MISSION STATEMENT The IEEE Pakistan Women In Engineering Forum aims to integrate the Women In Engineering Affinity Groups of Pakistan and provide them a platform where they could get recognized for their contributions to IEEE and WIE. We intend to play our role in reducing the gap between the industry and students through innovative programs and projects and strengthen the female engineers of Pakistan socially, ethically and technically. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2011 Mehvish Zahoor - Chairperson I had always dreamed of providing female engineers a platform where they could show their talents &get acknowledged for their potentials & working skills. Pakistan Women In Engineering Forum turned out to be the perfect platform for me to implement my ideas and getting connected with the women in engineering members across Pakistan. Maryam Saeed -Secretary Islamabad Section I joined IEEE to connect with the smart brains around the world. It s surprising to meet new people every day and learn about the vast fields that they have worked in. IEEE is the window to the world of science, technology and innovation. My journey with the Pakistan WIE Forum has indeed been a great learning experience for me.
Anum Javed - Treasurer Pakistan WIE Forum provided me a chance to implement my plans regarding the Pakistan Mission to Progress Project. I expect the IEEE membership growth to accelerate world wide as IEEE continues to develop new products and services and as members continue to spread the word to their professional colleagues. Rabia Khalid - Newsletter Editor Pakistan WIE Forum IEEE is one of the best things that has happened to me so far. As a part of this organization, I feel like being connected to the entire world & now WIE provided me the platform to reach out to the entire country. It s like an arena where you can reach out to everything of your own interest. Sana Syed- Web Administrator Pakistan WIE Forum When I became a part of this global network, IEEE, I found valuable opportunities to see my career in the right direction& a great experience to manage &organize information &events at professional levels.
PROJECTS by Pakistan WIE Forum Since its inception, back in 2010, has been struggling hard to achieve the mission with which it was created. It has been playing its role very effectively for the promotion of Women In Engineering Affinity Groups of Pakistan in Region 10. In a very short period Pakistan WIE Forum has been working on various projects aiming membership growth, surveys regarding females in the science and technology sectors, promotion and acknowledgement of volunteering activities in Pakistan and membership retention programs. Some major projects initiated by the in the span of two years are: Pakistan Mission to Progress Project Discover WIE Membership Drive Biannual Newsletter She In Technology STAR Program PAKISTAN MISSION TO PROGRESS PROJECT Great difference lies in the rates of enrollment of boys, as compared to girls in academic institutes of Pakistan. According to UNESCO statistics, primary school enrollment for girls stands at 60 percent as compared to 84 percent for boys. The secondary school enrolment rate stands at a lower rate of 32 per cent for females and 46 per cent males. This wind of gender disparity also exists in engineering institutes of Pakistan but currently no statistics are available in this regard yet. IEEE PAKISTAN WOMEN IN ENGINEERING FORUM initiated the project named as IEEE PAKISTAN MISSION TO PROGRESS to provide gender equal opportunities in science & society, to provide awareness about science, engineering & technology,to provide networking opportunities by connecting all Pakistan WIE affinity groups empowering the hidden talent. PAKISTAN MISSION TO PROGRESS Project was launched on May 19, 2011 at University of Engineering & Technology Lahore, under the leadership of Anum Javed,Treasurer IEEE Pakistan WIE Forum. Since its initiation, a number of socio-technical events have been conducted with mind blowing success circumscribing PMP s main agenda. The team of PMP is growing day by day covering
all areas of Pakistan. The exclusive features of this project were designed as: Survey of the current Gender-equality status through questionnaire. Gender-Equality promotion in co-operation with rural areas. Conduct Seminars in three different IEEE sections of Pakistan for change of mind set. Pakistan Mission to Progress Team structure follows as: Project Head: Anum Javed [Treasurer, Lahore] Section Coordinators: Ayesha Ansari [Chair IEEE WIE UIT,Karachi] Javeria Habib [Secretary IEEE WIE UET,Lahore] Rumsha Younus [Chair IEEE WIE BU,Islamabad] Nafeesa Mazhar [Vice-Chair IEEE WIE GCUF,Faisalabad] Project Facilitator: Bilal M Zaki [IEEE PNEC Karachi Section] Volunteers: Islamabad Section Hammad Shafqat [Chairman MAJU Student Branch, Islamabad] Anum Riaz [NUST SEECS, Islamabad] Sarwish [NUST SEECS, Islamabad] Hijab Malik [CASE, Islamabad] Karachi Section Sara Rehman Memon [Dept of Electrical Engineering,MUET, Jamshoro] Wahaba Hussain [Chair IEEE-WIE NED UET, Karachi] Maria Rana [Department of Electrical Engineering, UIT Karachi] Syeda Sundus Haider [ MAJU, Karachi]
Iqra Sajid [Vice-Chair WIE PNEC, Karachi] Faria Ashfaq [SZABIST, Karachi] Lahore Section Aqdus Sadiq [Department of Electrical Engineering,NFC-IEFR,Faisalabad] Ahmed Ali [Department of Electrical Engineering,COMSATS,Lahore] Faizan Quresh [Chair IEEE LUMS,Lahore] Bilal Sheikh [Chair IEEE UMT,Lahore] Fareeha Zafar [BNU,Lahore] Azka Naseem [BNU,Lahore] Dania Faraz [BNU,Lahore] Fatima Yasmee [BNU,Lahore] Other Volunteers Sidra Bint-e-Saleem [Chair WIE IEEE NWFP-UET, Peshawar] Sadaf Riaz [BUITEMS, Baluchistan] The Pakistan Mission to Progress Project has been divided into two major phases. In phase one, we visited different schools and colleges with the aim to create awareness among the young females regarding the field of engineering. Through these efforts of the Pakistan Mission to Progress Project team, we envision a brighter and better tomorrow where the young female students are well aware of their role in their field of engineering and how they can bring about a change in the world being an engineer. Ms. Anum Javed, Pakistan Mission to Progress Project lead, has been carrying out this project very smoothly. In doing so, she has been contacting all the student branches of Pakistan, gathering their members data and encouraging volunteers to work for this cause. It was the efforts of the Pakistan Mission to Progress team that a social network platform could be established for all the IEEE Student Branches of Pakistan. To carry out the targeted goals, the Pakistan Mission to Progress Project team visited different schools and colleges and aspired the next generation of women in engineering.
