IEEE Morocco Section Newsletter

IEEE Morocco Section Newsletter
In this issue …
Section news, Pages 1-2 IEEE in Moroccan universities, Page 3
Student news, Page 4,5 Calendar & Events, Page 6-8
IEEE Region 8 Committee meeting in Lithuania
By Mohamed Essaaidi, essaaidi@ieee.org
The Section Chair attended the
IEEE Region 8 Committee meeting
which took place in Vilnius
(Lithuania) in April 7-9, 2006.
During this meeting, very important
motions and actions benefiting the
IEEE members in R8 and in our
Section were prepared and
adopted , namely:
1. Professional Development
Workshops: organized by the IEEE
R8 in the different Sections and
cover several aspects such as:
Projects Management, Communication
Skills, Business Plan,
etc. Our Section will organize one
of these workshops in the next few
months.
2 .IEEE R8 Industrial Distinguished
Lecturers Program: The
IEEE R8 is planning to create a
database of distinguished lecturers
from different industries and companies
(e.g. Nokia, Philips, etc.).
These lecturers can give R8 sponsored
talks in different sections.
3. IEEE investigates the possibility
to sponsor the US patents applications
of its members. So, original
research projects could be sponsored
by IEEE to obtain for it a US
Patent.
4. IEEE R8 supports Technical
English Programs for sections
such as Russia and Morocco.
Furthermore, the Morocco Section
Chair took the opportunity to talk to
the IEEE President, Prof. Michael
Lightner, R8 Director, Prof. Bal-
domir Zajc, and to other R8 Committee
members to obtain additional
benefits for our section. The
main outcome of these talks can
be summarized as follows:
1. Financial support for Morocco e-
Week 2007. A proposal is to be
submitted to the IEEE R8 Volun-
tary Contribution Fund. Also, the
IEEE President has promised to
support this important event organized
by our section for the second
time in 2007.
2. Obtention of grants for students:
The IEEE R8 Student Activities
Chair and Women in Engineering
Chair agreed to provide the financial
support for two students from
our section to attend the IEEE R8
Student Branch Congress taking
place in Paris from August 31 to
September 3, 2006.
Volume 1, No. 2, December 2006
Editor
Prof. EL MOHAJIR Mohammed
Modelling and Information Systems Group,
Faculty of sciences Dhar Mahraz
University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdelah
e-mail: m_elmohajir@menara.ma
Associate Editors:
Dr. SRIFI Mohamed Nabil, University Abdelamek Essaadi
Faculty of sciences, Tetouan, srifimn@yahoo.fr
Prof. EL BIADI Maha, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdelah
Faculty of humain sciences Dhar Mahraz, melbiadi@yahoo.fr
IEEE MEMBERS SELECT LEWIS TERMAN 2007
IEEE PRESIDENT-ELECT
PISCATAWAY, N.J., 9 Nov. – Lewis Terman, IBM Research Emeritus,
IBM Research Division, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.,
U.S.A, has been selected as 2007 IEEE president-elect.
Pending acceptance of the Teller's
Committee report by the IEEE Board of Directors,
Terman will begin serving as IEEE president on 1
Jan. 2008. He will succeed 2007 IEEE President
Leah H. Jamieson, Dean of the Purdue University
College of Engineering.
(details at http://www.ieee.org)
3. The launch of IEEE Arab council:
The 11 Arab Sections of the
IEEE Region 8 (i.e. Morocco,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia West and
East, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE,
Oman, Jordan and Lebanon) are
planning to establish a new IEEE
geographical entity, namely, an
IEEE Arab Council to foster technical
cooperation among these sections
which share the same cultural
and linguistic backgrounds.
This new entity is also aimed at
getting additional benefits to IEEE
members from these sections.
E-Week’06: a
Success event
Under the auspices of E-
Week‘06, the IEEE Morocco
Section Sponsored several activities
and events during the
week of Feb 19 to 26. Four
different university campuses
conducted seminars and events
as part of E-Week’06. The
IEEE Morocco Section also
sponsored 4 contests with
prizes.
As a first time for E-Week in
Morocco, this week will stand
as a success and a major push
toward student involvement by
the IEEE MS. In both Fes and
Tangier, the events benefited
both professors and students
involved in the IEEE and in the
local student branches. Similarly,
at the INPT in Rabat, the
events may prove to be the
launching point for a new student
branch.
