May 13 is the IEEE Global Engineering Day - Way back on this date in 1884, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers was founded.
In the early 1900s, the Institute of Radio Engineers was founded, and in 1963, in New York, the two groups merged to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
The vowel-heavy acronym is pronounced "I triple E."
This group is now the world's largest association of technical professionals. It has more than 420,000 members - but, get this, they represent more than 160 countries around the world!
So...yeah! Global!
In 2009, IEEE announced its first Global Engineering the Future Day in order to celebrate its 125th anniversary. It was held on the anniversary date - May 13, 2009 - and it included an engineering and invention competition, school programs, and more.
This year, IEEE is hosting a Women in Engineering Leadership Conference in San Jose, California, on May 22 to 23. There will also be a conference in July, in Toronto, Canada, and another in August, in Hawaii, and way-way-way more. See, if you become an engineer, you are not necessarily stuck in a boring lab; it may just be your ticket to see the world!
IEEE's for info on virtual reality, cars that think, photonic hypercrystals, running robots, and much more.