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THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-1

president's column
IEEE: A Global Organization
Our commitment to serving our worldwide community
I WOULD LIKE to update you on
the progress reported at the June
IEEE Board Series by several ad hoc
committees, as well as IEEE’s handling
of export control restrictions.
REACHING NEW AUDIENCES
As I mentioned in an earlier column,
under the direction of the IEEE Board
of Directors, an ad hoc committee
is considering new ways for IEEE to
engage with the millions of professionals
across our areas of interest. These areas
cover the spectrum, from electrical and
electronic engineering and computer
engineering to computer science, robot-
ics and artificial intelligence, biomedical
engineering, and information and com-
munication technologies, among others.
The committee is exploring different
concepts for how to engage with a
significantly expanded audience, new
membership models, and new mem-
ber personas. The committee is also
considering what type of infrastructure
is needed, as well as product offerings
and revenue models to support an
expansion of IEEE’s reach.
The committee is also making
significant progress on issues such as
how IEEE can better engage and be
relevant to technologists given their
broad diversity of technical, geographic,
professional, social, and other interests
across the various stages of their career.
At the June IEEE Board meeting, the
committee received strong feedback on
its ideas from several hundred volunteer
leaders and the Board. In addition to
debating ways to increase the value
and relevance of IEEE to professionals,
there was excellent discussion on the
question of which technology was best
suited to reach such a large group. The
committee recognizes that it needs to
TI-2 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE
go beyond Web-based solutions and use
mobile applications that provide access
to services and products anytime and
anywhere. The committee will continue
its hard work and deliver recommenda-
tions at the Board’s November meeting.
A MORE TRANSPARENT AND
INCLUSIVE ORGANIZATION
The Board also received updates on
the progress of several other ad hoc
committees focused on identifying
ways to make IEEE a more transparent,
diverse, and inclusive organization.
The ad hoc committee on diversity,
inclusion, and professional ethics is
working to define, collect, and track
diversity metrics on age, gender,
geography, race, ethnicity, and work
sector across all IEEE organizational
units. The committee intends to
produce an annual report on diversity
that will highlight IEEE’s efforts and
progress. It is also working on a
website that will include metrics, best
practices, and educational materials
on diversity and inclusion.
The committee is also looking at
IEEE’s professional ethics programs.
One of its proposals is to merge the
existing codes into a single code of
ethics with two high-level principles.
Another proposal is to overhaul the
IEEE ethics processes to be more
responsive to complaints and protect
the rights and responsibilities of all
involved. I call attention to the article in
this issue on pages TI-8 and 9 about the
ad hoc committee’s formation and plans,
and the results of the IEEE Women in
Tech survey on page TI-10, which pro-
vides some sobering statistics.
A second Board-appointed ad
hoc committee is exploring ways to
improve IEEE’s financial transparency.
This entails changing how we record
financial transactions at the appro-
priate level of granularity, leverage
project-based accounting and service
cost centers, and plan to move charges
for overhead expenses to be direct
costs. These efforts will help improve
the foundational structures underlying
IEEE’s financial systems and prepare us
to meet our changing needs. The good
news is that the focus on budgets has
produced a noteworthy turnaround.
Our operations have gone from signifi-
cantly negative budgets to a healthy
operational surplus.
At the November Board meeting,
we expect to act on the committees’
important recommendations.
MEETING EXPECTATIONS ABOUT
IEEE’S GLOBAL NATURE
Our global membership is the heart
of IEEE, and I value our commitment
COVER: L-DOPA; THIS PAGE: CARNEGIE MELLON
and contributions to the profession. In
more than 160 countries around the
world, IEEE members see each other
as part of an international professional
community, and I am committed to
ensuring this endures.
We are required to comply with legal
obligations in the countries where IEEE
operates, and we are committed to

doing so in a way that is consistent
with our international focus. This
commitment is becoming increas-
ingly important at a time when IEEE
must emphasize its apolitical, global,
and technically focused mission.
As I noted in my email to mem-
bers in early June, IEEE recently
found itself reacting to regulatory
actions in the United States. In
mid-May, the U.S. Department of
Commerce imposed export controls
on Huawei and 68 of its affiliate com-
panies, naming them on its “entity
list,” effectively barring U.S. firms
from selling technology to those com-
panies without government approval.
Several days after the export con-
trols were imposed, the Commerce
Department announced further
licensing rules regarding interac-
tions with Huawei and its affiliates;
one rule explicitly identified IEEE
by name. We had to react quickly
to these actions to provide guid-
ance to IEEE volunteers because of
the significant penalties that would
be imposed for violations.
In guidance provided to members,
we noted that almost all activities
conducted by IEEE (such as holding
meetings and conferences, receiv-
ing and publishing articles in IEEE
journals, participating in standards
development, and organizing educa-
tional activities) were not impacted
by the sanctions and were open to
all, including the companies and
their employees on the entity list.
The only exception was the
potential legal risk under U.S. export
law of our peer-review process of
transferring confidential (unpub-
lished) manuscripts to a small
number of Huawei employees.
Our guidelines asked IEEE volun-
teers to refrain temporarily from
involving Huawei’s employees in the
confidential peer-review process while
RANDI KLETT
we continued to seek interpretation
and clarification of the regulations
from the U.S. government—which we
received on 31 May. We immediately
reissued guidance, lifting all
restrictions on the peer-review and
editorial processes.
During that time, posts on social
media—including some picked up
by the news media—stated that
IEEE had imposed a total ban
on employees of Huawei and that
we were taking actions contrary
to the interests of our members in
China. That was never the case and
not our intent. I am aware that many
IEEE members were upset to see their
organization discussed negatively. I
apologize for any miscommunication
that may have occurred and for the
concerns raised.
My June email was an attempt to
set the record straight: that IEEE
took the action purely to protect
our members and the institute from
legal risk. We worked quickly to get
clarity from the U.S. government
and to eliminate even temporary
restrictions. We value the support
and contributions of all our mem-
bers around the world.
IEEE remains committed to serv-
ing our global membership by
building a community of techni-
cal professionals, supporting the
development and dissemination of
research, and advancing humanity
through our work.
We are an international organiza-
tion with global reach. IEEE seeks to
ensure that voices from across our
membership are represented in all
of our activities, while at the same
time connecting across and beyond
national boundaries. Our efforts are
always focused on advancing tech-
nology and supporting and protect-
ing our members globally. That is
my commitment to you.
Please share your thoughts with
me at president@ieee.org.
—JOSÉ M.F. MOURA,
IEEE president and CEO
editor’s note
Embracing
Diversity
WHAT DO DIVERSITY,
inclusion, and ethical
behavior mean in a global
organization? IEEE is making a
concerted effort to address this
question with a new ad hoc
committee appointed by the IEEE
Board of Directors. On pages TI-8
and 9, the committee’s chair talks
about the group’s plans.
An IEEE survey [page TI-10] shows
that female technologists still face
significant discrimination in the
workplace and emphasizes the
importance of the committee’s work.
Katherine Johnson was able to
succeed despite the challenges she
faced in her career [pages TI-12 and
13]. Johnson, a “human computer,”
was one of the first female African-
American mathematicians at NASA.
Her orbital-mechanics calculations
were critical to the success of
Friendship 7 and several other
U.S. human spaceflights. IEEE
honored her this year with its
President’s Award.
These and other efforts could go
a long way in making “One IEEE.”
—KATHY PRETZ,
editor in chief of The Institute
FOR UPDATES ABOUT IEEE
AND ITS MEMBERS, VISIT US AT
HTTPS://SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG/
THE-INSTITUTE
THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-3
briefings
Don’t Get Hooked: Phishing Attempts
Are Targeting IEEE Leaders
Recently IEEE has become
aware of email scams and phishing
attempts whereby IEEE volunteers
are requested to send money via wire
transfers or checks.
Attackers might send you email that
looks like it is coming from a legitimate
source, using actual names and email
addresses of IEEE leaders such as
society presidents, section chairs, and
conference organizers.
The attackers often perform a fair
amount of research before attempting
their scams. They might use informa-
tion readily available on websites and
social media to determine business
relationships in order to customize their
attacks and make them look real.
An attacker might claim, for example,
to be an IEEE volunteer and ask you to
transfer money or to reply with bank-
ing information, including account
balances. In such situations, the email
address used by the attacker might
look as though it is coming from IEEE
or another domain that you recognize.
TI-4 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE
The IEEE IT Security and Legal and
Compliance departments recommend
that you consider the following when
reviewing messages related to your
IEEE volunteer activities:
■ Is the message requesting an
invoice payment or a payment for
other purchases?
■ Does the message request sensi-
tive data such as your personal
information, bank-account balances,
or other financial information?
■ Does the message convey a sense of
urgency or threaten legal action or
other consequences?
■ Does the message request pay-
ment to avoid the release of
compromising information?
■ Is the request for payment part of
your normal activities or related to a
project you are actively working on?
■ Is the request coming from
someone you normally work with?
Does the wording sound like the
way that person typically would
speak to you?
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
To avoid such scams, first become
familiar with and follow IEEE
payment processes.
Validate details with the parties
involved but do not validate via
email and do not use any email
addresses or phone numbers
included in the message. Instead,
use information that you already
have or can obtain from IEEE.
Establish a validation pro-
cess for the approval of financial
transactions.
Be particularly careful of email
requests that ask you to act immedi-
ately, especially if something sounds
too good to be true. Think before
taking any action.
Trust your instincts. If a request
appears to be coming from some-
one you know but just doesn’t feel
right, contact that person using a
different communication method.
If, for example, the unusual request
comes via email, call the person
on the phone. Use the IEEE online
roster for contact information.
If you receive a call or an email
or text message requesting that you
take an action—even if appears to
be consistent with the responsibili-
ties of your IEEE leadership role—
but you are unsure if it is legitimate,
notify your supporting IEEE busi-
ness unit. Contact and support infor-
mation can be found at https://www.
ieee.org/about/contact.html
—GILBERTO SANTIAGO AND
JONATHAN WIGGINS
Santiago is senior director of IEEE’s
security and network management.
Wiggins is senior intellectual
property attorney and chief
privacy officer in the IEEE Legal
and Compliance Department.
ISTOCKPHOTO
This article originally appeared online as
“Cybersecurity Alert: Beware of Phishing Attempts
Targeting IEEE Leaders.”
 IEEE Expands
Open Access
Journal
Offerings
IEEE is providing more
high-quality publishing
options for authors and
researchers. It is launching
14 gold fully open access
journals in early 2020. The
14 new gold open access pub-
lications will cover topics
such as automotive technol-
ogy, biomedical engineering,
power and energy, com-
puting, signal processing,
industry applications, and
telecommunications. The
journals will begin accepting
submissions later in 2019.
Gold open access refers to
articles being made open
access through the payment
of a fee—called an article-
processing charge (APC)—
by the author. The new
journals will be fully open
access and will publish
articles within the special-
ized field of interest of the
sponsoring society.
The new publications
will join IEEE’s well-
known and respected
portfolio of open access
journals. They include
IEEE Access, IEEE Journal
of the Electron Devices
Society, IEEE Journal on
Exploratory Solid-State
Computational Devices and
Circuits, IEEE Power and
Energy Technology Systems
Journal, IEEE Journal of
SHUTTERSTOCK
Translational Engineering
in Health and Medicine, and
IEEE Photonics Journal.
Each new journal will
follow IEEE’s established
high standard of peer
review, drawing on expert
technical communities to
continue to publish the
most highly cited content.
Each journal will also have
an accomplished expert as
editor-in-chief.
“IEEE’s publishing program
continues to grow and
evolve,” says Stephen Welby,
IEEE executive director and
chief operating officer. “IEEE
continues to support open
science and provide more
options and choices to sup-
port the work and needs of
all authors and researchers—
those who prefer to publish
in traditional subscription
journals and those who prefer
or need to publish in open
access journals.”
OTHER ADDITIONS
IEEE will be transitioning
the IEEE Journal of Selected
Topics in Applied Earth
Observations and Remote
Sensing to a fully open access
title next year.
All the new open access
options will be fully
compliant with funder
mandates including Plan S,
as all articles will be pub-
lished under the Creative
Commons Attribution
License (CC-BY), enabling
authors to retain copyright.
The new open access
journals and IEEE Access
sections [see right] will be
hosted on the IEEE Xplore
Digital Library platform,
which delivers thousands of
open access articles. More
NEW JOURNALS
• IEEE Open Journal
of Antennas and
Propagation
• IEEE Open Journal of
Circuits and Systems
• IEEE Open Journal of
the Communications
Society
• IEEE Open Journal
of the Computer Society
• IEEE Open Journal of
Engineering in Medicine
and Biology
• IEEE Open Journal
of Industry Applications
• IEEE Open Journal
of the Industrial
Electronics Society
• IEEE Open Journal
of Intelligent
Transportation Systems
• IEEE Open Journal
of the Microwave
Theory and Techniques
Society
• IEEE Open Journal
of Nanotechnology
than 5 million unique users
access content on IEEE
Xplore each month.
More information on each
of the titles is available at
• IEEE Open Journal
of Power Electronics
• IEEE Open Journal
of Signal Processing
• IEEE Open Journal
of Solid-State Circuits
• IEEE Open Journal of
Vehicular Technology
NEW TOPICAL
SECTIONS
IEEE Access, IEEE’s
broad-scope open
access journal, will
soon launch discipline-
specific sections
that will align with
these societies:
• IEEE Broadcast
Technology
• IEEE Electronics
Packaging
• IEEE Engineering in
Medicine and Biology
• IEEE Photonics
• IEEE Power & Energy
• IEEE Reliability
https://open.ieee.org.
—KATHY PRETZ
This article originally appeared
online as “IEEE Expands Open
Access Journal Offerings.”
THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-5
IEEE
Smart Cities “We bring together academics, indus-
try professionals, and other folks who