On Tuesday February 21 in
Fes, events were organized at
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah
University, Faculty of Sciences
Dhar Mehraz. Prof. Mohammed
El Mohajir and Prof. Omar
Beqqali worked hard under the
sponsorship of Prof Rachid
Benslimane, Vice-President of
SMBU, Prof. Ahmed Iraqi, Dean
of the faculty of sciences to
prepare the E-Week conference
with seminars presented on
technology topics including:
RF and Microwave Circuits Mobile
Technology
Database Technology
Grid Computing
Pervasive Systems
Environmental Decision-support
Systems
Volume 1, N°2, December 2006 IEEE Morocco Section

Presenters came from various
universities as well as from the
public and private industrial
sectors from around Morocco.
At the end of the day was the
awards ceremony and prizes for
winners of the Best Paper
E-Week Competition. Winners
were:
1st place - Ms.
Imane Daoudi
Faculty of Science,
Rabat.
2nd place - Mr. N.
Srifi, Faculty of
Science, Tetuan
3rd place - Mr.
Mohammed
Karoud, Faculty of
Science, Fez
Winners were
given cash prizes
and asked to give a
short presentation of their winning
papers.
A similar day of seminars and
awards was conducted on Saturday,
February 26 in Tangier
at the Abdelmalek Essaadi University,
National School for
Applied Science (ENSA) campus.
Events were sponsored by
Prof. Mohamed Essaaidi, Chairman
of IEEE Morocco Section,
Mr. Jonathan Raines, Secretary
IEEE MS, Prof. Chaker el Amrani,
Electronic Communications
Coordinator, Mr. Mounir
Berberi, UAE Student Branch
President, Ms. Salima Kaissi,
Student Branch Representative
to Ex-Com. After the seminars,
successful contestants were
presented with awards for the
Logo and Website Contests.
The awards went to:
Website Contest Winners:
1st place - Salam Ismail,
SMBU, Fes
2nd place - Yusufi Zakaria,
SMBU, Fes
3rd place - Badr Kandouz,
ENSA, Tangier
Logo Contest
Winners:
1st place -
Mounia El Batioui,
SMBU, Fez.
2nd place - Maria
El Masmoudi, EN-
SA, Tangier
3rd place - Badr
Kandouz,
Tangier
ENSA,
E-Week Seminars
were also held at
the National Institute
for Post and
Telecommunications
where students and professors
enjoyed presentations
on IEEE membership benefits,
wireless technology, and grid
computing. Discussions were
held regarding how to start a
student branch at the INPT
and to benefit from the IEEE
Digital Library.
The prizes for the contests
were sponsored by Computronix
Overseas*, Tangier Morocco.
A total of 6000.00 Dirhams
was donated. The prize
money was distributed as follows:
1500.00 Dirhams for 1 st place
Web / Paper
1000.00 Dirhams for 2 nd place
Web / Paper
500.00 Dirhams for 3 rd place
Web / Paper
For the Logo contest, winners
received a certificate and payment
of their IEEE student
membership dues. Web and
Paper winners also received a
certificate and the option of
paying their IEEE student
membership dues from their
winnings.
*For purposes of clarifying any
conflict of interest, Computronix
Overseas is directed by
Mr. Jonathan Raines who is
also IEEE MS Secretary and
author of this article.
E-Week 2006 Logo Contest Winners
By M. Essaaidi
It was a real pleasure for me to organize the e-Week Logo Contest
whose objective was to stimulate our engineering and science
students to propose an official logo for the Morocco e-Week.
There were 21 entries to this contest which were anonymously
examined by a jury, designated by the IEEE MS, who declared
the following winners :
1. Mounia El Batoui, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdalah University
2. Maria El Masmoudi, Abdelmalek Essaadi University
3. Badr Kandouz, Abdelmalek Essaadi University
The prizes of this competition were sponsored by Computronix
Morocco Office.
1 st winner 2 nd Winner 3 rd Winner
Morocco E-week 2007
In an attempt to stimulate innovation
and creativity among the Moroccan
engineering students and
professionals and in order to foster
their awareness and knowledge
about the new advances of all the
cutting-edge technologies that are
shaping today's and tomorrow's
world at different levels, the IEEE
Morocco Section is involving Morocco
for the first time in the international
e-week activities taking
place in February 19-25, 2006.