Trip to Government Kindergarten School (GKS) Faisalabad WIE members of Pakistan WIE Forum, and IEEE GCUF Student Branch visited Government Kindergarten School (GKS) Faisalabad, with the aim to motivate sense of responsibility, to enhance self-reliability and to increase the technical awareness among the young unacquainted female students. This event was supervised by Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson IEEE Pakistan WIE Forum & Consultant IEEE WIE GCUF. With the support and permission of the respected principal of Government Kindergarten School, Madam Sumera Mehtab, a complete layout of all discrete activities to be conducted, was prepared by using Gtalk plugin. This event was coordinated by Madam Sobia, a staff member of GKS. More than sixty Computer Science, Mathematics & Biology female students of 9 th & 10 th standards were sitting in the class having seats arranged in elevated steps. After the team introduction and greetings, Ms Saliha Kiran, Chairperson IEEE WIE GCUF, started the session s first activity named as Ice breaking activity. The purpose of this activity was to make all the students familiar with one another. She asked two questions from each student i.e. their names & adjective from last alphabet of their names. It proved an interesting activity spanning thirty to thirty five minutes for all of them. This targeted not only to get familiar with the students but it was to give a keen and soft impression of us to them so that they could find us easy to talk to and be more interactive and responding towards us. After this, Ms Nafeesa Mazhar, Vice-Chair IEEE WIE GCUF conducted the career counseling session for those young emblems of the future. The major highlights of Ms Nafeesa s session
were the necessary factors that are to be considered in field selection, confidence building & selfreliability. She started off by asking a few questions relating to the previous icebreaking session just to testify students attention. And then she continued with the most basic question of our survey, What you want become in your future? Students enthusiastically replied to our questions and the statistics were recorded as a result of the analysis. It became obvious that a major percentage of the students, i.e. 34% as we recorded, literally did not have the idea of what will they become on their future. Nafeesa interacted in a very ardent manner with those students who had said that they do not know what to do in future. They have set no vision of their academic era. She quoted journey of Albert Einstein s & Isaac Newton s failures in their student lives to their unforgettable achievements in Physics. Moreover, to emphasize the importance of teacher, she told them about Sir Winston s Churchill story and his consistency mode of selfbelief. She ended with Gazi Muhammad Abdullah example, a 15 years old child from Karachi city of Pakistan who has launched a project to eradicate pornography from Pakistan. Miss Mehvish Zahoor conducted a special training session. Mehvish herself is an alumnus of the Government Kindergarten School, studied there nine years ago. Mehvish initiated by telling her story from her childhood to the reasons behind her today s numerous international achievements. She told them how she introduced the Women In Engineering Affinity Group in her university and how she pain staked to achieve the Best global WIE Affinity Group award. Then, she took another big initiative for Pakistan s female engineers by initiating IEEE Pakistan Women in Engineering Forum in 2010 with the aim to integrate all WIE affinity groups of Pakistan in one unit. Not only this, she was also selected as Pakistan delegate to go for IEEE R10 Student/GOLD/WIE Congress Auckland 2011. And then she said them today I m standing in front of you as a trainer in the same classroom where I studied once and used to be an ordinary student like anyone else. She
continued with some very important social and ethical issues like cleanliness, correct usage of electrical gadgets and technological awareness. A DREAM BALLOONS Activity was conducted in which balloons of different colors were given in each row and then girls were asked to write down their dreams one by one followed by passing to next student within limited time. In parallel to the Dream Balloon activity, six to eight volunteers were called on for a sketching competition. They were provided with all the stationary stuff and they world told the sketching theme which was Pakistan-a peaceful country. A maximum of ten minutes were given for sketching out the best idea for how can Pakistan be represented as a peaceful country. After this a sketching competition was terminated and evaluation was made by Pakistan WIE Forum representatives and the staff members. Then, we announced the results and Ms. Mehvish Zahoor distributed gifts to the winner, first and second runner ups. Event is concluded by the recitation of the beloved National Anthem of Pakistan by all the students and a group photo. The young witty minds were filled in with a lot of knowledge and motivational thoughts. We received an amazing feedback which clearly reflected that the students loved this experience and insisted to come again to ignite their talent engine. Maximizing the message: Inspire the next generation of engineers! - Trip to PN Model School, Karachi, realizing the importance of creating awareness regarding the field of engineering among the younger generations, along with the very active Women In Engineering members of IEEE PNEC, arranged a trip to PN Model School Karachi, aiming to hold an
