IEEE Accomplishments

As IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors 2019- 2021:

  • As Women in Engineering Representative 2019 and 2020, introduced the concept of special sessions in conferences and a new conference on Returning Mothers.Volunteered for the Audit Committee and served for two years auditing the various committees on the board.
  • As a member of Diversity & Inclusion Task Force 2020 which expanded into the standing committee on Diversity and Inclusion in 2021, proposed and organising activities like Returning Mothers Conference to introduce a normative change in the perspective of career sustainability of women. Selected as a speaker for the Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference 2020 to talk on the the best practices for career sustainability.  

As IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Board of Governors 2017 - 2019:

  • As the Chapters Committee Chair, reduced the disconnect between the chapters and the Society Leadership by introducing the Chapters Webinar Series which is still being continued. This helped to identify three inactive chapters and save them from dissolution before reviving them. 
  • Created the Women in Engineering activities under SSIT and organised special sessions in international conferences thus introducing diversity aspects in SSIT. 

As IEEE Women in Engineering Chair 2011 - 2012

  •  IEEE Women in Engineering Committee is the most diverse committee which has 40 Society Representatives and 10 Regional Coordinators appointed by the Region Directors. In 2011, the committee, which was then a standing committee of the IEEE Board, was asked to find a place under any of the boards. By doing an extensive SWOT analysis and working with the Vice Presidents of all the Boards, WIE was brought under MGA. By restructuring the committee to include the WIE awardees of the previous years in the committee, increased the diversity of the voting members and created transparency and accountability,
  • Increased visibility of IEEE Women in Engineering through WIE Celebration projects like WIE posters and WIE E Book where the achievements of the members were published. This helped to identify women achievers all over the world.
  • Organised the First Women in Engineering Conference with the support of Google in 2013 which was a precursor to the IEEE Women in Engineering Leadership Conference. The two day conference linked the industry achievers which was a rarity in IEEE Women in Engineering thus maintaining the diversity in the WIE members.
  • When IEEE WIE ILC did not move around the regions catering to members all over the world, proposed IEEE Women in Engineering Leadership Summits and created the structure and format of the Summits along with the guidelines for organising. To prove that the Summits can be successful, organised the first pilot WIE Leadership Summit in 2015 in India which was a grand success. Now the Summits (WIE ILS) are the most successful signature programs of WIE organised all over the world every year bringing the joy of connecting with the global leaders for the members of all regions.

As WIE Governance Adhoc Committee Chair 2020-2021:

  •  Proposed and convinced the IEEE Leadership to make the voice of WIE members heard through electing the WIE Chair instead of appointments . Now the 2021 Annual Election Ballot contains slate for WIE Chair election. Continuing as the WIE Governance Adhoc Chair for encouraging more empowerment for the WIE Committee members in IEEE. 

IEEE Madras Section 2004 - 2010:

Taking the various responsibilities as Excom Member, Founding Chair of WIE, Treasurer and other Adhoc Committees, have contributed in various capacities to the section membership. The most important ones are highlighted below:

  • Introduced the first IEEE Faculty Development Program in collaboration with IIT, Madras under Madras Section which is still organised every year. This bridges the gap between academia and the industry and provides effective skill update in cutting edge technology for the researchers.
  • Founded the Madras IEEE Women in Engineering AG, Madras IEEE Education Society Chapter, Madras IEEE SIGHT and Madras IEEE SSIT over the years and all the four are active till date
  • As treasurer of IEEE Madras Section in 2009, regulated the process of grants for the travels of the excom members, support funding for events and other activities of the section which was not available till then.

As IEEE Region 10 Women in Engineering Coordinator 2008- 2010:

Region 10 WIE gained the status of being the most active and the largest in 2010 and is still occupying the same place. This was achieved within a span of three years through the following activities:

  • Proposed and organised the First Women in Engineering Congress along with the Student and Young Professional Congress in 2008 which was a grand success and brought the visibility of Region 10 WIE worldwide. Now it is a permanent part of Region 10 activities. This was replicated in Region 8 in 2011 on-wards.
  • Recognition is a part of honouring the volunteers for their selfless contributions. Hence introduced two awards in Region 10- IEEE WIE Most Inspiring Member Award  for encouraging the contributions of the individuals to the mission of IEEE WIE. This was the first award for individuals under IEEE WIE and was introduced in global level later.The other award was for the teamwork – IEEE WIE Affinity Group of the Year Award to encourage the active Affinity Groups (AG) and the individuals.
  • Introduced a novel Project called Sangamam
  • Technology Transfer to the Rural and underserved Areas which gained a worldwide popularity during the IEEE Sections Congress 2008. This brought the Need based Technology Activities under Women in Engineering to the world wide popularity as Humanitarian Technology
  • Introduced the Women in Engineering tracks in the Region 10 flagship conferences – TENCON, Tensymp and this tradition is followed till now
  • These activities increased the number of Affinity Groups in Region 10 from 44 in 2008 to 129 in 2010    

Non-IEEE Accomplishments

Grace Hopper Celebrations India 2012 -2016:

  • As the Advisory Committee member and Student Career Fair and Scholarship Chair in 2013 -2016, built up the whole ecosystem for selecting the students for the scholarships provided by the Fortune 500 companies and other sponsors.
  • Provided the important linkage between the IEEE Women in Engineering and ABI for collaboration. In collaboration with IEEE WIE, the first Returning Mothers Workshop was organised from Systers Community of ABI  which encourages passing the kindness to other underserved communities – in this case women. 

Discover E:

  • I served in the Thought Leaders of Global Marathon, which is a worldwide virtual conference from 2014 to 2018 and contributed to the success of the conference by providing world class speakers and by organising Physical Coffee Chats. These chats provided a platform for the local participants to discuss the various issues provided by the speakers and the inferences were given as feed back to the organisers.
  • I contributed to a book chapter on “Internet of Women” edited by the Thought leaders which gave a colourful view of status of career women in culturally different backgrounds.