IEEE SIGHTIEEE SIGHT Group of the Year Award Recipients

2022 IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year

*In 2022, the SIGHT Steering Committee began selecting two recipients for the SIGHT Group of the Year Award, one Student Branch Group and one Section (or other professional entity) Group.*

The Section Group recipient of the 2022 IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year Award is the IEEE Kerala Section SIGHT Group. This Group was established in April 2013, among the first SIGHT Groups to be started. In 2021, the Group organized a SIGHT Camp, which provided insight into the lack of drinking water for the tribal people at Meenkolli colony in Wayanad. This led to the HAC/SIGHT funded project “D2ReB” to install a solar-powered water filter system there.

Over the years, the Kerala Section SIGHT Group has been instrumental in starting multiple student branch SIGHT Groups all over Kerala. To read more about their activities in 2021 and 2022, see the SIGHT blog.

 

The Student Branch Group recipient of the 2022 IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year Award is the IEEE ESPRIT SB SIGHT Group. The ESPRIT SB SIGHT Group was established in December 2021. Since then, they have been successful in recruiting new members; this Group is now the largest existing SIGHT Group in the Tunisia Section. Their members have benefited from improved professional and personal skills through involvement with the Group’s activities. To read more about their activities in 2022, see the SIGHT blog.

 

2021 IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year

The IEEE CEC (Chengannur College of Engineering) SIGHT Group was selected to receive this award for its commitment to impacting its local underserved community through the development or deployment of technology. The Group has contributed to the SIGHT program by strengthening the SIGHT network, finding sustainable technological (economic, environmental, social) solutions to local challenges, involving the beneficiary population in the planning and implementation of a project, and actively striving to further the IEEE SIGHT mission.

The CEC SIGHT Group was established in October 2013, and is among the first ten IEEE Student Branch SIGHT Groups to have been formed. In 2021, the Group established a team of student volunteers for humanitarian initiatives and organized many events and activities, including webinars, seminars, outreach programs, an ideathon challenge, speech contests, women empowerment projects, and training sessions for the SIGHT technical team. They also engaged in several projects to benefit their local community – to learn about the activities, see the SIGHT blog.

 

2020 IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year

The 2020 SIGHT Group of the Year is the IEEE Nigeria Section SIGHT Group.

The group was selected to receive this award because of its members’ extraordinary work on humanitarian technology and sustainable development projects in 2019 and 2020. A total of seven projects received HAC/SIGHT funding, and another three projects were conducted by other SIGHT Groups in Nigeria, with guidance from the Nigeria Section SIGHT Group. Projects include the Sabo-Ido Solar Borehole Power Plant, Internet Access as Palliative to enhance Online Skill Acquisition at Ugbowo Community, Edo State, IEEE COVID-19 MARKET PLACE ROBOT (CMPR) IN NIGERIA, and Helping Hands COVID-19 Project for IDP Camps in the Northeast, among others. In addition to this work, the group completed project reporting requirements (for HAC/SIGHT funded projects), consistently held operational team planning meetings throughout the year, and welcomed thirteen new members to the group.

As a whole, the group has made a long-term positive impact in its local community, exhibiting constant dedication and commitment to furthering the IEEE SIGHT mission.

 

2019 IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year

The 2019 SIGHT Group of the Year is the IEEE Ecuador Section SIGHT Group.

The group was selected to receive this award due to its outstanding contributions to IEEE SIGHT and commitment to impact the local underserved community through the development or deployment of technology.

In 2019, the IEEE Ecuador Section SIGHT group contributed to the SIGHT program by strengthening the SIGHT network, finding sustainable (economic, environmental, social) solutions, involving the beneficiary
population in the planning and implementation of a project, and completing all reporting and assessment requirements. The group was awarded funding and began two different sustainable development projects, “Rehabilitation of additional solar home systems in Cerrito de Los Morreños, Ecuador” and
“Nabón Network Project,” conducted workshops, held outreach activities, and hosted a Social Return on Investment workshop funded by the Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC).