IEEE Women in Engineering- WIE, Kolkata Section

The IEEE WIE Kolkata Section organized an event titled "School Children for IoT-based Accessible and Inclusive Environment Creation," aiming to empower young students to develop IoT solutions that enhance accessibility and inclusivity. This event brought together over 50 students to participate in hands-on workshops, expert sessions, and Introduction to IoT projects. The students learned the basics of IoT, sensors, and microcontrollers, and were guided by scholars and academicians. At the end of the event, a kit consisted of excise copy, pen and a motivated story book was handed over to school students. Through this initiative, students gained valuable technical skills and a heightened awareness of the importance of inclusive technology, fostering a spirit of social responsibility and community engagement. The event was a grand success, with enthusiastic participation from all the attendees, participants, and WIE society members.

IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Kolkata Affinity Group was the technical co-sponsor of International Conference on Computers and Devices for Communication (CODEC) 2023, a flagship event organized by Institute of Radio Physics and Electronic, University of Calcutta. WIE Kolkata had sponsored the WIE Best Poster Award for first and second prize for the poster session of CODEC 2023. Over the years, WIE had been sponsoring the Best Poster Awards for CODEC. This year, a total of 32 posters had been received in the conference, a staggering number compared to the papers received in each track of the conference. The judges had a difficult time selecting the winners. So, two posters were judged joined first and two were judged joint second. The enthusiasm of all the participants during the poster session proved the success of the event.

Popular Science Lecture

Date and venue of Event: 8th December, 2023, at Howrah Ramkrishna Adarsha Balika Vidyalaya, Shalimar Area, Howrah

IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group in collaboration with Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) East Zone had organized a half day Popular Science Lecture to motivate school girls to take up STEM as their career choice for girl students of Class 9 and 10 studying in Howrah Ramkrishna Adarsha Balika Vidyalaya, Shalimar Area, a Bengali Medium Government School. Prof. Syed Minhaz Hossain, Head of the Department, Department of Physics, IIEST Shibpur talked about the various natural phenomenon like rainfall, rainbow, colour of the sky, sun etc. He interspersed his talk with interesting hands-on demonstrations. Dr. Upasana Roy, Senior Scientist, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR–IICB) talked about disease causing germs especially dengue. Prof. Santi P. Maity, Professor, Department of Information Technology, IIEST Shibpur brought the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning to the young minds. The inquisitive questions of the young minds showed the success of the event.

5 days International Faculty Development Program on Innovative Research Prospects in Electrical and Electronic System Integrating AI & Machine Learning Techniques

Date and venue of Event: 28th November to 2nd Dec, 2023, In collaboration with IEM, Kolkata in virtual mode

IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group had organized a 5 days International Faculty Development Program in association with Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata in virtual mode. The FDP Program aimed to introduce the foundations and state-of-the-art techniques of Electrical and Electronic System integrating AI/ML, in addition to delving into the applications of AI/ML in various research domains of Electrical and Electronic System, while studying the impact of AI/ML in future technologies and also aimed to bring in the practical insights into the current development of the field. Various faculty members from India and abroad were the resource person for the FDP program. The event was well attended by the faculty participants.

5th November, 2023, IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group had organized an outreach program at Ushoshee Hasta Shilpa Kendra, Barasat, West Bengal, a women’s self-help group. The women are mostly from marginalized sections of the society. The visit was undertaken to motivate the women by acknowledging the profound impact of their work on both artistic and economic fronts as well as highlight the importance of self-sufficiency through collective efforts. The women from the self-help group were encouraged to share their inspiring stories of resilience to defy all adversities. The women were also encouraged to complete their education so that they can inspire their children and can also market their goods as well as keep track of sales etc. The event ended with a happy note with WIE members vowing to spread the stories of these women.