Initiative: can identify the opportunities and chal-

lenges from a technical perspective and
then work on developing best practices
and technical standards,” says IEEE
Member Patrick Graves, who chairs the
HELPING IEEE Smart Cities committee.
MUNICIPALITIES Senior Member Shaghayegh “Shay”
Bahramirad, the IEEE Power & Energy
MODERNIZE Society’s vice president of new initia-
tives and outreach, who oversees the
effort globally, says what differentiates
IEEE from other organizations involved
in smart-city programs is its “unbiased
perspective of technology and policy.”
The society is coordinating the initia-
tive’s efforts.
“Partnering with IEEE Smart Cities is
a great way for cities and institutions to
take advantage of the expertise being
made available, and lessons learned
from different jurisdictions to help
them make better decisions,” Bah-
ramirad says.
Bahramirad, who works for ComEd,
an electric utility in Chicago, and Graves,
who formerly worked for ComEd and
now works for parent company Exelon,
are involved with projects to make the
Windy City and other municipalities
they serve smarter.
Bahramirad, vice president of engi-
neering and the smart grid, is working
on developing a more modern grid.
In his current role as cofounder of
Exelon’s sustainable-communities
initiative, Graves is developing ways
to leverage the company’s capabilities
and resources to help communities
meet their sustainability objectives.

T
DISTINCTIVE NEEDS
HERE ARE NOW HUNDREDS OF CITIES—large and small—that are Dozens of cities have engaged with
working to improve their livability by using resilient communication net- the initiative, including Buenos Aires,
works, data analytics, sensors, and other technologies. Others want to Cape Town, and Kansas City, Mo. Each
smarten up but just don’t know how to go about it. IEEE’s Smart Cities Initia- municipality is unique in terms of the
tive aims to help them. The multidisciplinary effort provides city leaders and others challenges it faces, the assets it has, and
with credible, unbiased technical information and educational content developed by its goals, Graves says. There is no “one
IEEE global experts. The organization’s Communications; Control Systems; Industry size fits all” solution.
Applications; Power & Energy; and Systems, Man, and Cybernetics societies as well Some cities want to reduce traffic
as the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation provide technical expertise. congestion and lower energy costs,

