 |
|
November 18, 2002 Vol.73, no. 13F
 |
| LAB RATS: The Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers is the only student society that has its
own laboratory. They share the wealth by holding bimonthly soldering
labs and lessons.Photo by Angela Privin. |
IEEE boasts
biggest student chapter in the nation
Despite being the largest
student chapter in the country and one of the biggest student societies
in the College of Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) at Berkeley is still very focused on recruiting new
members.
Though the student society boasts 300 to 400 members, many of those
numbers are grad students, who belong in name only, or inactive undergrads.
EECS graduate students are required to join the student chapter of IEEE
to subscribe or be published in the national chapter’s professional
journals.
“We really want to attract the kind of members who actively participate
in our many events,” says vice president Jason Bayer.
Majoring in EECS is not a membership requirement, says Bayer, adding
that anyone interested in EECS is more than welcome.
To lure people into their lair, IEEE holds soldering labs twice a month
in their 204A Cory laboratory (every other Monday from 2 to 3 p.m.).
“We are the only organization that has a lab so we think that the
right thing to do is to share it with other engineers,” says member
Gary Luu.
During the labs, anyone interested in learning how to melt metal wires
into a circuit board will get expert instruction from electrical engineers
in the society.
IEEE’s mission is both professional and social, so they mix the
two. One of the group’s most popular events is the professor and
donuts mixer, which typically involves one professor and many donuts
and students. “We don’t always come up with the most creative
names for our events,” quips EECS junior Ted Lee about the title
of the mixer.
Their annual and widely attended student professional awareness conference
explores engineering career themes like ethics, going to grad school
and the path to management positions in industry. “We like to talk
about things that are on people’s minds,” says EECS junior
Thomas Kuo.
At the monthly general meeting, IEEE doesn’t discuss society business,
but rather hosts a speaker followed by questions, food and mixing.
The organization wants to attract more freshmen and sophomores to their
events, then coax them into joining. “Right now most of the people
in the officer core are third year students, so we want to get more
lowerclassmen involved,” says Bayer.
The IEEE lab is the heart of the IEEE community. It’s part lab,
part lounge, part library, and part candy shop. The cabinets are stocked
with bomb shelter staples like Ramen instant soup and Snickers bars.
IEEE also operates the soda machine down the hall, so people who have
problems with a purchase must come into the lab to complain.
Currently the soda machine is having mechanical glitches that no one
can fix. Unfortunately, IEEE doesn’t have any ME members to address
the problem, jokes one member.
For more information on IEEE go to www-ieee.eecs.berkeley.edu
|
|
