Article written by Houston Section Young Professionals Chair: Moriah Hargrove Anders

Hey Houston Young Professionals!

I just got back from an excellent weekend in Vegas with other YPs and Up-and-Coming-Nearly-Grads College Students at the 2018 IEEE Rising Stars Conference (link: http://sites.ieee.org/risingstars/program/).  The weekend started off with us checking into a literal castle (link: https://www.excalibur.com/en.htmll) and listening to keynote speeches from 2018 IEEE President, 2018 IEEE-USE President Elect, and Kevin O’Malley, the Engineering Director at Google.  Kevin gave an engaging speech on how technical education is driving change at Google and how they teach concepts with real problems instead of with textbook definitions.

The second day of the conference included discussions on quantum computing, entrepreneurship, startup 101, the future of AI and machine learning, financial guidance, several self discovery presentations.  Easily, one of the best sessions was the resume/networking session at the end of day two.  Just over 200 attendees had the chance to network with more than 20 hiring managers/power players in their respective companies.

The last day of the conference ended with a panel discussion with several presenters from earlier in the conference and a keynote presentation from Andrew Rush, CEO at Made in Space (link:http://madeinspace.us/).  It was really interesting to hear about his company’s growth and I had a chance to speak with him after the event to learn more about his transition from intellectual property into manufacturing and being a CEO.

All in all, an excellent weekend and an excellent event.

Just a reminder that we have the IEEE Future Leaders Conference at the end of July (link:https://futureleaders.ieeeusa.org/).  The site launches on January 15th and you won’t want to miss it.  As the Young Professionals’ Chair of the Houston Section, I have the important job of coordinating the networking “Ice Cream Party” at these conferences and I would love to have some Houston-representation for these events.

Happy New Year and stay warm, everyone!

Sincerely,

Moriah Hargrove Anders
Houston Section Young Professionals Chair
moriah.s.hargrove.anders@ieee.org