TI-6 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE ILLUSTRATION BY L-Dopa

while others seek to optimize waste col-
lection and monitor air quality. That’s
why the initiative has organized itself
in part around what it calls applica-
tion domains: energy, health, mobility,
water, waste, and food and agriculture.
The technologies being applied can
be as complex as advanced data and
analytical tools, cloud-based services,
and integrated data, voice, and wire-
less systems. Or they can be as simple
as making use of sensors, LEDs, and
solar panels. However, Bahramirad
says, it’s clear the fundamental tech-
nologies that serve functions apply
across application domains. For that
reason, the initiative also organizes
itself around what it calls functional
domains: sensors, networks, systems
integration, analytics, and management
and control platforms.
“The issues are local, but the solutions
are the same,” she says. “IEEE is global.
We have that world view.”
“Becoming a smart city is a journey, not
a destination,” Bahramirad says. “In this
era of connectivity, with IEEE, no one
has to go through the process on their
own. We connect global communities.”
CORAL GABLES’
SMART-CITY STRATEGY
Coral Gables, Fla., has participated
in the initiative. Located just outside
Miami, the town calls itself The City
Beautiful. And it’s no wonder. The city
boasts tropical tree–lined streets, spar-
kling beaches, and Mediterranean
architecture. But it’s also becoming
known for something else: a smart-city
success story.
One of the first planned communities
in the country, Coral Gables recently
unveiled its Smart City Hub. The open-
data platform—which uses a combination
of analytics, apps, sensors, and other
technologies—provides citizens with a
wealth of information and services. They
can access public police records, renew
a parking permit, find electric-vehicle
charging stations, and report a pothole
using their mobile device.
Internet of Things sensors and smart
lights located along the city’s popular
Miracle Mile and other streets report
real-time pedestrian counts, vehicle
traffic, and environmental data. The
city this year plans to add more smart
lights, closed-circuit TV cameras, and
sensors in neighborhoods and parks
and along waterways.
IEEE Senior Member Raimundo
Rodulfo, the city’s information tech-
nology director, has been overseeing
the project.
Coral Gables’ transition to a smart
city began in 2016, when the municipal-
ity started to replace manual processes
and legacy computer systems with
enterprise operating systems (EOS),
Rodulfo says. An enterprise server con-
tains programs that collectively serve
the needs of an enterprise rather than
a single user, department, or special-
ized application.
The first one installed was a facility-
management EOS. In 2017 the systems
used by the Parks and Recreation
Department and Community Services
were replaced. Last year the city began
installing electronic-permitting systems.
This year networks used by the Finance
and Human Resources departments
are on target to be upgraded.
“All these projects are having a big
impact on our citizens’ quality of life
and the city’s customer service,” Rod-
ulfo says. “The smart-city platform
brings together all the data from vari-
ous city departments into one place
that is easy to access. Residents, visi-
tors, and businesses are also able to
discover services they didn’t know
we offered.”
Cloud systems, service-oriented
architectures, customer relationship
management systems, application
program interfaces, and geographic
information systems are some of the
other technologies used.
Using a mobile app on the Smart
City Hub, a resident can take a photo
of a pothole with her smartphone
and upload the image, which gets
routed automatically to the appropri-
ate department. A representative can
schedule the repair and update the
citizen on her request’s status.
“That’s part of the automation that
we are bringing with these new sys-
tems,” Rodulfo says. “The complaint
goes to the right person, who takes
ownership of the issue and provides
improved customer service by updating
the citizen directly.”
Other information available through
the mobile app includes the estimated
time of arrival of the city’s trolleys as
well as guidance on available parking
spots and their cost.
Rodulfo adds that just about any bill
for city services—such as permits, leases,
and business licenses—can be paid online
or through the hub’s dashboard.
He’s most proud of the City Hall portal,
which provides transparency on how
the government operates. It provides
reports on the city’s finances, spending,
and improvement projects.
He says being an IEEE member and par-
ticipating in the initiative has helped him
access technical information, connect
with experts, and learn from colleagues.
IEEE RESOURCES
People who join the initiative’s com-
munity get access to newsletters, tuto-
rials, and webinars to keep them up
to speed on advances. The group now
has more than 8,060 members includ-
ing IEEE members, city officials, and
urban planners.
The IEEE Smart Cities Resource Center
includes access to Proceedings of the IEEE,
other publications, technical reports,
tutorials, and webinars.
One recent webinar featured IEEE
members working to make Casablanca,
Morocco, more intelligent. Another
spotlighted the risks and opportuni-
ties of using blockchain technology.
—KATHY PRETZ
These articles originally appeared online as
“IEEE Smart Cities Initiative Works to Help More
Municipalities Modernize” and “Coral Gables’
Smart-City Strategy.”
THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-7
 Diversity Committee’s First Step:
Measuring Diversity in the IEEE
CHAIR OF NEW IEEE COMMITTEE EXPLAINS INCLUSION STRATEGY
T
HE IEEE BOARD oF DIRECTORS in February
approved an ad hoc committee on diversity, inclu-
sion, and professional ethics. The Institute inter-
viewed IEEE Fellow Andrea Goldsmith, chair of the
committee, about what the group will be working on, what
led to its formation, and what diversity and inclusion mean
in a global organization.
Goldsmith, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford,
has been involved in diversity and inclusion efforts for the
two IEEE societies she belongs to: Communications and
Information Theory. She is the founding chair of the IEEE
Technical Activities Board’s committee on diversity and
inclusion—which came out of a TAB ad hoc committee on
women and underrepresented groups.
What is the new ad hoc committee’s charter?
The committee has been organized into three subcommit-
tees. The first subcommittee has been tasked with develop-
ing and implementing mechanisms to improve diversity and
inclusion across all of IEEE. That diversity encompasses age,
gender, geography, race, ethnicity, and work sector.
The second subcommittee is focusing on member and
professional ethics and is looking to streamline and merge
TI-8 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE
all of IEEE organizational units’ various ethics and conduct
codes into one. Plans call for the subcommittee to develop
training and outreach programs to raise awareness among
members and volunteers about IEEE’s Code of Ethics and
Code of Conduct and their responsibility to uphold it, report
violations, and prevent retaliation. In addition, the sub-
committee is developing professional ethics advice and
support policies.
The third subcommittee is designing a method for expanding
IEEE’s existing ethics processes around reporting, media-
tion, adjudication, appeal, and sanctions. The processes
are to incorporate best practices for timeliness, tracking,
transparency, and confidential reporting of violations. The
subcommittee will also consider implementing an IEEE
ombudsperson and creating a whistleblower program for
member support around ethics and conduct.
Explain the definition of diversity
and inclusion as they apply to IEEE.
Diversity is interesting to talk about in a global organization
ISTOCKPHOTO
like IEEE. It encompasses gender and geography but also work
sectors, such as academia, industry, and research labs. It also
includes ethnicity and race, which in terms of underrepre-
sented groups can be different in the United States compared
with Asia, Europe, and other parts of the world.
It also encompasses age. There has been a movement to
attract more young professionals to IEEE—and to make sure
they are fully engaged and provided compelling benefits—
because they are the future of the organization.
Inclusion is making sure all these diverse members are
getting the full benefits of membership. One of the most
important things is to collect diversity metrics so we know
where we are as an organization, and publish these metrics.
You can’t make improvements or set diversity goals if you don’t
know where you are. The metrics could include things like
diversity in leadership roles across all of IEEE and within its
societies and councils. That is very important. We also want
to look at mechanisms that improve diversity and outcomes
in programs such as awards and Fellows.
What is your interest in leading the committee?
I’ve been a champion of diversity and inclusion pretty much
my entire career because I believe diversity in my profession
will lead to better technology and better benefits to human-
ity from it.
I was the first woman president of the IEEE Information
Theory Society. I also founded the society’s student commit-
tee to make sure the society was more inclusive of younger
members and people with diverse backgrounds.
I got more formally involved in IEEE’s diversity and inclusion
issues when I chaired the selection committee for nominees
for the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal. That was the first
time I saw data on IEEE award recipients such as gender and
geographic diversity. I realized that women and people from
specific IEEE regions were rarely nominated for
major awards, and I felt I had to do something
about that. Diversity
is more
What did you do?
My Bell Medal committee went about getting more than just
women nominated as well as more candidates
from countries that are geographically underrep-
gender
resented. Also, during a discussion with the IEEE
medals committee about why a specific female nominee didn’t
win, I raised what I thought were issues of implicit bias in the
committee’s discussions.
The chair asked me to work with him to write a document
for the IEEE Awards Board on implicit bias. That document
is now distributed to all IEEE committee chairs and boards
working on award nominations. The Awards Board also formed
a Diversity Task Force, which developed a formal diversity
statement. This year four women and nine people outside the
United States received IEEE medals and recognitions. While
I don’t know if there is a direct correlation, I consider that
outcome a very positive development.
When IEEE President José M.F. Moura was Technical Activi-
ties vice president in 2016, he appointed me to chair an ad
hoc committee on diversity and inclusion that reported to
the Technical Activities Board. It was made a standing com-
mittee in 2017, and I was appointed its chair. That’s what led
him to appoint me to this IEEE Board-level ad hoc committee.
Did the IEEE Technical Activities
ad hoc committee make progress?
It did, but of course there’s a lot more progress to be made. It
was successful in raising the visibility about the issues of diver-
sity and inclusion, not just within TAB but across all of IEEE.
The committee discovered that many of the issues around
diversity and inclusion are IEEE-wide. Groups such as the
TAB and IEEE Women in Engineering are doing parallel or
complementary efforts, but they can’t change all of IEEE.
Having a board-appointed ad hoc committee that can look
at diversity and inclusion across the organization is valuable.
I was involved in the TAB reaffirmation of the IEEE’s Code
of Conduct and Code of Ethics, and then other operating
units also reaffirmed those statements.
Many members aren’t aware of these codes. There was a
sense that abiding by these codes should be a condition of
membership, so making them more visible and having more
discussion around them is important.
Why was ethics grouped in with
diversity and inclusion?
That’s an interesting question, because ethics is not part of the
charter of the TAB committee I chaired. But as that committee
uncovered issues around diversity and inclusion that needed
to be addressed in IEEE, we found that ethics was key in mak-
ing those improvements.
For example, when women engineers are excluded from
participating in IEEE leadership roles, or being
invited to be distinguished lecturers and speakers
at conferences, that means they’re not getting the
full benefit of membership. When you talk about
implicit bias or more severe things that women deal
with, such as sexual harassment, that discourages
members from participating.
Abiding by the codes of ethics and conduct
became especially important after the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released
a report in November about the sexual harassment women
have faced in the scientific, technical, and medical workforce
and its impact on their career advancement. The study talked
about the role that professional societies can play in mitigating
such incidents by requiring ethical behavior in society activi-
ties and events. The committee will also look into effective
mechanisms to educate and support members regarding safe,
ethical, and sustainable technology design and deployment.
You can’t separate out diversity and inclusion from ethics,
so it became apparent that ethics should be addressed by the
ad hoc committee.
—KATHY PRETZ
This article originally appeared online as “Q&A With Chair of New Ad Hoc
Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Ethics.”
THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-9

