4.2 Canadian Atlantic Chapter

Canadian Atlantic Chapter (1998)

A Chapter of the IEEE Communications Society was recently established in the Canadian Atlantic Section. This article reviews the process of establishing a Chapter of a Technical Society in the context of our recent experience. It also highlights the challenges that we face in developing an active Chapter in our small Section, and our plans to become an important ingredient in the economic growth of our area by establishing a forum for industry/university interaction and providing a conduit for technical expertise to IEEE members and local industry.

The Canadian Atlantic Section consists of the provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and is situated approximately 500 miles northeast of New York City. These are two of Canada's smallest provinces, comprising slightly over one million people, with the largest metropolitan area of Halifax home to approximately 350,000 residents. The Atlantic Canadian economy has traditionally depended on natural resources such as fishing and mining, although with the recent collapse of the cod stocks and slow-down in coal mining, employment in these industries has fallen.

In contrast, this region has a large number of degree-granting post-secondary institutions. There are twelve universities and colleges in these two provinces, with six in the Halifax area alone. Of these, one university grants engineering degrees and has a graduate engineering program. There are presently two universities that offer computer science undergraduate and graduate degrees, with one more currently undergoing accreditation.

Given the relatively small size of our Section, it is not surprising that the number of IEEE members in our Section is also small, currently numbering approximately 250, with one-fifth of them being Student members. The Section is led by a small, but dedicated, executive team. Prior to formation of the ComSoc Chapter, there were three Chapters, representing the Computer Society, the Power Engineering and Industrial Applications Societies, and the Oceanic Engineering Society. Each of these Chapters is active, holding several events throughout the year.

Over the past few years, however, there has been an increase in the amount of communications-related interest and activity in our provinces. Several entrepreneurs have established telecommunications-related businesses, and the region has also been successful in attracting the attention of large communications companies as well, most notably Nortel Ltd., Cisco Systems Inc., and Newbridge Networks Ltd. Also, a focal point for these activities was established with the formation of the Telecom Applications Research Alliance (TARA) in 1995. The mandate of this non-profit Alliance is to promote entrepreneurial activity in the telecommunications and IT industries within our provinces. Originally founded by Nortel Ltd. and Maritime Tel. and Tel., it now boasts over 35 member organizations. It also is home to the world's only DMS-100 switch available to private companies to test telecommunication products, it houses one of only six worldwide Cisco Internetworking Expert Certification laboratories, and it is host to the world's first Master of Engineering in Internetworking program offered through DalTech, Dalhousie University.

With this increase in communications-related activity in our area, the establishment of a ComSoc Chapter was a natural development. As is typical, however, it still required extra incentive to encourage Section members to progress from talking about setting up the Chapter to putting the wheels in motion. This encouragement came from higher-level executives within the IEEE.

Last year, Eastern Canada was fortunate to host IEEE dignitaries on several occasions. In particular, our neighboring province, Newfoundland, hosted the 1997 Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering. At the invitation of Wally Read, Past-President of the IEEE and a member of the Newfoundland Section, the 1997 IEEE President Chuck Alexander and President-Elect Joseph Bordogna attended this conference. They were joined by other Canadian executive, including Vijay Bhargava, former Vice-President of Regional Activities, Linda Weaver, Director of Region 7 and President of IEEE Canada, and Jacek Chrostowski, the ComSoc Chapter Coordinator for Region 7. These IEEE executives encouraged all conference participants to continue to participate in IEEE activities, and become even more involved in raising the profile of IEEE in both industry and university environments.

I had the good fortune of attending this conference, as did the Chair of the Atlantic Section. Our Chair was particularly encouraged to act upon the words of IEEE leaders at the conference, and as a result asked me to coordinate formation of the ComSoc Chapter. Further motivating us to action was that another neighboring Section in Montreal was preparing to host ICC in a few weeks. In conjunction with this conference, meetings of the Communications Society would be held, offering an ideal opportunity to formally announce our progress in forming a Chapter and meet with fellow ComSoc members for advice and mentoring on Chapter organization.

We found the requirements to form a Technical Society Chapter quite straightforward, and detailed in several locations. Chapter Manuals such as this one indicate that a complete kit for staring a new Chapter is available from IEEE Regional Activities. Given our time limitations, we did not have time for this kit to be delivered, and so turned to electronic sources of information. Related information can be found on the IEEE web site at www.ieee.org. We found the downloadable IEEE ROOT (Resource Officer Orientation Training) program to be very useful; it can be downloaded from the IEEE FTP site at ftp.ieee.org/software/ROOT.

As outlined clearly in this documentation, the basic requirement to form a new Chapter is to obtain the signatures of at least twelve IEEE members above Student Grade who belong to the Section and the Technical Society. This petition should specify both the name of the Section and the Technical Society, and give the name and address of the Chapter Organizer. An example of a suitable petition for this purpose is given in the ROOT program. This signed petition must then be submitted to the Section Executive in order to receive the consent and approval of the Section before being delivered to the IEEE Regional Activities Department. IEEE will ensure that those signing the petition are authorized to do so, and will seek the approval of both the Regional Director and Society President. Following approval, the Society President, Regional Director, Section Chair and Chapter Organizer will be notified of the Chapter charter.

We followed this procedure for the most part, but were fortunate to be able to combine several steps along the way, speeding the process for formation of our Chapter. First, a list of all ComSoc members in our Section was obtained from the Section Officer in charge of electronic services. This list enabled us to contact almost all of our members either in person or via fax in order to receive their signatures. Although we numbered only 25 at the time, this proved sufficient for the purposes of the petition. At this point we were able to include the signature of our Section Chair (with the approval of the Section Executive Committee), and we were also fortunate to obtain the signature of Linda Weaver, the Director of Region 7, since she is a member of our Section and a strong supporter of initiatives that will continue to raise the profile of IEEE.

Given that ICC was quickly approaching, we did not mail the completed petition to IEEE, but held it in order to present it to Dr. Tetsuya Miki, the Director of ComSoc Chapters, during the ComSoc Board of Governors meeting held at that time. Celia Desmond, Director of IEEE Division III (ComSoc) and a principal organizer of ICC, arranged for the presentation to occur during a short break in the regular proceedings. I was pleased to be able to tell those assembled about the activities in the Canadian Atlantic Section, and formally present the petition to Dr. Miki.

The response from IEEE was quite prompt. Within a few weeks we were notified that the Chapter had been approved, and we received further information from the Communications Society regarding organizing our Chapter. Unfortunately, due to prior commitments of those involved in establishing the Chapter, not many steps could be taken towards its further development throughout the fall months of 1997. An IEEE ComSoc Banner was ordered and received for the Canadian Atlantic Section, and free Chapter subscriptions to ComSoc publications were arranged. We have since decided to have these magazine and journal subscriptions on display and archived at TARA since it is a win-win opportunity to promote the visibility of IEEE and ComSoc to both industry and university, provide an excellent technical resource to IEEE and TARA members, and encourage new membership. In these endeavors, the assistance of the IEEE ComSoc staff has been invaluable.

With the new year, however, active steps have been taken to develop the Chapter. We have decided for the present to proceed with a Chapter Executive limited to the Chair, but anticipate enlisting the support of several volunteers to assist with our events and look forward to expanding the Chapter executive somewhat. As with the other Chapters in our Section, we will have close alliance and support from the Section Executive. In particular, our finances will be handled by the Section Treasurer, which is appropriate and efficient given the small size of our Chapter and Section at present.

Our mission will be to support communications-related research, development, and industry within our Section by bringing together experts from both academia and industry to share their technical knowledge and expertise among ComSoc members and the technical community at large. We see this network between researchers and business developers to be key to the continued growth of the communication technology sector in our Section. We will endeavor to complement the activities of others by providing technically-focused events highlighting the evolution of and upcoming opportunities in this rapidly changing industry. We will do so by organizing events to highlight the accomplishments and expertise of local success stories in this area, as well as participating in the Distinguished Lecturer Program.

Our short-term objectives might appear somewhat modest. In this, our first year of operation, we plan to hold quarterly events and coordinate their timing so as not to conflict with events organized by other Chapters, the Section, or the Student Branch. We have set a goal of 50 ComSoc members by the end of the year, a two-fold increase within one year, but nonetheless a goal we judge to be realistic. Regarding publicity, we will establish a web site, and use the resources of the Section Newsletter, list server, and fax service to raise the awareness of our activities. Above all, we recognize that personal contact and the continuing efforts of dedicated volunteers will be the key to growth of the ComSoc Chapter in the Canadian Atlantic Section.

We look forward to the excitement that lies ahead in the development and growth of this new Chapter.