IEEE Celebrates Engineering Pioneers and Emerging Technologies
The IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit and Honors Ceremony showcases emerging technologies and celebrates engineering pioneers who laid the groundwork for many of today’s electronic devices.
Read The Institute’s article highlighting the event
Check out videos of the IEEE VIC Summit and Honors Ceremony
Selected Photos from the IEEE Honors Ceremony
Two perspectives on the IEEE Honors Ceremony from IEEE Life Members:
From Maxine Cohen:
On 5 May 2023, the IEEE held its Honors Ceremony. The Ceremony is done in conjunction with the VICS (Vision, Innovation, and Challenges) Summit. The venue this year was in Atlanta, Georgia. There was a reception the night before the Ceremony at the Georgia Aquarium. It was a beautiful facility, and several of the attendees had the opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour.
Vinton Cerf was the Medal of Honor Recipient. During the program, he participated in a “Fireside” chat moderated by Katie Hafner. It was a very interesting and engaging dialogue. They obviously knew each other, but attendees got to know them both better.
A total of 26 awards were presented at the Honors Ceremony, including the James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal (sponsored by Life Members Committee, along with MathWorks and Lockheed Martin). This year the award went to Dr. James Joseph Truchard. He developed an application called Lab View which changed engineering education.
There were several panel sessions as well as some speakers. The panel sessions, including one about Artificial Intelligence and Chat GPT, were quite interesting. There was a nice flow with the moderator between sessions. In addition, there was a series of poster sessions hosted by students from Georgia Tech showcasing their research. The Honors Ceremony recognizes some of the top talent in the Engineering and Technical Communities. It can be viewed as the Oscars for Engineering.
From Michael Andrews:
Imagine a conversation that begins with…
I know the man who co-created the Internet and had the opportunity to talk with him about his next big project, the Interstellar Internet. We also regularly exchange ideas about involving young professionals and university students in IEEE and innovation. I love the fact that he plans to join us again at the Rising Stars Conference.
Or that I had a great conversation with the man who, for a lifetime, wanted robots to be thought of as friendly helpers in your home versus the menace to humans that movies often betray them…then launched iRobot and introduced to the Roomba.
Or talking with a friend who just completed ear surgery. That surgery involved a cochlear implant giving her the ability to hear. Imagine having a conversation with the husband and wife team responsible for creating that technology and procedure.
Or watching TV or looking at your electronic airline ticket and seeing, but not really paying attention to, the QR code. The Awards Ceremony allowed me to talk with the company president responsible for creating the QR code. While the original application may have been in manufacturing, imagine the number of QR code applications we see daily.
Or spending the day with the co-creator of a design tool that many of us use daily, LabVIEW, and talking about his interests in Alzheimer’s research.
The IEEE Awards Ceremony is an opportunity to reflect on the products, imagination, visionaries, and IEEE members who impact the people around us.
IEEE members quietly “do their job” and ultimately move the world’s needle. We are individuals who make a global difference. Meeting award winners, then having conversations with non-technical people at home about some of the products, services, and systems that IEEE members for which we are responsible…and that we could reach out to these innovators as fellow members of IEEE, is impressive.
