IEEE STEP 2020- Transition to a Sustainable Future.
On September 05, 2020, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh and IEEE Bangladesh Section jointly organized the first-ever virtual IEEE Student Transition and Elevation Partnership (STEP) event in Bangladesh by collaborating with the three Student Branches, IEEE AIUB Student Branch, IEEE BUET Student Branch and IEEE NSU Student Branch. The theme of IEEE STEP 2020 was “Transition to a Sustainable Future.”
STEP is a program designed to facilitate the seamless transition from student members to young professionals by emphasizing IEEE membership’s value at the start of a STEM career. This flagship program included a series of educational and career-based sessions that focused on professional growth and helped the participants extract guidelines for their future professional careers.
At the opening session, the event was inaugurated by Dr. Celia Shahnaz, Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section. She shared the program vision and welcomed the esteemed guest speakers and participants who joined the event. The event was moderated by Dr. M Tanseer Ali, Vice Chair (Activity), IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh. He shared the program outline and moderated the talk sessions accordingly.
Followed by the opening session, the first talk was on Prospects of E-learning Environment: Bridge between Knowledge-based Education and Skill-based Profession, which was conducted by Muhammad Qasim Pasta, Assistant Professor, Usman Institute of Technology and Member, IEEE YP Karachi Section. He shared his knowledge on the E-Learning environment. He gave the participants a persuasive speech on the importance and anticipation of how the knowledge-based education and skills-based profession are interlinked. He stated the presentation by interacting with the participants and by the end of his presentation, the audience had a good understanding on how to use more power using more tools for the development of learning.
After the first session, Sabyasachi Mukhopadhyay took a session on Problem Solving approaches in post COVID scenarios by Technologists. Sabyasachi Mukhopadhyay is an Assistant Professor at Faculty of Analytics in PG Management Studies, BIMS Kolkata (Affiliated to MAKAUT) IEEE Kolkata Section. Mr. Sabyasachi described the processes to identify, articulate and probe new problems, which are worth solving and talked about the strategies to solve the post COVID problems by implementing technological approaches.
Following the session by Mr. Sabyasachi, Dr. M A Jabber, Vice Chair, IEEE Hyderabad CS Chapter, shared his expertise as a Professor of Vardhaman College of Engineering on how the classic approaches of education and knowledge transmission are changing into a model of practical
experimentation and interaction. He informed how with the increasing users of the Internet, E Learning prospects are improving towards the betterment of humanity. The session has titled An insight into Prospects of E-learning Environment: Bridge between Knowledge-based Education and Skill-based Profession.
The next session was taken by Krishna Kumar, Research and Development Engineer at UJVN Limited, Uttarakhand. The title of this mind-blowing session was Sustainable Energy Development, Application of Artificial Intelligence in Hydropower Plant, and Role of IoT to avoid spreading COVID 19 and his experiences as a Research Scholar at IIT Roorkee made the session very informative. In this session, the speaker shared some immense knowledge on the application of Artificial Intelligence in the Hydropower Plant and the Role of IoT to avoid the spreading of COVID-19. He discussed the typical hydroelectric power plant and gave a detailed presentation on the barriers to hydropower development and eventually shared about how the turbine selection and their operating characteristics curve works.
The following session was very engaging and informative which was conducted by Zafir Shafiee Chowdhury, Co-founder, Bondstein Technology and Co-founder, Singularity Limited from IEEE Bangladesh Section. The session was titled as Sustainable Future: Coping with the Post-Pandemic World. He talked about the post-pandemic situation and the important strategies to fit into the new normal for a sustainable future. He gave detailed descriptions of new technological inventions to tackle different cases like preventing the black trip in taxi services, use of portable generator sensing, implementing remote monitoring system, preventing vehicle fuel theft, LoraWan technology and so on. The participants were very much drawn to the presentation and the speaker resolved the many queries relevant to his talk at the end.
After the session, Dr. Md, Tausif Ahmad, Head, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Motihari College of Engineering, Motihari from IEEE Kolkata Section, took a session on IoT prospects of E-learning in Education and Skill Enhancement Training, in which he shared his insights on the importance and likelihood of IoT in E-Learning and skill enhancement training. He inspired the participants to be an agent to manage changing roles of Education in lifelong learning.
Followed by the scholarly session, Raamish Khan, SAC Ambassador of IEEE Islamabad Section and Electrical Engineer at Business Excellence PVT LTD, was the speaker of the session on the Importance of STEM Education and its impact. In this session, the speaker talked about the significance of STEM education and its influence. He described the many challenges that we are about to face in the post pandemic world and also gave potential solutions to tackle the constraints in the way of persuading STEM Education.
The next session was held by Dr. Ashish Khanna, Associate Professor, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology IEEE Delhi Section. The session was titled, The Importance of Research for sustainable growth to survive and grow in the post-pandemic era: A Journey. He talked about the significance of research for a feasible development to survive in the post-pandemic times.
Right after the session by Dr. Ashish Khanna, there was an interactive forum for the audience to
participate. Graduate Members were invited to share their journey with IEEE and the role of IEEE engagements in their professional Career.
Following the open discussion forum, the last talk session of the event was by Dr. Shaikh Anowarul Fattah, Education Chair, IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee and Advisor of IEEE YP Bangladesh. The session was on the Necessity of Community Engagement for Sustainable Project Design in the Post Pandemic World and Dr Fattah with his unparalleled knowledge on the topic, discussed the several ways of community engagement in the Post Pandemic living. The speaker, in his speech, emphasized on the fundamental importance of Community’s commitment for sustainable project design in the post pandemic era. He had an interactive session where the listeners shared their prospective ideas to contribute to society and help the community to cope up with the new normal. Dr. Fattah welcomed new ideas and encouraged the participants to think out of box and come forward to implement their community-based projects. The esteemed speaker is also serving as the Chair of IEEE PES Humanitarian Activities Committee.
Finally, Dr. Sajid M. Chowdhury, Chair, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh, shared the activities and motivation behind arranging the flagship event. Dr. Sajid M. Chowdhury, along with Dr. M Tanseer Ali shared their vote of thanks to all the esteemed speakers, participants, the Section and all the members in the organizing team, for whom the event was successfully executed.