IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2022 - 76

White Hot
by Robert V. White
G etting the Most From Your
IEEE Membership
hen I renewed my IEEE
membership for 2022 I
paid no dues. I have reached
that magic combination of age and
years of membership to become a Life
Member. The biggest benefit of being
a Life Member is that dues, both for
the IEEE and for individual societies,
are waived. The second biggest benefit
is reduced registration fees for
IEEE conferences, like APEC. I can
be a member of the IEEE without
paying dues for as long as I want, if
each year I tell the IEEE that I still
want to be a member.
But for those who have not reached
this threshold, is IEEE membership
really worth the cost? I often hear
from my industrial colleagues that
the high price of IEEE membership is
not worth it. I have some sympathy
for that outlook. But, like most things
in life, what you get out of membership
is what you put in.
The IEEE is far from perfect. Do
you think the dues are too high? Yes,
I agree. The costs of publications are
too high? Yes, I agree. US$35 to buy a
single paper is ridiculous. Is the
IEEE weighed heavily in favor of academics
over those of us in industry?
Yes, I agree. Is the IEEE administration
overly bloated and top-heavy?
Yes, I agree. Is the IEEE bureaucracy
a nightmare? Yes, I agree. The IEEE
has many faults.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2021.3139256
Date of current version: 17 February 2022
W
However, as attributed to the philosopher
Voltaire, we should not let
perfect get in the way of good.
I still think there is a lot of benefit
to being an IEEE member-which is
why I was a member long enough to
become a Life Member.
Obviously, one of the key products
of the IEEE is the papers published in
the journals, conferences, and magazines.
But aren't these expensive to buy?
Yes, if you want to buy them outright.
However as a member of a society,
such as the IEEE Power Electronics
Society (PELS), you get access to that
society's key publications at no additional
cost. If you are reading this
article then you probably are a member
of PELS. That means you get
unlimited access to the Transactions
on Power Electronics and papers
from conferences like APEC and
ECCE at no additional cost. This is a
tremendous resource for the small
additional cost of PELS membership
(which is less than the cost of buying
even a single paper as a non-member).
If you want access to a broader
range of papers and articles on power
electronics then join a few additional
societies. For example the Industrial
Electronics Society (IES) appears to
me to be determined to publish as
many power electronics papers as it
can (a gripe from me for another day).
The Industry Applications Society
(IAS) also has a number of papers,
mostly on higher power electronics for
various applications. If you are interest76
IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z March 2022
ed in power electronic devices then
you probably should also join the Solid
State Circuits Society (SSCS). For the
relatively low cost of a few additional
society memberships you gain access
to an unequaled trove of knowledge.
Another benefit of IEEE membership
is reduced registration fees at
IEEE sponsored or co-sponsored
conferences. For example, the early
registration fee for non-members for
APEC 2022 was US$1075. For IEEE
members, the fee was US$900. That
US$175 difference almost pays the
cost of the IEEE membership dues.
But if the only benefits you get
from your IEEE membership is paper
downloads and discounted conference
registration then I think you are
missing out on the biggest benefits.
For me the biggest benefits-which
have been way more than I have put
in-have come from being an active
volunteer. In my 35 years as an IEEE
member I have held volunteer positions
with PELS, with conferences, and
with the local chapter. For the society I
served to two terms as the Technical
Vice President and three terms (nine
years) as a member of the society's
governing body, the Adcom. I have long
been involved with APEC serving many
years on the general conference committee
in various roles, twice as the
APEC general chair, and many years
on APEC's steering committee. Other
conference activities include serving as
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