IEEE Gujarat Section History

About

(prepared on 5th June 2009 with inputs from Dr Anil K Roy (Chair), Mr Arup R Dasgupta (Past Chair), Mr Mayank M Pande (Past Chair), Mr Deepak Mathur (Past Chair))

The IEEE Gujarat section is one of the small and most important one in the Asia-Pacific region. If for no other reason than that Mahatma Gandhi was a Gujarati by birth, and had spearheaded the Indian Freedom Struggle from his ashram at Ahmedabad where the IEEE Gujarat Section is headquartered.

IEEE activities in Gujarat first started in 1988 at the city of Vadodara (earlier known as Baroda), when first unit of IEEE student branch was established at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology & Engineering, M.S.University. Dr. A. K. Aggarwal was the first Branch Counselor. Mr. J. S. Negi, the then Chief Executive of M/s Jyoti Ltd, had taken the initiative for submitting the petition for forming the Vadodara Sub-Section under the Bombay Section. IEEE accepted the petition and the Vadodara sub-section was formed with Mr. J. S. Negi as the interim Chair in the year 1988.

Later IEEE agreed to change the name of the entity to Gujarat Sub-section. On 15th August 1990 the Sub-section was upgraded to a full fledged Section to take its place as one among the 300 sections in the world spread out over 150 countries. The IEEE Gujarat University Student Branch was the next student branch unit established in 1994. The IEEE Gujarat Section was carved out from the IEEE Bombay Section mainly for logistic reasons.

Gujarat Section was first brought to international attention in 1997 with the holding a twin conference on’ Internet Security’ and EEE in the petroleum sector both downstream and upstream. This twin conference was held in the premises of the Institute of Reservoir Studies of the ONGC. Prominent IEEE figures who attended included Dr. Charles Rubenstein then the editor of the IEEE Transactions in Engineering Management. The conference was followed by the visit of the Technical Activities Board (TAB) of the IEEE led by President IEEE Dr. Kenneth Laker, President-Elect Dr. Mike Adler, Mr. Pete(Wes) Spencer a Power Utilities owner, Mrs. Mary Ward-Callan the Managing Director of the TAB and Ms. Fanny Su Behn Hoi of the IEEE Region 10 HQ at Singapore. Dr. Vijay Bhargava, the then candidate for the post of the President IEEE Communications Society and Mrs. Laker also accompanied the group. On this occasion, a student branch was inaugurated at the Nirma Institute of Technology. Gujarat Section has always been pioneer in organizing programs for professional and students. Its annual event ‘Sampark’ gives a platform to student members to design IEEE events of the year as per their own need and requirement. This helps IEEE student members of the Section to be their own leader. ‘Sampark’ had also been featured in one of the issue of ‘the Institute’.

Awards

The Gujarat Section has bagged many awards and recognitions:
• 2004 Outstanding Small Section of Region 10.
• 2006 Outstanding Volunteer Award for Mr Mayank M Pande, Past Chair IEEE Gujarat Section.
• 2007 Outstanding Branch Counselor award for Dr Anil Roy for excellent performance of DAIICT Student branch.
• 2008 Outstanding Volunteer Award for Mr Deepak Mathur, Past Chair IEEE Gujarat Section.
• Dr Anil K Roy, Chair IEEE Gujarat Section nominated in 3 Adhoc Committees formed at HQ level for the year 2009.
• 2007 Larry K Wilson award for its student member Mr Mohit Malhan
Currently IEEE Gujarat Section has five chapters on eight of the IEEE societies and 10 IEEE Student Branches.

Chapters

1. Computer Society Chapter.
2. Joint chapter of Industry Applications, Industrial Electronics & Power Electronics Societies.
3. System, Men and Cybernetics Society Chapter.
4. Joint chapter of Antenna Propagation and Microwave Theory and Techniques Societies
5. Communication Society Chapter

Student Branchs

1. IEEE M. S. University Student Branch, Vadodara, Gujarat
2. IEEE Gujarat University Student Branch, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
3. IEEE Nirma Institute of Technology Student Branch, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
4. IEEE DA-IICT Student Branch, Gandhingar , Gujarat
5. IEEE U. V. Patel College of Engineering Student Branch, Mehsana, Gujarat
6. IEEE ADIT Student Branch, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat
7. IEEE GCET Student Branch, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat
8. IEEE ISTAR Student Branch, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat
9. IEEE C U Shah College of Engineering and Technology Student Branch, Surendranagar, Gujarat
10. IEEE Gardi College of Engineering and Technology Student Branch, Rajkot, Gujarat
11. IEEE LDRP Student Branch,Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Gujarat Section hosted the 2008 R10 meet at Ahmedabad that was attended by chairs of sections of R10, R10 Excom members, IEEE R10 Director Janina Mazieriska, IEEE President Dr Lewis Terman, IEEE President Elect Dr John Vig, IEEE Foundation President Dr Richard Gowen and other dignitaries from HQ.

Mr Arup Dasgupta and Mr Mayank M Pande, past chairs of IEEE Gujarat Section contributed a lot in establishing the section and positioning it globally. Mr Nirbhay Chaubey, present treasurer (2008-09) of the section, helped all contemporary chairs in structuring and expanding the section. It was the immediate past Chair Mr. Deepak Mathur’s tenure when Gujarat Section actually made a dent at Region and HQ level both.

The Gujarat Section has around 600 members as per the statistics on the closing of year 2008, of which around 350 are student members, 30 are senior members and 1 Fellow.

Gujarat state is one of the India’s most progressive states as on date. It houses the Indian Institute of Management, National Institute of Design, Institute of Plasma Research, Physical Research Laboratory, Space Application Centre of ISRO, Centre for Environment Education, CEPT, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) inter alia.

Link to Section Homepage

Background

The Gujarat Section is part of Region 10 and has representation at the India Council. The Section was formed on 15 August 1990, and activity is centred around the city of Ahmedabad ( અમદાવાદ ).