IEEE Saudi Section: First Student Branch Meeting

On Saturday May 21^st, 2016, Chairs of IEEE student branches from all around the kingdom were invited to have the first Saudi IEEE student branches meeting in Alfaisal University. The meeting was set up by Alfaisal IEEE Student Branch counselor Dr. Abd-Elhamid Taha and Alfaisal IEEE Student Branch coordinator Eng. Mai Ali.

The key objective of the meeting was to develop an active network to guarantee effective communication between the student branches in the kingdom and to discuss the proposed plans for the Saudi IEEE student branches.

The meeting was hosted by Mohammad AlMuhaini, Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department in King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and the Saudi IEEE Student Branches Coordinator.

Student branch counselors briefly introduced themselves, Dr. AlMuhaini began with presenting the registered IEEE student branches in Saudi Arabia and addressing the issues and challenges that the IEEE student branches in Saudi are currently facing, generated possible solutions for these problems and considered the possibility of organizing an annual competition for the best student branch in Saudi.

Further topics discussed in the meeting:

• The approaches that the sponsorship committee to come up with sponsorship plans for the student branches and to prepare the sponsorship brochures.

• Emphasizing the necessity to reconnect and to collaborate in organizing competitions and events in Saudi and Region 8.

• Discussing the upcoming IEEE conference: IEEE GCC Conference & Exhibition 2016

In Manama, Bahrain on 6-9 November 2016.

On that note, Alfaisal IEEE student branch has been given the chance to participate in the GCC conference and was approved to join the organizing committee in the IEEE GCC young congress 1.

For upcoming events, a member will be nominated to become student representatives of the Saudi section.

To finish, it was decided to schedule semiannual meetings to reflect on the outcome of each branch after each semester and to discuss the upcoming events and conferences.