Message for the IEEE President

e are greatly honored this month to have Dr. Michael Lightner, President of IEEE, to address members of the Communications Society. As you know, Dr. Lightner is the CEO of the world’s largest scientific, educational, and professional society with over 365,000 members in more than 150 countries. Through its members, the IEEE is a leading authority in areas ranging from aerospace and telecommunications to biomedicine, electric power, and consumer electronics. This article is an excerpt of the speech that Dr. Lightner delivered at the Plenary Session of IEEE’s Meeting Series held in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 17, 2005. In his talk Dr. Lightner raised a wide range of thought provoking issues confronting different units of IEEE. He will cover three of those issues concerning Society membership, relevance of our publications, and membership model in this column. Dr. Lightner received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Florida, and his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, all in electrical engineering. He is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Co-Director of the Emerging Media Laboratory. He co-developed the Discovery Learning Center, a $16 million facility integrating undergraduates and industry into research activities. He was instrumental in establishing the $250 million University of Colorado Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, where he served as Associate Executive Director. Dr. Lightner was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Interim Associate Dean for Research, and Director of Graduate Studies at Colorado. His technical interests currently focus on developing and applying technologies to enhance the lives of people with cognitive disabiities. He has held positions at AT&T Bell Labs and IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. A professional musician, he has performed at Carnegie Hall. Dr. Lightner has been an active volunteer at the Society and IEEE level throughout his career. He was President of the Circuits and Systems Society (CAS) in 1996, and has held different leadership positions of the society from 1982 to 2004. He was IEEE Division I Director from 2002 to 2004, IEEE Vice President of Technical Activities in 2002, and Vice President of Publication Services and Products Board from 2003 to 2004. Dr. Lightner is a Fellow of IEEE, and was awarded the CAS Golden Jubilee Medal in 2000, the Third Millennium Medal in 2000, and CAS Distinguished Service Award in 1992. With this as an introduction, let us welcome Dr. Lightner to this column of IEEE Communications Magazine.