IEEE holds a big part of my academic career and my volunteering in IEEE started at University of Dhaka Student Branch. It is a pleasure to write for SB DU which has emerged in its 5th year of volunteering and leadership activities. I am glad to see the vision of the current Ex-Com members. Along with the technical chapters, affinity groups and societies SB DU has set up a pragmatic leadership environment in STEM. I hope SB DU would play a real impact among STEM students and share its reputation in R10 and global IEEE.

I was immensely delighted to be able to join as a Student Member of IEEE SB DU in 2016. I extended my volunteering activities from being a Webmaster of IEEE SB DU Executive Committee and by developing the first website for IEEE SB DU to organizing events and networking with volunteers from other Student Branches. I was chosen to be the Chairperson of IEEE SB DU Executive Committee from the year 2019 to 2021. Undoubtedly, this marked the beginning of a new dimension of IEEE SB DU as we planned to bring out a new volunteering structure, new roles in the Executive Committee and new events into the mix, specially during the challenging year of 2020. I am really grateful for the opportunity of working with this amazing team of volunteers which not only helped me to gain invaluable skills of leadership, volunteer management and networking but also made IEEE SB DU stand out as an organization that can stand by the students and come into their aid even in the midst of a global crisis. I sincerely hope IEEE SB DU continues to help the students by bringing about a strong positive change to the tech community through volunteering and most importantly, by leveraging technology for humanity.

I am currently working as a graduate research assistant in the Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC), Department of Materials Science and Engineering of University of Delaware. During my B.Sc. and M.Sc. studies I had the opportunities to be associated with IEEE SB DU and IEEE WIE AG SB DU. Working as one of the founding members of IEEE WIE AG SB DU and later as the chair, gifted me with lots of experiences which not only helped with my academics but also improved me as a person. IEEE gives you the opportunity to network and learn from peers all over the world from people working in academia, industry, or other diverse fields. I would strongly encourage all of our current students in the Department of EEE to engage in IEEE activities whenever they have the opportunity. You will enjoy it, no doubt !

During my B.Sc and M.Sc at Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Dhaka I was engaged with IEEE SB DU and IEEE WIE AG SB DU. Currently I am a graduate student in Materials Science department at Norfolk State University in Virginia. As a part of these two committees, and as a chair of IEEE SB DU I have went through experiences and learned skills which are very relevant in my current graduate life. What I learned from IEEE helped me be better in my academic career, and it has improved my interpersonal skills greatly. I learned to deal with difficulties and how to lead my fellow members through those challenges. I also learned to communicate efficiently. I am encouraging all of the current students to be a part of IEEE.

I was exposed to extracurricular activities at a very early age in my school days. Consequently, during my freshman year, I was looking forward to a more mature form of extracurricular activity that would complement my technical skills. Hence, I got affiliated with this international volunteering platform, namely IEEE. My over-five-year-long voluntary journey at the IEEE Student Branch University of Dhaka took me through a dynamic set of works: technical session planning, volunteer coordination, maintaining logistics, bookkeeping, networking, membership development, graphics designing, and even website development. Additionally, I was privileged to work in a professional environment with international academicians and volunteers from diverse backgrounds. However, looking back, I find all these experiences to be merely the byproduct of the most significant part of my undergraduate journey, self-exploration. In the concluding note, I would urge the next generation of volunteers to look for the priceless intrinsic benefits of being a part of this group of amazing people. I believe you will find plenty! Good luck!