[Asis-l] First Corporate-Sponsored IEEE University Consortium Established in Uruguay

[M.G.Garner at ieee.org]

First Corporate-Sponsored IEEE University Consortium 
Established in Uruguay

14 March 2008 (Piscataway, NJ, USA)?In a shining example of what can 
happen when industry meets academics, four Uruguay universities have come 
together to form IEEE?s first corporate-sponsored university consortium. 
The consortium, funded by Uruguay?s telecommunications giant ANTEL, 
includes four schools, both private and public. ANTEL, which has its own 
corporate subscription to IEEE, provided funding for the venture with 
hopes of furthering engineering education and technological growth within 
the Latin American country and surrounding regions.
A university consortium is a distinct group of universities who subscribe 
to a specific library collection in an effort to save money on 
subscription costs. IEEE currently works with university consortia in over 
25 different countries. First conceived in 2006, the Uruguay Consortium 
represents an important partnership between IEEE, private industry and the 
academic community in Uruguay. Like most of Latin America, Uruguay has 
been experiencing an emigration trend, with a large number of highly 
skilled professionals moving to more developed countries, particularly the 
United States. This ?brain drain? has recently been the topic of numerous 
political and academic discussions throughout Uruguay as the country tries 
to create a more globalized society within the technology community. 
The IEEE Uruguay Consortium, by bringing together leading universities and 
one of the country?s largest companies, is a significant step towards 
providing more exciting and positive opportunities for the nation?s 
emerging generations within both academia and industry. Enrique E. 
Alvarez, IEEE 2008-2009 Region 9 Director expressed his excitement about 
the consortium, saying the new endeavor ?Is a clear example of IEEE?s 
mission. IEEE's core purpose is to foster technological innovation and 
excellence for the benefit of humanity.? The consortium has been made 
possible by a number of individuals, including Maria Simon, President of 
ANTEL and Past President of the Uruguay IEEE Communications Chapter; 
Osvaldo Novoa, Sub Gerente General Comercial at ANTEL; Celia Desmond, IEEE 
Director and Secretary; and Gustavo Giannattasio, past IEEE Uruguay Chair 
and candidate for Elected Regional Director, IEEE Region 9.
The IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL), which the Uruguay Consortium 
subscribes to, is one of the most comprehensive and value-driven 
literature databases available, delivering nearly a third of the world's 
current literature in electrical engineering, communications and computer 
science. IEEE offers research that fuels more new patents than any other 
publisher at a substantially lower cost than the average electrical 
engineering or computer science journals. A faculty member in engineering 
at the Universidad de la República expressed excitement about the IEEE 
electronic library, saying ?I am so grateful to ANTEL for making the IEEE 
subscription available to us. I can assure them that we are going to use 
this excellent tool a lot for our work.? The IEEE Uruguay Consortium will 
provide the universities full access to more than 1.6 million full-text 
searchable conference and journal articles, including articles from the 
top-cited journals in a variety of technology fields.

About IEEE
IEEE (www.ieee.org) is the world?s largest technical professional society. 
Through its 370,000 members in 160 countries, the society is a leading 
authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, 
computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power 
and consumer electronics. Dedicated to the advancement of technology, IEEE 
publishes 30 percent of the world?s literature in the electrical and 
electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed 
more than 900 active industry standards. The organization also sponsors or 
co-sponsors over 750 international technical conferences each year.


Media contact: 
Michelle Garner
732.981.3449 or m.g.garner at ieee.org 
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