IEEE New Zealand North Section

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IEEE PELS chapter Distinguished Lecturer Seminar

 

On February 19th 2024, Professor Philip Krein presented a DL seminar, organized by the IEEE PELS chapter. Professor Krein works at the University of Illinois and is world renowned in his field of Electrical Engineering. His presentation on Scaling up to millions of Electric Cars delivered fresh insights to the 30 attendees who were well engaged.

The next PELS seminar takes place on March 15th, and will be presented by Professor Nejia Parspour from the University of Stuttgart. If there are any queries about attendance, please email the PELS chair at jackman.lin@auckland.ac.nz

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Community development through Digital Literacy Programme

Professor Nurul Sarkar (IEEE STEM Champion and Chair of the IEEE Educational Activities Committee) plays an active role in community development through Digital Literacy Programme in New Zealand. Prof Sarkar was invited to give a speech ‘Digital Literacy and Online Safety’ on Saturday 20th May at Fickling Convention Centre, Auckland. The event was organised by Indonesian Community supported by Ministry of Education. The lecture began with a short presentation highlighting the key skills required for digital literacy including mobile, computer, and communication technologies. AUT external engagement, including Women in Technology, Engineering, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), were also highlighted. In the second half, various topics and tips to stay safe online from cybersecurity were discussed. About 50 people attended the event, and feedback from participants indicating that the event was successful.

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Seminar organised by IEEE NZ Signal Processing/Information Theory Joint Chapter

Speaker: Dr OLUWASEYI P. BABALOLA, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Tuesday 21 March 2023, the University of Auckland, “Entropy-based Detection and Classification of Bryde’s Whale Vocalizations: An Approach for Understanding and Conserving an Endangered Species.

 

Distinguished Lecturer Seminars by Hiroshi Sawada

The NZ Signal Processing Chapter and Information Technologies Chapter hosted seminars by Distinguished Lecturer Hiroshi Sawada from NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan.

Friday 10 March 2023, Victoria University of Wellington, “Basic Concepts and Methods of Blind Source Separation for Speech“.

Monday 13 March 2023, University of Auckland, “A sophisticated Method of Blind Source Separation for Speech and Music“.

 

 

IEEE EMBS Outreach News

The EMBS Chapter was involved in hosting Professor John Rudd and Dr Julia Liu from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in September of 2022 and arranging a visit to AUT. We discussed areas of translating telemetry, electrode contact, and machine learning to monitor drug-discovery studies.

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IEEE STEM Outreach News

STEM Champion Programme: 83 STEM Champions (in total) representing all 10 Regions, 45 Sections, 4 Subsections, and 27 countries. Nurul Sarkar has been reappointed as IEEE STEM Champion for his outstanding contribution to community engagement especially educational activities including IEEE STEM outreach.

 

2022 AUT Live: One of the largest and most significant pre-Uni outreach programmes was held on the 21st of August 2022 at Auckland University of Technology where we volunteered for the day. We met and greeted about 2000+ Y13 high school students and their parents on-campus. We had demonstrations and showcases on emerging network technologies (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth), practical live projects on wireless sensor networks, robotics, machine learning, and image processing. In addition to the greater Auckland region, students also came from Hamilton and Wellington. Being a programme director (BCIS), I had the opportunity to talk with students and their parents regarding study plans and career opportunities.

 
2022 St Cuthberts/Auckland Grammar Careers Evening: Nurul Sarkar was invited to St Cuthberts and Auckland Grammar to give a speech for a joint career event attended by 50+ Y-13 students accompanied by their parents in recent months. The lecture began with a short video presentation on AUT Live followed by Computer Science and Engineering opportunities and external engagements, including Women in Technology and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Women in Engineering. The positive feedback from the audience indicated that the pre-Uni outreach event was successful.

 

2022 IEEE PreU STEM Event: IEEE STEM Ambassador A/Professor Nurul I Sarkar met college students and parents in Waterview Park (Auckland, New Zealand) to have a mentoring session. The event was held on Monday 31 January 2022. The discussion began with a light lunch and ends with Soccer in the park. We had seven senior college students (mostly Year 11 and 12) and five parents. We talked about the IEEE STEM program and asked each student about their future career in turn. It is interesting to note that some students are very keen to study Engineering and Technology after completing high school. Parents are also happy to see their children’s Engineering career direction. Finally, we talked about sporting interests and played soccer (students versus parents). Both students and parents enjoyed the event.

   

IEEE STEM Ambassador with college students and parents in the park.