Survey Says
Women Technologists
Face Unequal
Treatment at Work
F
EMALE IEEE MEMBERS say
they face significant discrimina-
tion in the workplace, including
demeaning comments, inap-
propriate job-interview questions, and
exclusion from networking events and
important business meetings.
Those were among the most com-
mon negative experiences reported by
more than 4,500 members—associate
member grade and above—from around
the world who answered a survey IEEE
conducted in 2017. The results were
released last year.
Almost half of those surveyed worked
in academia, and about 30 percent were
from private industry. The rest worked for
governmental or nonprofit institutions, or
were graduate students or self-employed.
The majority of respondents (65 percent)
lived outside the United States.
Nearly 60 percent said they did not
think men and women working in tech-
TI-10 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE
nology fields are treated equally. They
also reported feeling they were held
back by other factors including their
ethnicity, country of origin, and race.
More than 70 percent reported the
same two negative experiences: Ques-
tions or comments that should have
been addressed to them were instead
directed to male colleagues, and male
coworkers made disparaging comments
about them.
Nearly half reported witnessing sex-
ist behavior at off-site meetings and
conferences.
Female speakers and panelists are under-
represented at tech conferences, and few
are asked to serve as the event’s general
or technical chair, respondents noted.
Twenty-eight percent said they had
been subjected to an unwanted sexual
advance at work by either a male col-
league or a superior. Only about half of
the women took some kind of action, and
among those who reported
the behavior, 47 percent said
they were dissatisfied with
the actions taken by their
employer. Respondents who
didn’t pursue the matter said
they believed doing so would
negatively impact their career
or not make a difference—or
they simply wanted to forget
about the incident.
When it came to family mat-
ters, 51 percent of the women
said that to be taken more
seriously in their career, they
needed to speak less about
their children. Of the nearly 80 percent
who took maternity leave, about half
returned early for fear that being out
too long would jeopardize their career.
HOW CAN IEEE HELP?
The survey included an open-ended
question asking for suggestions about
what IEEE could do to help address wom-
en’s issues. More than 1,440 members
answered the question. Their responses
were grouped into eight categories.
■ Raise awareness of the issues, such as
unconscious bias, harassment, sexist
comments, unequal pay, and exclusion.
■ Create mentorship programs for stu-
dents and professionals.
■ Make conferences more inclusive.
■ Highlight in IEEE publications people
and organizations making changes.
Raise the visibility of women who
have made contributions to technol-
ogy by nominating them for awards
and other honors. Also praise and
acknowledge organizations that are
working to resolve the issues women
face in the workplace.
■ Increase the number of scholarships
and travel grants for women—especially
ISTOCKPHOTO
for those who live in developing coun-
tries—by creating funding opportunities
or improving existing programs.
IEEE & ME
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keep costs down with affordable group rates. Compare your
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sure they continue to offer quality and value.

