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Contributed by José Alvim Berkenbrock
Since October, IEEE NTC YP activities have been developed closely with the membership of Region 7 (i.e., Canada). The local representative for Canada is José A. Berkenbrock (S’20), a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. In the last trimester of 2020, the activities of IEEE NTC YP Canada were focused on three goals. First was to create a presence on the internet (please, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ieee-ntc-yp-canada); Establishing a connection with local chapters and affinity groups; and organizing webinars under the scope of the Nanotechnology Council.
The Nanotechnology community in Canada is very active. Many IEEE NTC conferences were recently hosted in Canada (e.g., IEEE NANO 2014 in Ottawa) and there is more to come (i.e., IEEE NANO 2021 in Montréal and IEEE NMDC 2021 in Vancouver). One of the goals of Mr. Berkenbrock is to connect with this dynamic community for supporting students and young professionals and strengthening the presence of the Council in the region. Seeking to achieve this goal, a webinar was co-hosted by IEEE North Saskatchewan Section on December 9th with the presence of speakers from across Canada. The theme of this inaugural webinar was “Perovskites for solar cells” with Dr. Saidaminov (University of Victoria, British Columbia) and Dr. Rosei (INRS, Québec) as speakers and Mr. Kahwagi from the Koleilat’s research group (Dalhousie University, New Brunswick) as the Moderator. Briefly, in numbers, the event of about one and a half hours had 80 people interested to attend, 60 subscribed and 24 attendees. Afterwards, all those registered received the link to access the recording and a survey about the event. The survey (5) showed the event attracted people from countries beyond the Americas (e.g., Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Portugal) and exceeded people’s expectations. The next webinar is expected to happen in late January with the theme “Microdevices and the Pandemics” (Please, follow our page on LinkedIn for more info).
Another action expected for next year is the formation of the first IEEE NTC Student Chapter in Western Canada. Currently, the Montrealer Chapter (and Student Chapter) are the only outposts of IEEE NTC up here in the North. Mr. Berkenbrock has engaged in different activities looking for attracting students interested in joining what can be the first chapter in Western Canada. The first virtual meeting happened on December 21st and the work for establishing the chapter has left the shores. We look forward to launching this chapter in the middle of the Canadian prairies. The University of Saskatchewan is in Saskatoon – SK (in the Treaty 6 Territory and Homeland of the Métis).