Program Highlights

Five months after launching the IEEE Raising Engineering Awareness through the Conduit of History (REACH) website, the program received the Ayrton Prize for Digital Engagement in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. In addition, more than 250 teachers subscribed to REACH in 2017 and educate more than 20,000 students, who now have an opportunity to be exposed to the history of technology in its social context. Understanding the role of technology in society advances students’ technological and cultural literacy skills and enhances their ability to be better decision-makers in both political and civil matters. IEEE REACH provides a new lens through which students may view engineering and technology as relevant to their lives and their future.

REACH Realizes Significant Growth

Over the past year, the IEEE History Center’s newest program, IEEE REACH has experienced significant growth and garnered an overwhelmingly positive response from teachers, administrators and other education-related professionals and organizations. Besides the Ayrton Prize, REACH is listed by the Smithsonian Libraries as a History of Technology and Engineering Resource within their History of Science and Technology Research Guide.

The free, online REACH Program provides teachers and students with educational resources that explore the relationship of technology and engineering history to society, politics, economics and culture, both past and present. In a Social Studies resource, Social Studies teacher Katherine Senecal states, “This program is bringing technology, engineering, and society to life in the classroom. They excite and engage students with inquiry units that explore the history of technology and address its social, political, economic and cultural effects. While these lesson plans are designed for secondary school, they can easily be scaled back. The link leads to inquiry units, multimedia units, hands-on units, and primary sources. One example is a lesson on navigation for early explorers. Students work through the trouble the explorers would face without being able to see the stars. In the end, the students design compasses!”

Claudio Leon, a Librarian who attended a one-day REACH Professional Development workshop on Drones, held at the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum in New York City, NY, US said, “REACH resources can help students think about real-world applications for designing new technologies and the impact of such technology on humanity.”

Program Highlights

The process of inspiring bright minds includes creating opportunities and cultivating a generation of socially responsible technology professionals. IEEE is uniquely positioned to help design and execute transformational scholarship programs, fellowship opportunities, career experiences and travel grants. Thanks to donations and positive investment growth in 2017, we can now present two IEEE Daniel J. Senese Memorial Scholarships. New donor-designated funds were added to this program area including: IEEE Region 4 Science Kits for Public Libraries Fund, IEEE Power Electronics Society Education & Future Workforce Fund, IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Award – Student Grant and Outreach Fund and the IEEE Ulrich L. Rohde Humanitarian Technical Field Project Award Fund. To educate IEEE volunteer leaders at IEEE Sections Congress 2017: Brilliant Minds, Bright Futures, $90K was awarded.

Scholarship Established in Memoriam

Professor Glenn Knoll was a man of vision, accomplishment and impact. Hearing his students and colleagues speak of him gives the listener insight into a man whose life was full of purpose, whose affirmation was a highly-valued commodity, and whose influence was felt throughout his field – both in academia and industry.

In 2016 Professor Knoll’s beloved wife, Gladys, decided to honor the memory of her husband by providing opportunities to a new generation of students intent on finding their own path. The Glenn Frederick Knoll Fund was established by a generous gift from Mrs. Knoll through the IEEE Foundation.

The gift was still in the process of being finalized when people whose lives he impacted reacted with passion and purpose. Valentin Jordanov, one of Professor Knoll’s former students, responded with a major commitment of his own to enhance the Knoll Fund.  “To know Glenn Knoll was to know a giant of a man,” Jordanov said of his friend and mentor. “His impact was significant and continues to be felt to this day.”

Likewise, many of Professor Knoll’s friends who were heavily involved in the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) petitioned that the organization to which he had given so much to step forward with support. The NPSS responded by matching a portion of the funds provided to honor Professor Knoll.

In 2017, the inaugural awards were presented in Professor Knoll’s name. One recipient of the Glenn F. Knoll Postdoctoral Educational Grant, Dr. Patricia Schuster, hails from Dr. Knoll’s beloved University of Michigan, where she’s in the Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Department.