James M. Tien: Petition Candidate for 2006 IEEE President Elect

The following are questions put to Jim Tien, in his role as candidate for the
2006 IEEE President-Elect position. The answers follow.

QUESTIONS:

If you had to sum up your candidacy in a brief sentence, what would it be?
What do you mean by “The Global Resource of Choice” for scientific, educational and professional products and services?
As I would also like to see IEEE become “The Global Resource of Choice” for scientific, educational and professional products and services, how would you, as President, make it a reality?
In looking at your website, it seems that you have been involved in a number of leadership positions in the IEEE. Could you state some of the activities that you initiated and are most proud of?
You say that you would like to see an improvement in “member involvement in IEEE governance” – what has been the level of member involvement?
When will the 2005 IEEE elections occur?
Is IEEE's Financial Advantage Program Really Worth It?
What e-mailing can I do to help you get elected?
Can student members vote in the IEEE elections for President-Elect?

ANSWERS:

1) If you had to sum up your candidacy in a brief sentence, what would it be? Together, We Can Advance IEEE’s Global Value.

2)What do you mean by “The Global Resource of Choice” for scientific, educational and professional products and services? I have chosen the 5 words – in quotes – with great thought and care. Our scientific, educational and professional products and services can only become a global resource of choice if we ensure IEEE’s technical excellence, while maintaining the Institute’s financial viability, enhancing membership advantage, and meeting our professional needs. Technical authors, researchers, educators, students, professionals, corporations, agencies, and other entities will seek or choose our products and services (including our awards and recognitions) because of our strong reputation not only for excellence but for our global perspective. Indeed, while we are recognized globally for our technical standards and publications, we must assume our responsibility as a global citizen and speak out on public policies that have global implications, especially in regard to those technologies or topics within our realm of expertise. Thus, several of IEEE-USA public policy pronouncements could be appropriately modified and restated in global terms. For example, IEEE-USA, in partnership with 19 other higher education and engineering organizations, recently urged U.S. policymakers to solve the logjam of pending visa applications for students (wishing to attend college) and scientists (wishing to participate in scholarly research and conferences). Such a pronouncement is applicable to every global community or country and should be an IEEE-condoned global public policy.

3) As I would also like to see IEEE become “The Global Resource of Choice” for scientific, educational and professional products and services, how would you, as President, make it a reality? I must humbly say that even if I were to become President-Elect, this noble vision will not become a reality any time soon – it is a journey that can only be accelerated if we work together to make it happen. Indeed, this has been my interpretation of IEEE’s vision ever since I became a volunteer in 1983. In my various IEEE leadership positions, I have sought to work with my fellow volunteers and IEEE staff to enhance our products and services so that they could become the global resource of choice. In fact, it has been my explicit mantra as Vice President of both the Publication Services and Products Board (2001-2002) and the Educational Activities Board (2003-2004). Nevertheless, it is achievable – through a synergistic partnership among all our constituents, including our “non-member volunteers” (who comprise about 60 percent of: our contributing authors, our paper reviewers and our conference attendees); our non-member institutions (which purchase our IP and provide over half of our total revenues); our member volunteers (who define, in a collegial manner, “what” products and services should be produced and marketed); and our talented staff (who, in addition to supporting member volunteers, are charged with “how” to accomplish the goal). Thus, together, we can advance IEEE’s global value.

4) In looking at your website, it seems that you have been involved in a number of leadership positions in the IEEE. Could you state some of the activities that you initiated and are most proud of? While I list below some of the activities that I am most proud of initiating, it should be stated at the outset that I share whatever successes accrued from these initiatives with those IEEE colleagues (including staff) who served with me on the various Boards and Committees; together, we were able to make it happen. I should also state that whatever I have initiated, I have been guided by my strong feelings that, reflecting the IEEE, it must be of high quality or excellence; that it be financially viable; and that it enhances IEEE’s value to our members and our profession.

2003-2004: Vice President, IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB)
- Developing the "Thomson-IEEE Expert Now" that will contain the best of the cutting-edge short courses from IEEE Conferences; it is intended to meet the continuing educational needs of our members and industry, while at the same time providing IEEE with another income stream from our intellectual assets.
- Established a Public Awareness Committee to, in partnership and collaboration with other engineering organizations and corporations, enhance public understanding and awareness of the contributions of engineering and engineers to the global economy and quality of life.
2001-2002: Vice President, IEEE Publication Services and Products (PSPB) Board

In the face of the dotcom crash, worked to migrate IEEE publications from a paper- to an electronic-based product, while ensuring a growth in revenues – the IEEE/IEE Electronic Library (IEL) was declared one of the best web-based businesses in 2002. Worked with IEEE Marketing and Sales to initiate a usage – instead of availability – based pricing model for IEL, resulting in a recently initiated Enterprise product.
Reinvigorated Spectrum to enhance its quality and readability and to expand its readership beyond the IEEE.

1997-2000: Chair, IEEE Publications Activities Board Finance Committee
- Initiated a number of PSPB initiatives, including IEEE taking over the IEL infrastructure from IHS, Spectrum reinvigoration, authoring tools, IEEE Xplore development, etc.
1997: General Chair, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC)

The 1997 SMC Conference is considered to be one of SMC’s largest, best organized and most profitable conferences.

1995-1996: Chair, Technical Activities Board (TAB) Products Council
- Enhanced the role of “Book Broker” as both a critical Conference Proceedings partner and a profitable TAB business.
1991-1992: Chair, TAB Structure Review Committee
- Moved meeting times of TAB Periodicals Council and TAB Products Council to coincide with those of TAB in order to enhance Society Presidents’ representation on the TAB Councils and to minimize cost (actually, reduced travel-related cost by a third).
1990-1991: President, IEEE Society on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC)
- Stemmed and reversed the loss of membership and publication income.
1990-1991: Chair, IEEE Society Presidents' Forum (Comprised of 37 IEEE Society/Council Presidents)
- Established governance processes for the Forum (including when to call for executive sessions) and grievance procedures (for when disputes occur between Societies).
1989-1990: Chair, Panel of Technical Publication Editors
- Socialized with Editors recently developed guidelines on plagiarism, reviews, timeliness, etc.
1987 1989: Chair, TAB Publications Committee (later Council)
- Minimized publication of Conference Proceedings in Transactions, established publication policies for Transactions and Magazines, and initiated periodic reviews of Society publications in regard to quality, timeliness, etc.

5) You say that you would like to see an improvement in “member involvement in IEEE governance” – what has been the level of member involvement? In 2004, only some 13 percent of the IEEE electorate voted in the IEEE President-Elect election; this figure has been steadily eroding – several years ago, it was at about 20 percent.

6) When will the 2005 IEEE elections occur? Ballots are mailed on or before September 1, 2005, and must be returned before 12:00 noon on Tuesday, November 1, 2005. While election results are announced by the IEEE Tellers Committee, these results are unofficial until the IEEE Board of Directors accepts the Tellers Committee report at its November 13, 2005, meeting.

7) Is IEEE's Financial Advantage Program Really Worth It? While I neither have the expertise nor the time to conduct a complete assessment of the IEEE's Financial Advantage Program, I did, however, just compare my life insurance rates at IEEE ($0.24 per $1,000 insurance per month) and at my university ($0.64 per $1,000 insurance per month). Thanks for asking; I just dropped my university policy. The question remains: Can we expand our financial advantages to non-US members?

8) What e-mailing can I do to help you get elected? While I appreciate your help, please note that IEEE POLICY 9.22.2.D. specifically prohibits using “@ieee.org” mailing lists for election campaign purposes. It is requested that you do not send any electioneering type e-mails to individual or group lists or aliases. If you choose to send notification to colleagues, you should assure that the e-mail is welcome and you should ask that the recipient not forward that or any election related e-mails to other members by using an “@ieee.org” list or alias.

9) Can student members vote in the IEEE elections for President-Elect? No, students are not eligible to vote. The only way a student can vote is if he/she is upgraded to Member grade by 31 July of the year of the election.