IEEE’s core purpose is to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Two groups that undoubtedly do this are the Instrumentation and Measurement (I&M) Society and the Young Professional’s Program within the IEEE. If you are in the Young Professional’s Program and want to know more about I&M initiatives, this article outlines three. Starting from the easiest then moving to the most involved, please consider how you can foster technological innovation and excellence with us! As a special bonus, we’ve included an introduction to a usability unit of 
measure that you can apply quickly to your current or next system’s project.
“To measure is to know” – Lord Kelvin
The first initiative is video tutorials. One way for young professionals to learn the newest technological information is via video tutorials. As soon as you are finished reading this article, please go check them out. They are easy to access and provide up-to-date information on a wide range of topics, such as wireless sensor networks, smart sensors, or forensic metrology http://ieee-ims.org/evts/tutorials
The second initiative is conferences. The Instrumentation and Measurement Society can link you to more than 10 different conferences each year. At these conferences, there is not just the rich soil of technical research and the seeds of people, but the water of rich, refreshing conversation, all of which combine to foster productive, technical collaborations. After viewing the video tutorials, you definitely will want to meet and visit with the very experienced I&M tutorial presenters. Also, at the I&M Society’s flagship conference, the International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), we schedule special Young Professional sessions and panels, and we hope to see you this coming May in Torino, Italy for the 2017 I2MTC! Check out all of the conferences, symposia and workshops sponsored by the I&M Society and join us for those meetings that match your interests. http://ieee-ims.org/conferences-list/concluded
The third and most rewarding initiative is volunteering. The I&M Society has 19 very active technical committees (TCs) whose dedicated and hard-working members are engaged in cutting-edge research in a variety of “hot topic” areas within the fields of instrumentation and measurement. Consider how your expertise and interests best align with one or more of the I&M technical committees listed on the website, and then reach out to the corresponding TC chair. Your engagement as an IEEE Young Professional within the I&M Society will allow us to become an even better Society. http://ieee-ims.org/technical-committees
Now for the special bonus! If the meter is to length, the volt is to electric potential, and the gram is to mass…what is the unit of measure for usable? Enter the System Usability Scale (SUS). In 1986, John Brooke created a way to compare systems on not just how useable they are, but how learnable. Curiosity peeked? Check out usability.gov to learn more. https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/system-usability-scale.html
Article contrubuted by Erik J Timpson, IEEE IM Society Young Professionals Representative
About Erik
Erik received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri in 2014. He received a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Missouri – Kansas City, Missouri in 2012. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with Honors and minors in Math, Physics, and Biology from Missouri Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri in 2004.
During and after B.S. graduation, he worked at Sprint in Kansas City Missouri as a Product Development Engineer (2001-2008). He is now a Professional Principal Metrology Engineer for Honeywell, in Kansas City Missouri (2008-present). He was awarded a Technology Fellowship to pioneer the instrumentation applications of Electromagnetic Launchers. His Dissertation was titled Theory of Pulse Forming Networks for Acceleration Waveform Time Domain Replication. His publication record includes 9 journal and conference publications in his fields of specialization. His research interests include metrology, uncertainty of measure, pulsed power, energy conversion, electromechanical systems, biocompatibility, MEMS, and RF.
Dr. Timpson is a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Eta Kappa Nu, Kappa Nu Epsilon, and NCSLI. He has always had a love for education marked by his extensive tutoring, peer instructing, and undergraduate research at Missouri University of Science and Technology. He is the Young Professional Representative for IEEE I&M ADCOM.