interactive session with the students of matriculation and above and brief them about the vast field of engineering, various engineering universities of Karachi and of course, about Women In Engineering. Our WIE Volunteers, along with other girls of PNEC, went to the school on 25 November 2011. We were accorded a very warm welcome by the administration and faculty. MS Zenab Ali, the IEEE PNEC WIE Chairperson began the proceedings with a presentation about the IEEE Women in Engineering, how women are making a difference in Pakistan, and in the world alongside men in the field of engineering and most importantly why is it essential for bright women to choose engineering and how those present at the session are living proof that women in engineering is not a myth originated during the ancient times. This was followed by a brief intro of the life of female students at PNEC, NUST by Ms Kinza Shafique who told the attendees about the life of young women engineering students at PNEC, how their needs are catered to
and how they excel in both studies and extra-curricular activities at a prestigious college like ours. We discussed the basic mindset of the girls in high-schools and that how they perceive the idea of getting a job and what they expect from the professional world. We tried our best to provide a fresh set of thoughts and give a new dimension to the ideas of the young women and eliminate the stereotypes regarding females in engineering amongst the future generation of professionals. AWARENESS SESSION AT KHATOON-E- PAKISTAN SCHOOL IEEE-WIE-UIT conducted 1-Day awareness session of "WIE Pakistan mission to progress" project of IEEE Pakistan Women in Engineering Forum [IEEE-PWF] at KHATOON-E-PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT GIRLS SCHOOL KARACHI. The theme of this session was: "Rights of the Child and Right to Education." The session was conducted by AISHA AMBREEN ANSARI (CHAIR WIE UIT), HAFSA ASIF (V.CHAIR WIE UIT) and MARIA RANA (GENERAL SECRETARY WIE UIT). Session started with an introduction about IEEE, IEEE-WIE, and PAKISTAN WIE FORUM given by Aisha Ambreen Ansari with a mission to increase awareness regarding the field of engineering among the younger generations. We had interactive session with the students of matriculation and above and brief them about the vast field of engineering. Importance of female engineers in the future was also a topic of long debate. As our main agenda was rights of the child and right to education we chooses khatoon-e-pakistan
Gov. Girls school as the students of the school were not well aware of the fields of engineering. They also had an old mindset regarding females in the Field of engineering. Hafsa Asif told them about courses of engineering offered in Pakistan. The students showed great interest in the field of solar energy. Maria Rana told them about the live projects going on in Pakistan regarding solar energy. The three speakers told the young students about their ongoing final year projects. PHASE TWO OF PAKISTAN MISSION TO PROGRESS PROJECT Next, in phase two, for the purpose of survey of the current Gender-equality status, an online questionnaire form is being filled through these steps: 1. Each co-coordinator will forward the link of form to her respective section universities volunteers and ask them to fill it from the students of university (at least 6 forms from each disciples of engineering). 2. Ask volunteer to collect the no of total students enrolled in their university in 2011 in each department. (They can take this info from the admission cell of their university) 3. Then we will compile this list in the format which we have already built in excel. 4. Survey form data will be automatically filled in Google docs 5. If 6 form from each department is not already being filled then we will ask volunteer of respective university to get hard copy of form and get it filled and send us the scanned copy then we will manually fill the form results on Google doc excel sheet. 6. At the end of all data collection we will represent the results in the form of Charts and graphs and draw some conclusion.
DISCOVER WIE MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Membership Drive with the title of Discover WIE, was initiated under the leadership of Maryam Saeed (IEEE Islamabad Section) in May, 2011 with the aim to increase IEEE WIE memberships in Pakistan. This project was started off with the following agenda points: Aim existing IEEE student branches and promote WIE memberships through these Discover WIE membership drive sessions. Promotion through presentation and videos about IEEE and WIE by a Pakistan WIE Forum representative. Pakistan WIE Forum representatives and other IEEE members talk to the audience about their experiences in IEEE. Promotion also includes an activity session to help engage students and help create an idea of the IEEE environment. On the spot, feedback forms will be filled for improvement in the Membership Drive initiative. DISCOVER WIE Episode 1 WIE IEEE NFC-IEFR Lahore Section, organized the membership drive Discover WIE on May 6th 2011 with the theme to create awareness among female students about the WIE network and to increase the WIE population in the NFC Student Branch. The event was entitled as Techno-War day, loaded with various technical events and challenging activities for the attendees of the event. Students from all over Lahore Section participated in this auspicious event including GCU Lhr, GCU Fsd, UET Lhr, UET Fsd, UMT Lhr, USA Lhr & Dr. A. Q Khan University. Mrs. Asma Adeel, Branch Counselor IEEE NFC-IEFR and Lahore