These activities consist of competitions,
exhibitions, fairs, tutorials,
seminars, workshops, confer-
ences, etc.
Many activities are currently under
preparation in cooperation with
several Moroccan universities and
other public and private entities.
You can find details regarding
these activities below (on page 4).
The complete program of the Morocco
e-week 2006 will be available
soon at the Section's website
http://ewh.ieee.org/r8/morocco/.
We invite everyone to join us for
these events and contribute to its
success.
E-week 07 calendar
Website Competition
Faculty of technical sciences, Tangier
Submission Deadline February 10, 2007
Contact: celamrani@ieee.org
Best Paper Competition
Faculty of Science, Tetuan
Submission Deadline : February 5, 2007
Contact: essaaidi@ieee.org
Robotics & Electronic Systems
Competition
Submission Deadline : February 5, 2007
Contact: essaaidi@ieee.org
Page 2 IEEE MS Newsletter

Advantages of IEEE membership
By Chaker El Amrani, celamrani@ieee.org
On many
occasions I
have been
asked:
“What are
the advantages
of
IEEE membership?”
In my view there are a
number of benefits one
can get at every stage of
one’s career.
Thanks to 39 IEEE Societies
(Computer Society,
Communications Society,
etc.), academic and industrial
researchers and engi-
Mr. Ingo und Ursula Rüsch,
the former R8 Standards Coordinator,
made a presentation
concerning standardisation in
the Morocco Section on 10 th of
June in Tangier. This happened
during the “First Workshop on
New Technologies of Information
and Communication” at
the University of Abdelmalek
Essaadi. Approximately one
hundred attendees, including
engineering students and postgraduates,
took part in this
one-day workshop.
Some questions at the end of
the plenary presentation underlined
the importance of
standardisation as a market
opener for new technologies for
the benefit of manufactures,
neers can have access to
an exhaustive database of
technical information, so
as to update their knowledge
and be competitive in
their fields. They can also
participate in an IEEE
Standards Association
working group and contribute
at performing new
standards.
From the electronic communication
point of view,
members can have a
login@ieee.org email, efficiently
protected against
viruses and spams. Moreover,
they can take advan-
IEEE Standards and their global
impact
users and the society at large.
Once more it was stated that
the IEEE Standardisation Organisation
(IEEE-SA) is one of
the leading multinational standards
developing organisation
(SDO) and their standards are
used world wide. In addition
IEEE-SA is cooperating with all
international SDOs like IEC,
ISO, JTC1 and
ITU. It also offers
different
market-driven
processes for
developing
standards and
specifications
and is at the
edge of using
electronic tools
for standards
development.
So the presentationconcluded
with the
appeal to participate actively in
the standardisation work to get
results which reflect also region
8 interests.
Ingo und Ursula Rüsch
Former R8 Standards Coordinator
Yang Yang
R8 Standards Coordinator
tage of a variety of educational
courses offered on
dozens of topics provided
by several IEEE societies
and educational partners.
For instance, the IEEE
Computer Society Distance
Learning Campus
has 800 course modules
and trainings in a number
of fields like Business
Strategy, Cisco networks,
Security, etc. In addition,
the IEEE Digital Library
gives access to one million
documents based on the
most essential information
in technology.
To keep abreast of a New
Technology area, more
than 3300 conferences,
Agreement signed between IEEE MS
and University Sidi Mohamed Ben
Abdelah on 5 th of June 2006
Prof. Mohammed El Mohajir , IEEE local office, USMBA
On the 5 th June 2006, an
agreement (convention) was
signed between the IEEE
Morocco Section, represented
by its chair Prof
Mohammad Essaaidi and
the University Sidi Mohamed
Ben Abdelah, represented
by its president
Prof Toufik Chahdi
Ouazani. Clauses
of this agreement
define the scope
of partnership and
cooperation. The
USMBA engages
in offering the necessaryinfrastructure
to help IEEE
MS representatives
in their activities,
like providing
the conference rooms for
workshops together with any
other technical assistance.
USMBA is the enceinte of an
IEEE MS local office and a
student branch. These structures
will help in attracting
new professors and students
seminars, workshops and
tutorials are held annually
around the world, and can
be attended by all members.
Furthermore, the
IEEE Transactions, Journals,
Letters, Magazines
and Proceedings are essential
to researchers to
make progress in their
areas of interest as they
provide archived publications
that are of lasting
value to the engineering
community.
