Elections
Baltimore Section Elections
Voting for the 2020 IEEE Baltimore Section Executive Committee (ExCom) will begin o/a 1 November. The bios for each candidate are below. This year’s candidates for the following positions are:
Section Chair: Barin Nag
Section Vice-Chair: Michael Powers
Section Treasurer: Benjamin Tsui
Section Secretary: Don Herres
Barin Nag
Nominated Position – IEEE Baltimore Section Chair
Bio:
Barin N. Nag has been a member of IEEE for over 35 years and a Senior Member for over 10 years. He is presently Chair of the Computer Society of the Baltimore Section and has been active for several years with the Robot Challenge competition. He has been a member of the Communications Society and of the Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society. He has a Ph.D. in Operations Research and Computer Science from the University of Maryland and Bachelors and Masters degrees respectively in Electronics Engineering and Telecommunications, both from the Institute of Radio Physics & Electronics of the University of Calcutta (Kolkata) India. He has experience in the design and manufacture of electronic devices. He has been a professor for over 30 years with teaching experience in Towson University, Johns Hopkins University, and Monarch University (Switzerland). He has over 50 publications including three books. His research interests have covered various areas of applications of Artificial Intelligence in decision making for scheduling, optimization, and robotic systems.
Position Statement:
My active involvement with the Baltimore Section of the IEEE began with the Robot Challenge and expanded to the Executive Committee and later to restart the dormant Computer Society. It has been a most rewarding experience in the associations I have had with people that I am proud to be associated with and in seeing the commitment of the active members towards the development of the Baltimore Section and its membership. I would like to support and develop the growth of the active membership by increasing the presence in the community and by providing venues for enrichment. IEEE now has online courses available that attract interest across societies. I would like to see more of these presented to wider audiences. We need more speakers and need to promote them to the entire section membership. Educational activities build the future of IEEE. Linking with student chapters is one part of the growth. The Robot Challenge is an excellent vehicle to promote engineering education to high school students. I see a lot of potential in this for the future of the Baltimore Section.
Michael Powers
Nominated Position – IEEE Baltimore Vice-chair
Bio:
I am seeking election as Vice-chair of the Baltimore Section. I am a senior member of the IEEE and have been a member since 2002 when I joined the student branch at UMBC. After serving as student branch chair and earning a B.S. in Computer Engineering, I obtained the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park. More recently, I completed a Technical Management certificate at Johns Hopkins. I am currently the Vice President and Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at First Financial FCU, a large credit union serving the Baltimore area, where I manage strategic-level projects and organizational initiatives. Prior to this career broadening experience I was the leader of the Optical Sensing and Imaging team at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. I started my career at General Dynamics Robotic Systems, an organization that was an early pioneer of autonomous vehicle technology. My technical specialty and the subject of most of my published research is optics and photonics applied to imaging, chemical detection, and autonomous vehicle perception.
Position Statement:
As Vice-chair I will support the Section in efforts to increase the appeal of membership. In particular, I would like to strengthen the role of the IEEE as a home base for those whose current employment or unemployment would otherwise leave them disconnected from their technical background.
Benjamin Tsui, Ph.D.
Nominated Position – Baltimore Section Treasurer
Bio:
I am seeking election as Treasurer for the Baltimore Section of IEEE. I have been a member of IEEE for over 36 years and am currently a Life Fellow of the Nuclear and Plasma Science Society (NPSS). In my educational background is a B.S. in Physics, 1970, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, A.M. in physics, 1982, Dartmouth College, and Ph.D. in Medical Physics, University of Chicago. I am a Professor of Radiology, Biomedical Engineering (BME), and Electrical & Computer Engineering ECE), at Johns Hopkins University. My research interests have been focused on clinical and pre-clinical biomedical imaging, especially in SPECT, PET and CT. I am a Fellow of the IEEE, IOP and AIMBE and member of SNMMI and AAPM. I am well published in scientific journals and have advised a substantial number of M.S. and Ph.D. students in BME and ECE. I have served on scientific review committees of federal agencies and foundations, and as a reviewer for numerous professional journals. I also have served on IEEE NPSS subcommittees and conference committees. I was the MIC program chair of the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (NPS) and Medical Imaging Conference (MIC) in 2001 and the General Chair in 2007.
Position Statement:
Engineering sciences continue to lead major technological advances that have growing impact on our daily lives. Research and professional engineers are in great demand to fill the needs of many research and educational institutions, governmental agencies, and industrial companies. The IEEE is an important organization promoting the research, education, application and dissemination of various engineering sciences. The Baltimore Section of the IEEE can play a useful role in coordinating, motivating and mobilizing grassroot efforts to promote IEEE’s missions. If elected, I will try my best to continue and enhance the past efforts in introducing the engineering sciences, especially biomedical engineering, to high school students. I have constructed and administered numerous project and conference budgets and look forward to the opportunity to providing careful fiscal stewardship of the Baltimore section’s resources.
Don Herres
Nominated Position – Baltimore Section Secretary
Bio:
Don Herres is currently IEEE Region 2 East Area Chair (although Baltimore is in the Southern Area). I moved to Ellicott City at the end of 2018 having formerly lived in Mountain Top, PA where I was Lehigh Valley Section Chair from 2016 until August 2018. Prior to that, I spent my career in the Syracuse Area until 2013. I was Section Chair there in 1992 – 1993 and again in 2010 – 2011. I also served in a number of other Section and Chapter offices including a couple of stints as Secretary. I am a past member of the IEEE-USA Career Equality Committee, Employment Assistance Committee, Professional Activities Committee, and Employment & Career Services Committee (until 2013). If you do not recognize all of these, it is because I am adept at moving forward during reorganizations, both at IEEE and professionally. I am a Licensed Professional Engineer in NY and PA. I earned a BSEE from University of Buffalo and MSEE from Syracuse University. I retired as an electronics design engineer from Marquardt Switches in Cazenovia, NY in 2013 and have done some consulting and contract design work since.
Position Statement:
The Section exists to be the local contact and support for the members. This is primarily through meetings, workshops, and conferences. The Executive Committee meets to facilitate these by providing indirect Chapter Support (including funds) and also planning Section activities. A key element is to help recharge and develop chapter officers, volunteers and identify potential volunteers. The Secretary is responsible for keeping minutes, submitting annual Officer Reports, and ensuring meetings are reported to IEEE (necessary for Section and Chapter funding). Beyond this, I expect to help support the other members in their activities.