Improving our support for members, academic institutions and industry in the Interior of our province has become a key Section priority in recent years. As noted in the December 2009 issue of Contact, this has led us to support the formation of IEEE Okanagan and Northern British Columbia Subsections. The formation petitions were approved by the Section EXCOM and submitted to IEEE MGA in December 2009. The IEEE MGA board formally approved establishment of the new  subsections on 13 February 2010.

Background

Both the Okanagan Valley and Northern British Columbia are emerging as major technology centres within the Province of British Columbia, as underscored by:

• the recent establishment of the Okanagan Campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC-O), the Okanagan Research & Innovation Centre (ORIC), the Okanagan Science & Technology Council (OSTEC), and the emergence of the Silicon Vineyard technology cluster, and,
• the recent establishment of the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), the presence of a large portion of BC Hydro’s electrical generating capacity and virtually all of British Columbia’s thriving oil and gas industry within the region, and the formation of the Northern Development Initiative Trust to drive economic growth within the region.

The population of both regions is rapidly approaching 300,000. However, both regions are located some distance from Vancouver and it is difficult for IEEE members in the Okanagan or Northern British Columbia to participate in the majority of activities that are organized by Vancouver Section.

Subsection Leadership and Goals

The new IEEE Okanagan subsection (chair: Prof. Julian Cheng of UBC-O; vice-chair: Peter Haubrich, President and Founder of ORIC) and IEEE Northern British Columbia subsection (chair: Prof. Liang Chen; vicechair: Prof. Jernej Polajnar, both of UNBC) will bring together the more than 150 IEEE members in the Interior to:

1. host IEEE technical presentations,
2. organize IEEE social events,
3. recruit new IEEE members,
4. provide local support to the recently formed or proposed IEEE Student Branches at UBC-O and UNBC and
5. support initiatives that aim to foster economic development in the region.

IEEE Vancouver Section supplied extensive support during the subsection formation process and has provided each Subsection with a $500 startup grant to pay for incidental expenses during the first year of operation. The Section will also provide the Subsection officers with training and support during the critical startup period and, where possible, will involve the subsections when we host Distinguished Lecturers.

Contact:

Julian Cheng: julian.cheng at ubc.ca
Peter Haubrich: peter at oric.ca
Liang Chen: lchen at ieee.org
Jernej Polajnar: jernej.polajnar at gmail.com