Senior Member Elevation
Guidelines for References
(with examples)
To be a Reference, certain requirements must be met:
 Must be a Senior Member, Fellow or Honorary Member of IEEE
 Your membership must be active (dues paid for the current membership year)
Role of the Reference:
 Review the applicant’s qualifications as documented on his/her application and/or
resume/CV
 Did the applicant provide dates and detailed information that the review panel can clearly
identify as 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of significant performance?
 Write a unique reference
I don’t know the applicant:
 It is not required that you know the applicant
 Applicants do not have to reside in your local geographic area
 Applicant used IEEE memberNet, the IEEE Member Directory Online, to obtain a list of
Senior Members and Fellows that opted-in to memberNet
 The reference form asks what criteria was used to evaluate the members’ qualifications
(e.g., met at a Senior Member drive, referred by a colleague, familiar with their work,
interviewed the applicant.)
Did the applicant work and attend school at the same time?
 Has the applicant clearly noted how he/she meets the 10 years of professional experience
and 5 years of significant performance requirements?
 No double-counting – if an applicant is working and going to school at the same time, the
applicant will get credit for education or work experience, not both.
You are the Reference and the Nominator:
 If you are the nominator, the applicant only needs two additional references.
 Assumption—by way of nominating an applicant you are indicating that he/she is wellqualified.
 If you are the nominator you can still list the nominating entity: Section or Society
continued….
Application/resume pitfalls:
 Lack of dates, either in the professional experience section and/or the significant
performance area
 Didn’t list publications – if they state they authored publications they should be listed
within the application or their resume/CV
 Information is too vague—“I worked on several projects” during the years…
o projects should be listed
o significance of the project should be noted
o what was the impact on the engineering profession
o applicant’s role on the project was….
o the projects budget was…
o was the leader of a team of X number of engineers
o classified projects – this should be noted but also some details should be provided
o details, details, details….
Significant Performance
Good example taken from an actual application (date, company and patent # changed):
February 1998-August 1999: Design, layout and test of a digitally controlled upconversion for GSM/EDGE transmitter at ABC Labs (US Patent#94526358752).
Bad example taken from an actual application:
“Over the past 10 years I have had the opportunity to work closely with the world’s top
engineering firms in the datacenter market, although lacking a formal degree.”
Examples of Significant Performance to qualify for elevation to IEEE Senior
Member Grade
At least five years of significant performance:
 Team leader, task supervisor, program manager, project leader
 Performing research with some measure of success (papers)
 Developing and teaching courses with research and publications
 Substantial design, development or project responsibility or achievement
 Recognized contributions to the welfare of technical professions
 Contributions in such areas as technical editing, patent prosecution or patent law,
provided these contributions serve to advance progress substantially in IEEE designated
fields
 Professional awards and licenses may be considered
continued…
Notes:
About significant performance: “Significant performance” does not require special awards,
patents or other extremely sophisticated technical accomplishments. The bullets above should
clearly illustrate.
About ten years of professional practice: The A&A Committee evaluating your application
will count the years you have been in professional practice. Your educational experience is
credited toward that time as follows: 3 years for a baccalaureate degree in an IEEE-designated
field; 4 years if you hold baccalaureate and masters degrees; and 5 years for a doctorate.