Dear IEEE Long Island Section members,

I hope this finds you enjoying the best of a Long Island summer — long evenings, a little
time off, and something good happening around with the weather.

What a season it’s been for sports fans among us: the Knicks gave New York plenty to cheer about, and with the FIFA World Cup on home soil this summer, the whole region has that rare buzz of the world showing up in our backyard. It’s a fitting backdrop, because 2026 has been a season of big stages for our Section, too.

I was at the R1 R2 Region Meeting and was asked about my IEEE Journey at a live conversation published in R2 Linkedin page as well. It took me back in time and apt time to share it.

About twenty-six years ago, I stood as member of IEEE Student Branch in India in an Engineering College event and presented my work on “Genetic Algorithms & their application to NP-hard problems.” Garry Kasparov was just defeated by IBM Deep Blue and quite a buzz everywhere in previous year about advent of computers and mention of AI. I was early in my student journey, and sure of exactly one thing: a room full of professors, engineers, early tech executives willing to hear out a new idea and my paper and what the future beholds – Y2K was yet to happen and dot com collapse was not close so a different era of research and communication.

I’ve thought about that room often this year during our summer break, because in 2026 our Section set out to fill rooms exactly like it. When I wrote to you at the start of the year, I promised that our Technology Leadership Initiative would live in lecture halls, classrooms, and at the lab bench — not on a slide deck.

It has been quite a season:

• Hofstra Mixer ’26 April 16, Hofsta University
• 6th Annual MTT-S/APS Microwave/RF/Wireless Symposium April 22, Radisson, Hauppague
• IEEE–IBM Speaker Event with Dr. Chad Bouton April 30, IBM, NYC
• 4th Annual Micromouse of Long Island Competition May 8, NYIT
• 2026 International Conference on Engineering, Technology & Management May 13–14, Amity University, Oakdale
• IEEE Region 1 & 2 Joint Regional Board Meeting June 5–7, Dulles, VA
• 2026 IEEE Young Professionals Summit August 07-09, Boston, MA

The simplest moment of my season stayed with me the most: standing at the local school Grade 7 career fair, explaining IBM, IEEE, a day in my life, AI/quantum computing to eleven-year-olds. From a student branch member in 2000 to IEEE LI Section Chair in middle-school classroom in 2026, the throughline never changes — someone has to show up and share the work and encourage or get inspired by it to help others dream bigger.

But sharing it is no longer enough. We are standing at a genuine inflection point. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cybersecurity are not distant headlines; they are reshaping our understanding of the world around us — and the professionals who understand them will lead the next decade of this industry. On that note, be sure to see this issue’s recommended reading, The Microsoft AI Insider’s Playbook by Krishna C. Mukherjee (Apress/Springer Nature, August 2026) — a timely, experience-driven guide to cloud strategy and AI-driven trans-formation, & exactly the kind of practical resource our members can put to work.

Our Section’s job is to make sure those professionals are here, connected, and ready. That means signature technical events like the Microwave Symposium and Micromouse, the quarterly Technology Leadership roundtables we committed to, deeper university and national-lab partnerships, and student pipelines that start earlier than we ever thought to reach. In sync with that I shall be speaking at LICN (Long Island Consultants Network) event on “How Quantum AI Will Transform Cybersecurity”, on October 1,2026 and shall grant 2 PDHs to the Professional Engineers that are attending and open to all to register as well. Kindly connect with Chris Early for further details and vtools link is already there.

This is our moment to set the standard — not to follow where emerging technology goes, but to help decide where it goes. I am asking every member to lend a hand in that work: mentor a student, chair an event, propose a topic, or simply show up and bring one colleague with you. Long Island has always built the technology that others come to depend on and we have open doors to all willing to contribute with all the support we can provide.

Let’s build what comes next, TOGETHER

Warm regards,
Udit Sharma
Chair, IEEE Long Island Section
chair@ieee.li
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/uditsharma