board.

West decided to pursue a degree in mathematics at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), a historically Black school in Petersburg.

At the time, the field was dominated by men. She earned a bachelor’s degree in the subject in 1952 and became a schoolteacher in Waverly, Va. After two years in the classroom, she returned to Virginia State to pursue a master’s degree in mathematics, which she earned in 1955.

Gladys West at her desk, meticulously crunching numbers manually in the era before computers took over such tasks.Gladys West

Setting the groundwork for GPS

West began her career at the Naval Proving Ground in early 1956. She was hired as a mathematician, joining a cadre of workers who used linear algebra, calculus, and other methods to manually solve complex problems such as differential equations. Their mathematical wizardry was used to handle trajectory analysis for ships and aircraft as well as other applications.

She was one of four Black employees at the facility, she says, adding that her determination to prove the capability of Black professionals drove her to excel.

As computers were introduced into the Navy’s operations in the 1960s, West became proficient in Fortran IV. The programming language enabled her to use the IBM 7030—the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time—to process data at an unprecedented rate.

Because of her expertise in mathematics and computer science, she was appointed director of projects that extracted valuable insights from satellite data gathered during NASA missions. West and her colleagues used the data to create ever more accurate models of the geoid—the shape of the Earth—factoring in gravitational fields and the planet’s rotation.

One such mission was Seasat, which lasted from June to October 1978. Seasat was launched into orbit to test oceanographic sensors and gain a better understanding of Earth’s seas using the first space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system, which enabled the first remote sensing of the Earth’s oceans.

SAR can acquire high-resolution images at night and can penetrate through clouds and rain. Seasat captured many valuable 2D and 3D images before a malfunction caused the satellite to be taken down.

Enough data was collected from Seasat for West’s team to refine existing geodetic models to better account for gravity and magnetic forces. The models were important for precisely mapping the Earth’s topography, determining the orbital routes that would later be used by GPS satellites, as well as documenting the spatial relationships that now let GPS determine exactly where a receiver is.

In 1986 she published the “Data Processing System Specifications for the GEOSAT Satellite Radar Altimeter” technical report. It contained new calculations that could make her geodetic models more accurate. The calculations were made possible by data from the radio altimeter on the GEOSAT, a Navy satellite that went into orbit in March 1985.

West’s career at Dahlgren lasted 42 years. By the time she retired in 1998, all 24 satellites in the GPS constellation had been launched to help the world keep time and handle navigation. But her role was largely unknown.

A model of perseverance

Neither an early bout of imposter syndrome nor the racial tensions that were an everyday element of her work life during the height of the Civil Rights Movement were able to knock her off course, West says.

In the early 1970s, she decided that her career advancement was not proceeding as smoothly as she thought it should, so she decided to go to graduate school part time for another degree. She considered pursuing a doctorate in mathematics but realized, “I already had all the technical credentials I would ever need for my work for the Navy.” Instead, to solidify her skills as a manager, she earned a master’s degree in 1973 in public administration from the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

After retiring from the Navy, she earned a doctorate in public administration in 2000 from Virginia Tech. Although she was recovering from a stroke at the time that affected her physical abilities, she still had the same drive to pursue an education that had once kept her focused on a little red schoolhouse.

A formidable legacy

West’s contributions have had a lasting impact on the fields of mathematics, geodesy, and computer science. Her pioneering efforts in a predominantly male and racially segregated environment set a precedent for future generations of female and minority scientists.

West says her life and career are testaments to the power of perseverance, skill, and dedication—or “stick-to-it-iveness,” to use her parlance. Her story continues to inspire people who strive to push boundaries. She has shown that the sky is indeed not the limit but just the beginning.

The Large Hadron Collider has transformed our understanding of physics since it began operating in 2008, enabling researchers to investigate the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Some 100 meters below the border between France and Switzerland, particles accelerate along the LHC’s 27-kilometer circumference, nearly reaching the speed of light before smashing together.

The LHC is often described as the biggest machine ever built. And while the physicists who carry out experiments at the facility tend to garner most of the attention, it takes hundreds of engineers and technicians to keep the LHC running. One such engineer is Irene Degl’Innocenti, who works in digital electronics at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which operates the LHC. As a member of CERN’s beam instrumentation group, Degl’Innocenti creates custom electronics that measure the position of the particle beams as they travel.

Irene Degl’Innocenti

Employer:

CERN

Occupation:

Digital electronics engineer

Education:

Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering; Ph.D. in electrical, electronics, and communications engineering, University of Pisa, in Italy

“It’s a huge machine that does very challenging things, so the amount of expertise needed is vast,” Degl’Innocenti says.

The electronics she works on make up only a tiny part of the overall operation, something Degl’Innocenti is keenly aware of when she descends into the LHC’s cavernous tunnels to install or test her equipment. But she gets great satisfaction from working on such an important endeavor.

“You’re part of something that is very huge,” she says. “You feel part of this big community trying to understand what is actually going on in the universe, and that is very fascinating.”

Opportunities to Work in High-energy Physics

Growing up in Italy, Degl’Innocenti wanted to be a novelist. Throughout high school she leaned toward the humanities, but she had a natural affinity for math, thanks in part to her mother, who is a science teacher.

“I’m a very analytical person, and that has always been part of my mind-set, but I just didn’t find math charming when I was little,” Degl’Innocenti says. “It took a while to realize the opportunities it could open up.”

She started exploring electronics around age 17 because it seemed like the most direct way to translate her logical, mathematical way of thinking into a career. In 2011, she enrolled in the University of Pisa, in Italy, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2014 and staying on to earn a master’s degree in the same subject.

At the time, Degl’Innocenti had no idea there were opportunities for engineers to work in high-energy physics. But she learned that a fellow student had attended a summer internship at Fermilab, the participle physics and accelerator laboratory in Batavia, Ill. So she applied for and won an internship there in 2015. Since Fermilab and CERN closely collaborate, she was able to help design a data-processing board for LHC’s Compact Muon Solenoid experiment.

Next she looked for an internship closer to home and discovered CERN’s technical student program, which allows students to work on a project over the course of a year. Working in the beam-instrumentation group, Degl’Innocenti designed a digital-acquisition system that became the basis for her master’s thesis.

Measuring the Position of Particle Beams

After receiving her master’s in 2017, Degl’Innocenti went on to pursue a Ph.D., also at the University of Pisa. She conducted her research at CERN’s beam-position section, which builds equipment to measure the position of particle beams within CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC has roughly 1,000 monitors spaced around the accelerator ring. Each monitor typically consists of two pairs of sensors positioned on opposite sides of the accelerator pipe, and it is possible to measure the beam’s horizontal and vertical positions by comparing the strength of the signal at each sensor.

The underlying concept is simple, Degl’Innocenti says, but these measurements must be precise. Bunches of particles pass through the monitors every 25 nanoseconds, and their position must be tracked to within 50 micrometers.

“We start developing a system years in advance, and then it has to work for a couple of decades.”

Most of the signal processing is normally done in analog, but during her Ph.D., she focused on shifting as much of this work as possible to the digital domain because analog circuits are finicky, she says. They need to be precisely calibrated, and their accuracy tends to drift over time or when temperatures fluctuate.

“It’s complex to maintain,” she says. “It becomes particularly tricky when you have 1,000 monitors, and they are located in an accelerator 100 meters underground.”

Information is lost when analog is converted to digital, however, so Degl’Innocenti analyzed the performance of the latest analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and investigated their effect on position measurements.

Designing Beam-Monitor Electronics

After completing her Ph.D. in electrical, electronics, and communications engineering in 2021, Degl’Innocenti joined CERN as a senior postdoctoral fellow. Two years later, she became a full-time employee there, applying the results of her research to developing new hardware. She’s currently designing a new beam-position monitor for the High-Luminosity upgrade to the LHC, expected to be completed in 2028. This new system will likely use a system-on-chip to house most of the electronics, including several ADCs and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) that Degl’Innocenti will program to run a new digital signal-processing algorithm.

She’s part of a team of just 15 who handle design, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of CERN’s beam-position monitors. So she works closely with the engineers who design sensors and software for those instruments and the physicists who operate the accelerator and set the instruments’ requirements.

“We start developing a system years in advance, and then it has to work for a couple of decades,” Degl’Innocenti says.

Opportunities in High-Energy Physics

High-energy physics has a variety of interesting opportunities for engineers, Degl’Innocenti says, including high-precision electronics, vacuum systems, and cryogenics.

“The machines are very large and very complex, but we are looking at very small things,” she says. “There are a lot of big numbers involved both at the large scale and also when it comes to precision on the small scale.”

FPGA design skills are in high demand at all kinds of research facilities, and embedded systems are also becoming more important, Degl’Innocenti says. The key is keeping an open mind about where to apply your engineering knowledge, she says. She never thought there would be opportunities for people with her skill set at CERN.

“Always check what technologies are being used,” she advises. “Don’t limit yourself by assuming that working somewhere would not be possible.”

This article appears in the August 2024 print issue as “Irene Degl’Innocenti.”

Since its launch in 2019, the IEEE Learning Network (ILN) has been instrumental in advancing professional development through its diverse array of courses and programs. From specialized technical training to broader skill development, ILN online courses cater to professionals at every stage of their career and equip them with tools they need to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving landscape.

ILN is also achieving its original goal of becoming a one stop shop for education from across IEEE. Now more than 40 organizational units of IEEE have listed over 1,400 educational opportunities in ILN that provide practical knowledge from, covering artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, renewable energy, career development, and many more topics.

About 322,000 learners from more than 190 countries have completed ILN courses, with 83 percent saying in a satisfaction survey that they would recommend the program to their peers.

“The ILN is the go-to location for high-quality e-learning content to stay abreast with the latest topics in engineering and technology.” —Jason K. Hui

Many courses also allow users to earn digital certificates and badges bearing continuing-education units (CEUs) and professional development hours (PDHs). More than 65,000 digital certificates have been issued.

Testimonials from the community

“The introduction of ILN and the single platform of educational products by IEEE Educational Activities a few years ago was a hugely welcomed initiative for many in the industry and academia,” says Babak Beheshti, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences at New York Institute of Technology. “ILN provides a one-stop shop for the technical educational product search. My university engaged in a pilot to use several e-learning modules available on the ILN in several undergraduate and graduate engineering courses. The outcome was so positive that we purchased it.”

“The ILN’s centralized and comprehensive catalog has enabled me to stay updated on the latest computer hardware and software technologies,” says IEEE Fellow Sorel Reisman, professor emeritus of information systems at California State University, Fullerton. “The availability of digital certificates upon course completion and the ability to earn CEUs and PDHs is particularly valuable to technology practitioners, and reinforces IEEE’s commitment to ongoing personal and professional development for both members and nonmembers of our international community of engineers and computer scientists.”

“For me, the ILN is the go-to location for high-quality e-learning content to stay abreast with the latest topics in engineering and technology,” says Jason K. Hui, senior manager of engineering at Textron Systems in Wilmington, Mass.

Discount available now

In celebration of its five-year anniversary, during the month of July, ILN is offering US $5 off of select courses with the discount code ILN5.

You can follow ILN on Facebook and LinkedIn to engage with others, share insights, and expand your professional network.

To stay updated on courses, events, and more, sign up for ILN’s free weekly newsletter.

The IEEE Board of Directors shapes the future direction of IEEE and is committed to ensuring IEEE remains a strong and vibrant organization—serving the needs of its members and the engineering and technology community worldwide—while fulfilling the IEEE mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

This article features IEEE Board of Directors members Deepak Mathur, Saifur Rahman, and Aylin Yener.

IEEE Senior Member Deepak Mathur

Vice President, Member and Geographic Activities

Jaideep

Mathur has nearly 40 years of professional experience in electronics and telecommunications at India’s premier public sector oil and gas company, engaged in the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons. During his tenure, most recently as chief general manager, he successfully led multidisciplinary teams through significant IT and communications projects. These include supervisory control and data acquisition, online and real-time monitoring systems, WiMax-based broadband wireless access systems, and GPS/GSM-based vehicle tracking systems. Mathur also has experience managing and working on high-tech oil well logging systems, which analyze the properties of the subsurface to explore the possibility of hydrocarbons.

Mathur has served in many IEEE leadership roles at the region, section, council, and global levels. A member of the IEEE Industry Applications Society, the IEEE Signal Processing Society and the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, he was the director of IEEE Region 10 (Asia and Pacific), a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (2013–2015), and chair of the IEEE India Council (2015–2016). In his current role with IEEE Member and Geographic Activities, Mathur focuses on supporting IEEE members, as well as developing IEEE membership recruitment and retention strategies.

Mathur is a member of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society. Throughout his IEEE journey, he has received several prestigious recognitions, including the Region 10 Outstanding Volunteer Award, the MGA Achievement Award, and the India Council Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mathur is currently a professor of practice and a member of the academic council at Marwadi University, in Rajkot, India.

IEEE Life Fellow Saifur Rahman

2023 IEEE President

Chelsea Seeber

Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute and the Center for Energy and the Global Environment at Virginia Tech, where he researches renewable energy, sensor integration, smart grids, and smart cities. His work promotes clean-tech solutions for climate sustainability, and his six-point solution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the electric power sector is being implemented in varying degrees in more than 100 countries.

A prolific lecturer, Rahman has made more than 850 presentations at conferences and invited speaking engagements in more than 30 countries. His visionary and innovative leadership approaches and strategies have earned him global recognition. In 2020, he spoke at five different webinars in five countries on four continents in one day.

As the 2023 IEEE president, his main priorities were to position the organization as a force for change and to make it more relevant to technology professionals worldwide. Rahman feels that IEEE, as the world’s largest organization of technical professionals, has both the opportunity and the responsibility to address the causes of, mitigate the impact of, and adapt to climate change. His forward-thinking strategies led to the creation of the IEEE Climate Change website and helped foster collaboration among technology and engineering professionals, policymakers, and other organizations to foster a dialogue on sustainable energy policies and practices. Previously, Rahman served as the vice president of IEEE Publication Services and Products (2006) and president of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (2018 and 2019).

Rahman has published more than 160 journal papers with over 20,000 citations. He is the founding editor in chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. He has also received several IEEE recognitions, including the Power & Energy Society Service Award, PES Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, Technical Activities Board Hall of Honor, and IEEE Millennium Medal.

IEEE Fellow Aylin Yener

Director, Division IX

Aylin Yener

Yener, an endowed chair professor at The Ohio State University College of Engineering, aims to connect the universe and everyone and everything in it by designing systems that ensure secure and reliable information transfer in a sustainable manner. Her work in communications, information theory, and artificial intelligence covers a wide range of system design topics, from network optimization to security and privacy of information to robust and safe machine-learning algorithms in networked settings.

Of particular interest to Yener is next-generation wireless communication and how to create an energy-neutral digital society. She also works to ensure digital connectivity for underserved populations and creating fair and private AI algorithms to aid human ingenuity.

Yener has been an active IEEE volunteer for more than two decades, with experience in membership, finances, publications, conferences, and outreach. She has served as president of the IEEE Information Theory Society(2020) and is an active member of the IEEE Signal Processing, IEEE Communications, and IEEE Vehicular Technology societies. As director of Division IX, she advocates for deeper cooperation among societies by sharing best practices and facilitating the cross-pollination of ideas.

Yener has been an IEEE distinguished lecturer and is currently the editor in chief of IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking. She has delivered more than 60 technical keynotes and invited lectures in the past 10 years. Yener is committed to a broader educational impact, having cofounded the IEEE North American School of Information Theory, which offers graduate students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to learn from leading experts. Yener’s IEEE recognitions include the Marconi Prize Paper Award, Communication Theory Technical Achievement Award, and Women in Communications Engineering Outstanding Achievement Award. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Science Academy of Turkey.

When it comes to motorsports, the need for speed isn’t only on the racetrack. Engineers who support race teams also need to work at a breakneck pace to fix problems, and that’s something Aakhilesh Singhania relishes.

Singhania is a senior applications engineer at Bosch Engineering, in Novi, Mich. He develops and supports electronic control systems for hybrid race cars, which feature combustion engines and battery-powered electric motors.

Aakhilesh Singhania

Employer:

Bosch Engineering

Occupation:

Senior applications engineer

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, India; master’s degree in automotive engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

His vehicles compete in two iconic endurance races: the Rolex 24 at Daytona in Daytona Beach, Fla., and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. He splits his time between refining the underlying technology and providing trackside support on competition day. Given the relentless pace of the racing calendar and the intense time pressure when cars are on the track, the job is high octane. But Singhania says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve done jobs where the work gets repetitive and mundane,” he says. “Here, I’m constantly challenged. Every second counts, and you have to be very quick at making decisions.”

An Early Interest in Motorsports

Growing up in Kolkata, India, Singhania picked up a fascination with automobiles from his father, a car enthusiast.

In 2010, when Singhania began his mechanical engineering studies at India’s Manipal Institute of Technology, he got involved in the Formula Student program, an international engineering competition that challenges teams of university students to design, build, and drive a small race car. The cars typically weigh less than 250 kilograms and can have an engine no larger than 710 cubic centimeters.

“It really hooked me,” he says. “I devoted a lot of my spare time to the program, and the experience really motivated me to dive further into motorsports.”

One incident in particular shaped Singhania’s career trajectory. In 2013, he was leading Manipal’s Formula Student team and was one of the drivers for a competition in Germany. When he tried to start the vehicle, smoke poured out of the battery, and the team had to pull out of the race.

“I asked myself what I could have done differently,” he says. “It was my lack of knowledge of the electrical system of the car that was the problem.” So, he decided to get more experience and education.

Learning About Automotive Electronics

After graduating in 2014, Singhania began working on engine development for Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors in Pune. In 2016, determined to fill the gaps in his knowledge about automotive electronics, he left India to begin a master’s degree program in automotive engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He took courses in battery management, hybrid controls, and control-system theory, parlaying this background into an internship with Bosch in 2017. After graduation in 2018, he joined Bosch full-time as a calibration engineer, developing technology for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Transitioning into motorsports required perseverance, Singhania says. He became friendly with the Bosch team that worked on electronics for race cars. Then in 2020 he got his big break.

That year, the U.S.-based International Motor Sports Association and the France-based Automobile Club de l’Ouest created standardized rules to allow the same hybrid race cars to compete in both the Sportscar Championship in North America, host of the famous Daytona race, and the global World Endurance Championship, host of Le Mans.

The Bosch motorsports team began preparing a proposal to provide the standardized hybrid system. Singhania, whose job already included creating simulations of how vehicles could be electrified, volunteered to help.

“I’m constantly challenged. Every second counts, and you have to be very quick at making decisions.”

The competition organizers selected Bosch as lead developer of the hybrid system that would be provided to all teams. Bosch engineers would also be required to test the hardware they supplied to each team to ensure none had an advantage.

“The performance of all our parts in all the cars has to fall within 1 percent of each other,” Singhania says.

After Bosch won the contract, Singhania officially became a motorsports calibration engineer, responsible for tweaking the software to fit the idiosyncrasies of each vehicle.

In 2022 he stepped up to his current role: developing software for the hybrid control unit (HCU), which is essentially the brains of the vehicle. The HCU helps coordinate all of the different subsystems such as the engine, battery, and electric motor and is responsible for balancing power requirements among these different components to maximize performance and lifetime.

Bosch’s engineers also designed software known as an equity model, which runs on the HCU. It is based on historical data collected from the operation of the hybrid systems’ various components, and controls their performance in real time to ensure all the teams’ hardware operates at the same level.

In addition, Singhania creates simulations of the race cars, which are used to better understand how the different components interact and how altering their configuration would affect performance.

Troubleshooting Problems on Race Day

Technology development is only part of Singhania’s job. On race days, he works as a support engineer, helping troubleshoot problems with the hybrid system as they crop up. Singhania and his colleagues monitor each team’s hardware using computers on Bosch’s race-day trailer, a mobile nerve center hardwired to the organizers’ control center on the race track.

“We are continuously looking at all the telemetry data coming from the hybrid system and analyzing [the system’s] health and performance,” he says.

If the Bosch engineers spot an issue or a team notifies them of a problem, they rush to the pit stall to retrieve a USB stick from the vehicle, which contains detailed data to help them diagnose and fix the issue.

After the race, the Bosch engineers analyze the telemetry data to identify ways to boost the standardized hybrid system’s performance for all the teams. In motorsports, where the difference between winning and losing can come down to fractions of a second, that kind of continual improvement is crucial.

Customers “put lots of money into this program, and they are there to win,” Singhania says.

Breaking Into Motorsports Engineering

Many engineers dream about working in the fast-paced and exciting world of motorsports, but it’s not easy breaking in. The biggest lesson Singhania learned is that if you don’t ask, you don’t get invited.

“Keep pursuing them because nobody’s going to come to you with an offer,” he says. “You have to keep talking to people and be ready when the opportunity presents itself.”

Demonstrating that you have experience contributing to challenging projects is a big help. Many of the engineers Bosch hires have been involved in Formula Student or similar automotive-engineering programs, such as the EcoCAR EV Challenge, says Singhania.

The job isn’t for everyone, though, he says. It’s demanding and requires a lot of travel and working on weekends during race season. But if you thrive under pressure and have a knack for problem solving, there are few more exciting careers.

This article appears in the July 2024 print issue as “Aakhilesh Singhania.”