Nayara Vasconcelos Estrabis, José Marcato Junior
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/CHINNAPONG
The year 2020 was globally marked by the pandemic caused by COVID-19, or coronavirus. The situation that changed the world also affected our IEEE Student Branch (SB). Our university had closed due to the lockdown, and we had no place to conduct our activities. The whole situation was discouraging our members. In our second year of activity, we had to think of new strategies and activities to keep the SB active. This article describes the changes we made during the 2020 pandemic that increased our visibility and activities—actions that turned our biggest challenge into our success.
The Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) IEEE SB in Brazil was reactivated in 2019. Our branch has Student Chapters: the Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) and UFMS IEEE Power Electronics Society (Fig. 1). We are the only IEEE SB in our state. The Branch has attracted students from other universities to participate in and help us with our activities.
Fig 1 The IEEE Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) Student Branch and its Chapter logos. GRSS: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society; PELS: IEEE Power Electronics Society.
In 2020, after our first general opening meeting at the university, the pandemic and quarantine started in our country. Since the university was closed, we had to search for other ways to keep the SB active and motivated. This situation directly affected our SB for two years until the return of in-person classes.
Before the pandemic, our activities took place only in person, and meetings were mixed (online and in person). The calls to become a member were made by invitations from professors and members. We gave presentations about IEEE and our Branch to other student groups.
At the organization meeting, we recognized the challenges and needs in our SB (Fig. 2). During the pandemic, the main challenges and changes identified were: 1) bringing all activities online, 2) motivating members, and 3) performing humanitarian projects during the quarantine. After identifying our need to implement the changes, we discussed new strategies and have highlighted them here:
Fig 2 The recognition and definition of decisions.
Our SB performed five technical events and 34 nontechnical activities. The technical activities consisted of lectures, workshops, and training, and the nontechnical activities included humanitarian projects, games, and the elaboration of our constitution. Also, we participated in the IEEE Brazil awards event, IEEE Brazilian events (RNR&RNYP), and IEEE Section meetings.
These strategies helped our SB maintain approximately the same number of members as before the pandemic, a little more than 20 members (Fig. 3). We had members who completed their course and became inactive during this period and other new members: four members in 2020 and seven in 2021. It is important to highlight that classes returned to an in-person format only in 2022.
Fig 3 Number of our SB members between 2017 and 2021.
In general, the technical activities performed in 2020 attracted members from different SBs, universities, and companies. The strategies of online activities, social media, and platforms increased our number of participants and visibility.
The number of participants reached 463% more than the previous year, going from 259 participants in 2019 to 1,369 in 2020 (Fig. 4). However, the number of registrations was lower than the number of participants. Analyzing the information and statistics from the registrations and the social media platforms, we identified that the attendees were more interested in participation and knowledge than in registration and/or certification. Also, the registration was open until the event day, and we had searches for and access to our lectures and talks after each event.
Fig 4 Registrations and participation between 2019 (in blue) and 2020 (in orange).
The number of participants, shown in Fig. 5(a), indicates an interest in our events not only during each event but also afterward. The events reached a similar or higher public audience after the live broadcast. The subscriptions to our channels allow people to participate in, share, and have updates about our events. Therefore, although we had a considerable number of attendees who did not register, they were able to participate through our social media.
Fig 5 (a) A comparison of participation in a live broadcast (in orange), views in 2020 after the event (in gray), and the total participation (in blue). (b) The general panorama of our technical events and the numbers of participants and interests. CNDay: Centro-Norte Day.
The first event was the key to knowing our capacity, analyzing our actions, and making future decisions. In the first event, we invited our students interested in sharing their work with the theme “Environment–Energy–Technology.” The “I Centro Norte Day IEEE UFMS” event was a two-day workshop. We had an audience from different regions of our country, with 31 registrations for certificates and 165 views during the year. Our student members were the speakers, and the topics included presentation techniques, 3D printers, and machine learning for various applications.
This event exceeded our expectations regarding our capacity and the audience, reaching students and professionals. The feedback and the experience with the online tools and organization encouraged us. We had visibility from other Brazilian SBs and our IEEE Section.
After this event, we planned to have one technical event with high impact and other events according to the opportunity or need. Our SB organized the first UFMS IEEE Week (a four-day event), where we showed our Branch and Chapters (Fig. 6). The Chapters were responsible for the technical lectures, and the nontechnical activities were the Branch’s responsibility. We had lectures and roundtables related to IEEE and job experiences with different members and Brazilian Branches and a talk with the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) about their WIE group.
Fig 6 The UFMS IEEE Week highlights.
The technical lectures organized by the MS GRSS Student Chapter brought two lectures about remote sensing techniques applied to the environment and contaminated soil. The invited speakers were a researcher from an international university and a national researcher at one of the largest mining companies in Brazil. We had 104 national and international registrations and 673 views.
Through the comparison of participation in our events in Fig. 5(b), it is possible to verify the high participation at I UFMS IEEE Week. These results confirm the interest and success of this event.
The events IEEE Day Trivia and Fleury Training obtained the lowest participation compared to other events due to the restriction of participation. The training involved only our members and the professionals of this company, and the trivia game was only for our members.
The SB organized different nontechnical activities. The audience comprised our members, except for the humanitarian projects. Nontechnical activities with impact and potential are highlighted here.
