2024

IEEE Vancouver Section AGM & Gala 2024 – Group Photo

(photo credit: Kim Bellavance)

The IEEE Vancouver Section’s 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Gala event was held on March 30th 2024. The event was attended by over 70 members, guests, and representatives from industry and academia.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Gala is held annually by the Vancouver Section to conduct formal business of the Section after the year-end. Beyond conducting the official business of the Section, the AGM & Gala provides an opportunity for recognizing and honoring outstanding individuals and groups within the Section. The host was Section Chair Jacqueline Nichols.

AGM Business Meeting

Chair’s Report

As part of the formal AGM, Jacqueline Nichols reported on highlights of the section’s activities in 2023, which included last year’s AGM, a summer social event, attendance at Sections Congress, IEEE Day celebrations, and the formation / inauguration of a new IEEE student branch at NYIT Vancouver.

The 2024 Executive Officers were introduced, and it was noted about the Vancouver Section has begun running the section elections using IEEE MGA’s new election tool (pilot).

She went on to share about 2024 plans ahead, including plans to enhance the section’s organizational effectiveness, and create opportunities for members to join section volunteers at another summer social event and IEEE day celebration.

Financial Report and Auditors Report

Section Treasurer Nishant Kashyap provided an update on section finances and the auditors report. These reports were approved by the voting members present.

A new audit committee member Steven McClain was appointed to a three year term. The names of the section auditors for the coming year are:

Patrick Sandi
Jose Areekadan
Steven McClain

The executive committee wishes to thank the outgoing auditor, Alexander Sergeynko, for his support over the past three years.

With the approval of all reports, the business meeting was adjourned.

The executive committee wishes to thank the outgoing auditor, Oleksandr Sergeyenko, for his support during the past three years.

Beyond conducting the official business of the Section, the AGM & Gala provides an opportunity for recognizing and honoring outstanding individuals and groups within the Section. Section awards and Student Scholarships (see the complete list below) were presented.

Section Awards

The IEEE Vancouver Section recognized several volunteers and sub-units of the Section for their significant contribution in the preceding year. The Section award winners are:

Outstanding Small Technical Chapter – Electron Devices (Michael Adachi)
Outstanding Large Technical Chapter – Joint Control, Robotics & Cybernetics (Ryozo Nagamune)
Outstanding Affinity Group (tie) – Women In Engineering (Mahsa Bataghva)
Outstanding Affinity Group (tie) – Young Professionals (Fares Alsaafani)
Outstanding Student Branch – UBC Okanagan (Aziz Rakhimov)
Outstanding Volunteer – Octavio Ciraiz

Vancouver Section Student Scholarship Awards

The Vancouver Section Student Scholarships are named in honour of outstanding Vancouver Section members. The scholarship funds accounts are administered on behalf of the Vancouver Section by the IEEE Canadian Foundation. Contributions to these Section Scholarship funds are tax deductible. More information about the Scholarships and the criteria can be found on the Vancouver Section’s Scholarships page. Information about donation methods can be found on the IEEE Canadian Foundation donations page.

The Vancouver Section Student Scholarship Committee 2024 consisted of: Mandeep Pannu (Chair), Guillaume Boisset, and Octavio Ciraiz. The Scholarship Committee Chair, Mandeep Pannu, announced the winners of the following scholarship awards for 2024:

Thurb Cushing Scholarship Award – Braden Vanderwoerd (BCIT)
John Deane Scholarship Award – Genliang (Kenneth) Zhu (NYIT)
Hector J. MacLeod Scholarship Award – Josue Gourde (UFV)
John S. MacDonald Scholarship Award – Stephanie Quon (UBC Vancouver)

Keynote Presentation: “Generative AI: Notes and Stories from the Field”

Mr. K.P. Rao

Senior Technology Strategist, Microsoft

Mr. Rao spoke about the use of Generative AI, such as tools which assist users in learning about possible configurations for equipment, or even forming a summary of various options and alternatives for a user. There were questions from several members of the audience related to privacy and security – these related to the possible incorporation of confidential (and or proprietary) information into the Large Language model used by a GenAI tool. Mr. Rao explained that the state of the art in Large Language Models (and tools) is improving, but that there are not always guarantees regarding the incorporated data, and traceability of outputs from the tool is currently lacking.

Section chair Jacqueline Nichols thanked Mr. Rao for a very interesting and timely presentation.

AGM & Gala Photo Album

Click here to see the full online photo album from the AGM & Gala event.

Thanks to our Generous AGM Sponsors!

The Vancouver Section also takes the opportunity during the AGM to thank its sponsors and supporters. This year the Section had many sponsors supporting our AGM, representing professional, city, and academic institutions as well as industry. These sponsors contributed toward the AGM & Gala in many ways – without their support, a high quality event would be not be achievable for the Section.

The Vancouver Section gratefully acknowledges the support of our AGM & Gala 2024 sponsors:

Platinum Sponsor
University of the Fraser Valley - School of Computing
Destination Sponsor
Tourism Vancouver

Gold Sponsors
KPU Melville School of Business
Northeastern University - Vancouver
Silver Sponsor
New York Institute of Technology - Vancouver
Patron Sponsor
Dual Fluid Energy Inc.