Society News

Jun-Gui Zhou & Jingyu Wang	Zhenyu Chen	W. Eric Wong
Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection Chair & Secretary, Nanjing Chapter	Nanjing University Vice Chair, Nanjing Chapter	Secretary IEEE Reliability Society

In October 2013, Dr. Jeff Voas (the Society's President from 2003 to 2005, and 2009 to 2010, as well as the Director of Division VI from 2011 to 2012), and Professor W. Eric Wong (Vice President for Technical Activities from 2012 to 2013) visited Nanjing as part of the ongoing effort to promote the Reliability Society and recruit more members in China − one of the fastest growing markets for IEEE. Together, they delivered two technical presentations and hosted a round-table meeting with professors, students, engineers, and government officials from Nanjing University, Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, China University of Mining and Technology, Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection and Nanjing Bureau of Quality and Technical. The discussion focused on explaining the benefits of becoming an RS member and reviewing the procedure of establishing an RS Chapter in Nanjing. Refer to the article “2013 Reliability Society Outreach in Xian and Nanjing, China” which appeared in the Number 4, Volume 59 of the IEEE Reliability Society Newsletter for more details.

Under the leadership of Dr. Jun-Gui Zhou, Head of the Institute of Product Quality Inspection, the Nanjing Chapter was officially established in December 2013 with the following officers

Vice Chair	Zhenyu Chen	Nanjing University
Secretary	Jingyu Wang	Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection
Treasurer	Zhenbo Shi	Nanjing Institute of Product Quality Inspection
Membership Chair	Ziyuan Wang	Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications

A special designated website (http://software.nju.edu.cn/zychen/IEEERS/index.htm) has been designed and implemented to post all the upcoming events and those sponsored by the Nanjing chapter since November 2013 – one month after the visit of Dr. Voas and Professor Wong. Content will be updated on a regular basis. This provides not only archived but also just-in-time information to help our members better understand the chapter’s ongoing activities and plan their schedule in advance for more involvement in events that interest them. Special thanks to Mr, Chunrong Fang (Nanjing University) for serving as the webmaster.

Of the several events organized so far, three are most worthwhile noting. On December 11, 2013, the chapter sponsored a seminar on “IT Technology for Reliability Applications.” by Mr. Hongqi Zheng from Oracle, followed by a panel discussion. The event attracted about 30 attendees from industry and university. Another technical presentation on “Stability Analysis of Numerical Programs” by Professor Norbert Mueller from Universität Trier, Germany was held at Nanjing University on February 26, 2014. See Part (a) of the following figure. In addition, the chapter organized a symposium on Mobile Application Testing on April 11, 2014 at Zhenbao Holiday Inn, Nanjing. There were more than 50 attendees. See Part (b) of the following figure.

Part (a): Lecture by Professor Norbert Mueller from Universität Trier, Germany, February 26, 2014

Part (b): Symposium on Mobile Application Testing on April 11, 2014

With so many companies hiring thousands of software engineers, Nanjing is the first city in China to be called a “Software City.” One of the most important requirements of the product they produce is to achieve a very high reliability. To maintain such a stringent standard, professionals need to keep improving their competency through continuous training on the latest support tools and knowledge in the most recent advances in techniques, so that they can work more effectively and efficiently. Hence, it is imperative that we establish an RS chapter in Nanjing to promote not only cutting-edge innovation, but also the best-of-breed practices. While RS will benefit from increased recruitment, chapter members will receive opportunities to share and exchange ideas − a key hallmark in driving new technologies. Local industry also gains access to all the information and services provided by the society and the chapter.

We are very excited to be part of the big family of the IEEE Reliability Society. We expect to organize and sponsor more events for the rest of the year to establish a solid, strong community to make a win-win situation for the society, the chapter, and all its members. We welcome you to visit our chapter during your next trip to Nanjing, China, give a presentation on a topic of your preference, and have a first-hand interaction with local universities and industry on topics of your interest.

Nanjing Chapter: Establishment and Path Forward