IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society

History

The IEEE traces its founding to 1884 and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. In 1912, the rival Institute of Radio Engineers was formed. Although the AIEE was initially larger, the IRE attracted more students and was larger by the mid-1950s. The AIEE and IRE merged in 1963.

The IEEE is headquartered in New York City, but most business is done at the IEEE Operations Center in Piscataway, New Jersey, opened in 1975.

The Australian Section of the IEEE existed between 1972 and 1985, after which it split into state- and territory-based sections.

IEEE Global History Network

In September 2008, the IEEE History Committee founded the IEEE Global History Network, which now redirects to Engineering and Technology History Wiki.

IEEE Foundation

The IEEE Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 1973 to support and promote technology education, innovation, and excellence. It is incorporated separately from the IEEE, although it has a close relationship to it. Members of the Board of Directors of the foundation are required to be active members of IEEE, and one third of them must be current or former members of the IEEE Board of Directors.

Initially, the role of the IEEE Foundation was to accept and administer donations for the IEEE Awards program, but donations increased beyond what was necessary for this purpose, and the scope was broadened. In addition to soliciting and administering unrestricted funds, the foundation also administers donor-designated funds supporting particular educational, humanitarian, historical preservation, and peer recognition programs of the IEEE. As of the end of 2014, the foundation's total assets were nearly $45 million, split equally between unrestricted and donor-designated funds.

Controversies

Huawei ban

In May 2019, IEEE restricted Huawei employees from peer reviewing papers or handling papers as editors due to the "severe legal implications" of U.S. government sanctions against Huawei. As members of its standard-setting body, Huawei employees could continue to exercise their voting rights, attend standards development meetings, submit proposals and comment in public discussions on new standards. The ban sparked outrage among Chinese scientists on social media. Some professors in China decided to cancel their memberships.

On June 3, 2019, IEEE lifted restrictions on Huawei's editorial and peer review activities after receiving clearance from the United States government.

Position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine

On February 26, 2022, the chair of the IEEE Ukraine Section, Ievgen Pichkalov, publicly appealed to the IEEE members to "freeze [IEEE] activities and membership in Russia" and requested "public reaction and strict disapproval of Russia's aggression" from the IEEE and IEEE Region 8. On March 17, 2022, an article in the form of a Q&A interview with IEEE Russia (Siberia) senior member Roman Gorbunov titled "A Russian Perspective on the War in Ukraine" was published in IEEE Spectrum to demonstrate "the plurality of views among IEEE members" and the "views that are at odds with international reporting on the war in Ukraine". On March 30, 2022, activist Anna Rohrbach created an open letter to the IEEE in an attempt to have them directly address the article, stating that the article used "common narratives in Russian propaganda" on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and requesting the IEEE Spectrum to acknowledge "that they have unwittingly published a piece furthering misinformation and Russian propaganda". A few days later a note from the editors was added on April 6 with an apology "for not providing adequate context at the time of publication", though the editors did not revise the original article.