Introducing IEEE ComSoc Women in Communications Engineering (WICE) and First Workshop

IEEE ComSoc Women in Communications Engineering (WICE) ad hoc committee was founded in 2009. Its mission is to promote the increase in membership, visibility and roles of women communications engineers within IEEE Communications Society; and to provide a venue for the professional growth of women communications engineers. WICE currently has a 80-member group on the ComSoc Community Site, and recently launched a WICE Facebook page to expand its visibility to the world .

WICE reports to the Vice President of Member relations for the IEEE Communications Society. Long time ComSoc volunteer Heather Yu spearheaded the founding of the group. The current officers are: Shaline Kishore, Chair; Anna Scaglione, Vice Chair; ComSoc Past President Celia Desmond, and Heather Yu (at large). The previous chair of this ad hoc committee is Sara Katie Wilson.

Women are significantly underrepresented in most engineering disciplines and signal processing and communications are no exception. There are even fewer women in visible senior leadership roles, e.g., full and chaired professors, Editors-in-Chief, Distinguished Lecturers, members of the Board-of-Governors of their professional society. Although the number of women in these positions has - with concerted effort - grown, it is still too small. 

While there is no single way to increase the percentage of women in these research areas; WICE believes that targeted mentoring and networking can help with retention and increasing the number of women in leadership positions. One way to achieve this goal is a small workshop where junior researchers can interact and learn from more senior researchers. Such workshops foster the mentoring and networking that can make a difference in a career.

The first such event will be held later this July in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The workshop effort has been led by the organizing committee who are: Sheila Hemami, Cornell University;  Urbashi Mitra, USC; Milica Stojanovic, Northeastern; and Sarah Kate Wilson, Santa Clara University.

Upcoming event -

The First Women’s Workshop on Communications and Signal Processing
July 13-15, 2012 at the Banff International Research Station in Banff, Alberta, Canada

The following leaders in Communications and Signal Processing will be presenting technical seminars.

Sonia Assia, Universite de Quebec
Pamela Cosman, University of California, San Diego
Sheila Hemami, Cornell University
Shalinee Kishore, Lehigh University
Urbashi Mitra, University of Southern California
Anna Scaglione, University of California, Davis
Milica Stojanovic,  Northeastern University
Sirin Tekinay, Consultant, Istanbul, Turkey
Sarah Kate Wilson, Santa Clara University
Sally Wood, Santa Clara University

The tentative schedule for the workshop is as follows:

Friday Evening: 
7:30 – 9:00 PM Welcome and Panel discussion

Saturday:
9:00-10:15 Welcome and Poster Session
10:15-10:45 Coffee Break
10:45-12:00 2 Technical Talks
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:15 2 Technical Talks
2:15-2:45 Coffee Break
2:45-3:15 1 Technical Talk
3:45-5:30 Group Hike 
6:30-   Dinner in Canmore

Sunday:
9:00-10:15 2 Technical Talks
10:15-10:45 Coffee Break
10:45-11:40 Technical Talk
12:00 Check out time and lunch
1:30-2:30 Panel discussion and wrap-up

Call for Posters:

WICE is soliciting poster presentations from junior, under-represented researchers in the area of communications and signal processing.
Space is limited and some travel grants (including accommodation) are available.  To apply for the workshop please send the following to skwilson [at] scu [dot] edu 

A two-page abstract of the proposed poster, a CV, the names of two references, with “Women’s Workshop” in the subject header and send your application by March 30, 2012. 

This workshop is made possible by the generous support of the Banff International Research Station, the IEEE Communications Society, and the IEEE Signal Processing Society.

To be a fan of WICE on Facebook, visit: http://www.facebook.com/ComSocWICE

(Content submitted by Professor Sarah Kate Wilson, Santa Clara University )