Section Coordinator Pakistan WIE Forum, opened the event with her welcome address. Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson Pakistan WIE Forum proceeded the ceremony by introducing WIE &explaining its networking & membership benefits. This was followed by an activity Express Your Idea. 4 teams were given 25 minutes to plan activities within a specific budget. The team with the most innovative ideas and planning was declared the winner. This session was successful in helping female engineers interact and discover the opportunities that come along an IEEE Membership. DISCOVER WIE Episode 2 The second Episode of DISCOVER WIE Membership Drive was conducted at the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore on May 19, 2011, a one hour session conducted by representatives of the Pakistan WIE Forum. The main purpose of the event was to create a better understanding among the female students of UET of the benefits of IEEE and WIE membership. The speaker for the event was Ms. Rabia Khalid, Chairperson IEEE PNEC Student Branch and Executive Member of the Pakistan WIE Forum. She started off her presentation with the introduction to IEEE and enlightened the attendees for how IEEE can be of use for them at undergraduate level. She highlighted the differences between Google an IEEE and explained them how IEEE holds an upper hand over Google citing 60,000 patents where as Google having no consistent standards of technical excellence displays random info to its users. She also explained the networking of IEEE and how it can prove to you as a platform to realize your dreams and run
towards your goals. She emphasized that we should focus on reasons why females in the field of engineering de-crease on every step. They lack mentorship, job op-opportunities, career guidance, contacts and relations and an easy approach to all of them is the network of WIE. WIE offers you online resources for women in computing, scholarships, internships, projects grants, informative publications and much more. She concluded the session by highlighting some examples and facts that showed how the net-work of WIE helps you add stars to your career and personality. DISCOVER WIE Episode 3 The Third Episode of DISCOVER WIE Membership Drive was conducted at the UIT. It was a two hour session conducted by representatives of the Pakistan WIE Forum. The speakers for the event were Ms. Rabia Khalid, Chairperson IEEE PNEC Student Branch and Executive Member of the Pakistan WIE Forum and Ms. Sana Syed, Website Development Officer, Pakistan WIE Forum. They started off the session by sharing their experiences and giving reasons to why we become IEEE member, what advantages
have they been availing from their memberships. Then they moved on to the discussion of how IEEE can serve as the missing piece of puzzle that you need to complete in order to get to your goals. They talked about various IEEE platforms that can help us improve our networking, personal and social skills. The session was concluded by an activity in which each student was asked to write down their fears and failures on a piece of paper, then a paper plane was made out if it and it was thrown away with as much force as possible. This was to make them realize that throwing away your fears is really doable and makes you feel better. Chairman Karachi Section, Engr. Parkash Lohana presided the session and awarded certificates to the speakers and organizers of the event. DISCOVER WIE Episode 4 IEEE WIE Bahria University Islamabad conducted Discover WIE session on Friday, 16 th March 2012 of their recently established WIE affinity group. BUI is the first university from Islamabad section to have conducted this session becoming the first one with an active WIE branch. The introductory WIE session was followed by a CV writing workshop for better interest of students. The Chief Guest of the event was HOD EE department Mr. Jehanzeb Ahmed. We were honored by the presence of the General Secretary of PWF; Maryam Saeed, MS in Finance from university of Auckland; Mr. Ameer Hassan as guest speaker for CV writing workshop, Ishba Shehzad from FAST and Miss. Sumbal from NUST. The event started with WIE introductory session. Students were informed about the benefits of IEEE WIE. All the necessary and possible questions were tackled effectively in the presentation by WIE Chairperson Rumshaa Yunus. The main agenda of the session also declared as WIE BUI s aim was that Progress is proportional to contribution and contribution is incomplete without women s share in it. After the presentation Miss.
Maryam was invited to share her experience with the students and to enlighten them about the. Maryam explained the students about the functioning of the Pakistan WIE Forum and how this forum has effectively been playing its role in integrating the WIE Affinity Groups of Pakistan. She highlighted various projects that are being carried out by the including Pakistan Mission to Progress and the Biannual Newsletter and also talked about various volunteering opportunities offered by the Pakistan WIE Forum. BIANNUAL NEWSLETTER Project Head: Rabia Khalid Chairperson IEEE PNEC Newsletter Editor Project Coordinators: Hudaisa Afzal IEEE Member, Pakistan Navy Engineering College Karachi Coordinator Fatma Faruq IEEE Member, E & ME College Islamabad Coordinator Pakistan WIE Newsletter Volume I The Biannual Newsletter Project was initiated on the 9th March 2011 and the first Volume of the Pakistan WIE Newsletter was released on 9th July 2011. With its release, a wide distribution of the Pakistan WIE Newsletter took place in the Region 10 Students Congress 2011, Auckland, by Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson. A softcopy of the Pakistan WIE Newsletter was distributed to IEEE/WIE members across Pakistan and in Region10 via email.