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4 You can always rely on advice from IEEE
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5 For more than 55 years, the IEEE Member
Group Insurance Program has delivered
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■ Lobby governments to create better
laws around family leave, including
tech history
maternity and paternity leave.
■ Partner with other organizations that
are already working on behalf of women
to create programs or enhance exist-
ing ones.
■ Educate women on how to recognize
and deal with discrimination.

Based on the suggestions, as well as other

concerns that were brought to the attention
of the IEEE Board of Directors, in February
the Board approved the formation of an
ad hoc committee on diversity, inclusion,
and professional ethics [see page TI-8]. IEEE
Fellow Andrea Goldsmith was appointed
chair of the committee.
Three IEEE presidents wrote a letter in
response to an article published in IEEE
Spectrum’s November issue about the
findings from a U.S. National Academies
of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
study released in June 2018 that examined
sexual harassment. The report found that
sexual harassment in science, engineer-
ing, and medicine has broad impacts, and
it undermines women’s educational and
professional success. The Spectrum article
was written by C.D. Mote Jr., president
of the National Academy of Engineering,

How Katherine
and two of the report’s authors.
In their letter, IEEE President José M.F.

Johnson Plotted
Moura, 2018 President Jim Jefferies, and
2017 President Karen Bartleson talked

about IEEE’s commitment to maintain-
ing a culture that is diverse, inclusive,
and respectful. They discussed IEEE’s
efforts aimed at improving transparency
and accountability, encouraging strong
and diverse leadership, and inspiring
all members of the engineering com-
munity to be responsible for reducing
and preventing harassment.
“Harassment and discrimination of
any kind undermine us all,” they wrote.
“At IEEE, we strive to advance a profes-
sional environment where all individuals
feel welcome and safe and are able to
contribute to the best of their abilities.”
—KATHY PRETZ
This article originally appeared online as “IEEE
Survey Finds That Female Technologists Face
Unequal Treatment and Sexist Workplaces.”
NASA’s Course
The mathematician received the IEEE
President’s Award for her work on Apollo
KATHERINE JOHNSON’S mathematical calculations of orbital
mechanics at NASA were critical to the success of Friendship 7 and
several other U.S. human spaceflights. She was one of the women fea-
tured in the 2016 Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.
In May, IEEE recognized her work with its President’s Award, “for
fundamental computational contributions to the success of America’s
first and subsequent manned spaceflights, including Apollo 11.” Johnson,
who turned 100 in August 2018, was unable to travel to the ceremony. Her
daughters, Katherine Goble Moore and Joylette Goble Hylick, accepted
the award on her behalf at the IEEE Honors Ceremony, held on 17 May in
San Diego. Johnson “has a real passion for learning, and always aspired
to teach others everything she knew,” Hylick said. You can watch the
NASA (2)

presentation on IEEE.tv.

