IEEE call for Fellow nominations recognition of practitioner contributions

Election to the grade of Fellow is an important element in pursuit of the IEEE objective of recognizing excellence among its members in the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical and electronics engineering. The IEEE Board of Directors and the Fellow Committee are seeking to enhance the recognition accorded to the electrical engineering practitioner for outstanding technical contributions. Recognition of the practitioner must be based on the product (which is publicly visible), by assurances from those within his company regarding his individual role in creating and developing the product (Fellow references that are suitably specific) and by documentation from within the company which confirms, to a group of evaluators in the IEEE, that the individual´s relation to the product is as cited. Some level of disclosure of the nature of the product and the individual´s specific technical contribution embodied in it is necessary to assure the integrity of the selection process, but with the passage of time such disclosure is ultimately palatable for most organizations. It is not the intention of this pursuit of enhanced Fellow recognition for practitioners to reduce the standards for recognition of technical contributions. The goal is to accord to those whose contribution is of a proprietary nature and not immediately publishable, and to those whose contribution is the product and its applications, the same recognition now available to those who can publish and/or patent their results and the products that stem from them.