UFFC-S Latin America Outreach Initiative
While we continue to endure the effects of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, our eagerness to engage with old and new colleagues grows. Throughout 2021, IEEE UFFC-S is providing innovative tools to promote new opportunities to our members for the exchange of ideas, technical content, and news, with a commitment to engage under-represented regions with the UFFC-S activities.
A key objective of the UFFC-S is to increase the participation and engagement of members and non-members from regions of the world currently underrepresented in the UFFC-S. Notably, pretty much every Latin American country is currently underrepresented. The UFFC-S recognizes the need to continue efforts to serve this region better and to raise awareness about the valuable contributions and richness of Latin America to our global society.
We have done embarrassingly little and need to do much more here, and anything that needs to be done in this arena we will be very supportive of in any way we can be.
– Paul Reynolds, IEEE UFFC-S Past President
The Latin America Outreach plan is an initiative that aims to collect information and identify reasons for the underrepresented participation of this region in the society and, ultimately, to provide services and opportunities to people in the fields we operate in and increase our support of underserved regions over time.
The Volunteer Engagement Committee is looking for young Latin American members interested in taking on leadership roles. We are considering new, younger, and more diverse candidates to provide opportunities for our members to grow. We are looking to identify dedicated volunteers to offer their time and service for current and future leadership positions.
I would prefer as much as possible we cast a wide net and consider new, younger, and more diverse candidates – even if we think they’re not quite ready, part of UFFC is about opportunities for our members to grow
– Jacob Jones, Past IEEE UFFC-S Vice-President for Ferroelectrics
We also look forward to senior Latin American members’ participation, whose opinions and advice will enrich our efforts and smooth our path to a more representative society. We will encourage senior members to participate in the Distinguished Lecturer Program and provide grants for more people from those countries to attend symposia.
This initiative is in line with multiple other activities and resources already available in the UFFC-S. The UFFC-S Professional Networking & Mentoring Program and the UFFC Star Ambassador Lectureship Award are committed to providing opportunities to connect senior and young members worldwide within a network that genuinely represents the UFFC-S goals and interests. We ask your help to identify potential Latin American candidates to be nominated and to promote self-nominations for these programs.
As part of our Latin America Outreach Initiative, we are hosting a Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium and a series of webinars in 2021. We believe that regional events such as Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium will promote new opportunities to the ultrasonics engineering community and help develop a critical mass for this initiative.
If you want to know more and be part of this worthwhile endeavor, please provide your name and email below for follow-up.
For more information, please contact the Volunteer Engagement Committee via (Click to show email).
IEEE UFFC-S Volunteer Application
The UFFC-S is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion to overcome barriers to equity at the professional level, including but not limited to geography, race, ethnicity, class, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and ability. We encourage applications from women, minorities, and individuals with a commitment to promoting under-represented demographics in the UFFC-S.