Retaining Younger Members In The IEEE

IEEE Panel from the 2024 CES

Photo from IEEE

Well, I just finished my first month and a half as IEEE President. I am honored and excited to have this opportunity. In early January we were at the 2024 IEEE Rising Stars Conference and the Consumer Electronics Show. IEEE had a booth and also had a panel discussion session during the conference on “The Impact of AI on Jobs of the Future.”

The image above shows the participants in the panel, from left to right, Jim Doty (Science Fiction Writer), Gloria Washington (AI and ethics expert), Tom Coughlin (2024 IEEE President), Kayne McGladrey (Cybersecurity expert) and Kathleen Kramer (2024 IEEE President Elect). You can find out more about this panel discussion and watch the video here.

In mid-January we held our IEEE board retreat in, where the board had an in-depth discussion on the current state of the organization and plans and strategies for the future. The picture below is me at the IEEE retreat.

Tom Coughlin at the 2024 IEEE Board of Directors Retreat

Photo from IEEE

The IEEE had over 470,000 members in over 190 countries at the end of January 2024, the highest member count ever. On the other hand, many of these members were student members and many of these don’t convert to higher grade membership when they graduate. As a consequence, the average age of IEEE members has been increasing.

For the organization to remain vital and to continue our mission to advance technology for the benefit of humanity we need to find ways to engage with and retain our younger members. Retaining younger members in a professional organization is not just a problem for the IEEE, it is a more general issue.

In addition, many of these younger members end up working industry and in order to attract and keep these members IEEE must engage better with industry and for those working of the practical application of technology.

More recent generations of technologists have different experiences and ways to network and communicate with each other, than those who have been working for many years. In order for IEEE or any other organization to attract and retain younger members we need to communicate with them in ways they are comfortable with and seek to meet their needs and provide value to them. In pursuit of these goals the IEEE board has a task force committee this year that seeks to find ways to engage with and retain younger members in industry.

Also, I am making an effort to personally meet with leaders in industry to understand their needs and explore what IEEE can do with them and which would benefit younger workers and strength our value to those involved in the practical applications of technology. In early February I was able to visit ASML, the extreme UV (EUV) lithography company based in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands.

The picture below is from my visit, with Maarten Hoeks, VP and Head of Electronics Development at ASML while visiting one of their labs. He hosted me during my visit to the company.

Maarten Hoeks from ASML with Tom Coughlin

Photo by ASML

I will continue to meet with various technology companies through the year and work with our members to see make tests and prototypes of ideas for increasing our value to and retention of, younger members. I look forward to talking about these experiences and lessons I am learning during my tenure as IEEE President and CEO in 2024.

In 2024 I am the President and CEO of the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization. One of my goals is to improve our retention of younger members and to provide greater value to those involved in the practical applications of technology.

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