2013 Reliability Society Outreach in Xian and Nanjing, China

Jeffrey Voas	W. Eric Wong
Past President	Vice President, Technical Activities
IEEE Reliability Society	IEEE Reliability Society

One of the most effective ways to keep the Reliability Society growing is to establish new chapters at selected strategic locations. This not only provides a channel to help the society recruit more members but also fosters a professional network between practitioners, researchers, and university faculty and students to directly engage in technical activities sponsored by the society and further promote the agenda endorsed by the society.

Among all the regions, China is an obvious one with a great potential. To help the Reliability Society to increase its visibility and presence in this important market, Dr. Jeff Voas, the Society's Past President (2003-2005, 2009-2010) and the Director of Division VI (2011-2012), and Professor W. Eric Wong, Vice President for Technical Activities made two special trips to China. The first one was during the third week of May to Beijing (the first RS Chapter in China) and Changsha (the second RS chapter in China to be established), while the second one was in October to Nanjing and Xi’an.

On October 24, Dr. Voas gave a seminar at Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, on Information Assurance Considerations for Software Supply Chains and 3rd Parties, explaining an innovative solution based on his work with smartphones and the 13 grand challenges in software engineering research and practice. Professor Wong presented his ongoing research on Software Safety Assurance at the AVIC Xi’an Aeronautics Computing Technology Research Institute in Xi’an on October 21. See Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 1. Seminar by Professor Eric Wong at AVIC Xi’an Aeronautics Computing Technology Research Institute, Xi'an, China, October 21, 2013

Seminar at Nanjing University, October 24, 2013	Chatting with middle school students, October 26, 2013

Figure 2. Dr. Jeff Voas in Nanjing, China

On October 20, Professor Eric Wong attended a roundtable discussion hosted by Professor Yunwei Dong at Northwestern Polytechnic University to review the procedure for establishing an RS Chapter in Xi’an. There were about 15 attendees from different organizations such as Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xidian University, Northwest University, Xi’an University of Technology, and a few industry sponsored research institutions. Professor Jianguo Huang, Chair of the IEEE Xi’an Section also attended the meeting to answer the questions and show his support.

Dr. Jeff Voas and Professor Wong also attended a roundtable discussion hosted by Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection on October 25. In addition to Dr. Jun-Gui Zhou, Head of the Institute and his staff, other attendees included Miss Lili Zhou, Deputy Director, Nanjing Bureau of Quality and Technical, as well as professors from Nanjing University, Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, China University of Mining and Technology, etc.

Figure 3. Roundtable discussion with RS members at Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an, China, October 20, 2013

Discussion at the Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection

Discussion at Trend Micro

Figure 4. Roundtable discussion with RS members in Nanjing, China, October 25, 2013

The discussions focused on establishing a chapter, making the chapter activities more attractive not only to members but also those in related technical domains, finding ways that a chapter can benefit from the resources provided by the society, and stimulating recruitment while maintaining active participation from current members. Professor Wong also talked about chairing the Dallas chapter, stressing the importance of cooperation between local chapters and other organizations.

Professor Zhenyu Chen (Nanjing University) and Professor Yunwei Dong (Northwestern Polytechnic University) are currently working with Professor Wong to establish the third and the fourth RS chapters in Nanjing, and Xi’an, China, respectively.

The Reliability Society also wants to give special thanks to Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection, Nanjing University, and Northwestern Polytechnic University for their support of this trip and all the hospitality.