IEEE Signal Processing Society Recognized for its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion!

IEEE Signal Processing Society Recognized for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) has been honored with the 2024 IEEE Technical Activities Board Award for Society/Council Impact in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the IEEE November Meeting Series. This esteemed award celebrates an IEEE Society or Council that has had a significant impact driving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their organization.

“I was honored to receive the 2024 IEEE TAB Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award for our Society,” exclaimed SPS President Konstantinos Plataniotis. “SPS is dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This award recognizes our efforts to empower every voice in our community. SPS will continue to inspire change and create a sense of belonging.”

Over the past few years, SPS has made it a priority to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive society reflective of different perspectives. From leadership positions to governing bodies, SPS leaders have been mindful to make sure they are comprised of many voices.

The Society launched the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) page on its website, which includes a Society Diversity Statement and Pledge. It also showcases all the DEI related programs.

The DEI Programs that have been developed to serve underrepresented, underserved, and underrecognized communities include:

• The PROGRESS Workshop - PROmotinG DiveRsity in Signal ProcESSing – aims to motivate and prepare women and underrepresented minority groups to pursue academic careers in signal processing, improving the pipeline to diversify signal processing research.
• The Mentoring Experiences for Underrepresented Young Researchers Program (ME-UYR) pairs young researchers from underrepresented groups with an established researcher in signal processing from a different institute, and typically another country.
• The K-12 Outreach Initiatives support the development of reusable K-12 learning modules and curated experiences that introduce and demonstrate signal processing ideas, techniques, and applications to K-12 students.

Since the Society’s DEI efforts, there has been a positive impact on the makeup of the Society’s Boards and Committees. Over the past five years, they have become more diverse. Particularly with women holding leadership positions. At the time of the award nomination, women comprised 62% of the SPS Board of Governors voting members.

The composition of the Society’s membership has also changed significantly in recent years, since enacting pricing models that increase access for Developing Nations and Low-Income Economies. When US$1 Student and Graduate Student Member pricing was established in 2019, Student membership nearly doubled, increasing 97.5%, driven by increases of 150.8% and 129.1% in Regions 9 and 10, respectively. Region 10, and especially India, has continued to spearhead significant growth and engagement, forming more than 100 Student Branch Chapters in the past five years. There have also been concerted efforts to increase member and Chapter development in Africa.

With the efforts of the Women in Signal Processing Committee and engagement effort of SPS leadership, the percentage of women members, as well as SPS women involved with IEEE Women in Engineering, has increased significantly. In 2012, women accounted for approximately 6.9% of overall SPS membership, as compared to 14.6% today.

As the Society develops new programs and engages with member, it will continue to keep DEI on the forefront to ensure there is a collective of voices to make the Society rich with differing perspectives.