The newsletter reflected the hard work and dedication of the various WIE Affinity Groups of all the IEEE Sections of Pakistan in organizing various technical and non-technical events. The first edition of the Pakistan WIE Newsletter included reports from: WIE AG NEDUET Karachi Section WIE AG PNEC Karachi Section WIE AG UET Lahore Section WIE AG GCUL Lahore Section WIE AG NFC IEFR Karachi Section It also included a brief introduction of the Executive Committee Pakistan WIE Forum. One most eminent feature of this Newsletter Volume was an exclusive interview with Ms. Takako Hashimoto, Region 10 Women In Engineering Coordinator. The Newsletter also contained Remarks from honorable IEEE personals, Mr. Parkash Lohana Chairman IEEE Karachi Section, Mr. Shafay Shumail Chairman IEEE Lahore Section along with a note Ms. Durdana Habib, Mentor and Chairperson WIE Affinity Group Islamabad Section. First edition of the biannual Pakistan WIE Newsletter can be viewed at: http://sites.ieee.org/pakistan-wie-forum/pakistan-wie-forum-1st-newsletter/ Pakistan WIE Newsletter Volume II The second edition of the Pakistan WIE Newsletter had rather more of a formal theme. Released as the spring volume, it contained the front news of the Pakistan Women In Engineering representation at the R10 Students Congress where Ms Mehvish Zahoor represented WIE Pakistan. It also included highlights of: Pakistan WIE Forum Session at NEDUET Student Branch Karachi Section Inaugural Ceremony WIE UIT Affinity Group Karachi Section Pakistan WIE Forum visit to Kindergarten School with WIE GCUF Lahore Section Membership Drive; Discover WIE Episode III WIE UIT Affinity Group Karachi Section
Trip to PN Model School - WIE PNEC Affinity Group Karachi Section Meeting of R10 Congress Pakistan Delegates with student members of IEEE Karachi Section IEEE Day Celebrations at IEEE WIE GCUF Lahore Section This newsletter was a dedication to the young hero of Pakistan, Ms Arfa Karim (late). It included an article about the life of Arfa Karim and how she has been a great value to Pakistan. Ms. Mehvish Zahoor also added to the newsletter and welcomed Ms. Ammara Ghani, Peshawar Subsection representative to the Pakistan WIE Forum. She also talked about the project SiT (She in Technology) proposed by Ms. Ammara Ghani and the idea behind this project. One of the most prominent features of the spring volume was an exclusive interview with Ma am Ramaltha Marimuthu, Chairperson IEEE Women In Engineering. Ms, Hudaisa Afzal being the interviewee, balanced the interview perfectly by asking Ramaltha questions about her personal, volunteer and professional life, and what are her aims and vision for IEEE Women In Engineering. Takako Hashimoto also contributed to the newsletter and thanked Ms. Mehvish Zahoor for representing the Women In Engineering of Pakistan and being a supportive delegate at the R10 Students Congress. Towards the end, the newsletter contained a technology insight section where it contained articles about techniques for 3D reconstruction, resource allocator and schedule management system and analysis of gp41 antigenic epitopes of HIV etc. This Newsletter volume also contained Remarks from honorable IEEE personals, Mr. Om Parkash, R10 Student Representative (2011), who has always been a motivation for the Women In Engineering Affinity Groups in Pakistan and for the Pakistan WIE Forum and Mr. Amir Zahoor, Chairman IEEE GOLD Sweden Affinity Group, also one of the founders of the Pakistan WIE Forum, who has been a great source of inspiration for the Pakistan WIE Forum. This newsletter volume can be read and downloaded from: http://sites.ieee.org/pakistan-wieforum/pakistan-wie-forum-1st-newsletter/
SiT - She in Technology By Ammara Ghani During my span of unemployment that i spent at home, I felt that there should be a platform or an opportunity for females where they can polish there technical and communication skills and they are able to do something while being at home SIT basically stands for She In Technology which aims to provide a platform connecting professionals and students in the field of engineering and technology for a strong coordination and bonding amongst females and to provide as much ease for the female students as possible so that they can get internships and jobs easily. SiT is aimed to be taken up with the collaboration of IOPWE. The IOPWE offers scholarships for your educational degree with the conditions that the student signs a bond with IOPWE that states that whenever possible in life, the student shall provide volunteering services for IOPWE. Ammara Ghani, being a volunteer of IOPWE and the SiT Lead, is availing this opportunity to take this project along with IOPWE and Pakistan WIE Forum. SIT is in its early stages of team building and documentation. The SiT hierarchy will be as follows: Board Members SiT Lead o Internships Head o Job Section Head o Workshops Head Three coordinators from all three IEEE Sections of Pakistan shall be working under the committee heads as Section Coordinators.
WIE Ex-com Training Sessions Members of the are playing their role in training the WIE members of various Affinity Groups of Pakistan. They, in their capacity, are doing their best in reaching out to the Women In Engineering Affinity Groups of Student Branches of their respective IEEE Sections, talk out to them, address their problems and suggest them with appropriate solutions. Pakistan WIE Forum members are voluntarily carrying out this task and till now have covered a number of Affinity Groups of Pakistan and trained many WIE members to become a competent, leading and visionary female volunteer. Some of the WIE Affinity Groups executive committee members that are trained and motivated by the Pakistan WIE Forum members are: University of Engineering & Technology Lahore Usman Institute of Technology Karachi Government College University Faisalabad Bahria University Islamabad Pakistan Navy Engineering College Karachi NFC IEFR, Faisalabad NED University of Engineering & Technology Karachi UMT, Lahore Ex-Com training session at University of Engineering & Technology Lahore Mehvish Zahoor and Rabia Khalid conducted a very interactive and friendly training session with the executive committee members of the IEEE WIE University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore Section. Starting off with the basics of event reporting and team building, Mehvish Zahoor talked about running a student branch effectively with generating activities that would benefit the members and also attract new members while Rabia Khalid encouraged them towards bringing professionalism to their working and maintaining a proficient approach for all the happenings of the branch.
Ex-Com training session at Government College University Faisalabad Miss Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson IEEE Pakistan Women In Engineering Forum was invited for an executive committee training session of WIE GCUF members, on December 22, 2012, after Feedback session of their "IEEE Day With GCUF". The basic idea behind this training session was to enhance their managerial skills. It was key points to improve after the event execution. Mehvish Zahoor presented the members different situations and asked them to tackle according to their styles. She provided the necessary guidance to the branch members for their future execution of events. The training session was ended with honorary lunch with IEEE GCUF Team. Ex-Com training session at Usman Institute of Technology Karachi Rabia Khalid and Sana Syed conducted an Executive Committee Training Session for WIE Affinity Group Usman Institute of Technology Karachi. The reason behind this session was to help the newly formed committee of UIT and to provide them the possible guidance for their upcoming events. Rabia and Sana discussed with them some important issues related to management of events & tactics for handling the timings for any activity/session and also explained them how to divide up into teams and carry out the marketing of any activity in different phases. The meeting was fruitful and the results of it were seen a few weeks later when UIT WIE members organized a mega event for their inaugural session.
