Mohamad Berri of IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section

Did you know?

• You can only hold certain executive positions within the IEEE if you are a Senior Member.
• You can only become an IEEE Fellow if you are a Senior Member.

IEEE designated fields:

IEEE Fields are broad and it is not just for electrical Engineers;

IEEE-designated fields are: Engineering; Computer Sciences and Information Technology; Physical Sciences Biological and Medical Sciences; Mathematics; Technical Communications; Education; Management; Law and Policy.

Applicant Responsibility:

• Whether through self nomination or other form of nomination, applicants for Senior Membership elevation must complete the Application form online at https://www.ieee.org/membership/senior/
• Application form must include:
  • 10 years professional practice inclusive of five (5) years significant performance in any of the IEEE designated fields.
  • Upload of Resume/CV and other supporting documentation.
  • Three References if self nominated or Two References if nominated by a Senior Member or Fellow grade.
• Follow up with references to support your application in a timely manner (within 1-2 weeks) prior to panel review.
• Provide your references with your CV or resume to assist with filling the information required of them as your referee.

Some significant performance indicators used by the review panel review application include but are not limited to:

Teaching

• Faculty developing courses within the IEEE designated fields that are innovative and unique
• Undergraduate teachers demonstrating excellence and dedication that might exceptional student accomplishments or include coaching in Lego League or Robotics. (teachers who are engineers and computer scientists)
• Performing research with some measure of success (e.g. refereed papers)
• Publishing in high level recognized journals
• Publication of technical papers, books or inventions/patents
• Department Chair title
• Supervising successful PhD students

Research

• Performing research with some measure of success (e.g. refereed papers)
• Responsible for or a significant contributor to invention(s)/patent(s) advancing technologies
• Significant contributions related to standards development (e.g., chair, project editor)

Industry

• Patents issued
• Technical direction or leadership of important technical or professional work with evidence of accomplishment
• Recognized leadership, often as Team leader, supervisor, program manager, project manager or director titles
• Substantial design, development or project responsibility, or achievement
• Significant contributions related to standards development (e.g., chair, project editor)

Other Contributions within the IEEE designated fields

• Professional awards, licenses may be considered as substantiation of professional experience and performance
• Recognized contributions to the welfare of technical profession (e.g. IEEE Volunteer efforts especially positions of leadership on major IEEE boards and societies)
• Contributes significant technical content, not within the scope of the IEEE fields
  of interest, to IEEE standards, e.g., medical content to an IEEE standard for
  medical equipment.
• Technical Editing – generally of recognized journals, etc.
• Patent Prosecution or Patent Law or Intellectual Property– provided these contributions serve to advance progress substantially in IEEE designated fields

How can we assist members to be elevated to Senior Member Rank?

• We will assist you to identify references to support your application if you contact senior-member@ieee.org
• Be sure to attach your resume or CV as part of the application.
• Ensure your Collabratec member profile is updated and visible to other IEEE members.
• We will try to match your Resume/CV and connect you to a suitable reference who is able to assist you.

Examples

We encourage eligible members to apply for senior member elevation to increase their chances of serving in higher positions within IEEE.We do a Senior Member Event (I don't call it a rodeo) about every other year. The senior members who we ask to be a reference resist when we tried to do it every year

I pull the list of senior eligible members and I send them an invitation. I ask them to respond if they are interested and I usually get 20 - 30.

I ask them to fill out the information in the app and to update their resume.

I submit their name in the app so they will only need 2 references.

We hold the event in the back room of a local pizza restaurant and scatter tables around the room with a senior member who is willing to talk to the candidates and review their resume and then fill out the reference. I try to find someone who knows them or works at the same company and knows what kind of work they do to be their reference. We usually have pizzas and people stick around and talk.

Occasionally I have a couple that can't make it and I try to arrange for someone in their company to endorse them.

I follow up with the references (not usually a problem).

I also follow up to make sure the candidates have completed their part and submitted it.

We usually get 15 - 20 who follow through and get approved.

Other inks

https://www.ieee.org/about/volunteers/membership-development/senior-member.html

Biography:

Mohamad Berri is the Vice Chair of the IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section and the Chair for the Membership Development Committee.

By the way - he also takes care of our History too!

Email:

Sharan Kalwani of IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section

Some of the benefits of Senior member status include: 

Recognition: The professional recognition of your peers for technical and professional excellence. Announcement of your elevation can be made in Section/Society and/or local newsletters, newspapers, and notices.

Complimentary Society Membership: You will receive one new IEEE Society for free

Leadership Eligibility: Senior members are eligible to hold executive IEEE volunteer positions.

Review Panel: Senior members are invited to be on the panel to review Senior member applications.

Senior Member Plaque: An engraved plaque you can proudly display to colleagues, clients, and employers.

Letter of Commendation: A letter of commendation on the achievement of Senior member grade will be sent to your employer (upon request).

Biography:

A seasoned scientifc, technical and computing professional, Sharan has spent over 25+ years implementing many new and pioneering technologies from operating systems (UNIX/BSD/UNICOS/Irix/Linux/Solaris/), high performance computing (Cray, SGI, various clusters), engineering applications (CAE/CFD simulation software), optimization, networking (TCP/IP, Infiniband), operations (ITIL, ITSM), scientific domain (BioInformatics), and project management. An inspiring speaker and author, Sharan looks to raise the professional approach of every individual he interacts with. He enjoys teaching, contributing to STEM activities and publishing. He is a senior member of IEEE, ACM, Emeritus member of Michigan!/usr/group, and leads the  SEMCO.ORG. He is currently the Chair of the IEEE SE Michigan Section sincee Nov 2021. He has also a published author on the topic: "UNIX and TCP/IP network security" " ISBN: 1581430213. He is also the recipient of the 2018 IEEE-MGA award for outstanding contributions. In 2021 he was awarded the IEEE Region 4 Jack Sherman Outstanding member award. In 2022 he was honored with the Robert Neff Section award.

Email: