IEEE Ottawa Annual General Meeting - Save the Date!

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Meet the candidates from IEEE Ottawa Section:
Prof. Wahab Almuhtadi - For IEEE Region 7 (Canada) 2024-2025 Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect
Prof. Winnie Ye - For 2024 IEEE Women in Engineering Committee Chair-Elect

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IEEE Milestone - Plaque dedication for the First Fiber Bragg & the First Geographic Information System!

Dedication ceremonies of two IEEE Milestones held in Ottawa on Friday, 11 August 2023
By Amir Andaliby and Wendy Hopkins, IEEE Ottawa Section Chair and Vice-Chair
 
Two IEEE milestone dedication ceremonies were held in Ottawa on Friday, 11 August 2023, in conjunction with the 2023 IEEE Sections Congress that took place there on 11-13 August. Both milestones were sponsored by the IEEE Ottawa Section. The first, commemorating “The First Fiber Bragg Grating Demonstration at Communications Research Centre Canada in 1978” was held at the Communications Research Centre (CRC) Canada and the second, “The First Geographic Information System (GIS) developed in 1962-1968”, was held at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) as the hosts of these milestones, respectively.
 
The IEEE Ottawa Section is honored to sponsor the IEEE Milestone commemorating the “First Fiber Bragg Grating Demonstration at Communications Research Centre Canada in 1978,” a ground-breaking accomplishment realized at the highly esteemed Communications Research Centre (CRC) Canada. Back in 1978, the brilliant minds of Dr. Ken Hill and his team of researchers at CRC achieved something that would reshape the landscape of optical communications. The demonstration of the First Fiber Bragg Grating opened up an array of possibilities in the field, revolutionizing data transmission and ushering in a new era of high-speed, reliable connectivity. This moment not only marked a technological advancement but is also a testament to human ingenuity and collaborative research. The IEEE Milestone, bestowed upon CRC researchers for this achievement, stands as a symbol of dedication, vision, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. It's a nod to the pioneering spirit that drives us to push boundaries and explore the unknown. This recognition serves as a reminder that each small step forward can have a ripple effect, impacting industries, communities, and lives on a global scale.
 
This event was held at CRC with over 30 attendees, and was graced by a number of prominent figures: Marc Levesque, President - Communications Research Centre (CRC) Canada, Dr. Saifur Rahman, IEEE President; Rob Anderson, IEEE Canada (R7) President; Amir Andaliby, IEEE Ottawa Section Chair; Wendy Hopkins, IEEE Ottawa Section Vice-Chair; and Dr. Branislav Djokic, IEEE Canada History Committee Past Chair; all of whom spoke about this far reaching development at CRC and its recognition as an IEEE milestone. The dedication was also attended by many members and friends of CRC, members of IEEE: Dr. Tom Murad, IEEE Canada President-Elect; Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi, IEEE Consumer Technology Past President; Dr. Nima Javanbakht and Dr. Ahmed Shehata Abdellatif of the IEEE Ottawa Section; and guests including Dr. Velko Tsolov, Director General, Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre at the National Research Council (NRC) Canada, and many others.

 
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IEEE Ottawa is also honored to sponsor the IEEE Milestone commemorating the “First Geographic Information System (GIS)” at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) prime location at 50 Sussex Drive in Ottawa. This milestone exemplifies the application of technology in innovative ways to not only solve the problem of the day but also to lay the foundation for the future. Its dedication was held in the afternoon of August 11, 2023 with over 30 people in attendance. After welcoming remarks by Rosemary Thompson, RCGS VP od Communications and Marketing, the speeches highlighting the GIS development and its continuous impact worldwide were given by John Geiger, RCGS CEO, and Dr. Saifur Rahman, IEEE President. Dr. Janina Mazierska, IEEE History Committee Past President, explained the roles of the IEEE History Committee and IEEE History Center. Dr. Tom Murad, IEEE Canada President-Elect, emphasized the importance of IEEE milestones for preserving and disseminating information about the science and engineering developments and the IEEE Canada support of the IEEE Milestone Program. Wendy Hopkins, Vice-Chair of the IEEE Ottawa Section highlighted the continuous relevance of the GIS invention and the Ottawa Section’s role as this milestone’s sponsor. Dr. Branislav Djokic, who prepared and submitted a proposal for this milestone as the IEEE Canada History Committee Chair in 2020, touched upon the delays due to COVID and other challenges encountered along the way. Prof. Michael Ballard, who teaches Geospatial Science at Algonquin College in Ottawa, and Pierre Bilodeau, who is Industry Manager at Esri Canada, reflected on many contemporary irreplaceable applications of GIS and on their meetings and discussions with the GIS inventor, Dr. Roger Tomlinson, whom they knew personally. Guests at the event included a number of prominent RCGS and IEEE members.
 
Between 1962 to 1968, Dr. Roger Tomlinson at the Canadian Department of Forestry and Land Development sought a means to improve the management of Canada's forests, agriculture, wildlife and rural development as the manual methods of the day were too unwieldy and disorganized to allow for effective stewardship of Canada's natural resources. He recognized that the new emerging field of computing technology could deliver a solution by digitizing and storing data thereby allowing the application of data processing techniques to that information. This would allow for correlation of the data for tracking, analyzing, and visualizing the land. This became the Canada Land Inventory System and led to the first Geographic Information System (GIS). It revolutionized everyday life worldwide by allowing the overlay, measurement and spatial analysis of geographic information. Today GIS is at the core of modern life from urban planning, tourism and recreation, and even tracking the progression of COVID-19 variants in recent times. His accomplishment sets a high bar for scientists and engineers to find as effective solutions to today's problems. Let us all draw inspiration from Dr. Tomlinson and this ground breaking engineering milestone.

 Call for Nominations for the IEEE Ottawa Section Annual Awards 2023

 IEEE Section Congress - 2023