Meet the 2023 Candidates: IEEE President-Elect

The IEEE annual election begins on 15 August and ends on 2 October. All ballots must be received by 12:00 noon EDT USA/16:00 UTC. The IEEE Signal Processing Society is committed to ensuring that its members are prepared with sufficient information about the candidates in order to make their best-informed decision. In this month’s issue of Inside Signal Processing, we invite you to meet the IEEE President-Elect candidates. For more information about the candidates, please review the IEEE President-Elect Statements website.

A list of all 2023 elections and the candidates can be found here. Your vote counts: don’t forget to cast your ballot by 2 October!

Each candidate has provided us with a statement, which are noted below.  

IEEE President-Elect Candidates

Roger U. Fujii
(Nominated by IEEE Board of Directors)
President
Fujii Systems, Inc – Trusted Systems
Rancho Palos Verdes, California, USA

We are experiencing recent technology accelerators that are creating an immersive Metauniverse environment sooner than expected with serious implications and threats to IEEE’s business model. My IEEE President-Elect goals are to prepare IEEE for the future by:

• investing IEEE reserve and operating funds to build new products and services for all members (researchers, industry practitioners, government policy makers, young professionals, entrepreneurs, and students)
• identifying an inclusive organization structure responsive to emerging world regions membership
• broadening our world class technology base to include multi-disciplinary fields solving societal grand challenges (climate change, ubiquitous energy, etc).

As IEEE 2050 and Beyond subcommittee chair, I was tasked by the IEEE Board of Directors to establish a 3-year plan to produce prototype new products and organizational and membership models for the future.  The plan includes: 1) AI Search Engine; 2) Future Products/Services; 3) Engagement and Membership; 4) Mission Based Programs; 5) Organizational and Governance Model; and 6) Emerging Trends.  My industry executive and IEEE leadership experiences have shown that we achieve a richer solution when we involve the broad members including geographic regions, IEEE OUs, WiE, Young Professionals, and societies/councils.

I know IEEE products and operations through my roles as publication special issue EIC, conference chair, standards development including international, education courseware development, chair of IEEE financial accounts architecture and transparency report generation, and leadership roles - TAB VP, Computer President, and Division VIII Director.  This experience coupled with my industry experience where I grew an engineering division to $1.086B revenues prepares me to help shape IEEE’s future.  I like creating innovative solutions and know that we need to be agile, pivoting to alternate solutions as necessary.  By involving the rich IEEE volunteer talent, we will shape a better IEEE for our future generation.

For more information about this candidates, please visit this website.

Kathleen A. Kramer
(Nominated by IEEE Board of Directors)
Professor
University of San Diego
San Diego, California, USA

Kathleen A. Kramer is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of San Diego. She has contributed as a Member of Technical Staff at several companies, including ViaSat, HP, and Bell Communications Research. She served as Director of Engineering (2004-2013), providing academic leadership for all the university’s engineering programs. She is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE AESS and current officer of the society. She is recognized as a Fellow of ABET for her contributions advancing the accreditation criteria for cyber security, mechatronics, and graduate programs. She received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering with a second major in physics from Loyola Marymount University, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from CalTech.

I offer transformative leadership for a better IEEE. I have a demonstrated ability and commitment to work across the IEEE to advance its mission, for you and with you. My leadership roles include service as Chair of the 2023 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on Innovating Funding Models, IEEE Secretary and Chair of Governance (2019-21), IEEE AESS Vice President (2016-18), and IEEE Director of Region 6 (2017-18). I have been a dedicated volunteer and colleague, within the SPS, and with and across IEEE technical communities, especially WIE, Young Professionals, and Students.  My priorities are to:

• Inspire and engage the next generation of IEEE,
• Include our global and diverse membership, effectively and equitably, to better advance technology,
• Collaborate as a community on our transformational public imperatives - education, policy, history, community, and humanitarian, 
• Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the IEEE while honoring our obligations to the membership,
• Empower the success of our technical communities, global and local, to share and foster technical knowledge and enhance our professional lives.

For more on the why for this candidate and these priorities, please visiti this website.