Belonging to IEEE is a
good way to build a strong
network of colleagues, to
foster technological innovation
and to advance in
its career.
to become members in IEEE
MS. They can then connect
to a wider national and international
network where
knowledge and expertise can
be shared and exchanged.
The first most important col-
Prof Iraqi Ahmed (left) and Prof Benslimane Rachid
(right) opening the IEEE USMBA workshop
laboration between IEEE MS
and USMBA is the organization
of the Information and
Communication Technologies
International Symposium
(ICTIS07) from 25 to 27
m a r c h 2 0 0 7
(www.ictis07.org).
Many Reasons to Join IEEE Morocco Section By joining IEEE, you will be part of a community
that counts more than 365,000 members in over 150 countries , almost 40 percent of whom are from outside the United States, over 68,000 student
members, more than 27,000 society affiliates, 307 sections, 1,446 chapters, more than 1,300 student branches in 80 countries, over 300
student branch chapters, more than 147 affinity groups, 39 societies and 3 technical councils. An affiliation to computer society for example, will
give you access to hundreds of books, conference publications and more at discounted member rates. You will have FREE online access to 300
computing and IT books, and FREE online access to 350 distance learning course in more than 40 subjects including Java, Cisco, Sun, and more.
Volume 1, N°2, December 2006 Page 3

Industry University link Program
Made In Your Country Competition
By Mohamed Aboud, Mohamed Ibrahim, Yasser Tawfik
IEEE Egypt Section
Industry University link (IUL) is a
program that encourages cooperation
between industry, University
and government by directing the
engineering faculties' activities,
application researches and projects
toward the development of
the country’s industry. This is
achieved by solving real industrial
problems, creating new industrial
products and meeting our market
needs. University cooperation with
the industry and the government
will be conducted professionally,
based on science and enhanced
training. The aim is to guarantee
high quality end products achieved
by university professors, students
and industrial mentors.
Made In Your Country is one of the
activities running under the IUL
program, it is a competition between
engineering universities
where teams, of students ( in their
final year ) , and doctors with the
help of industrial mentors, will
design and build a graduation
project based on real industrial
cases selected every years by
industrial and academic experts.
The competition organized for the
first time by the IEEE Egypt GOLD,
under the auspices of the minister
of foreign trade and industry and
the minister of the higher education
and scientific research together
with the cooperation of a
number of private and governmental
institutes.
The final project (Prototype) should
achieve at least one of the following:
- Solving a real industrial problem.
- Fulfilling a local industrial need.
- Substituting a similar imported
product.
- Creating a new need in the market.
The goal of the Made in Your
Country competition is to improve
the practical engineering experience
for students and their personal
and leadership skills through
applying theory on a project for a
real industrial case. After the competition,
universities graduates will
be more qualified for the industry
market and will have better opportunities
to start their own small
businesses.
Besides, the industry will benefit
through solving their problems and
produce new product prototypes
and solutions through engineering
universities projects. It will also
have chances to recruit more
qualified graduates.
The university will benefit through
improving students skills, interacting
with the industry and turning
theoretical projects into practical
projects needed by the industry,
thus improving the universities
efforts in the development of our
countries.
The Competition Overview.
Every year the Made In Your Country
competition committees will announce in
all engineering universities a competition
projects needed by the local industry.
You are also required to participate with
your ideas through the application form
abstract (see application form)
www.ieee-egyptgod.org
Doctors and students should apply as a
team to participate in the competition.
The competition projects will also be the
graduation project for the students.
-Competition phases
The Made In Your Country competition
will start in July 2006 where teams will
pass through phases starting by a summer
training camp and ending with the
competition finals in the Egyptian Engineering
Day, EED august 2007.
The competition phases are as follows:
Applying and Selection phase.
The summer training camp phase.
System Level Design and the industrial
visits phase.
Detail Design phase.
Testing and Refinement phase.
Production Ramp-Up phase.
The Finals (will be held in the
Egyptian Engineering Day, EED
2007).
Teams will submit the required reports to
the Made In Your Country committee by
the end of each phase of the competition.
- Teams Selection criteria
The selection committee will evaluate
the project abstracts according to the
following criteria:
1. The real need for the idea by the
industry.
2. The potential impact of the application
on local industry.
3. How practical will the be project and
could it be implemented.
Made In Your Country committee will encourage projects ideas
that replace an imported product or that solves an local industrial
problem.
For more details about the IUL program visit:
http:// www.ieee-egyptgold.org
training camp phase.
System Level Design and the industrial visits phase.
Detail Design phase.
Testing and Refinement phase.
Production Ramp-Up phase.
The Finals (will be held in the Egyptian Engineering Day,
EED 2007).
Teams will submit the required reports to the Made In Your Country
committee by the end of each phase of the competition.
- Teams Selection criteria
The selection committee will evaluate the project abstracts according
to the following criteria:
1. The real need for the idea by the industry.
2. The potential impact of the application on local industry.
3. How practical will be the project ad how it will be possible to be
implemented.
For more details about the IUL program visit: www.-egyptgold.org
Page 4 IEEE MS Newsletter

Announcement of Morocco E-week
Students Competition 2007
The Moroccan Association for Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineers,
and The IEEE Morocco Section are organizing the first Moroccan Engineering
Week (e-Week'06) from 19 th to the 25 th of February, 2007. This event will be
organized in cooperation with Moroccan Universities as well as several other
public and private institutions and businesses.
The main objective of this national scientific and engineering event is to promote
the engineering profession in Morocco and to stimulate innovation and
creativity among the electrical, electronics, computer and other engineering
students working in related fields. It is also intended to help these professionals
and students access the state-of-the-art technology, and improve their skills in
all the fast changing and cutting-edge techniques related to these fields.
Several technical and
social activities are
scheduled for e-Week'06
in different Moroccan
cities. One of the main
highlights of this event is
the students competition
2007. These competitions
are open to all
engineering students
from all the Moroccan
Universities as well as
young practicing engineers
in Morocco aged
30 and less.
Candidates wishing to
take part in this competition
are required to submit
their work before the
indicated deadlines. The
qualified candidates will represent Morocco in IEEE international competitions.
All the entries to these competitions will be examined by a jury of Moroccan
experts from both academia and industry. The winners will be awarded prizes
which include certificates of recognition, issued by the IEEE Morocco Section,
together with prizes offered by sponsoring universities and companies.
More details and criteria of these competitions will be soon available at our
website: http://ewh.ieee.org/r8/morocco/
Best Paper Competition
The aim is to recognize technical, written, and verbal communication skills of
Moroccan students. These skills are key to successful careers. Candidates
wishing to take part in this competition are required to submit a technical document,
no more than 10 pages long, describing the different technical aspects of
their work or applications. This document should be in electronic format (MS
WORD) and sent in by e-mail to essaaidi@ieee.org. The paper should be written
either in English or French. Deadline is the 5th of February 2007
Robotics & Electronic Systems Competition
The aim is to improve the competitiveness of all the technologies related with
robotic and electronic systems within the country at the global scale, and to
foster robotic programs within the Moroccan engineering schools.
Candidates wishing to take part in this competition are invited to submit a technical
document, not exceeding 6 pages, describing the different features of
their robot or electronic system in electronic format (MS WORD or PDF) by email
to robotic2006@ieee.org. The paper should be written either in English or
French. Deadline is the 5th of February 2007
Website Competition
The goal of a Web page is to convey information in a manner useful to the
reader, similar to the goal in writing a paper. How you convey the information
can increase the reader’s interest as well as their knowledge. Thus, the criteria
of content, presentation, navigability, originality, portability, and load time are
the judging categories.
To take part of this contest, send an email with your contribution to:
wscontest@gmail.com. Deadline is the 10th of February 2007
IEEE MS Local Offices
IEEE Morocco Section has local offices representing it in
various Moroccan universities. Their role is to promote IEEE
within their faculties and schools, as well as within the local
private companies and industries. These offices are meant
to be the first point of contact for local professors, students
and professionals to obtain information about the IEEE organization
and the IEEE Morocco Section.
The local offices should keep the local IEEE members
informed about any matter of interest that is dispatched by
the IEEE Morocco Section or by the IEEE organization.
They should also coordinate and work very closely with
IEEE MS to organize and plan activities at the national level.
Indeed, local offices form a global IEEE morocco network as
they bring together professors, students, researchers and
professionals. The main aim of this structure is the creation
of opportunities where people specializing in different fields
and with different backgrounds can come together to share
and exchange information, expertise and knowledge. Activities
planned during the Morocco engineering week (19-25
February 2006) aim to serve this objective. We hope this
IEEE structure will assist all our members in their work and
make them even more productive, for the good of our universities
and society. Please don’t hesitate to contact your
local office and help with your ideas and suggestions.
Local Offices Contact information
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdelah University, Fez
Faculty of sciences Dhar Mehraz
Prof. Mohammed El Mohajir
e-mail: m_elmohajir@menara.ma
Prof. Omar El Beqqali
e-mail: bekkaliom@yahoo.fr
Mohammed V Agdal University , Rabat
Dr. Elhassane Ibn-Elhaj
e-mail: ibnelhaj@inpt.ac.ma
Cadi Ayyad University , Marrakech
ENSA
Dr. Driss Yousfi
e-mail: dr_yousfi@yahoo.com
Dr. Ahmed El Oualkadi
e-mail aoualkadi@yahoo.fr
Abdelmalek Essaadi University
FST, Tangier
Prof Chaker El Amrani
e-mail: celamrani@ieee.org
Faculty of Science, Tetuan
Prof. Mohamed Essaaidi
e-mail: es.saidi@menara.ma
Page 5 IEEE MS Newsletter

A nice unexpected meeting at the
University Abdelamek Essaaidi
As in every year, the association
of the students of
the National School of AppliedSciences
of
Tangiers
(NSAST-
Morocco)
organized
the 3 rd edition
of
NSAST Forum
during
the 4 th and
the 5 th of
April 2006. I
was one of the members of
its Organizing Committee.
To begin with, we had to
look for official, cultural,
media, and scientific
sponsors. This was done
within the framework of
the Morocco e-Week 2006
activities which our
branch ( Abdelmalek Essadi
University IEEE Student
Branch) coorganized.
And during our
meeting with the IEEE
Morocco Section Chair,
Prof. Mohamed Essaaidi,
we proposed that the IEEE
Morocco section could be
our Scientific / Technical
sponsor and he accepted.
One of the suggestions is
to invite Mr Mohamed
Aboud, IEEE Egypt
Graduate Of the Last Decade
Affinity Group (GOLD)
Chair, to give a talk about
the Egyptian experience
about linking university
directly to industry since
it was related to our forum’s
subject which was:
“ Engineering Jobs in the
Service of the National
Economy Emergence”.
Mr Mohamed Aboud & Mounir Berberi
On the
first day
of the
forum, I
w a s
introduced
to Mr
Abboud
by Mr
Essaaidi. As the Section’s
Chair had some work to
do that day, I stayed with
Mr Aboud, and most of
the day we talked and exchanged
ideas about the
IEEE. Believe me, it was a
really fruitful discussion
and I began to understand
the real importance
off the IEEE networking.
We talked about everything,
including the Egyptian
Engineering Day, as
well as some courses
about planning and the
“seven habits” of Dr
Stephan Covey. We also
talked about the Moroccan
and Egyptian cultural
backgrounds.
This meeting with Mr
Aboud was
really memorable.
I have
learned a lot
about how to
make the most
of the IEEE, as
well as how to
work as a team
and how to be
well organized
in general. I
wish to meet
more and more IEEE
members from all over the
world to broaden my
knowledge even more.
Thank you Mr Aboud for
your contribution to the
NSAS Forum and for the
nice meeting I had with
you.
IEEE MVU Student Branch
officially launched, and begin
with a Workshop activity
Imade BENELALLAM, imade.benelallam@ieee.org
MV University Rabat hosted an event that officially
launched the IEEE Student Branch. More than 20
members of the student branch took part in the elections
of the Students Barnch Executive Committee.
Now approved by IEEE, our student branch will organize
our first event for its members and for all research
students in Morocco.
The 1st Scientific workshop of Information and Communication
Technology (JOSTIC'07 “La 1ère Journée
Scientifique de la Technologie de l'Information et de
la Communication 2007” in French), will be held
during the Morocco e-Week 2007 by the Association
of the Researchers in Technologies of Information
(ACTIF “l'Association des Chercheurs en Technologies
de l'InFormation” in French), IEEE MVU Student
Branch, and LIMIARF Laboratory. This workshop
will be an opportunity to exchange experiences/ideas
between the researchers from both Moroccan
universities and the industry. The main goals
of this workshop are to build a communication
bridge between all IEEE student branches in Morocco.
Study platform will be concerned with the following
topics:
• Artificial Intelligence.
• Image and Signal processing.