PAKISTAN WIE FORUM REPRESENTATIVES - SPEAKERS AT VARIOUS EVENTS IEEE Membership Promotional Seminar - by IEEE NFC Student Branch Faisalabad IEEE NFC-IEFR student branch organized a promotional seminar for the new incoming batch of students to have a brief introduction about. The main objective was to bring new and more students to this field for exquisite results. A function was organized including few fun activities and the presentations from guests. Different presenters were invited for the presentations and to provide students different information about IEEE WIE Forum. IEEE membership promotional seminar, as the name shows refers to promotional or guideline something for a fresh start. Every year IEEE and WIE NFC- IE&FR arrange membership promotional seminar for the fresh students who have just joined the university and are new to the setup of the society. This year the event was a bit different and turned out to be a huge success. This is, Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson IEEE
Pakistan WIE Forum was invited to speak over the occasion and enlighten the students with the benefits of joining IEEE and WIE. She also highlighted the networking and operational structure of the and explained the students about its various projects being implemented across Pakistan.
Bringing Engineering to Life NEDUET Student Branch A membership drive held by the IEEE and IEEE-WIE NED University of Engineering and Technology (NEDUET) Student Branch entitled Bringing Engineering to Life was held in Karachi, Pakistan. The aim of the event was to inspire and encourage, especially, female students, to be a part of the IEEE- WIE community for empowerment of their engineering potential over the globe. Rabia Khalid was invited as the speaker for the event where she spoke about the benefits of IEEE and IEEE-WIE membership, being a female IEEE member and encouraged the female students to join IEEE-WIE. She also explained why is it important to volunteer and to maintain balance between your grades and cocurricular activities. She also told the students about various volunteering opportunities in Global Integrated Network of IEEE, Pakistan Women In Engineering Forum and Graduates Of Last Decade Affinity Group.
UIT WIE Inaugural Session The launching ceremony of IEEE Women In Engineering Affinity Group was a magnanimous event. Many guest speakers were invited to motivate, encourage and guide the newly launched affinity group. The first speaker to address the audience was Dr. Manzoor Ahmed who is the Chairman Usman Institute of Technology. He welcomed the guests for coming to attend the session. The next speaker was Mr. Wasim Akhtar, Director UIT. He encouraged the women of the institute to take part in cocurricular activities. Mr. Sibt-e-Ahmed Jafri, Vice President IEEEP South Region discussed the importance of women in imparting education, their professional ethics, research and improvement in curricular and co-curricular activities. Engr. Tahir Saleem, Chairman IEEEP Karachi Section shared the history of IEEEP and talked about career guidance and counseling for female engineers. The next speaker was Senator Rukhsana Zuberi who is the Chairperson Women in Energy Pakistan. She pointed out the challenges faced by women in social networking, social interaction and sharing of knowledge among societies and communities. She delivered the message of encouragement to the female engineers and told them to be visible, be visionary and be bold to face challenges. Miss Rabia Khalid shared her journey in WIE as newsletter editor. She also appreciated the efforts of UIT in the launching ceremony. She also gave ideas through which we can improve the percentage of female engineers working in the field.
Membership Drive WIE IEEE PNEC Student Branch IEEE PNEC Student Branch held its Membership Drive on 20th April 2012. IEEE PNEC has always made an effort to blend in fun and technology well. This drive was conducted to let the students know of the manifested benefit of joining IEEE and to encourage them to be a part of this society. The one and a half hour session consisted of interactive sessions from Hassaan Idrees the GINI Representative of Region 10, Ms. Rabia Khalid Pakistan WIE Forum Chairperson and Student Representative for South Asia Gold Committee, IEEE PNEC and Mr. Onib Nasir Chairperson, IEEE PNEC. Along with the presentations of Hassaan Idrees, regarding the benefit of joining IEEE, Mr.Onib Nasir, about the working of IEEE PNEC, Rabia Khalid, who has served as the Vice Chair WIE PNEC for the year 2010-2011, Chairperson IEEE for year 2011-2012, and is now the current Chairperson of Pakistan WIE Forum, gave a comprehensive review of Women In Engineering. Being the WIE PNEC Vice Chair herself for the year 2010, she had ample opportunities to portray her skills through this forum. WIE PNEC follows the universal motto of encouraging women towards science and technology. Students, especially girls were encouraged to be a part of this extensive network. Rabia further elaborated the various other opportunities available to the girls by becoming a part of WIE and how to promote women in engineering in this male dominated society. Having been a part of WIE for the previous 3 years, she shared her success story and recounted her experiences and the benefits that WIE has provided to her. The session ended with an interactive game for the audience the Pictionary. The audience was divided into two teams. One member
from each team was given a word which he had to explain by a drawing. The session was fun and enjoyable. This drive was indeed an effort to create a better and clear vision of IEEE among the students and to encourage them to be a part of this global organization.
