The Benelux Section and Early IRE/IEEE Activity in Europe

(authors: Jan Biemond and Bruce B. Barrow)

Professor Jan Biemond and Bruce B. Barrow, one of the founding fathers of our section have authored a paper on the history of the IEEE Benelux section. This paper has been presented at the IEEE conference on the history of technical societies. This conference took place in Philadelphia, USA. The conference is available through IEEE Xplore. The paper shows the interesting history of the section, and marks its role in the internationalization of IEEE roughly 50 years ago.
Summary:
This paper described the establishment of the Benelux Section by the IRE in 1959, covering Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and the establishment of IRE Region 9 in 1962 (now IEEE Region 8) in the context of the political and technical environment in Europe after the Second World War. It reflected on the merger of the IRE and the AIEE into IEEE in 1963, the international policy of the IEEE and the concerns raised by European Societies. Finally, it focused on the 50th anniversary of the Benelux Section on May 12, 2009, its professional highlights, and its celebration event in Antwerp.

Venue and timing:

date:	Friday, May 29, 2009
time:	02:00 p.m. - 06:00 p.m.
venue:	Academisch Genootschap (Academic Society)
	Parklaan 93
	5613 BC Eindhoven

The full program and invitation can be found on the designated website

May 20 2009 - St. Petersburg, Russia
Benelux students win 1^st and 3^rd prize in the Student Paper Contest

 
At the oral finals of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest, which was held during Eurocon 2009, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ralph Hermans (TUe) won the first prize with his paper "Low-complexity model predictive control of electromagnetic actuators", and Jef Beerten (KUL) the third prize with his paper "Comparison of three-level torque hysteresis controllers for Direct Torque Control". For more information, see the SPC web site.

May 13, 2009 - Antwerp (Benelux section)

50^th anniversary of IEEE Benelux section: read more on this page.

Also read the presidents letter to the IEEE Benelux members: Letter from IEEE president John Vig.

April 25-26, 2009 - Venice (Benelux section)

Benelux section recognised at Region 8 meeting
During the IEEE region 8 meeting in Venice, Italy, the Benelux section was recognised for their 50^th anniversary. The Benelux section is together with Italy the oldest European section of IEEE and the 5^th largest section within region 8 (after UKRI, Germany, Italy and Spain).
The official date of the 50^th anniversary is May 13, 2009.

Benelux representative Dirk Van Hertem (section secretary) receiving the official IEEE banner from IEEE president John Vig. (From left to right: John Vig, IEEE president; Dirk Van Hertem, Benelux secretary; Jozef Modelski, IEEE region 8 director; Silvano Donati, Italy section chair)

April 25-26, 2009 - Venice (CEDA - ES)

Benelux section member Adrian Pais (Nl) gets prestegious MGA award at Region 8 meeting Adrian Pais, Benelux Section, received the prestegious MGA award at the region 8 meeting in

“For extraordinary leadership and valuable contributions to the development of the IEEE GOLDRush newsletter.”

March 6, 2009 - First IEEE Milestone in the Benelux (Eindhoven)

 
IEEE Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Each milestone recognizes a significant achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having a large impact. To date, more than seventy-five Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world. Initiated by the IEEE Benelux Section, the IEEE dedicated a Milestone to N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken, with the following citation:

On 8 March 1979, N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken demonstrated for the international press a Compact Disc Audio Player. The demonstration showed that it is possible by using digital optical recording and playback to reproduce audio signals with superb stereo quality. This research at Philips established the technical standard for digital optical recording systems.

March 2009

For a video press release (March 2009), please press here.

Read more...

The official plaque

IEEE president John Vig uncovering the plaque with Hans Noordanus and Martin Bastiaans

 

13 February 2009 - IEEE Student paper contest: two Benelux papers accepted for the finals

 
The jury has selected two papers from the Benelux for the finals of the IEEE Region 8 student paper contest. The oral finals will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Eurocon conference in May. More information on the SPC webpage. The two Benelux candidates:

• Jef Beerten - K.U.Leuven, Belgium,
  Comparison of three-level torque hysteresis controllers for Direct Torque Control
• Ralph Hermans - Eindhoven University of technology, the Netherlands,
  Low-complexity model predictive control of electromagnetic actuators

 

21 January 2009 - New Executive Committee officers elected

 
At the IEEE Benelux Section General Meeting in Eindhoven, 21 January 2009, three new Executive Committee officers were elected:

• Chair: G.G.E. (Georges) Gielen, KU Leuven 
• Vice Chair: W.C. (Wim) van Etten, retired U Twente 
• Secretary: D. (Dirk) Van Hertem, KU Leuven 

two officers were re-elected:

• Treasurer (B): D.H. (Dirk) Rabaey, Alcatel-Lucent, Antwerpen 
• Treasurer (NL): J.W.M. (Jan) Bergmans, TU Eindhoven 

and the previous Chair and Secretary became automatically the Junior Past Chair and Junior Past Secretary, respectively:

• Junior Past Chair (ex officio): M.J. (Martin) Bastiaans, TU Eindhoven 
• Junior Past Secretary (ex officio): R.W.C.G.R. (Ralph) Wijshoff, TU Eindhoven 

For the complete list of Executive Committee officers, please check the Committee and Contacts web page.
 