The TreinaShow is a project to help members prepare presentations for events, works, defenses, and projects. The participating speakers receive feedback to improve their skills. The audience is composed of members (mainly master’s degree and doctoral students) who evaluate the presentation, giving advice, suggestions, and recommendations to help the speaker in his/her official presentation.
We had one presentation performed for this project. Our student member practiced his presentation for his master’s defense. He said the experience was good, and he was grateful for the advice to improve his presentation.
We organized a trivia, a fun quiz game about IEEE and its curiosities, in celebration of IEEE Day, at the end of a general meeting with members (Fig. 7). The administration team asked 10 questions in a brief time for members to answer each question in an online form. In the end, the president verified who got the most questions right and their score. This activity was a fun way to learn a little more about IEEE. The questions were about information and updates about IEEE, its Regions, Societies, Student Members, IEEE in Brazil, and Brazilian SBs.
Fig 7 Participants playing a trivia game about IEEE curiosities.
There was another project that started with positive acceptance by the members, but it had no success. The project ProsIEEEar aimed to practice English and other languages in groups of conversations. However, due to the low interest of our members in organizing it, we decided to stop and restart it in another year.
Despite the pandemic, our SB organized three humanitarian activities in 2020 (Fig. 8). Our humanitarian project SolIEEEdário includes all of the humanitarian activities of the Branch. These activities were simple but so rewarding. In the previous year, we had one activity in this category, and, in the first year of the pandemic, we carried out three activities.
Fig 8 Photos and flyers for our humanitarian projects.
This project happened a few days before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Branch partnered with a company on its Woman’s Day project. During this event, the organization team sold flowers to raise money to give other flowers and messages written by people who helped to encourage women undergoing cancer treatment. One day was dedicated to raising money by selling flowers, where people donate a value and receive the flower. On another day, volunteers bought other flowers and made new bouquets to give with message cards to the women in treatment at the Hospital do Câncer (a hospital specializing in cancer treatment in our city). The project is self-sustainable, raising money and covering all expenses.
The IEEE UFMS Branch promoted the IEEE UFMS Branch Clothing Campaign for the first time. This activity aimed to collect warm clothing, blankets, and clothing in general. Donations were destined for the São Francisco Support House for those who are homeless and the Vicentine group, which welcomes needy families in our city. As we were under restrictions by the pandemic and to perform an activity safe for us and others, we planned to have a place where people could leave their donations, mainly because our university was closed. Then, for donations, we counted on the help and partnerships of companies located in three different regions in our city that helped us as collection points, providing a special place to receive them. After almost one month, we returned to the companies and collected the donations to give to the entities.
This project had such success that we received more donations of clothes, shoes, and bags from these companies months later. Therefore, we had a second delivery of donations to these support groups.
Another humanitarian activity organized was our donation to the “Asilo São João Bosco” asylum. This is a well-known philanthropic entity in our city. The asylum provides medical, food, spiritual, social, and personal treatment based on donations and volunteer services. Our SB, through its money saved that year, donated alcohol gel and packages of adult diapers. The asylum has a location reserved for receiving donations.
The last two activities were accomplished during the pandemic and its restrictions. Only one or two members collected the donations at the companies (in our case, the president and treasurer), and one member (the president) gave them to the institutions to avoid exposure during the pandemic for most of our members and others who donated or helped us during these projects.
The IEEE Brazil Council announced our SB as the winner of the “Revelation Branch” award at an IEEE national event. This award is given to a Branch for its highlighted activities and committed volunteers, allowing the benefits of IEEE to reach its students. For this award, the SB must be reactivated or have been created within two years in Brazil.
Our SB performs other events and partnerships with companies. We had lectures with researchers from national and international universities and companies. One of these partnerships was with Empower and the Fleury Group. Empower is a company that intermediates events and activities between companies and student organizations. We performed training about machine learning in the health area with the Fleury Group, one of the largest health groups in Brazil. At this event, we learned about the applications of machine learning in the health area as well as the detection of diseases and diagnostics. This activity showed other horizons or possibilities for machine learning applications. The participants were Fleury’s employees and our members—a total of 64 participants.
Networking with other Brazilian SBs helped us with our events, our audience, our speakers, and sharing our activities. The partnership with companies increased the reach of our projects and the quality of our events. It is essential to highlight how our administrative team efforts, combined with the social media platforms, increased our SB’s visibility, experience, and value.
Despite the challenging time, our SB had valuable experiences. The dedication, organization, evaluation, tools, and courage in each step allowed us to increase more in an atypical situation. All experiences left a legacy in our group, and great lessons learned are highlighted in Fig. 9. We have learned in practice that great opportunities and growth can arise even in challenging times.
Fig 9 Lessons learned by our Student Branch during this challenging period.
Nayara Vasconcelos Estrabis (nayara.estrabis@ufms.br) is with the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, Urbanism, and Geography, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS)–Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul 79070900, Brazil. She was the UFMS IEEE Student Branch president from January 2019 to February 2021. Also, she was the MS IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing IEEE Student Branch Chapter chair from December 2018 (the Chapter’s creation) to December 2020. Currently, she is on the Student Representative Committee IEEE Centro-Norte Brazil Section (2021–2023).
José Marcato Junior (jose.marcato@ufms.br) is with the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, Urbanism, and Geography, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS)–Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul 79070900, Brazil. He is the professor advisor of the UFMS IEEE Student Branch and counselor of the MS IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing IEEE Student Branch Chapter.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2023.3244364