Growth of Diversity in IEEE's History
J.R. Vig · 2009
IEEE was founded in 1884 by a small group of US electrical engineers. As the IEEE has grown, so has its diversity. Several examples of this diversity are presented. About half of the IEEE Medal of Honor winners for the past 20 years have backgrounds in fields other than electrical engineering. Many honorees at the annual honors ceremony are neither electrical engineers nor born in the US. In 2008, 45% of IEEE members resided outside the US. The number of student members outside the US started to exceed the number in the US in 1996. Today, 70% of students are from countries other than the US. The current (i.e., 2009) president and president-elect were both born outside the continental US, and two of the three candidates for 2010 president-elect were born outside the US. Women members also are growing in numbers although the growth is relatively slow. The numbers rose from 32,601 at the end of 2006 to 34,796 in 2008 which is still only 9% of the total IEEE membership. Current trends indicate that the majority of members will reside outside the US. And, although EEs will probably remain the largest group, the majority of members will not be EEs, or, perhaps, the EE designation will have morphed into something more general. (Today, already, about 100,000 members' primary degree is other than EE.) In the end, what matters, however, is what will be said about IEEE, say, 100 years from now. The author hopes that IEEE will be widely known as the leader in helping to apply technology for meeting the ever growing humanitarian needs of the world.