2023
IEEE Vancouver Section
AGM and Gala
Saturday, March 25th, 2023
The IEEE Vancouver Section’s 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Gala event was held on March 25, 2023. The event was attended by 112 members and guests from across industry and academia. Aside from the reports to members and the business conducted during the AGM formal business meeting, the event offers to members of the section the opportunity to connect, and offers to the section executive the opportunity to recognize outstanding individuals for their achievements and for their contributions as volunteers of the section. This year the AGM and Gala was hosted by Section Chair Jacqueline Nichols.
Annual General Meeting – Formal Business Meeting
The formal AGM was conducted near the beginning of the evening’s program.
Chair’s Report
Section Chair Jacqueline Nichols reported on highlights of the section’s activities in 2022, which included a scholarship awards reception, a summer social event, IEEE Day celebrations, and the dedication of the IEEE Milestone for the Trans Canada Microwave System. She shared the Section’s plans for the coming year, including plans to enhance the section’s organizational effectiveness, and to create opportunities for members to join section volunteers at another summer social event and IEEE day celebration.
Section Treasurer’s Report and Auditors
Section Vice Chair Mandeep Pannu – who served as Treasurer in 2022 – provided the treasurer’s report. The report were approved by the voting members present.
A new audit committee member Jose Areekadan was appointed to a three year term.
The names of the section auditors for the coming year are:
- Oleksandr Sergeyenko
- Patrick Sandi
- Jose Areekadan
The executive committee wishes to thank the outgoing auditor, Paul Smith, for his support over the past three years.
The business meeting was adjourned.
The next AGM and Gala was tentatively scheduled for March 30, 2024. The Section will be conducting a feedback survey of its members to determine preferences for both AGM and Gala.
Section Awards
Local IEEE activities within the Vancouver Section would not be possible without the dedicated volunteers who organize them. From social events to technical talks, these activities require effort to plan and execute, and as a result, they provide value to our IEEE members and the local technical community. Section Chair Jacqueline Nichols was pleased to announce the winners of section awards, recognizing some of our volunteers for their outstanding contributions and performance in 2022. The award winners are:
- Outstanding Small Technical Chapter (tie) – Joint Aerospace & Electromagnetics (Dave Michelson)
- Outstanding Small Technical Chapter (tie) – Joint Solid State Circuits (Shahriar Mirabbasi)
- Outstanding Large Technical Chapter – Joint Communications (Vincent Wong)
- Outstanding Affinity Group – Life Members (Carl Zanon)
- Outstanding Student Branch – SFU Student Branch (Vahideh Shirmohammadli)
- Outstanding Volunteer – Conrad Guelke
- Service award – Matthew Wilder (Past Section Chair)
Member Milestone Recognition
Section Vice Chair Mandeep Pannu offered special recognition to Dr. Abhijit Sen for his 50 year anniversary as an IEEE Member. Dr. Sen offered a few remarks at the microphone to share about the story of his immigration to Canada 50 years ago which coincided with the beginning of his IEEE membership.
Student Poster Competition
A student poster competition was held at the AGM. Students from UBC, BCIT, and KPU presented their posters and hardware demos to the judges and the audience. The following students were adjudged as the winners of the competition:
- First Prize: Jonathan Lew (UBC), “Anticipating and Eliminating Redundant Computations in Accelerated Sparse Training”
- Second Prize: Michael Andrews (BCIT), “WhaleTunes”
- Third Prize: Harvir Singh Matharu (KPU), “DNS Sinkhole”
The following students received commendation awards:
- Jaskaran Arora (KPU), “Find Recycle”
- Jordan Wong, Harrison Yuen, Andrew Chen & Eliot Lee (BCIT), “SearchCam V2”
Student Scholarship Awards
The Vancouver Section Student Scholarship Awards are named in honour of outstanding Vancouver Section members. More information about the Scholarships and the criteria can be found on the Vancouver Section’s Scholarships page.
The 2023 scholarship awards recipients were announced by Section Chair Jacqueline Nichols on behalf of the Vancouver Section Scholarship Committee:
- John S. MacDonald Award – Bo Chen (UBC Grad Student)
- John Deane Scholarship Award – Hardeep Takhar (SFU Grad Student)
- Hector J. MacLeod Scholarship Award – Zachary Griffin (UFV Undergrad Student)
- Thurb Cushing Scholarship Award – Liam Harder (KPU Undergrad Student)
The Section scholarship funds accounts are administered on behalf of the Vancouver Section by the IEEE Canadian Foundation. The fund is largely self-sustaining, and disbursements flow out of the fund’s interest earned. Contributions from members and other generous donors are welcome in order to grow the fund, and therefore the increase the amounts that the section can award each year through the scholarships. Contributions to these Section Scholarship funds are tax deductible.
Information about donation methods can be found on the IEEE Canadian Foundation donations page.
Region 7 Address by IEEE Canada President Rob Anderson
Special guest Rob Anderson, president of IEEE Canada provided attendees with information about IEEE and plans with IEEE Canada – also known as Region 7. He shared that IEEE Canada is a unique within IEEE because it is one region to corresponding to one country, unlike any other region in IEEE, where Regions 1 through 6 are all within the United States, and Regions 8, 9, and 10 cover entire continents rather than countries. Mr. Anderson shared the IEEE Canada focus and priorities as the region looks to revitalize its operations.
Keynote address: “How technology is helping the achievement of sustainability goals”
Shivam Kishore, P.Eng, PMP
Co-lead Digital Transformation | Sustainability | United Nations
Mr. Kishore sat down with Vancouver Section Past Chair Matthew Wilder for a conversation about sustainability, and the role of technology in addressing climate and social sustainability challenges ahead of us. The conversation covered a range of areas in which technology can help bring about a sustainable future. Shivam especially highlighted how digital transformation is creating transparent measures of the outcomes of our many decisions. These measures are giving policy makers and decision makers the information they need to make choices that take into account the externalities – or external consequences – of their actions. This timely conversation took place during Earth Hour 2023, the annual event that aims to raise awareness of the impact our choices have on the environment. The section thanks Mr. Kishore for sharing his expertise and insights with our AGM and gala attendees.
AGM Photos
Click here to see the full AGM Photo Gallery.
AGM & Gala Sponsors
Vancouver Section Chair Jacqueline Nichols introduced and thanked all of the AGM sponsors. The section was pleased to have so many sponsors show their support after several years without an in-person AGM and Gala event. This high quality event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors.
The Vancouver Section gratefully acknowledges the support of our AGM & Gala 2023 sponsors:
Platinum Sponsor |
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| TELUS |  |
Destination Sponsor |
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| Destination Vancouver / MIND Program |  |
| Destination Vancouver / MIND Program |  |
Gold Sponsors | |
| University of the Fraser Valley - School of Computing |  |
| KPU Melville School of Business |  |
Silver Sponsors | |
| Dual Fluid Energy Inc. |  |
| Northeastern University, Vancouver Campus |  |
| Powertech Labs Inc. |  |
| SFU Engineering Science |  |