Every year, IEEE members from IEEE Sections, Student Branches, Affinity groups, and Society Chapters join hands to celebrate IEEE Day, i.e., to celebrate the first time in history when engineers worldwide gathered to share their technical ideas in 1884. This year the IEEE Day was celebrated on the 4th of October, under the scope of Leveraging Technology for a Better Tomorrow. 

At the IEEE Portugal Section, the IEEE Day was celebrated through a series of interviews to our Executive Committee and members of the Student Branches. In each interview, we can understand the impact of the IEEE on society, academia, and, most importantly, our members. Regarding the impact of IEEE in the society, Catarina Reis Vice-Chair of IEEE Portugal stated that:

IEEE is everywhere, in fact there is a standard that I usually use as a good example of what IEEE does and allows for society, which is a standard that is responsible for the wireless network. Moreover, even someone who doesn’t have skills or technical knowledge uses the wireless network. Therefore, IEEE promotes useful things for society.

Meanwhile, David Morgado the IEEE Region 8 Student Branches Coordinator, explains the impact of IEEE in the academia:

The Student Branches have an important role whitin the universities, since they create and develop activities so the members of a IEEE Student Branch interact with other students. Furthermore, being a member of a IEEE Student Branch allows them to interact with companies and ask for support and sponsorship for their projects.

Finally, as Ana Gomes the secretary of Universidade do Minho Student Branch explains:

I believe that along my journey in the IEEE I managed to add several skills that I was unable to gather throughout my life, for example, participating in a dynamic team with students from different areas. Moreover, being a member of IEEE Student Branch allowed me to have a different perspective regarding the academic life.