History

IEEE Iran Section was founded on February  12, 1970 (23/11/1348) . It is located in Region 8. Abbas Tchamran was the first chairman of this section.  In 1975 the IEEE President, Arthur Stern visit Iran. He has reported his visit in The Institute, October 1999.

Student Branch of University of Tehran was the first IEEE Student Branch in Iran which was approved by IEEE HQ in April 1996, and received Regional Activities Board ratification on 14th February 1997. Kurt Richter, IEEE Region 8 (R8) Director visited the Section in 1991.

At a Student Branch Congress in Istanbul, Iranian students invited Ken Laker , the IEEE President. The invitation was approved by the Iran Section Chair, Dr. Ghaffoori-Fard. On February 20 1999, Ken Laker accepted the invitation and flight to Tehran with R8 Director Rolf Remshardt. After an intensive programme of visiting universities and IRTC (Iranian Telecommunication Research Center), he has reported in The Institute “IEEE Officers find Iranian engineering students ready for 21^st century.  The IEEE Student Branch at University of Tehran is doing significant work to support the professional development of their fellow students…”

On January14, 2002 following the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations, the IEEE informed members residing in the sanctioned country of Iran that they will not receive any service regarding their membership in IEEE as e-mail alias, web account, etc, except for print subscriptions to IEEE publications. This meant that members located in Iran could not contribute as authors, reviewers, or editors to IEEE publications. They had no electronic access, could attend IEEE conferences only at non-member rate. Despite of having several Iranian Senior and Fellow,   no members were allowed to be promoted to Fellow or Senior Member status.

In this period, although well-educated students in the Iran Section’s Student Branches were highly active and had good relationships with other Student Branches in R8 and other parts of IEEE, they forced to be closed.

In 2004, after two years of effort, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was convinced to rule the IEEE’s publishing process be exempt from OFAC regulations and Iranians’ be able to publish their scholarly papers, do other joint professional activities, including electronic communications.

In May 2005, OFAC ruled that IEEE can recognize the section as one of its official units. This was promising news for Iranian scientists and new session of IEEE Iran Section activities was started.  IEEE President Michael Lightner visited Iran to re-establish IEEE relationship with Iranian members. He visited the research facilities of Sharif University of Technology, Shiraz University, and University of Tehran. Lightner also updated members on lingering OFAC issues and encouraged them to rejuvenate their programs during the first meeting the section held since the May decision.  Regarding this trip, Jawad Salehi, Chair of Iran Section mentioned that “He was extremely effective in regaining the confidence of former IEEE Iranian members. He gave us the moral support we needed to get active again.”

It has not taken long for the section to jumpstart its activities. It has been working hard to boost its membership by running meeting notices in local papers and organizing technical forums that focus on the country’s hot areas of technology like telecommunications and power. September 2005, for example, it helped organize an international conference in Shiraz, Iran, on telecommunications.

On February 21, 2009, Jozef Modelski, R8 Director, attended IEEE Iran Section 40^th anniversary which was held in Shahid Beheshti University. At this assembly, Modelski congratulated IEEE Iran Section which won the highest percentage of membership growth award in the 2009 membership year. He also mentioned that, Iran has high potentials to grow faster,   promote its membership   and   activities.

After 2005, although the section could organize local activities at universities, the IEEE cannot establish student branches or technical chapters. Despite the limitations, Iran Section is working hard to promote professional activities in Electrical Engineering.  Anthony C Davies, former director of R8, wrote an article on IEEE sanctions against the Iran Section which is going to be published in the IEEE Technology and Society Magazine.

Chronological list of the Section Board of Directors