student news
www.ieee.org/r8sac
DEAR IEEE FRIENDS, within Region8 and gives Queen Mary University of
Being an IEEE member support and guidance. London from 28 August to 1
has been a delightful journey IEEE Foundation aims to September 2008.
for me. During my involve- encourage scientific and edu- Located in the heart of
ment, IEEE activities gave cational innovative programs. London, the Congress will
me opportunities to get to Region8 student branches be close to many sightseeing
know the people within IEEE which were granted awards spots such as Buckingham Javier Fernandez Escribano (founder of IEEEdb), David Sifry,
world for technical and pro- in 2007 are Leuven SB, Palace, the London Eye, Israel Arribas Santolaya (President of IEEEsb ETSIT-UPM)
fessional matters and to learn University of York SB, Mid- Big Ben, Oxford Street, etc. and Jose Angel Fernandez
how I can contribute to this dle Each Technical University Queen Mary University Stu-
society. I am grateful for my SB. I certainly encourage all dent Branch, together with
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain:
appointment as the Region8
Student Branch coordinator
and I will do my best to reach
the Student branches to ap-
ply if they have such ideas
(www.ieee.org/organizations/
SAC, GOLD and other vol-
unteers from other branches
in the UK, are working hard
Technorati founder
you to support your efforts in
spreading the IEEE spirit.
Forming and running a
foundation).
IEEE Student Branches
Industry Relations is a
to make this an event to be
remembered. The Congress
schedule includes talks by
joins ‘Geek Dinner’
student branch is certainly new program in 2007 that IEEE seniors, workshops, a LAST YEAR, we began an was focused on the possi-
not an easy task. It needs tries to leverage industry- grand city tour, multi-cultural activity called ‘IEEE Discus- bilities and even advantages
courage, perseverance and related student activities dinner, contests and many sion Boards’, which consist of that small companies have to
patience, so I would like to within IEEE. ISBIR aims to other fun activities. roundtable discussions about make an incredible influence
congratulate student branch strengthen the link between After the Congress, those topics related to technology. in the market place and even
executives by recognizing IEEE, Academia and Industry who wish to explore the ca- After the great success of in the society. Technorati is
their efforts and dedication. by providing support to Stu- reer opportunities in the UK the last two IEEEdb events a clear example of this phi-
Members have many dent Branches in many ways can also attend the Job Fair (‘Neutralidad de la Red’ and losophy. Sifry created it as a
resources within IEEE from (www.isbir.org). organized by IEEE Media. ‘Las TIC y su impacto en personal tool: “I just wanted
which you can get support. This is certainly not a Registration is now open to el sector audiovisual’), we to know what they said about
Each student Branch is complete list, but I hope it all the student branches in wanted to know more about me on the Internet”, but now-
linked to an IEEE Section. shows that there are many Region8. Please see www. entrepreneurs and start-up adays there are more than
The sections can allocate different resources within sbc2008.org for further de- founders. 120 millions of blogs regis-
funds, can provide IEEE- IEEE waiting to hear from tails. On 15 November 2007, tered in Technorati with an
related materials, and can you. Hope to see you all in Javier Fernández Escribano increasing rate of 120,000
help you to reach academics I would like to tell you London during SBC2008. (founder of IEEEdb) had the new users per day.
in your region. The Region 8 about the forthcoming Region Emine Gokce Aydal incredible luck to secure a The reason of this peak
Student Activities Committee 8 Student Branch Congress IEEE Region8 Student visit by David Sifry (founder is far from company profits,
(SAC) represents all students in London. It will be held in Branch Coordinator and chairman of Technorati) as it is clear that most of
during the entrepreneur’s the bloggers don’t get any
SB Formation Initiative in Greece
visit to Madrid. economical profit. Neverthe-
After the meeting, all the less, they get other benefits:
attendants were invited to “A lot of people feel the need
22 STATE Universities oper- Skodras gave an overview of our first Geek Dinner, where of communicate, write, tell a
ate in Greece, but only seven IEEE, its structure, the ben- they had the opportunity to story… and one of the most
have IEEE Student Branches. efits of IEEE membership, ask him and share opinions interesting things of a blog is
Greece Section officers, in an and the procedure for estab- with him while having dinner the answers you get”.
attempt to stimulate mem- lishing a Student Branch. Mr in the city centre. So many millions of peo-
bership, have decided to The presenters and some of Antoniou presented the activ- David Sifry is an Ameri- ple participating and answer-
commence a Student Branch the participants ities of their Student Branch, can software entrepreneur ing has to make an impact in
Formation Initiative. which is considered as a good and blogosphere icon most the global communications.
The University of Ioanni- ter Science is well known for paradigm between those that recently known for founding The traditional means of
na in North-Western Greece its research and educational are in operation. Technorati, a leading blog communication are beginning
started the ball rolling. The activities, and the majority Many questions and an search engine that indexes to change, turning paper into
Vice Chair of Greece Section, of the faculty members are interesting discussion fol- over 94 millions weblogs. bits. This is a clear example
Prof A Skodras, with officers IEEE members. lowed the presentations. Sifry is a major open-source of how a simple idea can turn
of the University of Patras Presentations were organ- It was decided to start the advocate. into a social revolution.
Student Branch, arranged a ized in the main lecture hall formation of the new Branch He was also a founder of Sifry ended his talk en-
visit to this University on 30 of the Department of Compu- of the University of Ioannina LinuxCare, and cofounder couraging the attendants to
November 2007. ter Science, and a number of immediately. Dr C Kavousian- of Sputnik (a Wi-Fi gateway become entrepreneurs.
The University of Ioan- students (at different study os, Assistant Professor at the company). Technorati uses If you want to know more
nina, which was established levels) and faculty staff par- Department of Computer Sci- and contributes to open about this event, you can
in 1970, consists of 17 aca- ticipated. The presentations ence, will act as the interim source software and it in- download the video from:
demic departments. It has were given by Prof Skodras, Student Branch Counselor. cludes a public developers’ www.ieeedb.es/technorati.
13,523 undergraduate stu- also serving as the Student A Skodras wiki, as well as various open html#video-pane.
dents, 1,300 MSc students, Branch Counselor, and Mr C IEEE Greece Section APIs. Israel Arribas Santolaya
and 2,217 PhD students. Antoniou, University of Patras Vice Chair His talk, ‘Change the IEEE UPM Chairman
The Department of Compu- Student Branch officer. Prof skodras@eap.gr world in 30 people or less’, ias@ieee.org
March 2008 7