74. IEEE Malabar Subsection and IEI Calicut

 Continuing my  note on  professional  society activities, I have a few more  to place  on record. IEEE, Institution  of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the largest  professional society in the  world with its headquarters in New Jersey USA. Its origin dates  back to 1887 almost the same year  when the  first electrical power system was set up by  Thomas Alva Edison  in Manhattan New York with a  DC system. Currently  IEEE  is involved  in publishing  more than 2/3 of all  publications in the areas under Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science and Engineering. It  has  more than 4 million members spread over  10 regions.  India  belongs to  Region 10, Asia  Pacific and India  Council  is the  governing  part  in our nation.  Among the different  sections, Kerala  Section is one of the  most vibrant  which has won several accolades  because of its  professional and humanitarian activities. For the  last two years, Kerala  section happens  to be  the largest section in Region 10.

 

However, the  head office  of Kerala section is located at  Thiruvananthapuram and members  from the  Northern part  of Kerala  were not able  to participate  in many activities  centred around the  headquarters. Few  of us used to attend  the annual  general body meeting once in a year which requires overnight  travel up and down. So,  some of my colleagues, me  and other IEEE  members thought  that  for better networking and activities  in the  Northern part, we could   start a  Malabar Subsection  under  Kerala Section. From NITC  itself, we had the  required 20 professional  members to file a petition for the formation of a subsection. The geographical area including the districts  of Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasarcode  came under this subsection. When  we  filed the  petition for formation of the subsection,  200  professional members and nearly 400  student members  were active in the Malabar region. With encouragement  and support  from Prof.V.K.Damodaran, former  faculty of REC Calicut  and Sri.P.M.Sasi, CDAC who were  both originally from Malabar, we could get the recommendation from Kerala section  and subsequent approval for the formation of the subsection in October 2010. Even  though I was  nominated as the  founder  Chair  of the  IEEE  Malabar Subsection, it was a joint  effort  of  many  members  like  Dr.Abraham T Mathew, Dr Lillykutty Jacob, Dr S.M.Sameer  etc  to name a few. Dr.Sameer  was  nominated as the  first  Secretary  of IEEE  Malabar Subsection.

 

Ever since, Malabar  Subsection  has  been very active  in organizing several events for the professional and student  members and the public  in Malabar area. One   of our flagship  programmes is   ‘Road  map to Success in Engineering Studies’ , an  awareness programme  for engineering aspirants in which we  conduct a  one-day workshop in which   the special features  of each of the engineering branches  are introduced and students are  helped to choose  the  branch that suits their special capabilities, rather than by  chances  of getting a  job immediately after. This  programme  has been conducted  every year  since 2011 in Kozhikode  and other places during May-June  just after the engineering entrance examination.  One student and a parent  are  admitted  with a nominal  registration fee. Senior   academicians and practicing engineers from different disciplines used  to interact with aspiring  students of engineering and their parents. Institution  of Engineers Kozhikode Local  Centre  has been our co-sponsor  for the event all these years.  There were other outreach programmes like training of housewives in LED lamp assembling , motivating school students  and introducing them  to marvels of engineering etc. Recently, our volunteers   have been extending their  humanitarian  activities  to those  living  in remote  areas in Watanad. They had  set up a solar  driven  water pump and  distribution system  along with  street lights in a remote  village  of tribal area . This  has received   grand appreciation  from all over  the  region.

 

Personally, I am happy  to see that  in the process of organizing IEEE  activities, I could  be  involved in motivating several committed  volunteers  like  Dr S M Sameer(NITC), Sri. R.Nandakumar(NIELIT) , Shone Jose and others (sorry I cannot list all)  who has been  doing wonderful work to carry out the  motto of IEEE, ‘Advancing Technology for Humanity’. Dr. Lillykutty Jacob, Dr. Abraham  T Mathew, Dr.S D Madhukumar, Dr.Gilesh M P etc were also active in  IEEE  Malabar Subsection as office bearers of MSS.  Dr.Sameer has grown to be the Chair of IEEE Kerala Section, treasurer  India Council and is presently the secretary  Region 10.  Dr.Lillykutty  has been the Chair  Technical Programme  Committee  of several important conferences like TENCON  and Workshop on 5G, to name a  few. I am very happy to see that  Malabar  Subsection of IEEE  is able to  do  wonderful work. Hopefully it will  become a section by itself in future. Incidentally I could  work with many volunteers from different  parts of Kerala as Chair,  Educational Activities of Kerala  section.  Sri. Nandan.S of  LBSCE, Thiruvananthapuram is  one outstanding volunteer with whom I could associate  myself.

 

I was also involved in the  activities of Institution of Engineers  Kozhikode  Local Centre. IEI  is the oldest professional society  in India and had been conducting the AMIE Part A&B examinations  for  working engineers  with engineering  diploma  or other  graduates to improve their qualifications  by  studying  during their  available time and passing these examinations. AMIE has  been approved as equivalent  to a basic degree in engineering  for employment  purposes. I was inducted as a Fellow of Institution of Engineers and was acting as the Chair  of the local centre for two years. The major difference in IEEE and IEI  activities is that  the majority of IEEE activities are for students of engineering whereas IEI  activities are for  professional engineers  working in PWD, KSEB and other organizations. My only  complaint was that these working  engineers  are  not very keen  to  involve in  serious academic discussions  but do not mind attending  get together  meetings. In spite  of this, we  have been conducting several  conferences. Conferences and activities in Architectural Division under the guidance of  Dr.T.S.Balagaopal  and  activities to save the environment  under the guidance of Prof.A.Achyuthan are  worth mentioning.   We have also conducted several awareness meetings for  Energy Conservation, Environmental protection and Water  Conservation  at  different engineering colleges and distributed leaflets in Malayalam  in  the schools  to create an awareness among the school children. I  would   like place on record my thanks to   fellow engineers  who has cooperated  with  me, especially  Dr.Gireesan, Sri.Jithesh (Hony Secretary) and Sri. M.S.Joseph  who was  helpful  in the conduct of AMIE  examinations.