The IEEE MEMS-TC is obviously a technical community, not a council or a society. An IEEE technical community is perhaps best thought of as a precursor to an eventual council or society. As such, the goals of the IEEE MEMS-TC include not only fostering activity and growth in the MEMS field across the IEEE organization and beyond, but also the eventual transition to either a council or a society. To achieve that elevation, the IEEE MEMS-TC needs to prove that receives enough support from the IEEE community (currently, we count with more than 2,500 participants according to OU Analytics) and can successfully organize events and technical activities throughout IEEE and outside (an obvious example is the IEEE MEMS Conference which is our flagship conference, and it is organized annually between three different continents).
Why Transition at All?
An IEEE technical community can already do many things that can benefit a technical area like MEMS. Perhaps the most important of these is the ability to recover funds generated by our activities that never came back to us in the past. The IEEE MEMS-TC can then use these funds to support
- Conference sponsorships
- Publication in IEEE Xplore for any MEMS-centric meeting that wants it
- MEMS growth activities, especially for students and industry
- Student travel support, educational activities and resources, e.g., web-based courses on MEMS topics not normally covered at universities
- Efforts to preserve the history of MEMS, e.g., via video recorded interviews with the “movers and shakers”
- New publications, provided they make sense
While the above are nice, there are many things that an IEEE technical community cannot do, including
- Maintain a financial reserve
- Vote on the IEEE Technical Advisory Board (TAB)
- Generate and sponsor IEEE awards for MEMS
- Sponsor IEEE Fellow applications
- Sponsor chapters
Difference Between a Council and Society?
IEEE councils and societies can do many of the same things, including
- Sponsor meetings
- Generate periodicals (publications)
- Sponsor IEEE awards, including distinguished lecturers
- Sponsor IEEE Fellow applications
- Support a variety of growth activities, from educational, to networking, to WIE, to student travel support and special competitions
- Sponsor fellowships
- Form and sponsor chapters
- Generate standards
- Maintain a financial reserve
- Vote on the IEEE Technical Advisory Board (TAB)
The main difference:
- A Society has members, i.e., individuals who are members
- A Council does not have individual members, but rather has member societies
Since MEMS researchers and practitioners have not had the opportunity be members of any society, they could benefit greatly the sense of belonging and camaraderie that membership brings and that often encourages volunteer activities. For all the aforementioned reasons, there is an ample consensus from our Heavy Lifters to transition directly to a society instead of a council.
