IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Fall 2021 - 5

PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Kenneth O
Reflections
T
The last two years have been an especially
rewarding time to be a member
of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society
(SSCS) and the IC community. Our
Society members are the innovation
engine for the industry that has been
helping to save civilization during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Can you
imagine what the world would have
been like during this time without
more than 300 billion ICs with an
average selling price of around US$1
that our members design and produce?
The importance of our community
and technology has become
apparent even to those who are not
technically inclined.
I would like to thank all of the
members, volunteers, and IEEE staff
who have worked together to make
our Society thrive through this
tumultuous and difficult time. The
challenges indeed brought out the
best in all of us. Serving along with
you has been my greatest professional
honor.
Our journals and conferences
are synonymous with the highest
quality and excellence. Although a
disproportionate burden fell to the
volunteers who were organizing
conferences and educational events
during the past two years, they persevered
and held one successful virtual
event after another. I thank you
all once more for your hard work
and ingenuity-in not only continuing
to serve our community, but in
enhancing the experience. I would
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2021.3110112
Date of current version: 17 November 2021
also like to thank the loyal attendees
of our events for their patience
and understanding.
The Society established the SolidState
Circuit Directions (SSCD) committee
two years ago. The mission
of the SSCD is to help make our Society
more agile in responding to the
ongoing rapid changes in our specialized
field and to help broaden
our technical scope and membership
base. The committee led
the effort to establish the Platform
for IC Design Outreach
(PICO) using open source
hardware design, and it is
working to enhance the
platform. More importantly,
it has established an
IC design contest using
the platform through
which teams can fabricate
their designs (the
SSCS PICO Program).
Fifteen teams consisting
of undergraduate
students from all over
Fifteen teams
consisting of
all over the
world (including
Pakistan,
Argentina,
Egypt, and other
countries) have
been selected
for the IC design
phase.
the world (including Pakistan, Argentina,
Egypt, and other countries) have
been selected for the IC design phase.
Five of the designs are expected to be
fabricated. The platform allows scaling
of participants of the projects to
thousands, and it will enable many
more of our members to participate
in outreach activities and also create
new ones.
Last spring, the Society launched
the virtual SSCS Mentoring Program
for students and young professionals
(YPs); go to https://sscsmentoring
.chronus.com/. There are many options
for students and YPs in the fields
of science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics. The SSCS Mentoring
Program is a way to encourage
them to become a part of our community
and guide them on the road
to success. Although the program
was originally intended to help students
and YPs, it is open to all members.
Deployment of this program is
indeed timely, as it is easy for people,
especially students
and YPs without famiundergraduate
students
from
lies nearby, to become
isolated. I encourage
all to participate in this
great program.
The Society, working
with a group of his former
students, also established
the James D. Meindl Memorial
Educational Fund. The
fund will be used to sponsor
projects and awards for
proposers of the projects that
build excitement around our
field among future generations,
encouraging their participation. For
our community to continue providing
its civilization-saving technologies,
we need new generations to
take on challenges, and these programs
are important steps toward
helping to ensure this.
The Society recently launched
a career center (careers.sscs.ieee.org).
Whether you're a YP looking for your
first job, a seasoned professional looking
for a change, or an employer looking
to add to your team, we hope the
career center is a beneficial members-only
benefit.
IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE
FALL 2021
5
http://careers.sscs.ieee.org https://sscsmentoring.chronus.com/ https://sscsmentoring.chronus.com/
IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Fall 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Fall 2021