• Processing of natural languages.
• Networks and telecommunication.
Two Moroccan Teams received The
« Honorable Mention Award » from
the IEEE Computer Society CHC60
Website Competition
Within the framework of the IEEE Computer Society's 60th Anniversary
History Competition CHC60,
twoTeams from Moroccan Universities
have taken part in this event. These
Teams belong to Faculty of Science of
Tetuan (Mentor: Prof. Mohammad
Essaaidi) and Faculty of Science Dhar
Mahraz of Fez (Mentor: Prof. Mohammed
El Mohajir). The two teams received
the « Honorable Mention Award » for their participation in this
international competition. A ceremony will be organized by the IEEE
Morocco Section to hand over the awards to the winners.
Page 6 IEEE MS Newsletter

Workshop on MPEG Technologies
Saturday January 20, 2007
Marrakech - Morocco
The Moroccan Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a working
group of ISO/IEC in charge of the development of standards for coded
representation of digital audio and video. Established in 1988, the
group has produced:
MPEG-1, the standard on which such products as Video CD and MP3
are based,
MPEG-2, the standard on which such products as digital television set
top boxes and DVD are based,
MPEG-4, the standard for multimedia for the fixed and mobile web,
MPEG-7, the standard for description and search of audio and visual
content,
MPEG-21, the Multimedia Framework.
MPEG has started a number of new standard lines: MPEG-A
"Multimedia Application Format" providing application-specific standards
by integrating multiple MPEG technologies. MPEG-B, MPEG-C
and MPEG-D providing Systems, Video and Audio specific standards,
respectively, and MPEG-E "MPEG Multimedia Middleware" is the latest
standard under development that will support download and execution
of multimedia applications.
In its 18 years of activity MPEG has developed an impressive portfolio
of technologies that have created an industry worth several hundreds
billion USD.
In a world where information technology, consumer electronics and
telecommunication products converge by incorporating increasingly
sophisticated technologies and the need for timely available standards
is as strong as ever, MPEG provides a proven mechanism to feed research
results into standards that promote industry innovation to the
benefit of all.
MPEG is a committee of ISO/IEC that is open to experts duly accredited
by an appropriate National Standards Body. MPEG usually holds
four meetings a year. These comprise plenary meetings and subgroup
meetings on Requirements, Systems, Multimedia Description Schemes,
Video, Audio, 3D Graphics Compression, Test, Implementation, and
Liaison. On average MPEG meetings are attended by over 300 experts
representing more than 200 companies spanning all industry domains
with a stake in digital audio, video and multimedia. On average more
than 20 countries are represented at a meeting.
Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs will be organizing a workshop on
MPEG technologies on Saturday 20 th January, 2007. This workshop
is organised on the side of the 79 th MPEG meeting which will be held
in Marrakech, January 15-19, 2007.
The workshop on MPEG Technologies is designed to cover the recent
trends in MPEG. It intends to give an overview to the local Moroccan
scientific community (engineers, industrialists, and academics) on the
last MPEG state of the art advancement, in the presence of MPEG experts
that can share their insight and expertise on MPEG. It is also its
objective to give an opportunity to local speakers, from industry and
academy, to present different Multimedia works and projects closely
related to the MPEG technologies.
The workshop will take place in Ecole Nationale des Sciences Appliqués
in Marrakech. Information about the complete program and inscription
will be available under the 79th MPEG meeting web site:
www.emi.ac.ma/mpeg79.
For more information and participation please contact Prof. Zouhair
Guennoun (Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs) or Dr. Abdellatif Benjelloun
Touimi (France Telecom Research and Development).
SBC2006
By Salima Kaissi, IEEE MS Students Branches
Coordinator, ksali@gmail.com
After Germany, this year, it was France that organized
the joint Student Branch (SB) and Graduates Of the Last
Decade (GOLD) Congress. This big event was held from
August 31 st to September 3 rd 2006 at Pierre & Marie Curie
University in Paris VI, France. For the first time, our
country was represented by the Morocco Section Chair,
Prof. Mohamed Essaaidi and the Student Branches Coordinator,
Ms Salima Kaissi. More than 250 participants
came from different countries of IEEE Region 8 to Paris to
attend this Congress. This meeting was an opportunity to
meet student branches and GOLD chairs and also important
figures of IEEE and IEEE Region 8. It was also a
chance to discuss various topics and exchange ideas. The
program of the Congress was very interesting. There were
seminars about the IEEE, its advantages, how to manage
the IEEE student branch and several other topics.
The SBC 2006 was also the beginning of a cooperation
relationship between Spanish student branches and Morocco
student branches. The Spanish students invited
some students from our country to attend their National
Student Branch Congress that was held in Zaragoza from
the 16 th to the 19 th of November 2006. This event allowed
our students to get an idea about the organization of
events like these, especially since the IEEE Morocco student
Branches are thinking about organizing the same
kind of event in our country.
Symantec's University Programming
Competition
eWeek and Symantec have teamed up for our first university
programming competition to encourage creativity
and innovation. The entrant who builds the most efficient
and robust virtual organism will win the competition.
Detailed information about this competition is available at
this website:
http://www.symantec.com/specprog/university/
Page 7 IEEE MS Newsletter

IEEE Morocco Section
Chairman: Mohamed Essaaidi
essaaidi@ieee.org
Secretary: Jonathan Raines
jonraines@ieee.org
Address: P. O. Box 2121 Tetuan 93000
Phone: +212-399-72423
Fax: +212-399-94500
WWW: http://ewh.ieee.org/r8/morocco/
The legal framework for the IEEE Morocco Section vis-à-vis
the Moroccan legislation is the Moroccan Association for Electrical,
Electronics and Computer Engineers (AEECE) which was approved
and registered by the local competent authorities in Tetuan in July
2004. Most of the members of the executive committee are also
members of this Section's ExCom.
Yet more benefits for members !
IEEE.tv is an internet broadcasting network that produces
and delivers special-interest programming
about technology and engineering. The IEEE recently
introduced this offering as a benefit to the public, who
may enjoy public access programming at no charge,
as well as to members, who receive the IEEE.tv
Member Basic subscription as a benefit of membership.
Some featured programs :
Careers in Information Technology -This program
provides an overview of career possibilities in IT. IT
professionals and engineers from large and small
companies discuss the nature of their work.
Carl Selinger - " Stuff you Don't Learn in Engineering
School" -In this interview, Carl Selinger
discusses his book "Stuff you Don't Learn in Engineering
School."
Doing the Right Thing: Social Implications of
Technology -This video intends to encourage working
engineers and students to engage in discourse
concerning the social, economic, and environmental
impact of technology.
Electric Ship Technologies Symposium -With the
results of new electric ship technologies, today's
fleets are quieter and more fuel efficient. From the
cruise ship to the war ship, new technologies such as
power electronics enable greater control and balance.
Find out more in this short video.
Expert Now IEEE -Expert Now IEEE is a new, innovative
product line which features the best of IEEE's
educational content delivered in one-hour long online
learning modules.
Available at: http://www.ieee.org/ieeetv/
Calendar & Events
October 4 – 6, 2006
IEEE International Conference on Control Applications,
IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Aided Control Systems Design
and IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control
Munich, Germany; IEEE Control System Society
http://www.elet.polimi.it/conferences/cca06/
November 20-24, 2006
International Bioinformatics Software School
Tangier, Morocco
http://www.smbi.ma/ibss06
January 20, 2007
Workshop on MPEG Technologies
Marrakech - Morocco
http://mpeg79.emi.ac.ma/workshop.htm
February 18-24, 2007
Morocco e-Week 2007
http://ewh.ieee.org/r8/morocco/
March 25-27, 2007
Information and Communication Technologies International Symposium
Fez- Morocco
http://www.ictis07.org/
April 23-26, 2007
First International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science
Ouarzazate, Morocco
http://www.farcampus.com/rcis/
May 14-16, 2007
Mediterranean Microwave Symposium
Budapest, Hungary
http://www.diamond-congress.hu/mow2007/
June 4-8, 2007
7th International Conference on New Technologies of Distributed Systems
Marrakesh, Morocco
http://www.notere-conf.org/notere2007-openconf/.
June 4-8, 2007
First International Workshop on Mobile Computing and Applications
Marrakesh, Morocco
http://www.notere-conf.org/notere2007-openconf/.
Acknowledgment The IEEE Morocco Section wishes to thank sincerely
everyone’s contribution and involvement in the section’s activities.
The IEEE Moroccan network is becoming wider and wider everyday,
don’t miss the chance to be part of it, connect to us now.
Volume 1, N°2, December 2006 Page 8