institute of electrical and electronics engineers institute of electrical and electronics engineers the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronics engineering, electrical engineering, and other related disciplines with its corporate office in new york city and its operations center in piscataway, new jersey. the mission of the ieee is advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. the ieee was formed from the amalgamation of the american institute of electrical engineers and the institute of radio engineers in 1963. institute of electrical and electronics engineersabbreviationieeefoundedjanuary 1, 1963 (1963-01-01)typeprofessional associationtax id no. 13-1656633legal status501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationfocuselectrical, electronics, communications, and computer engineeringlocationmanhattan, new york, u.s.originsmerger of the american institute of electrical engineers and the institute of radio engineersmethodindustry standards, conferences, publicationsmembers 423,000+key peoplesophia muirhead(executive director & coo)saifur rahman(president & ceo)revenue us$467 millionwebsitewww.ieee.org due to its expansion of scope into so many related fields, it is simply referred to by the letters i-e-e-e (pronounced i-triple-e), except on legal business documents. as of 2018, it is the world's largest association of technical professionals with more than 423,000 members in over 160 countries around the world. its objectives are the educational and technical advancement of electrical and electronics engineering, telecommunications, computer engineering, and other similar disciplines. history origins the ieee traces its founding to 1884 and the american institute of electrical engineers. in 1912, the rival institute of radio engineers was formed. although the aiee was initially larger, the ire attracted more students and was larger by the mid-1950s. the aiee and ire merged in 1963. the ieee headquarters is in new york city at 3 park ave, but most business is done at the ieee operations center in piscataway, nj, first occupied in 1975. growth the american institute of electrical engineers (aiee) and the institute of radio engineers (ire) merged to create the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee) on january 1, 1963. at that time, the combined group had 150,000 members, 93% in the united states. by 1984 there were 250,000 members, 20% of whom were outside the u.s. the australian section of the ieee existed between 1972 and 1985. after this date, it split into state- and territory-based sections. as of 2021, ieee has over 400,000 members in 160 countries, with the u.s. based membership no longer constituting a majority. publications ieee claims to produce over 30% of the world's literature in the electrical, electronics, and computer engineering fields, publishing approximately 200 peer-reviewed journals and magazines. ieee publishes more than 1,200 conference proceedings every year. the published content in these journals as well as the content from several hundred annual conferences sponsored by the ieee are available in the ieee electronic library (iel) available through ieee xplore platform, for subscription-based access and individual publication purchases. in addition to journals and conference proceedings, the ieee also publishes tutorials and standards that are produced by its standardization committees. the organization also has its own ieee paper format. educational activities the ieee provides learning opportunities within the engineering sciences, research, and technology. ieee offers educational opportunities such as ieee elearning library, the education partners program, standards in education, and continuing education units (ceus). ieee elearning library is a collection of online educational courses designed for self-paced learning. education partners, exclusive for ieee members, offers on-line degree programs, certifications and courses at a 10% discount. the standards in education website explains what standards are and the importance of developing and using them. the site includes tutorial modules and case illustrations to introduce the history of standards, the basic terminology, their applications and impact on products, as well as news related to standards, book reviews and links to other sites that contain information on standards. currently, forty states in the united states require professional development hours (pdh) to maintain a professional engineering license, encouraging engineers to seek continuing education units (ceus) for their participation in continuing education programs. ceus readily translate into professional development hours (pdhs), with 1 ceu being equivalent to 10 pdhs. countries outside the united states, such as south africa, similarly require continuing professional development (cpd) credits, and it is anticipated that ieee expert now courses will feature in the cpd listing for south africa. ieee also sponsors a website designed to help young people better understand engineering. this website allows students to search for accredited engineering degree programs in canada and the united states. through the student activities committee, ieee facilitates partnership between student activities and all other ieee entities. technical bodies technical societies various technical areas are addressed by ieee's 39 societies, each one focused on a