Prestigious role for Teesside Professor

Alan Clements, Professor in Computing at the University, has been honoured by being elected vice-president of the world’s largest computer society.

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Computer Society, based in the United States, has a membership of around 80,000 computer professionals worldwide.

Professor Clements is one of just two of the society’s newly elected officers who are non-American. The other is based in Tokyo.

Role as vice-president His role as vice-president of the IEEE society will see him chair its Educational Activities Board, which is responsible for educational initiatives worldwide, including competitions, training programmes, accreditation and conferences.

Professor Clements, from Acklam, Middlesbrough, said: ‘I have a long association with the society which started around 12 years ago when I began reviewing books for publication and became a member of committees. It is part of my philosophy of never saying no to anything, as you never really know where it could lead.’

Last year he was appointed IEEE’s editor-in-chief, a role which sees him make decisions on what is published in the society’s academic books for use by professionals and students.

He said: ‘Much of the research and publications in computing is done by the society. Through the society I have been involved in everything from local initiatives such as student competitions, to national initiatives in helping to set up exams for the British Computer Society and various international activities.

Changing the direction of computing ‘It is good to think that someone from Teesside is among the people who are engaged in changing the direction of computing and influencing the profession itself. I have been elected to this role as the University of Teesside has supported my professional activity in bodies such as the IEEE.’

He added: ‘My involvement with the society has enabled me to meet people involved in computing who I might otherwise only be able to read about. And it has been fun. I recently attended an event in America to honour computer pioneer Arnold Spielberg. At the ceremony I was sitting next to his son – Steven Spielberg!’

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