How to Become an IEEE Fellow

Do you know an IEEE colleague who has made outstanding contributions to the electrical and electronics engineering profession? If so, consider nominating him or her as an IEEE Fellow. The deadline for receipt of complete IEEE Fellow nominations for the Class of 2010 is 01 March 2009.

At the time the nomination is submitted, a nominee must be an IEEE Senior Member whose membership is current and who has completed five years of service in any grade of membership. Note:IEEE affiliate membership does not apply. The nominee can come from any field, including academia, government and industry.

Any person, including a non IEEE member can nominate an IEEE Senior Member. The Nominator cannot be a member of the IEEE Board of Directors, the IEEE Fellow Committee, IEEE Technical Society/Council Fellow Evaluating Committee Chair, a member of IEEE Technical Society/Council Fellow Evaluating Committee reviewing the nomination, or IEEE Staff.

The nominator is responsible for:

• Preparing the IEEE Fellow Grade Nomination Form
• Soliciting at least five, but no more than eight references capable of assessing the nominee's contributions. References cannot be members of the IEEE Board of Directors, the IEEE Fellow Committee, IEEE Technical Society/Council Fellow Evaluating Committee reviewing the nomination, the Nominator or IEEE Staff. Note:References will be accepted if a reference is an IEEE Senior Member in good standing and the nominee they are serving as a reference for resides in Region 9.
• The option of soliciting no more than three Endorsements that can attest to the nominee's field of technical accomplishments. Endorsements cannot be members of the IEEE Board of Directors, the IEEE Fellow Committee, IEEE Technical Society/Council Fellow Evaluating Committee reviewing the nomination, the Nominator or Staff.
• Identifying an IEEE Society/Council whose evaluating committee will assess the nominee's technical qualifications and contributions.

The process consists of two reviews. The first evaluation is completed by the IEEE Society/Council that the Nominator identified on the nomination form. The Society/Council evaluation is extremely important, because it is an impartial and even-handed view of the nominee's merit, by persons who are familiar with his or her work. Once the Society/Council review is completed, their comments are given to the Fellow Committee.

All nomination materials are forwarded in confidence to the IEEE Fellow Committee, consisting of 52 members, who are all IEEE Fellows have been selected to represent the 10 IEEE Regions, and have expertise in the technical areas represented by IEEE Societies/Councils.

The Fellow Committee recommends nominees to the IEEE Board of Directors, according to the following criteria:

• Significant contributions as Application Engineer/Practitioner, Educator Research Engineer/Scientist or Technical Leader.
• Evidence of technical accomplishments.
• Evaluation by the IEEE Society/Council selected by the nominator.
• Confidential opinions of references and endorsers.
• Service to other professional engineering societies.
• Total years in the profession

Each nominee is rated numerically on the basis of this information.

The Fellow Committee submits its nominees to the IEEE Board of Directors during the 3rd Quarter, and the Board acts upon those recommendations at its year-end meeting.

According to IEEE Bylaw I-306-8, the total number of Fellow recommendations in any one-year must not exceed one-tenth of one percent of the voting membership on record as of 31 December of the year preceding.

For additional information, nominations instructions, forms and more please visit http://www.ieee.org/fellow

The IEEE Fellow pin