UMaine Recognized by IEEE

Contact: Ali Abedi (207) 581-2231; David Munson (207) 581-3777

ORONO, Maine – UMaine has been selected as a recipient of the 2006 Supporting Friend of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Regional Activities Award. Approved by the IEEE Regional Activities Board in November, the award was established to recognize those organizations that encourage and support IEEE activities and volunteerism.

IEEE recognized UMaine for its support in hosting the highly-successful 2006 IEEE Region One Student Conference and Micro Mouse Competition. More than 150 participants from across the Northeast participated in the event – the largest attendance ever for the competition. This is the first time in more than 50 years of IEEE membership that UMaine has hosted the event, which is typically held on larger campuses in New York and Massachusetts.

“We worked very hard to get the conference here this year. We have a great school, but people don’t really know about the excellent facilities that we have here,” said UMaine Electrical and Computer Engineering professor and IEEE Maine Communications/Computer Society Chair Ali Abedi.

The award consists of an engraved plaque. Among previous year’s winners are General Electric Company (2000), Oracle Corporation (2001), Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (2002), Memorial University of Newfoundland (2003), Boeing Corporation (2004) and Gennum Corporation (2005).