WIE Women Entrepreneurship Conference`12 The first ever WIE Women Entrepreneurship Conference 12 in Pakistan was held on Saturday, May 26, 2012, at UIT, Karachi, by the outgoing final year students of the Usman Institute of technology in collaboration with Engineering & Industrial Review (EIR), a large number of participants attended the event which showed it to be one of the most successful event held during recent days, especially to its relevancy. The conference began with the recitation of Holy Quran. Speakers at the sessions were Rohana Iqbal, Sadia Naz, Sumrah Ahmed, Dr. Rubina Ghani, Rubina Iqbal, Lubna Namazi, Kashif Qureshi, Fahim Ahmed, Dr. Salima Ahmed, Rabia Khalid and Dr. Shireen Khanzada. After the welcome address, IEEE Karachi Section Vice Chair, Engr. Parkash Lohana addressed the audience. Along with the other speakers, Ms. Rabia Khalid, Chairperson spoke about Women s ways of leadership. By giving the examples of Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandler, Oprah Winfrey, she explained the audience about how females are different from their male coworkers as a team member and as a leader. She highlighted the different qualities of the females which make them effective and successful leaders. At the end shield was presented to the speakers and certificates were also given out to the WIE organizing team.
Sessions & Events Conducted by BELIEVE IN YOUR DREAMS GCUF Lahore Section Just Believe in Your Dreams was con -ducted on 6th October 11 during the celebrations of IEEE Day with GCUF with collaboration of. More than 75 people participated in this event from four different universities of Faisalabad. The event started off wi th the name of Allah and after that, an introduction to the Pakistan WIE Forum by Ms Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson IEEE PWF. She proceeded with the video conferencing session with Muhammad Saad on the topic of Making dreams come true. Muhammad Saad is pursuing Masters in Communications Engineering and research at University of Massachusetts Amherst USA and has completed his under -grad in telecommunications from FAST NUCES Karachi, associated with IEEE since 2007 and has served as SAC Chair IEEE Karachi section for 2010-2011, having the honor of being the youngest SAC in IEEE ever. He started with the concepts of dreams and asked everyone to write their dreams on paper and visualize your dreams. He explained this in steps like love what you do (step 1), keep the fire burning (step 2), Trust in ALLAH (step 3) and most importantly Say good bye to your negativity. Muhammad Saad also inspired the attendees by sharing his life experience of
how he joined IEEE and how his dream to study at USA turned to reality. A session was also conducted by Ms. Mehwish Khan on the topic of Women Inspiration & Empowerment. Mehwish Khan is currently pursuing her BTech degree in Electronics & Communication from Jamia Millia Islamia Uni -versity, India. She is WIE Delhi Section-Member, Executive Committee and PR and Communicati ons Team, GINI Provisional Work ing Committee. She also represented the Engineering for Change at the Region 10 Student Congress in Auckland, New Zealand, 2011. She explained about the mission and vi sion of WIE. Her presentation included some important stats about WIE membership growth which helped the attendees to understand the ratio of membership of WIE on yearly basis with R10 having highest number of female members. She further continued by explaining the word Inspiration and mentioned that WIE has been her inspiration. She also mentioned some role models of her life in life including Helen Keller (the angel of the Blind), Marie Curie (renowned scientist), Indira Gandhi (ex - PM, INDIA), Prof. Mi ni S. Thomas( Branch Counselor IEEE JMI and Vice Chair, MGA), Prof. Ramalatha Marimuthu (IEEE WIE Chair) and Pakistan WIE Forum! She concluded the session b y presenting a brief introduction about IEEE Humanitarian technology, some successful stories of it, its most important SIGHT and how it involves and engages students. She ended with a note Think Globally, Act Locally.
Pakistan WIE Forum Session at NEDUET Karachi Section On June 27 2011, Pakistan WIE Forum held a session at NEDUET with the WIE members of NED, Pakistan Navy Engineering College and Usman Institute of Technology. Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson Pakistan WIE Forum, spoke about the structure of the Pakistan WIE Forum and the vision with which it was initiated. She explained the WIE members of the Karachi Section how can they be a part of the Pakistan WIE Forum and the nationwide opportunities this forum offers for the female engineers of Pakistan. She also discussed the various projects initiated by the Pakistan WIE Forum and their progress. The event was concluded with small prizes given out to the winners of the activities conducted during the session. International Women s Day Celebrations celebrated the international Women's Day on March 8 th 2012. The idea behind this interviewing session was to conduct interview sessions at different locations of Pakistan, from females belonging to different fields and professions. The interviews can be read and downloaded from http://sites.ieee.org/pakistan-wie-forum/womens-day-special/
Meetings Attended by the Members of Pakistan WIE Forum PAKISTAN WIE REPRESENTATION AT R10 STUDENT/GOLD/WIE CONGRESS Eight delegates from Pakistan at-tended the IEEE Region 10 Student/GOLD/WIE Congress that was held from 7-10 July 2011 at the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Pakistani delegates proved to be among the most active participants of the congress, standing out with nearly every delegate delivering presentations at this prestigious event. IEEE geographic and GOLD/WIE Forums were held on the 2nd day i.e., Friday July 8th, 2011. The delegates were divided into groups to hold discussions specific to their geographic areas. These discussions were con-ducted by Takako Hashimoto, Professor Susmita Sur-Kolay, Dr.Rachana Garg, and Zuhaina. There Ms Mehvish Zahoor shared the success story of Pakistan WIE Forum and explained the structure of this forum to the WIE members of R10. Some projects which are related to WIE Activities in Pakistan were also shared. Employers (and other parties) presented stalls in the atrium. R10 WIE had also arranged a stall in which Pakistan WIE Forum contributed through posters, videos displayed on the stall and Ms Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson presented WIE benefits to visitors as
well as distributed Pakistan WIE Newsletter. The Pakistan WIE Newsletter was printed out with the support of Om Parkash Batra and Madam Takako and was distributed among all congress delegates. On 3rd Day 9th July 2011 Ms Mehvish Zahoor presented on the topic Female Empowerment in our Culture. She explained that Pakistan WIE Forum, with its expanded network all over the country, envisions conducting surveys in Pakistan, and working on the appropriate solutions to those problems. She also said that we envisage changing the rigidity of our culture and converting our country into a progressive nation. This can be replicated in many Asian countries like India, Bangladesh etc. She explained the attendees that we've planned to establish three operational networks on pre-university, university and professional level. Through the platform of IEEE, Paki-stan WIE Forum will create links between students and the in-dustry. These groups will provide guidance at that specific level and also educate the community about opportunities and challenges will young female face. Not only this, these net-works will include new potential and use them to work for the best solutions of the problems.
