IEEE Congress 2014 – UNISEL Student Branch

Introduction

Its a great experience as an IEEE Unisel student branch counselor to allow and participate a group of Unisel, Faculty of Engineering under graduate students namely MAIYAKI ABDULLAHI ALKALI and MUHAMMAD JALAL from Electrical division in this IEEE Student Congress.
The IEEE Congress 2014 was held by the IEEE Malaysia Section and IEEE UKM Student Branch in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, at the Danua Golf Club centre on November 9, 2014. The Congress was an introduction to the students to the world of IEEE and a boost to student activities in the section by training and motivating the student branch members. The event was specially focusing on interaction and collaboration among student branches to increase effective networking.
In addition to the traditional talks, there was an effective networking activities and leadership exercises. Furthermore it was an opportunity for the students to share their ideas and give a head start to their growth in technical and professional areas. The following is a brief report about the day of the program.
Registration
The registration started at 10 am, after the registrations, an IEEE club T-shirt and the tentative program schedule were given to the students came from different universities.
Welcoming Remarks

A brief talk about the role of IEEE, its membership benefits and its history and some statistics about membership in Malaysia was given by Dr. Norliza (IEEE Malaysia Section Chair). An in depth awareness on financial matters to run an individual branch, sponsorship management and the preparation of yearly budget was also briefed.
IEEE Membership benefits
This talk captivated the attendees very much, since it was such a professional presentation. The main focus is on how to get the most out of the student membership and also on various membership grades and the best ways to use their membership easily and effectively. Students got to know new ways to get involved in various activities, research programs and sponsorships.
Leadership qualities to pursue friendly creative environment
A curiosity session around the question why one have to pay 27$ as an IEEE membership? There were many reasonable answers but still it wasn’t close to what have been answered by the presenter who gave many opportunities of what can be utilized under IEEE membership.The presenter then split the students into 7 teams randomly and each team was given a case study which should be presented in 20 minutes time.
Presentation
A poster competition was held in various engineering topics and students from various universities presented their posters in front of the panel, topics include Robotics, energy saving, control and instrumentation, Renewable energy resources and etc., the best posters from each track were awarded with cash prizes.

Closing Remarks & Presentation of Certificates
The congress ended at 5pm. Q & A session was involved and certificates were presented to the section chairs, organizers, student branches and student members.

Conclusion

The session got two tea breaks and one lunch break, and it was interesting in terms of networking. This Congress was one of the first and best section activities the UNISEL student branch had involved in. The students gave a generous feedback upon the congress, and they were more enthusiastic that they can do a lot more for their colleagues in their local branch.