The Institute - September 2020 - TI2

president's column

New Opportunities for Member Engagement

TI-2

SEP 2020

THE INSTITUTE

Technologically enabled tools and
systems-in particular those with a focus
on health care, power-system resilience,
digital financial services, cloud connectivity, and online distribution to consumers-have seen demand for services
skyrocket during the economic shutdown. Machine learning and artificial

intelligence underlie much of the explosive growth.
We have also seen an acceleration of
technological adoption by the public.
As the world adapts to new modes of
living as "the new normal," technologies that enable us to work, study, shop,
and interact virtually have seen a rapid
increase in mainstream adoption. And
as we continue to experience new ways

of communicating and collaborating, the
acceptance and integration of robotics and
automation will continue to accelerate.
PROACTIVE DISRUPTORS

Our professional community may no
longer be constrained by the physical
borders of our offices, campuses, or
laboratories. As the workplace becomes more virtual,
the vital roles of IEEE have
become even clearer: to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, advance the technical
state of the art, promote
guidelines and standards for
professional excellence, and
raise public awareness and
recognition of our members'
contributions.
As society begins to contemplate our shared reality
beyond the pandemic, IEEE is
envisioning new opportunities
and environments to ensure
we are reaching our members
wherever they are and meeting their transformed needs.
We are focused on the capabilities that will ensure that our
organization is as pioneering
and agile as our members are.
At IEEE, we focus on what's next-
enabling innovation and the creation
and delivery of new technology solutions.
What improvements can be made to the
way we engage our members to meet the
pace with which technology is changing?
How can we use technology to augment
member interaction and allow members
to work together in diverse, collaborative teams? What hybrid educational

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AS I DRAFT THIS COLUMN, OUR
international community of engineers,
technologists, scientists, and researchers
continues to respond to the COVID-19
pandemic. This worldwide crisis has
brought with it public-health challenges,
global economic uncertainty, and transformative lifestyle changes that will most
likely have a lasting effect on
not only businesses and markets but also our attitudes and
behaviors.
Understanding the pandemic's far-reaching implications
for IEEE requires that we successfully navigate the financial
and operational challenges
of the coronavirus while also
rapidly addressing the needs
of our members.
As I wrote in my June column, technologies-many still
emerging-continue to play a
vital role in the response to
the pandemic and in keeping
our society operational in this
unprecedented time. These
disruptive technologies are
certain to have a long-term
impact beyond our current
environment and across various fields and industries.
The pandemic has accelerated several key technology trends that had
been slowly growing in importance for
years and now have become essential
in our global and diverse world. These
include how we do business, how we
work, how we shop, how we learn, how
we receive medical care, how we convene and collaborate, and how we entertain ourselves.

The Institute - September 2020

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