December 2023
IEEE-HKN 2023 Student Leadership Conference
Over 300 IEEE-HKN students convene at the University of Houston for its 2023 Student Leadership Conference.
What happens when you bring together 100’s of bright, eager future electrical and electronic engineers from around the world with industry, IEEE Society, and academic leaders for three days? Collaboration, idea exchanges, mentorship, career and technical skill development, friendships, and much, much more! Over three days, 3-5 November 2023, 300 plus attendees representing 55 Chapters convened at the University of Houston for this year’s IEEE-HKN Student Leadership Conference (SLC). The SLC is HKN’s largest annual in-person gathering that takes place in the Fall offering a unique opportunity for its students to learn from practitioners in ways that influence and inspire their career trajectories, build their professional networks, and strengthen their leadership skills. This year’s conference was graciously hosted by Dr. Badri Roysam, Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering and featured 20 impactful sessions and engaging discussions, 4 workshops, 4 region meetings, and a recruitment fair featuring 35 companies, IEEE Societies, and graduate schools. Popular session topics included: “What they don’t teach you in school;” “Planning a Career Path for jobs that don’t exist—yet;” and “The Roadmap of 6G” which gave students insights on how to connect their academic journeys to their future career paths. A session track was also devoted to sharing best practices and ideas on how students can strengthen their chapters’ performance.
On Saturday night of the conference, an Awards Banquet was held which included the honoring of two Eminent Members–Frank Chang and Ming Hsieh. Dr. Karen Panetta, Dean of Graduate Education for Tufts University’s School of Engineering, received the Sperry Award on behalf of Dr. Asad Madni. The evening also featured the announcement of Key Chapter recognition for 55 Chapters who showed that they implemented best practices over the course of the 2022-2023 academic year.
According to Cade Wilburn, a senior studying electrical engineering at the University of Kansas, Gamma Iota Chapter, who attended the conference, “I thought it was extremely well organized and I got a lot out of the workshops I attended (CHIPS Act, Leading a Volunteer Organization, Career Takeaways, Networking for Introverts). This was the first conference I have been to in college, and it definitely set the bar high. I was also glad to have met with other chapters within our region to gain insight about how to increase our presence on campus. I would highly recommend this conference to every HKN member. It was very clear to me from the beginning that a lot of time and effort was put into planning this conference, and you can tell that the top priority was to pack as much value into the weekend as possible.”
The energy and inspiration gained from the conference will be felt for a long time to come. Please check out the video from the conference. If your department is interested in hosting a future Student Leadership Conference, please contact HKN Director, Nancy Ostin, at: n.ostin@ieee.org