Saturday Sessions

Timing is TBD

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Engineering Intelligence: AI, Computing, and the Future of Innovation

From smart grids to autonomous systems, the future of engineering is being shaped by artificial intelligence and computing. This forward-looking panel brings together experts from IEEE societies and alongside industry leaders from companies to explore how AI is transforming engineering disciplines, share insights into emerging technologies, and discuss the ethical and societal implications of intelligent systems. 

Engineering Your Future: Leadership, Innovation, and Impact

Ready to shape the world with your ideas? This panel discussion brings together trailblazers from leading IEEE societies and top companies. Join us to explore how engineers are driving change across industries, communities, and technologies. Panelists will share personal journeys, lessons learned, and actionable insights on leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and leveraging your engineering skills to create meaningful impact.

Spoiler Alert: Nobody Has It All Figured Out

Think you need a perfect plan? Think again. This panel dives into real stories from professionals who faced unexpected twists, changed directions, and found success in the mess. Come for the honesty, stay for the reassurance—you’re not alone in figuring it out as you go.

Ready to level up your career in communications technology? Join us on an exploration of how the ComSoc Connector and ComSoc Education Programs can help to guide you on your career path.

Meet your typical communications engineering student standing at the crossroads of academic achievement and professional ambition. The student is overwhelmed by the sheer number of career paths: research, industry, entrepreneurship, or further study. That’s where ComSoc Connector and ComSoc Education Programs step in as a compass to navigate the process leading to the perfect opportunity!

Leading as an Engineer: From Technical Contributor to Influencer – with Amy Jones and Ria Ghosh 

This session explores the journeys of early-career engineers who have stepped into leadership roles. Through personal stories and practical insights, the session highlights how communication, influence, and decision-making shape the transition from individual contributor to impactful leader—offering students a real-world perspective on engineering leadership paths.

Rising to the Challenge: Empowering Modern Power Grids to Withstand Extreme Events – with Payman Dehghnanian

With increasing dependence on electricity for most daily activities and vital services (e.g., transportation, commerce, communications, health care, etc.), an urgent need exists to enhance the resilience of the electricity delivery infrastructure to reduce the impact and risk from natural and human-triggered events. In this talk, I describe how planning and operational strategies can be designed, implemented, and used in practice in coordination with efficient decision-making support tools to achieve an improved survivability and resilience in power grids. The results and findings from four past and ongoing research projects at GW SmartGrid Laboratory around power grid resilience to extreme events (e.g., wildfires) will be presented. The talk also introduces the IEEE IAS society and the variety of resources and professional development opportunities that it offers to students and young professionals.

Key Insights to Career Management – with John McDonald

This talk is designed to discuss managing your career. There are 12 important things to keep in mind when living and managing your career to achieve your goals. These will be explained and explored with examples and photographs based on my 50 years as an engineer, manager and executive managing people’s careers, and 54 years as an IEEE member (IEEE Life Fellow) and IEEE-HKN member. Your career is your career and understanding your priorities (which can change) and your company’s objectives can help you have a rewarding and fulfilling career.

 Building and Leading a Volunteer Organization with John McDonald

People working for a company feel obligated to do what their manager asks them to do, since they are being paid by the company. However, it is different for a volunteer organization, such as the IEEE PES. It is challenging to convince volunteers to do the things you want them to do. First, you must effectively engage with them. Second, you must have a strong value proposition for them. This talk will show you how to build and lead a group of volunteers, based on my 54 years of IEEE membership with many leadership positions on the local, national and international levels.

The Post-Grad Playbook: Skills, Degrees, and Careers

Navigating post-graduation options can be overwhelming. “The Post-Grad Playbook” simplifies your choices by breaking down the full menu of opportunities, from master’s programs and professional certificates to specialized industry training, helping you find the format, focus, and flexibility that fits your goals.