3 December 2008 - Fellow Class of 2009

 
Congratulations to our 5 new IEEE Fellows of the Benelux Section:

• Cor Claeys - IMEC - Leuven, Belgium,
  for contributions to semiconductor device physics, defect engineering, and low frequency noise characterization
• Piet Demeester - Ghent University - Gent, Belgium,
  for contributions to optical communication networks and technologies
• Jean-Pierre Hermand - Université libre de Bruxelles - Bruxelles, Belgium,
  for contributions to geoacoustic inversion techniques for adaptive signal processing in ocean acoustics
• José Pineda de Gyvez - NXP Semiconductors and Eindhoven University of Technology - Eindhoven, Netherlands,
  for contributions to defect oriented testing of integrated circuits
• Sabine Van Huffel - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Leuven, Belgium,
  for contributions to total least squares fitting and computational biosignal processing

The complete list of all new fellows can be found here.
 
The deadline for Fellow nominations is 1 March 2009.
 

28 November 2008 - IEEE MGA GOLD Achievement Award

 
The 2008 IEEE MGA GOLD Achievement Award has been given to Adrian Pais, TNO Information and Communication Technology, Den Haag, Netherlands, for extraordinary leadership and valuable contributions to the development of the IEEE GOLDRush newsletter.
 

6 May 2008 - Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Benelux students win 1st and 2nd prize in the Student Paper Contest

 
At the oral finals of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest, which was held during MELECON 2008, Ajaccio, Corsica, France, 6 May 2008, Geert Hellings won the first prize with his paper "AlGaN Schottky diodes for detector applications in the UV wavelength range" and William Vandenberghe the 2nd prize with his paper "Analytical model for a tunnel field-effect transistor". Both students are from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. For more information, see the SPC web site.
 

27 November 2007 - IEEE Frederik Philips Award

 
The IEEE Frederik Philips Award - sponsored by Philips Electronics NV - has been given to Dr. Gilbert J. Declerck (F'IEEE), President and Chief Executive Officer, IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, for leadership in the creation of international R&D alliances in semiconductor technologies.
 

21 November 2007 - Fellow Class of 2008

 
Congratulations to our 6 new IEEE Fellows of the Benelux Section:

• Peter de Maagt - European Space Agency - Noordwijk, Netherlands,
  for development and application of electromagnetic band gap materials and terahertz components and systems
• Benoît Mathieu Macq - Université Catholique de Louvain - Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium
  for contributions to visual communication technologies
• Bram Nauta - University of Twente - Enschede, Netherlands,
  for contributions to integrated analog circuit design
• René Peter Paul Smeets - KEMA T&D Testing - Arnhem, Netherlands
  for contributions to high-power switching technology
• Rajan Srinivasan - University of Twente - Enschede, Netherlands,
  for contributions to importance sampling and distributed detection in radar and communications
• Paul M.J. Van den Hof - Delft University of Technology - Delft, Netherlands,
  for contributions to system identification for control systems

The complete list of all new fellows can be found here.
 
The deadline for Fellow nominations is 1 March 2008.
 

11 September 2007 - Warsaw, Poland
Benelux students win 1st and 3rd prize in the Student Paper Contest

 
At the oral finals of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest, which was held during EUROCON 2007, Warsaw, Poland, 11 September 2007, Wilm Decré won the first prize with his paper "Application of a generic constraint-based programming approach to an industrially relevant robot task with geometric uncertainties" and Jan Verveckken the 3rd prize with his paper "Design of inverse controller with cross-coupling suppression for UPFC series converter". Both students are from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. For more information, see the SPC web site.
 

10 April 2007 - Eindhoven
Visit of president-elect candidate Marc Apter to the Benelux Section

 
Marc Apter will visit the Benelux Section on 10 April 2007 and will present a talk entitled "Computer Security, Explaining it to Managers and Executives". His presentation is preceded by a gathering with the Benelux Student Branches, and followed by a presentation by ASB-Security. After the presentations, there will be a reception during which IEEE Members can speak with Marc Apter in a casual atmosphere.
More information, especially for Student Branches, can be found on this web page.
If you want to attend, and meet and discuss with president-elect candidate Marc Apter, please send an email message to the Section secretary . Marc's presentation starts at 16:00 hours.
 

Two Benelux finalists in the 2007 IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest

 
Two students from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Wilm Decré and Jan Verveckken, have been selected to present their papers entitled "Application of a generic constraint-based programming approach to an industrially relevant robot task with geometric uncertainties" and "Design of inverse controller with cross-coupling suppression for UPFC series converter", respectively, at the orals finals of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest, which will take place in Warsaw, Poland, as part of IEEE Region 8 EUROCON 2007, the International Conference on "Computer as a Tool" (9-12 September 2007). More information can be found on this web page.
 

19 January 2007 - New Executive Committee officers elected

 
At the IEEE Benelux Section General Meeting in Eindhoven, 19 January 2007, three new Executive Committee officers were elected:

• Chair: dr.ir. M.J. (Martin) Bastiaans, TU Eindhoven 
• Vice Chair: prof.dr.ir. G.G.E. (Georges) Gielen, KU Leuven 
• Secretary: R.W.C.G.R. (Ralph) Wijshoff, B.Sc, TU Eindhoven 

two officers were re-elected:

• Treasurer (B): ir. D.H. (Dirk) Rabaey, Alcatel-Lucent, Antwerpen 
• Treasurer (NL): prof.dr.ir. J.W.M. (Jan) Bergmans, TU Eindhoven 

and the previous Chair and Secretary became automatically the Junior Past Chair and Junior Past Secretary, respectively:

• Junior Past Chair (ex officio): dr.ir. D. (Damien) Macq, AMI Semiconductor, Vilvoorde 
• Junior Past Secretary (ex officio): dr.ir. E. (Edgard) Laes, AMI Semiconductor, Vilvoorde 

For the complete list of Executive Committee officers, please check the Committee and Contacts web page.

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