Annual General Meeting Lahore Section Mehvish zahoor attended the Annual General Meeting held at GC University on December 20, 2011 and presented an opportunity for interaction and exchange of information with fellow members. The IEEE Lahore Section annual report was presented by the ChairmanDr Shafay Shamail. Mehvish, Chair IEEE PWF, presented annual report 2010-11 to IEEE Lahore Section. shee presented a summary of the events, activities, projects and achievements of PWF over the past year. He also highlighted some activities planned for the future such as PMP and SIT. IEEE GOLD CONGRESS 2011 This Congress was meant for the recent graduates and graduating persons to interact with industry leaders and entrepreneurs. It included sessions on several themes such as innovation, entrepreneurship, resume and career building. It featured talks and panel discussions by eminent industry leaders as well as several team building, expertise sharing activities. All of the sessions were very interactive and different strategies had been fruitfully implemented to maintain the interest of the audience. The University of Faisalabad in collaboration with IEEE GOLD Lahore section arranged this congress for graduates in Faisalabad. The Congress was attended by many esteemed figures from all over Pakistan:
HONOURS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IEEE R10 Women in Engineering (WIE) is an international professional organization dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists The IEEE R10 WIE Student/GOLD Volunteer Group 2012 was formed and Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, Chairperson (2011) was appointed as a part of the group along with other fellows from Region 10. The team comprises of: Representative: Mehvish Zahoor Webmaster: Swetha Sampath Bobba Information Manager: Dr. Maheshi Dissanayake Member: M Idham Habib Volunteer: Ainun J Member: Hassaan Idrees Member: Ms. Alka Isac The Region 10 South Asia GOLD Committee was formed in January 2012. Ms. Rabia Khalid, Chairperson (2012) was selected as the Student Representative for the South Asia GOLD Committee. The Region 10 South Asia GOLD Committee was formed in January 2012 and Ms. Mehvish Zahoor was appointed as the WIE Coordinator South Asia GOLD Committee Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, on the basis of her outstanding achievements and dedication, was also appointed as the Chairperson WIE Affinity Group Lahore Section.
The Handing-over The IEEE Pakistan Women In Engineering Forum is continually striving to provide the WIE Affinity Groups of Pakistan a platform that recognizes their contributions to IEEE and Women In Engineering. The achievements of the Pakistan WIE Forum and struggle of the team prove that an energetic and strong team can really make a difference and initiate a wave of change within the country. This does not end here. We still have a long way to go. With the completion of the tenure of First Executive Committee, the offices were handed over to the second executive committee on April 13, 2012. The second executive committee of the is already geared up and ready to take its position and get working. The Second Executive Committee is: Chairperson - Rabia Khalid, Karachi Vice Chair Aiman Rasheed, Peshawar Secretary Rumshaa Yunus, Islamabad Treasurer Mehak Akhlaq, Islamabad Pakistan Mission to Progress Lead Anum Javed, Lahore She in Technology Project Lead Ammara Ghani, Peshawar Newsletter Editor Farah Saleem, Karachi Marketing and Communications Head Javeria Habib, Lahore Website Administrator Sidra Farooq, Peshawar
END NOTE The team of is extremely thankful to Madam Ramalatha Marimuthu, without whom the establishment of this forum wouldn t have been possible. I thank Takako Hashimoto, for always supporting us and encouraging us to step ahead and expand our network. I would specially like to thank Mr. Shafay Shumail, Chairman Lahore Section (2010-11) for playing a vital role in the recognition of this Forum and Mr. Parkash Lohana for always supporting us with our activities. Also I would like to thanks Mr. Om Parkash Batra, Mr. Ravendar Laal and Muhammad Saad for motivating us to promote this network and helping us throughout. Thanks to Mr. Amir Zahoor, SSR Lahore Section (2009-10) and Mr. Saad Zafar of IEEE GCUF Student Branch, who laid the foundation of this project and provided us a platform where we can implement our ideas and strive for them. I thank Madam Durdana Habib for being our mentor and guiding us all the way through. Very special thanks to Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, for taking up this project from the very scratch and leading it to great heights. She has been a great leader and a teacher. Thanks to the Pakistan WIE Forum Ad-hoc committee and the First Executive Committee, for their valuable contributions to the Forum without which we would not have been able to carry on all the planned projects. I would also thank Mr. Bilal Zaki, Mr. Onib Nasir and Mr. Hassaan Idrees of IEEE PNEC Student Branch for always guiding me and helping me with the decisions of Pakistan WIE Forum and encouraging me to bring innovations and put in my best. Rabia Khalid Chairperson Pakistan WIE Forum (2012)