The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) is the professional society for electrical and computer engineers. Internationally it is one of the largest professional societies; considering that our discipline touches in just about all the areas of modern technology, this makes sense.

Within IEEE you can find experts and technical information in about any ECE field imaginable, from electro-physics to software engineering to just about anything else you can think of. IEEE is a forum where engineers can keep track of and share their latest breakthroughs and new information relevant to our discipline. With all the experts within its ranks, IEEE has also become one of the world's premier standards organization for new technology.

The UMCP IEEE Student Branch has one primary goal: to make the lives of ECE department students (especially undergraduate students) better while they are here at the University of Maryland. As students in one of the most challenging departments at one of the best engineering schools, each of us could benefit from some help from time to time. We try to accomplish this through a number ways:

First and foremost there is the IEEE members' lounge located in EGR 0104. The lounge is intended to be the "home away from home" for members; somewhere to catch up with friends in the times between classes during the day, a place for underclassmen to get a chance to socialize with juniors and seniors that they would not otherwise have a chance to meet, and serve as that all-important refuge for groups to pull all-nighters studying for exams long after the engineering library has closed.

Then there are the events and activities we host throughout the year. These occasions include General Body Meetings, Employer Presentations and Resume Workshops and Student Professional Awareness Conferences (SPAC) among other events. Every event we host or sponsor is always geared as much as possible with information specifically for electrical and computer engineers. We hope this makes them actually worth your time (which we know is always preciously short) to attend.

Last, it is our hope that the IEEE Student Branch can be used as a forum through which students, faculty, and other members of the department can communicate freely with one another. With all the interesting projects and talented people here it can be difficult to keep up with all the things that are of interest both to students and faculty. It is unfortunate to be missing any chance to learn from one another. We aim to keep everyone informed of as many projects and events as possible.

-Josef L. Yeager
Former President '05 - '06