certain knowledge area. they provide specialized publications, conferences, business networking, and sometimes other services. ieee aerospace and electronic systems society ieee antennas & propagation society ieee broadcast technology society ieee circuits and systems society ieee communications society ieee electronics packaging society ieee computational intelligence society ieee computer society ieee consumer technology society ieee control systems society ieee dielectrics & electrical insulation society ieee education society ieee electromagnetic compatibility society ieee electron devices society ieee engineering in medicine and biology society ieee geoscience and remote sensing society ieee industrial electronics society ieee industry applications society ieee information theory society ieee instrumentation & measurement society ieee intelligent transportation systems society ieee magnetics society ieee microwave theory and techniques society ieee nuclear and plasma sciences society ieee oceanic engineering society ieee photonics society ieee power electronics society ieee power & energy society ieee product safety engineering society ieee professional communication society ieee reliability society ieee robotics and automation society ieee signal processing society ieee society on social implications of technology ieee solid-state circuits society ieee systems, man, and cybernetics society ieee technology and engineering management society ieee ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control society ieee vehicular technology society ieee computer society ieee computer society is the largest among ieee societies with membership of 51,985 as of 2021. its flagship publication included as part of the membership is computer. non members and members can sign up for free computing edge magazine, which is a digest of content previously published in several ieee computer society magazines. technical councils ieee has seven technical councils in broad areas of technology, which sponsor activities that benefit individuals across member societies. ieee biometrics council ieee council on electronic design automation ieee nanotechnology council ieee council on rfid ieee sensors council ieee council on superconductivity ieee systems council other bodies ieee global history network in september 2008, the ieee history committee founded the ieee global history network, which now redirects to engineering and technology history wiki. ieee foundation the ieee foundation is a charitable foundation established in 1973 to support and promote technology education, innovation, and excellence. it is incorporated separately from the ieee, although it has a close relationship to it. members of the board of directors of the foundation are required to be active members of ieee, and one third of them must be current or former members of the ieee board of directors. initially, the role of the ieee foundation was to accept and administer donations for the ieee awards program, but donations increased beyond what was necessary for this purpose, and the scope was broadened. in addition to soliciting and administering unrestricted funds, the foundation also administers donor-designated funds supporting particular educational, humanitarian, historical preservation, and peer recognition programs of the ieee. as of the end of 2014, the foundation's total assets were nearly $45 million, split equally between unrestricted and donor-designated funds. controversies huawei ban in may 2019, ieee restricted huawei employees from peer reviewing papers or handling papers as editors due to the "severe legal implications" of u.s. government sanctions against huawei. as members of its standard-setting body, huawei employees could continue to exercise their voting rights, attend standards development meetings, submit proposals and comment in public discussions on new standards. the ban sparked outrage among chinese scientists on social media. some professors in china decided to cancel their memberships. on june 3, 2019, ieee lifted restrictions on huawei's editorial and peer review activities after receiving clearance from the united states government. position on the russia-ukraine conflict on february 26, 2022, the chair of the ieee ukraine section, ievgen pichkalov, publicly appealed to the ieee members to "freeze activities and membership in russia" and requested "public reaction and strict disapproval of russia's aggression" from the ieee and ieee region 8. on march 17, 2022, an article in the form of q&a interview with ieee russia (siberia) senior member roman gorbunov titled "a russian perspective on the war in ukraine" was published in ieee spectrum to demonstrate "the plurality of views among ieee members" and the "views that are at odds with international reporting on the war in ukraine". on march 30, 2022, activist anna rohrbach created an open letter to the ieee in an attempt to have them directly address the article, stating that the article used "common narratives in russian propaganda" on the 2022 russian invasion of ukraine and requesting the ieee spectrum to acknowledge "that they have unwittingly published a piece furthering misinformation and russian propaganda." a few days later a note from the editors was added on april 6 with an apology "for not providing adequate context at the time of publication", though the editors did not revise the original article.