IEEE Houston Section Life Member Meeting

On November 7, 2018 the IEEE Houston Section hosted an IEEE Life Members meeting at HESS facilitated by T. Scott Atkinson, Region 5 Life Members Coordinator. Over 28 area Houston Section’s Life Members came out to learn more about some of the exciting things taking place within the Life Member community. Other area Sections like the Central Texas Section and Galveston Bay have very active Life Member Groups and Scott shared some of those activities and Best Practices.

Scott also shared some information on the upcoming IEEE Texas Technical Tour to be held in mid-October 2019. The tour bus, for 50 travelers, will begin in Houston with site visits to NASA, the University of Houston & Rice University before moving on to San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. These tours are designed for the primary benefit of the 82,00 IEEE Life Members world-wide, using first class hotels, visiting technical sites of significant technical accomplishments and cultural & historical activities as well.

One of the goals that the IEEE Life Members Committee has is the establishment of Life Member Affinity Groups in sections with at least 100 life members. The Houston Section has over 400 members. To form a Group, if 6 IEEE members of the Houston Section, two of which must be Life Members, sign a petition to organize a Group, then the petition is submitted to the appropriate IEEE Organizational Units who provide support. For more information about the IEEE Life Member Committee and its functions, see Reference: https://mga.ieee.org/board-committees/committees/216-ieee-life-members-committee

Christopher Sanderson, Region 5 South Area Chair and Houston Section Vice-Chair shared a message of the importance of engagement and mentorship to area Houston Section IEEE members. “There was more than 1000 years of experience at the meeting from the Oil & Gas industry, Energy, Engineering firms, Communications companies, NASA, and the Military. It gave me the opportunity to establish new friendships and career mentors.”

About IEEE Life Members Community

IEEE “Life” status is automatically bestowed based on age and years of membership. IEEE Life membership (LM) is proof of a strong sustained commitment to the profession. Any IEEE member of minimum age 65 and years of IEEE membership totaling 100 is automatically a Life Member, who no longer will pay IEEE dues for the rest of their Life.

The IEEE Life Members Fund (LMF) of the IEEE Foundation supports IEEE activities of interests to LMs, potential engineers, and engineering students. Funds are available to support local IEEE Life Members to include: socials, tours, meetings, distinguished speakers and awards. Grants are also provided for special projects, starting at $5,000 and go up to $300,000.

Some additional pictures from the Houston Sec Life Members meeting: