June 2006

IEEE Member Benefits — Much More than a Magazine Subscription

By George McClure

Occasionally, IEEE members will compare their member dues only to the cost of other magazine subscriptions, but that is a short-sighted view. True, member receives the award-winning IEEE Spectrum magazine monthly, in print and online [http://spectrum.ieee.org], but membership also affords access to many other member benefits.

Knowledge Benefits

In addition to receiving IEEE Spectrum, all members have access to 12 monthly issues of The Institute newsletter (four in print and eight online) [http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org], to six bi-monthly issues of the student magazine IEEE Potentials online [www.ieee.org/portal/pages/membership/students/potentials/], and to the monthly What's New @ IEEE with a choice among nine technical topics [http://whatsnew.ieee.org].

Through the online IEEE Xplore, members have access to tables of contents for all archived IEEE publications, and to abstracts for over 1.3 million documents [http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/guesthome.jsp].

Community Advantages

Networking with colleagues in more than 300 sections and 1440 technical chapters in 150 countries worldwide is available to all members. All IEEE Section and Chapter meetings are open to members at no charge. Members enjoy a substantial discount when registering to attend IEEE conferences. The IEEE Online Communities offer a way for individual members to keep up with developments in their own areas of interest, interacting with other members in 30 open forums [www.ieee.org/portal/pages/services/communities/communities.html].

Those who have ever had to change internet service providers (ISP) will keenly appreciate the IEEE e-mail alias. If you use the IEEE alias and subsequently change ISPs, only one e-mail — to IEEE — is required to redirect all your e-mail to the new ISP. Other features include virus protection and a selectable level of spam filtering [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_emailalias.html].

Member discounts on IEEE products and publications — as much as 50 percent off — can save you more than the cost of your membership [http://0-shop.ieee.org.csulib.ctstateu.edu/ieeestore/].

A recent innovation is a personalized gateway for members only — myIEEE — which brings together in one Web site information about all of your IEEE interests. You can get started by entering your IEEE Web account information at http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/myieee.html.

Opportunities abound in your IEEE community for volunteering your services in ways large and small, building leadership skills at the same time that networking opportunities are thereby expanded. More than any other professional technical society, the IEEE depends on the services of many dedicated volunteers to carry out its services to all members. [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_volunteering.html].

Professional Advancement

A variety of tools exist to help members advance along their chosen career paths. You can locate career opportunities through the IEEE Job Site — easily and confidentially [http://careers.ieee.org]. A member can maintain a posting for a dream job, while maintaining the desired degree of confidentiality.

The weekly Career Alert e-mail with links to news on engineering careers, education and professional issues is available to all members, as is a bi-weekly Tech Alert [www.spectrum.ieee.org/industryfocus].

Surveys show that many of our members have a keen interest in technology policy issues that affect their careers. Supporting that interest is What's New @ IEEE-USA Eye on Washington, with news collected from many sources [www.ieeeusa.org/policy/eyeonwashington/newsources.html].

Continuing education also ranks high among the IEEE member interests. Responding to this interest, the IEEE has more than 15 providers in its Education Partners Program. Exclusively for IEEE members, this program offers online degree programs, certifications and courses at up to a 10 percent discount to members. The partners are a carefully selected number of universities and corporations, reviewed and approved by highly qualified IEEE volunteers to ensure members receive the most effective learning resources [www.ieee.org/portal/pages/education/partners/eduPartners.html]. The IEEE-USA Web site provides continual updates on matters affecting engineers' careers and provides news on public policy and ways to communicate your views to your elected officials in Washington [www.ieeeusa.org].

IEEE-USA Consultants Database, the premier service matching technical consultants with clients, is available to members at no cost to search for consultants or for posted assignments, with a nominal charge to be listed in the database. The database contains 20,000 consultants and is used for 30,000 client searches per year [www.ieeeusa.org/business/consultants].

IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Online is a monthly Web publication devoted to the issues affecting U.S. IEEE members' careers, such as professionalism, management skills, engineering performance, engineering skills and competencies, product development practices, project management issues, innovation and entrepreneurship, ethics and business practices. In addition, Today's Engineer Online includes articles and commentary on the topics that are shaping legislation, the technology workplace, and the engineering world [www.todaysengineer.org]. Today's Engineer Digest is distributed quarterly to all U.S. IEEE members in the polybag with IEEE Spectrum.

The IEEE and its organizational units worldwide maintain an active program of awards and recognition for contributions to the profession and to the Institute. Members are encouraged to submit nominations for these awards at [www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards] and [www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/committees/awards].

IEEE recognizes career accomplishment with the Senior Member grade, the highest grade for which a member may apply [www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/md/smprogram.html]. Senior Membership is required to hold many offices within the IEEE. In addition, the Fellows program receives nominations for outstanding members whose career accomplishment qualifies them to be considered for election to the grade of Fellow. The total number of Fellows selected in any one year cannot exceed one-tenth percent of the total voting Institute membership [www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/fellows/fellows.html].

A variety of scholarships, design competitions, student paper contests, and internships are available through the IEEE to undergraduate and graduate student members. www.ieee.org/portal/pages/membership/students/sc_scholarships.html

Two other electronic society publications are available to members without additional charge. They are IEEE Distributed Systems Online [http://dsonline.computer.org], with peer-reviewed content, and the IEEE Transactions on Device and Material Reliability, at [http://www.ieee.org/ieeexplore], also with peer-reviewed content (as are all Transactions).

To this point, we have looked at the benefits available with the basic IEEE membership. Additional benefits allow you to tailor your membership to your individual needs.

Additional Memberships

From among the 39 IEEE technical societies and five technical councils, members can find published information, conferences and workshops, and society chapters that aid their careers and provide networking opportunities with colleagues engaged in similar endeavors [www.ieee.org/web/membership/societies].

The IEEE Standards Association offers both individual and corporate memberships. With nearly 1,300 standards either completed or under development, the Standards Association is a central source of standardization in both traditional and emerging fields, particularly telecommunications, information technology and power generation. Members have the opportunity to participate in developing new standards and updating existing ones in their fields of expertise [www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/home/].

The IEEE Women in Engineering affinity group is available to any member who wants to promote the entry of women into engineering and their retention in engineering careers [www.ieee.org/web/membership/women/wie.html].

Expanded Benefits

Adding the Proceedings of the IEEE to your membership gives you access to the leading authoritative resource for in-depth research coverage, tutorial information and reviews [www.ieee.org/web/publications/procieee/].

For those engaged in wide-ranging research, the IEEE Member Digital Library affords an economical way to access the full text for up to 25 papers per month from any IEEE publication or conference proceeding [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_mdl.html].

Members are eligible for a customized selection of insurance products, ranging from life insurance and disability insurance to homeowners', auto and long-term care insurance. [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_insurance.html].

Members receive discounts on financial services from IEEE partnering companies. Financial planning services are available to U.S. members. Credit cards are available, including those offering cash back from purchases [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_creditcard.html].

Discounted home and office services are another member benefit, covering office supplies, express delivery, moving services, and a computer hardware and software purchasing program [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_bus_svcs.html].

IEEE members and their families have access to IEEE Travel Services, providing one-stop shopping for business, personal and vacation travel. Negotiated travel discounts are available with three preferred air carriers and four auto rental companies [www.ieee.org/web/membership/benefits/products/prod_travel.html].

Special Circumstances

Assistance is available to members who are unemployed, have minimum income, or are retired. All benefit from reduced dues. A Web page listing 10 assists for unemployed members is found at [www.ieeeusa.org/careers/help/].

The Employment Navigator offers access to five million job leads from 160,000 Web sites in a single searchable database. The portal also provides tools for resume creation and distribution. Six-month introductory subscriptions are available [https://salaryapp.ieeeusa.org].

George McClure is chair IEEE-USA's Communications Committee, a member of the IEEE-USA Career & Workforce Policy Committee, and technology policy editor for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.