Dare to Dream

Date and venue of Event: 16th December 2023, 2-3 PM at Premananda Hall, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark

The Dare to Dream talk series, conducted by IEEE Kolkata Section and IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Kolkata Affinity Group is a talk series on pioneer Indian Women in STEM, who started their career more than 50 years ago. The goal of this series is to make aware and inspire today’s women with examples from the history which speaks of the determination, grit and focus they had to pursue their dream irrespective of the undoubtedly more difficult ecosystem they had compared to today’s world. The 7th Episode of the talk was organized on 16th December 2023 and it focused on the pioneering women in Medicine and was titled, "The Pioneering Female Doctors of India: Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi, Kadambini Bose Ganguly, Rukhmabai". The talk was delivered by Prof. Sujit K. Biswas, Dean (Academic) of St. Thomas College of Engineering and Technology, Kolkata and formerly with EE Department, Jadavpur University. The talk focused on the stories of struggles, overcoming societal prejudices, support of family etc. in the journey of these women to become first Indian female doctor of western medicine or first Indian female doctors educated in India. Prof. Nabanita Das, retd. Professor of the Advanced Computing and Microelectronics Unit of Indian Statistical Institute was the Session Chair. The event was attended by the likes of Prof. Sankar K. Pal, Prof. P. K. Basu, Prof. Susanta Sen, Prof. Basabi Chakraborty etc. Participants had come from Intel Labs, USA, IIT Madras, IPU Japan, IRPE, Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, IIEST Shibpur, IEM, Techno India, St. Thomas College of Engineering and Technology, KIIT University, TCS, Global Foundries etc. The thunderous applause after the talk proved the success of the event.

IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group had organized “Empowering Girls with Data: A One-Day Outreach Workshop” at IEM Public School, New Town, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal. The event was sponsored by IEEE R10 EAC and IEEE Kolkata Section.
The event was designed to create awareness among school girls about data, how they can choose to work in data in their future or how data can be used to combat climate change. Interesting talks on data generation, collection, artificial intelligence, machine learning etc. was delivered on the occasion. The students also had hands-on sessions where they were encouraged to work on experiments on Smart home, Automatic Door opening System, Radar system, Fire alarm and LASER security system. The event was attended by students of Class V-XI. The enthusiasm of the little participants and their questions ranging from Electric Vehicles to Elon Musk proved the success of the program.

IEEE Women in Engineering- WIE, Kolkata Section is happy to announce that it will organize a 1-day workshop on 31st August 2023 titled, "Empowering Girls with Data: A One-Day Outreach Workshop" to motivate school girls to take up a career in data. The event is sponsored by IEEE R10 EAC and IEEE Kolkata Section.

Name of the Event: From Diploma to Dreams: Empowering Students to Pursue Higher Studies, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Date and venue of Event: 29th August, 2023. Shree Ramkrishna Institute of Science and Technology, Baruipur, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal
Short description of the event:
IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group had organized a career counseling workshop at Shree Ramkrishna Institute of Science and Technology, Baruipur, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal. Many of the participants were first-generation learners. This event was sponsored by the 2023 IEEE Region 10 Educational Activities Development Grant and a matching grant by IEEE Kolkata Section. Talks on Self-Motivation, Start-Up, Innovation, IPR, Job Scenario specially Government Jobs, Scope of Skill Development and Higher Studies were conducted during the event.
The event saw enthusiastic participation from a 200 strong crowd of Diploma students of second- and third-year students from the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Architecture, Computer Science and Technology and Civil Engineering.
The enthusiastic response of the students during the sessions proved the success of the proogram.

Name of Speaker/Delegates present with affiliation:
1. Dr. Sheli Sinha Chaudhuri, Professor, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Jadavpur University, Vice Chairperson, IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group
2. Mr. Niloy Ghosh, Director, DSN Aerospace Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Ichapur, 24 Parganas (North), West Bengal
3. Dr. Ankita Pramanik, Associate Professor, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Chairperson, IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group
4. Ms. Abhranila Das, Business Promotion Head of Synchro Electronics
5. Prof. Tanima Bhowmik, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science Engineering (AIML), CSBS, Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, Treasurer, IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group
6. Dr. Swati Chowdhuri, Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, IEEE WIE Kolkata Affinity Group

No. of total participants: 194