TI-12 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE

 As IEEE marks the 50th anniversary of
the moon landing and spaceflight through
the Footsteps: IEEE’s Commemoration of
Human Space Travel effort, The Institute
is highlighting IEEE members and other
pioneers, like Johnson, and the technolo-
gies that helped propel the program.
THE VALUE OF EDUCATION
In a 2017 interview with The Washington
Post, Johnson said she always wanted
to be a mathematician. She attended
high school when she was 10 years old,
but due to segregation at the time, she
wasn’t allowed to attend her county’s
high school in Greenbrier, W.Va. Her
family moved to Institute, W.Va., and
she attended West Virginia State Col-
lege—now West Virginia State Univer-
sity—which offered high school courses
to black students.
She finished high school at age 14 at
West Virginia State, then continued taking
college courses there. She graduated in
1939 summa cum laude with a bachelor’s
degree in mathematics and French. She
planned on continuing her education and
was selected as the first black woman in
the state to attend the graduate school
program at West Virginia University, in
Morgantown. She withdrew from the pro-
gram after one semester, however, to start
a family with her husband, James Goble.
Johnson worked as a math teacher at a
black public school in Marion, Va.
According to her biography on the
NASA website, Johnson always knew
she eventually would leave teaching
to become a research mathematician.
In 1953 she joined NASA’s predecessor,
the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics, at its Langley laboratory, in
Hampton, Va., as a pool mathematician.
Those mathematicians, called computers,
analyzed data collected from flight tests
and airplane black boxes.
Thanks to her understanding of ana-
lytical geometry, just two weeks after
she joined NACA, she was assigned to
the maneuver-loads branch of the Flight
Research Division. She spent the next
four years analyzing data from flight tests
and plane crashes.
MAKING SPACE FLIGHT POSSIBLE
When the Russian satellite Sputnik was
launched in 1957, the United States was
already working on sending satellites into
space, but Sputnik’s debut led to the for-
mation of NASA. Due to Johnson’s work
at NACA, she was among the first employ-
ees hired by NASA in 1958.
Johnson, once known as a human
computer, reviews calculations done
by a physical computer, at NASA’s
Langley laboratory, in Hampton, Va.
Working as a technologist for the space-
craft controls branch, she calculated
the path for astronaut Alan Shepard’s
Freedom 7 mission in 1961, the first U.S.
human spaceflight.
In 1960 she became the first woman to
receive credit as an author of a research
report, “Determination of Azimuth Angle
at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over
a Selected Earth Position.” In it, John-
son and her coauthor, engineer Ted
H. Skopinski, explained the equations
describing an orbital spaceflight in which —JOANNA GOODRICH
the craft’s landing position is specified.
This article originally appeared online as
Her life changed in 1962, when astro- “Katherine Johnson, the Hidden Figures Mathemati-
naut John Glenn asked for Johnson to cian Who Got Astronaut John Glenn Into Space.”
double-check the trajectory calculations
for Friendship 7. Because of the mission’s
complexity, the space agency collaborated
with IBM in the construction of a world-
wide communications network. They
built and linked tracking stations to IBM
computers in Bermuda, Cape Canaveral,
and Washington, D.C., so engineers could
follow the flight live. The computers had
been programmed with orbital equations
that would control the trajectory of the
Friendship capsule from blastoff to land-
ing. Glenn, however, was nervous about
putting his life in the hands of machines,
which he believed to be prone to mistakes,
according to NASA.
According to Johnson's NASA biography,
Glenn asked engineers to “get the girl”—
meaning Johnson—during the preflight
check, because of her experience with
trajectory analysis. He wanted her to
run the same numbers that had been
programmed into the computer, but
by hand, on her desktop calculator. In
an interview with CNN, Johnson recalls
Glenn saying, “If she says they’re good,
then I’m ready to go.”
For her work on Friendship 7, in 2015
she was awarded the U.S. Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest
civilian honor. At the White House cer-
emony, President Barack Obama said,
“No one knows that John Glenn wouldn’t
fly unless Katherine Johnson checked
the math.”
In 2017 NASA unveiled the Katherine
G. Johnson Computational Research
Facility at the Langley Research Center,
the same location where she started
her career at NACA. Earlier this year,
the agency renamed a facility in Fair-
mont, W.Va., that housed a program
that monitors the software used to track
NASA’s high-profile missions. It’s now
called the Katherine Johnson Indepen-
dent Verification and Validation Facility.
THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-13
career guidance
Three Cures for
Imposter Syndrome
MANY ENGINEERS have shared
their experiences in dealing with
imposter syndrome. They include
Emilee Urbanek, a software engineer
at Uber, who said in a post on the Uber
Engineering blog that her feelings of
being a fraud started when she made
the transition from college student to
full-time employee.
Imposter syndrome is a psychologi-
cal phenomenon that occurs when
individuals doubt their accomplish-
ments and have a persistent feel-
ing that someone will notice they’re
frauds. According to research on the
characteristics of imposter syndrome
published by the International Journal
of Behavioral Science, nearly 70 percent
of individuals experience signs and
symptoms of the phenomenon at least
once in their life.
Here are three ways to help over-
come imposter syndrome.
BUILD A SUPPORT SYSTEM
Cultivating strong professional relation-
ships can help alleviate the feeling of
being an imposter. “In my experience,”
Urbanek wrote, “confidence is not found
but built, both on our own fearlessness
and the people who support us when we
make mistakes.”
A supportive manager and team, for
example, can help an employee build
and maintain confidence. It’s advan-
tageous to surround yourself with col-
leagues and managers who remain
positive and encouraging, even when
something with a project goes wrong.
Fay Shaw, a researcher at the Tufts
University Center for Engineering
Education and Outreach, in Medford,
Mass., also found that peer support
is important. She told the website
ThinkSaveRetire that she experienced
TI-14 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE
imposter syndrome while pursuing
her doctorate in mechanical engineer-
ing at the University of Washington in
Seattle. While there, Shaw and another
doctoral student created a group called
Ladies in Engineering Graduate Studies.
“We met once a week and talked about
classes, taking qualifiers, and hurdles
we faced in graduate school,” Shaw says.
Having a support system can
decrease stress and make you feel
more connected, especially when oth-
ers around you feel the same way you
do, according to research on the con-
sequences of poor social support pub-
lished in Psychiatry.
Mentors are also a great source for
support. They can reassure you that
what you’re feeling is normal. Knowing
others have been in your position can
make it less scary.
CREATE A POSITIVE NARRATIVE
It’s important to remember your
successes instead of focusing only
on your missteps. Everyone makes
mistakes, which can help you grow both
personally and professionally.
“One thing that helps me is keeping a
‘hero’ file,” Florencia Rios Nicolas, presi-
dent of the Ryerson Aerospace Course
Union in Toronto, said in an article
she wrote for Medium. Keeping prizes,
certificates, and letters as mementos
can be useful visual reminders, she said.
Shaw had a similar approach to creat-
ing a positive narrative. She would write
down on paper such statements as “You
have been studying as hard as you can”
and “You are taking this seriously, and
you will do the best you can.” Because
those concrete affirmations were
grounded in truth, looking at them
helped her feel more confident before
tests and presentations, she says.
BE OPEN TO LEARNING
Working with experienced profession-
als is an opportunity to learn. You can
gain confidence as you learn from
others, and that can help decrease your
feelings of inadequacy.
“I realized that there will always be
people who are better than me at any-
thing,” Shaw says. “It means that I can
learn from them.”
Asking questions and brainstorming
with a manager or more experienced
peers can help you gain knowledge.
You get to see others’ perspectives on
how to solve issues, and you can learn
to think outside the box.
It’s easy to get pulled into the
imposter-syndrome cycle, especially
in a field as competitive as engineering.
With more knowledge and experience,
you can feel less like an imposter and
be more confident in your abilities.
—JOANNA GOODRICH
This article originally appeared online as “Three
Ways to Dispel Imposter Syndrome.”
ILLUSTRATION BY Brian Stauffer
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THE INSTITUTE | SEP 2019 | TI-15

