IEEE is proud to introduce a new format for all eight of its 'What's New @ IEEE' newsletters. The updated format uses an html-based platform to provide a more polished, easier-to-navigate newsletter with embedded hyperlinks. Please take this opportunity to update your current information by following the link on the bottom left-hand column.

People of lower than average intelligence proved to be about as wealthy as those with higher IQ scores in similar circumstances, according to a nationwide study by Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research. People with higher IQ scores, however, do tend to get paid more. While higher IQ scores have no direct correlation to wealth, according to the study, each point of increase in an individual’s IQ score corresponded with $202 to $616 more income per year. The study’s authors could not explain this contradiction, except to suggest that those with high IQs may not be saving as much as the less gifted. Read more

 
BACK TO TOP

 

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Carnegie Mellon University will host a first-of-its-kind conference focusing on computer science research opportunities for undergraduate women in October, featuring a keynote address by IBM researcher Frances Allen, the first woman to receive the nation’s top computer science honor, the A.M. Turing Award. Declines in U.S. enrollments in computer science programs, particularly among women, underline the necessity of the conference, organizers say, since computer science is increasingly critical to driving discoveries in a wide variety of fields. At the conference, "OurCS" (Opportunities for Undergraduate Research in Computer Science) participants will learn about research by working in teams guided by scientists from academia and industry, and will have opportunities to present talks on their own research. According to the university, the conference will also feature female graduate students in computer science who will discuss their experiences in graduate school. Read more

 
BACK TO TOP

 

The Collegiate Inventors Competition recognizes and encourages undergraduate and graduate students on their quest to change the world around them. With over $120,000 in prizes awarded to top student inventors and their academic advisors, the competition is one of the most prestigious honors available to college and university innovators. Submission deadline for the 2007 Competition is 15 June 2007. Learn more

 
BACK TO TOP

 

The IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB) together with the Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC) are sponsoring a new initiative that will give first year students the opportunity to discover the relevance of  contemporary EE/CE/CS problems, generate enthusiasm about the engineering profession, and improve student retention—especially among female students. Titled "Real World Engineering Projects: EE, CE, and CS Curricula," this effort seeks high quality, hands-on, team-based projects that focus on real-world problems whose solutions benefit society. IEEE is also launching a new program to develop high quality, online, self-study workshops on the best pedagogical techniques for the EE/CE/CS classroom. Learn more

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Lifelong learning is critical to every engineer's career, IEEE-USA President John Meredith says in a Point of View column for Electronic Design magazine. "Whether you're a recent college graduate, in the middle of your career, or even counting the months until retirement, you must pursue an aggressive plan to stay on top of current technologies." He recommends that young engineers seek challenging assignments because of their learning potential. Read the column

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Despite an Accenture annual survey of media and entertainment company executives that found 57 percent of respondents very concerned about the proliferation of amateur videos, podcasts, and online social publishing, experts point to statistics that call into question whether user-generated content is really a threat to mainstream media companies. According to Hitwise, data showed that far fewer users contributed content to community media sites than expected: only 0.16 percent of YouTube users upload videos and only 0.2 percent of Flickr users upload photos. Experts at Technorati say media professionals are right to be concerned because a small percentage of a huge number of users is still substantially disruptive, citing the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s figures of 20 million people writing blogs on a regular basis, most of whom are unpaid. Read more

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Wiley-IEEE Press books are available at a 20% discount for a limited time. Choose from a variety of titles through the online catalog. Topics include circuits and systems, power engineering, signal processing, microwave technology, and more. See the titles here

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Wealth and property acquired in online games are only stable when players convert them to real-world assets, according to science fiction writer and technologist Cory Doctorow. Games like World of Warcraft and Second Life are absolute dictatorships, but trying to introduce democracy might spoil the fun, says Doctrow. Ownership of assets created or earned in the virtual world are wholly contingent upon the whims of the companies controlling the games, Doctorow says, but an online democracy, the rules of which would stabilize virtual wealth, would only be fun for the rulemakers. Much of the fun in virtual world derives from artificial scarcity, according to Doctorow when he says that the economics of online games are “basically the same economics of the music industry, but applied to every field of human endeavor in the entire (virtual) world.” Read more

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Application deadline for the Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program is 1 June. The 10 week program aims to engage students in the analysis that informs the creation of science and technology policy and to familiarize them with the interactions of science, technology, and government. Fellows engage in studies and activities throughout the National Academies and take on a variety of projects, an example of which is participating in a workshop on how scientists in developing countries can take better advantage of the new wireless communication networks to gain access to the Internet. For more information, or to register for the program, visit

 
BACK TO TOP

 

Read Past What's New @ IEEE Newsletters  
Search Issues Prior to May 2007