Richard A. Volz
Director, Division X volz@cs.tamu.edu
College Station, Texas
Spring, 2009

• IEEE is the largest professional society dedicated to the advancement of technology
– 382,000 members
– 85,000 student members
– 160 countries
– Annually sponsors and co-sponsors 900 conferences worldwide
– Publishes 30% of the world’s literature in electrical and electronics engineering and computing
– Offers 400 active industry standards
– 2008 Budget: ~ US$332M, 2008 Reserves ~
US$177M

Board of Directors
Board of Directors
PSPB
EAB
Educational
Activities Board
Assembly
Publications
Activities Board Activities Board
Standards Assoc.
MGA
Regional
Activities Board
Standards
TAB
Activities Board
Technical
Executive Comm .
Activities Board
Regions &
Sections
Chapters
Societies &
Councils
Staff & Society
Exec. Directors

• Governing body of the IEEE
– ultimate responsibility for IEEE operation
• Meets 3 times per year
• Delegates many responsibilities, allowing major boards to operate semiautonomously
• Approves the IEEE budget, responsible for finances, and owns the reserves

• TAB Chair (VP - Technical Activities)
• TAB Vice Chair (VP-elect Technical Activities)
• Past Chair (Past VP Technical Activities)
• Treasurer
• Secretary (non-voting)
• 10 Division Directors
• 45 Society & Technical-Council Presidents
• TAB Periodicals Committee Chair
• TAB/PSPB PSC Chair
• IEEE Conferences Committee Chair
• Liaison Reps ( non-voting)
 62 voting members

• Computational Intelligence Society
• Control Systems Society
• Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
• Lasers and Electro-Optics Society
• Robotics and Automation Society
• Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society
• Biometrics Council
• Sensors Council
• Systems Council

Dec. 2008 Total Members: 382,000
Students: 85,000

Global Membership
1995 to 2008
2008 Students: 70% in R7-10
70.8%
29.2% Slope ~1.2%/yr; 50:50 in 5 years
54.8%
45.2%

IEEE Student Membership
70%
66.3%
65% 62.9%
60%
Students: Regions 7-10
55.7%
57.3%
60.3% 60.4%
56.4%
58.7%
55%
51.3%
50.1%
51.7% 51.7%
50%
48.7%
49.9%
48.3% 48.3%
45%
Students: Regions 1-6
44.3%
42.7%
40%
43.6%
41.3%
37.1%
39.7% 39.6%
35%
33.7%
30%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Society Memberships vs.
IEEE Membership 1988 - 2008
410,000
337,000

• Eta Kappa Nu merger
• Currently celebrating 125 th anniversary http://www.ieee125.org/
– Around the World video
– Event schedule
• Public visibility
– E.g., see “One Voice” http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/toolkit/brand/videos.html
• Milestones
– http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/milestones
_intro.html

• Maintaining quality in our IP
– Recent acceptance of fake computer generated paper – used as a basis for panning IEEE
– Lack of quality controls, especially with technically co-sponsored conferences
• Cost of membership and dues
– particularly affecting Regions 9-10
• Availability of on-line publications
– open access journals
• Perceived lack of member value

• Alternative sources of revenue to offset increases in dues and fees
– new programs and services
• Grow conference revenues to offset potential decreases in publication revenues
• Better fiscal control
– more accurate budgeting by societies
– more accurate financial updates
– Watch List policy change?

• More collaboration between societies/councils
– conferences, publications, TC’s
• More active chapters worldwide
– rapid growth in Europe and Asia

IEEE is Publishing More Quality Content
Than Ever
Number of articles has more than doubled since 1999
171,400 Articles Total
32,250 journals
139,000 conferences
Growth 2008 vs. 2003
Journal articles +85%
Conference articles +99%
Source: Articles published by IEEE by year of publication

$160,000
$140,000
$120,000
$100,000
$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$0
$57.7
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008F 2009B
+19% +14% +10% +11% +10% +14% +12% +8% +5%
20%
Online
(Total Publications Package revenue, all media.
Excludes Society-only products.)
IEL
POP
ASPP
NM Subs
Enterprise
MDL
Expert Now
ISOL
Doc Del
87%
Online

• 2009 package product revenue forecast raised $1.4 million to ~$154 million, due to
–
Strong Nov-Dec sales earnings
– Continued growth in international academic sales
• YTD new sales running $2.8 million ahead of cancellations
• But, concern about 2010
*Source: Outsell’s “Information Pricing Survey 2009” published Jan 2009

Total Xplore Publications Cumulative % Hits
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
0 2 4 6 8
10 12 14 16 18
Years of Past Data
• ~10% of downloads are for papers > 18 years old.
• ~50% of downloads are for papers > 4 years old.

120.0%
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Cumulative % Hits by Year
Year

• Review in June, 2008
• Provisional councils are to be reviewed annually. So, next review, 2009.
• So broad and overly ambitious that it seriously risks not achieving its goals
– Consider revising the FOI

• Recommend focus on a narrower subset of specific areas & activities and demonstrate success
– Strongly encourage the Council to pick one or two areas to focus on, e.g. Health Care or
Earth Observation
– Consider 2 (or 3 maximum) priority conference themes
– Set agreements in place for funding and with the sites developed 2 years ahead of time

• Numerous intended initiatives not started -traceable to a lack of volunteer time and resources
– Essential that many more active volunteers are found
• Not leveraging member Societies
– Make extensive use of volunteers from member
Societies
• Business plan must be updated to extend through 2010
• Be sure concerns raised are being addressed