products + services
Simple, Effective
Public Speaking Tips
for Engineers
How to climb the career
ladder one talk at a time
THERE ARE FEW SKILLS
that can help you climb
the career ladder faster than
the ability to speak well in
public. Senior management
is always seeking employees
who can clearly and effectively
communicate information,
ideas, and new concepts.
That’s according to Harry
T. Roman, author of the
IEEE-USA e-book, Public
Speaking for Engineers. The
e-book costs US $4.99, but for
IEEE members it's $2.99.
Roman spent more than
30 years as a project man-
ager for the R&D group of
Public Service Electric and
Gas Co. in Newark, N.J.
Senior management
has little time to inter-
act directly with lower-
level employees, he says,
TI-16 | SEP 2019 | THE INSTITUTE
so when you are asked to
make a presentation to
your managers, you need
to do a good job.
Roman says he has seen
plenty of engineers’ careers
get derailed because they
didn’t speak well in public.
Being a good public
speaker also can raise
your visibility. Roman
says that because of his
communication skills, he
was asked to lead corporate
project teams, present his
work in front of PSE&G’s
board of directors, lead VIPs
on tours of the company’s
facilities, and represent the
organization at important
forums and meetings.
His book covers how
to master the basics of pub-
lic speaking.
PREPARATION IS KEY
Make sure you do your
homework on the topic and
understand what you’re
going to talk about. If it’s a
subject you’re already well
versed in, show the audience
that you’re an expert. If the
topic is not exactly your area
of expertise, become better
informed by doing research
and talking with authorities
in the field.
Knowing your audience is
important: Are they senior
managers, representatives
from another organization,
or engineering students?
Your audience affects your
approach and how sophisti-
cated your talk should be.
“Remember, you are there
to clearly and concisely com-
municate important infor-
mation—not to show off and
use big words,” Roman says.
“To the extent you can, draw
parallels to their interests,
professions, or experiences.”
BE ORGANIZED
Start preparing your pre-
sentation by determining
the conclusions you want
the audience to leave with,
and then work backward.
Summarize the main points
concisely to help attendees
remember them. Roman
offers three simple rules:
Tell the audience what you
are going to speak about,
tell them the things you
came to say, and sum up by
telling them what you just
told them.
Each slide in your pre-
sentation should contain a
complete thought or con-
cept that meshes with the
previous one. Have one or
two slides for each minute
of your allotted time. Be
sure to number the slides
to preserve the order, and
have an extra copy on hand,
just in case you encounter
technical problems.
To feel comfortable with
your talk, rehearse it several
times, Roman says. Speak
clearly with a strong voice.
Enunciate all your words.
Don’t race through the
presentation, and be sure to
look at your audience, not
only at your slides or notes.
Do not read your slides to
the audience. The visuals
should act as a cue about
what you want to say.
At the end of the talk,
summarize the main points
concisely to help the audi-
ence remember them.
Encourage questions after
your talk. If you don’t know
the answer, simply say so,
but then get the person’s
contact information so you
can send the answer later.
“No audience wants to
see a speaker do poorly,
because they will have
wasted their time,” Roman
says. “Good public speakers
are remembered, respected,
and often emulated.”
—KATHY PRETZ
ISTOCKPHOTO
This article originally appeared
online as “Simple, Effective Public
Speaking Tips for Engineers.”