Humanitarian Initiatives (SIGHT)

IEEE MTT-S SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP ON HUMANITARIAN TECHNOLOGY(SIGHT)

MTT-S recognizes the roles and responsibilities that we have outside our professional lives. We are all residents / citizens of the town or city that we live in, and of the country that we live in. As an international organization, it is our duty to be part of the solution by working together with others in multi-disciplinary teams to achieve results that we ourselves cannot do alone. MTT-S SIGHT focuses to motivate high school students, young engineers and professionals to apply the low-cost innovative microwave technology for disaster readiness, and humanitarian need. Watch out an introductory video on IEEE MTTS SIGHT.

FOCUS AREAS OF MTT-S SIGHT

  1. Inspire and motivate students and practitioners to make a difference in solving chronic problems including the food crisis, the water crisis, the communications / information access crisis and power / lighting.
  2. Applications Focus: Disaster Monitoring & Relief, Dissemination of Warning, Healthcare Monitoring, Telemedicine, Hazards Monitoring and Alert, Environmental Monitoring, etc.
  3. Education Focus: Student Competition to apply microwave/wireless technology to Healthcare monitoring and/or delivery of Internet services.
  4. Conference Focus: Technical Session or Workshop on Wireless Sensor Networks for First Responders/Disaster Relief.
  5. MGA Focus: Leverage Local Chapters for membership growth activities, collaboration, networking, interactions with the local university, institutes, and government agencies to deliver technical talks by MTT-S SIGHT project leaders.

MTTS SIGHT PAST ACTIVITIES

1) Establishment of MTT-S SIGHT

2015 MTT-S President Tim Lee and 2013 IEEE President Peter Staecker decided that the MTT Society will form an IEEE MTT-S SIGHT to energize our microwave communities and leverage our expertise in microwave / wireless technologies to assist on-going SIGHT programs and start a MTT SIGHT initiative.

2) International Microwave and RF Conference (IMARC) 2014 – Kickoff event for MTT-S SIGHT.

The IEEE International Microwave and RF Conference (IMaRC) is the premier annual international gathering in India for technologists involved in all aspects of microwave theory and practice. The IMARC 2014 which was held in Bangalore marked an onset off MTT-S getting involved as a society for international humanitarian initiatives. The 6 SIGHT speakers / leaders gave an inspirational talk about what can be accomplished to meet the IEEE mission of “Technology for the Benefit of Humanity. Please find a detailed report for 2014 MTT-S SIGHT year end activities.

3) MTTS SIGHT in 2015- Promising Observations

  • Introduction to MTTS SIGHT in Region 10 Student/YP/WIE Congress at Colombo, Sri Lanka under the Young Professionals in Microwaves program. The students, young professionals were given a lengthen talk about the ongoing initiatives under MTTS SIGHT. MTTS took an active part in the poster presentation and panel discussion sessions which took place during the congress. The students were given an insight about the future goals on MTTS SIGHT in the presence of the IEEE Humanitarian activities chair Prof Michael Lightner.
  • IEEE MTT-S SIGHT panel sessions, design competitions specific to humanitarian challenges, and amateur radio classes at International Microwave and RF conference (IMARC 2015) which will be held from 10th -12th December, 2015 in Hyderabad. These events are co-sponsored by APS SIGHT and partnered with National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR) which is an amateur radio non-profit organization located in Hyderabad, India.
  • The IEEE MTT-S Administrative Committee recently approved an initiative to create the IEEE MTT-S LatinAmerica Microwave Conference (LAMC), to be held in the second week of December in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. MTTS-SIGHT committee plans to host a special session within the conference in terms of technical papers addressing the humanitarian challenges.

4) GHTC 2016, October 13 – 16, 2016

SEATAC Doubletree, Seattle, Washington
MTT Society Technical Sponsor and Exhibition Booth
MTT SIGHT Committee