IEEE PES Region 9 (Latin America) Creates the North and South Councils
In the meeting of PES leaders of Region 9 held on September 15, in Gramado, Brazil, the official announcement of the creation of the North and South PES Councils of Latin America was made.
Due to the great extension of Region 9 and having 35 PES chapters in Latin America, it is necessary to focus regional activities and empower local PES leaders, for this purpose two councils of PES chapters were created: North and South of Latin America.
The PES Council of the North groups the chapters of Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America (CAPANA), which is led by Dr. Guadalupe Gonzalez and the PES Council of the South groups the chapters of Brazil, the Andean region and the Cone South, led by Dr. Jorge Lafitte.
Each Council will be organized with four permanent teams: (1) Membership, (2) Education, (3) Technical activities and (4) Standards, which will be implemented and come into operation in the coming months.
- Membership Committee: Activities will include arranging training workshops, tutorials, webinars, etc. to make IEEE PES visible among power engineers and others in Latin America, and grow PES membership in the country.
- Education Committee: It will be lead volunteer group to organize PES related certificate courses, webinars, tutorials, short courses, etc. in Latin America. This committee will liaise with the PES vice president for Education.
- Technical Activities Committee: It will provide linkage between the IEEE PES technical committees, and engineers and academics in Latin America who are interested to participate in committee activities. This committee will focus on conferences, workshops, etc.
- Standards Committee: It will help to examine the Latin American standards addressed to IEEE PES so that the evaluation is adopted as IEEE standards. This committee will be linked to the IEEE Standards Association.
The initial list of scope of work for these committees is listed below. These will evolve as the interactions between IEEE PES and Latin American engineering organizations expand over time.
- Provide support for IEEE PES membership drive in Latin America.
- Help to organize PES conferences in Latin America. • Develop educational programs (e.g., tutorials, workshops, webinars) in Latin America.
- Manage the Corporate Engagement Program and other PES initiatives in Latin America, including corporate membership, training development and other activities.
- Support the PES Scholarship program that has been established in Latin America.
- Promote PES student chapters across various universities and drive specific programs and activities focused on the PES student chapters across Latin America.
- Enable distinguished lectures for PES technology leaders.
- Work with PES chapters in Latin America and IEEE PES global teams to plan for outreach programs for PES leadership and experts in Latin America.
- Support PES chapters in Latin America for setting up workshops, seminars and other PES activities in the country including capacity building for both industry and academia.
- Work as a central coordination for the PES and student chapters and work collaboratively with society chapters and sections.
- Generate reports for PES in Latin America and identify new opportunities and programs aligned with overall mission of PES globally.
With this new organization, PES activities in Latin America will be intensified with greater participation among its members.
SANTIAGO LEON GOMEZ
Regional Representative Latin America