IEEE Israel Section History

IEEE Israel Section History
Established date	1954-10-05
IEEE Region	8
IEEE Council
Geographic region	Israel
Region area
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First IRE Section in Eastern Hemisphere

In June 1954 several members of I.R.E. residing in Israel met in Haifa and discussed "the possibility of forming an I.R.E. section in conformity with I.R.E. regulations." They formed a committee of three members and obtained thirty signatures of I.R.E. members who applied for the formation of the section. The establishment of the "first IRE section in the Eastern Hemisphere, the Israel Section" was approved by the IRE Board of Directors at its October 1954 meeting, and the official date of founding of the Israel Section is 5 October 1954.

In 1963, after the merger of IRE and AIEE, the Israel Section became part of IEEE Region 8 and is recognized as the first IEEE Section in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Section Officers

Israel Section Chairs 1955-2000

1955-1956	Franz Ollendorf
1957-1958	E.H.Frei
1959	I.Cederbaum
1960	J.Shekel
1961	R.R. Gamzon
1962	E.H. Frei
1963	A. Nathan
1964	A. Shani
1965	A.I. Nizan
1966-1967	Uzia Galil
1968-1969	Yeshayahu Lavie
1969–1971	Gurion Meltzer
1972-1974	Israel Ben Arzi
1975-1977	Marc Weissenstern
1978-1981	Jacob Baal-Schem
1982-1983	Itzhak Ish-Hurvitz
1984-1985	David Biran
1986-1988	Ezra Zeheb
1989-1990	Uzi Z. Padan
1991-1992	Ezra Zeheb
1993-1995	Ady Seidman
1996-1998	Anthony J. Weiss
1999-2001	Ady Seidman

Israel Section Officers, 2000-2021

Year	Chair	Vice chair	Secretary	Treasurer
2000	Ady Seidman		Simon Litsyn	Ady Arie
2001	Ady Seidman		Simon Litsyn	Ady Arie
2002	Arie Braunstein			Amir Boag
2003	Arie Braunstein		Sigmond Singer	Amir Boag
2004	Arie Braunstein	Anthony Weiss	Sigmond Singer	Avishai Wool
2005	Arie Braunstein	Anthony Weiss	Sigmond Singer	Avishai Wool
2006	Sigmond Singer	Anthony Weiss		Yuval Beck
2007	Sigmond Singer	Anthony Weiss		Yuval Beck
2008	Sigmond Singer	Anthony Weiss		Yuval Beck
2009	Sigmond Singer	Anthony Weiss		Yuval Beck
2010	Sigmond Singer	Anthony Weiss	Uri Erez	Shai Avidan
2011	Simon Litsyn	Anthony Weiss	Uri Erez	Shai Avidan
2012	Simon Litsyn	Anthony Weiss	Uri Erez	Shai Avidan
2013	Simon Litsyn	Anthony Weiss	Uri Erez	Shai Avidan
2014	Simon Litsyn	Anthony Weiss	Uri Erez	Eran Socher
2015	Mark Shtaif	Simon Litsyn	Yuval Beck	Liran Katzir
2016	Mark Shtaif		Yuval Beck	Liran Katzir
2017	Mark Shtaif		Yuval Beck	Liran Katzir
2018	Uri Shaked	Mark Shtaif	Yuval Beck	Shmuel Auster
2019	Uri Shaked		Yuval Beck	Shmuel Auster
2020	Shmuel Auster	Yuval Beck	Aleksey Dyskin	Pavel Ginzburg
2021	Shmuel Auster	Yuval Beck	Aleksey Dyskin	Pavel Ginzburg

Chapters and Student Branches

As of 2011, IEEE Israel Section counts 1136 members (including 90 Life Members) and has 18 active Chapters and 2 Affinity Groups (WIE and LM).

IEEE Israel Section is proud of its 56 IEEE Fellows and of several members who received IEEE Awards and Medals including Prof. Jacob Ziv and Prof. Abraham Lempel, as well as Dov Frohman-Bentchkowsky.

All Chapters organize regular technical meetings and local and International workshops. The Life Members Group organizes since 2009 a series of 5 "Technical Friday" events per year with an audience of about 200.

Conferences

Since 1971 the IEEE Israel Section has held a technical conference every other year. This is the country's major technical conference in electrical, electronics, and computer engineering. For the 1981 conference, the IEEE Israel Chair contacted EUREL and proposed to hold EUROCON in Tel Aviv. As the request was refused, the Section proposed to Region 8 to initiate MELECON – the Mediterranean Electrotechnical Conference. This proposal was accepted and the Israel Section organized the first MELECON in Tel Aviv on May 1981, with an International attendance of 1200 participants, in presence of Israel President and the President of IEEE. For Initiation of MELECON, Israel IEEE 1981 Section Chair, Jacob Baal-Schem, was awarded the Larry K. Wilson Transnational Award of 1987. He was also awarded the IEEE Region 8 Volunteer Award for 2008.

The section continues to hold a technical conference every second year, with up to 350 attendees. In 1998 the Israel Section hosted again the MELECON Conference, in Tel Aviv.

The AP/MTT Chapter has organized since 2003 an annual symposium, which became in 2008 the COMCAS International Conference (Conference On Microwaves, Communications, Antennas, Solid State Circuits and Electronic systems), first chaired by Shmuel Auster, with up to 900 participants and a large Technical Exhibition (80 booths).

The Communications Chapter hosted "INFOCOM 2000" in Tel Aviv.

Israel IEEE members participate in many of the IEEE Technical Conferences worldwide and are very active in publishing papers in IEEE Journals.

IEEE Milestones

IEEE Israel Section has sponsored the following IEEE Milestones:

Lempel-Ziv Data Compression Algorithm

1977 – dedicated in September 2004

The Lempel-Ziv compression algorithm became a basis for enabling data transmission on the Internet in an efficient way. The plaque is mounted at the Technion in Haifa, Israel.

WEIZAC Computer

1955 – dedicated in December 2006.

The computer was built during 1954-1955 at the Weizmann Institute of Technology in Rehovot, Israel. It was based on drawings of the IAS computer of Princeton University and was the first digital electronic computer built in the Middle East. The plaque is placed at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel.

IEEE Israel status

The IEEE Israel Section is the main technical organization in Israel in electronics. Its membership is largely recognized in academia and in high-tech industry.

IEEE Israel Section is incorporated as a Non-for-Profit (NPO) Association (Amuta) and is required to submit an annual financial report.

Activities in IEEE Organizations

Members of IEEE Israel Section serve in many positions in IEEE Committees and Societies. One of its members, Elya B. Joffe, was 2008/9 President of EMC Society and 2011 President of PSES. Members of the Section serve as officers of the IEEE Region 8 Committee, members of Corporate and Societies Committees, and participants in many conference committees.

Expectations for the future

IEEE Israel Section continues to be the leading learned organization in electronics in Israel and develops activities in advanced and emerging technologies, like nanotechnology and bio-engineering. It strives continuously to nurture a strong cooperation between academy and industry.

Archives

• Section petition documents
• IEEE Geographic Unit Organizing Document - Israel