On 1^st December 2018, the IEEE Student Professional Awareness Venture (SPAVe) 3.0 was organized by IEEE AIUB Student Branch in association with IEEE, IEEE Bangladesh Section, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh and IEEE BDS Professional Activity Committee at American International University-Bangladesh. IEEE Student Professional Awareness Activities (SPAA) are oriented to enhance the leadership, career, and professional development skills of engineering students. As a part of this endeavor, for the third time in Bangladesh, the IEEE SPAVe was presented to educate students on how to sustain a lifelong career in engineering. The flagship venture consisted of workshops, seminars and technical talks designed to build a student professionally.

The venture was inaugurated by Dr. M Tanseer Ali, Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB; Professional Activity Coordinator, IEEE Bangladesh Section, who discussed the necessity of these professional development-oriented ventures and how participation in such initiatives can enhance a students’ career. He further discussed about the importance of professionalism in a work environment and urged the students to accept the changes in order to ranks up in job fields.

Dr. M Tanseer Ali conducted the first session of the venture titled Ethics in Engineering & Life Long Learning. He stated that the engineers are often required to engage in negotiations, hold positions of responsibility to manage other engineers, make important decisions, write reports and ensure that work is safe minimizing risks to people and environment. He also stated each of these requires an understanding of ethics, making ethical skills integral to engineering practice. He concluded his talk by urging the students to think critically about the ethical implications.

The second session titled Tips & Tricks to create a lasting impression was conducted by Narmin Tartila Banu, Senior Lecturer, North South University; Community Manager, Google Business Group. She emphasized on the importance of building up a responsible social response, making a proper CV and etiquette. She mentioned different aspects of professional ethics which need to be maintained strictly in order to be successful in the long run. At the end of the session, a token of appreciation was provided to Narmin Tartila Banu by Kawshik Shikder, Motivator, IEEE AIUB Student Branch; Advisor, IEEE MTT-S AIUB Student Branch Chapter; Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB.

Mr. M S Siddique, CEO, Bangla Chemical, conducted the third session of the venture titled Roadmap to Dream Career. He talked about the necessary requirements of establishing the right career goal for oneself which include both technical and professional skills. In addition, he stated the importance of making proper decisions in order to succeed in terms of career to which he concluded his talk. Following that, Tasnuva Tasneem, Motivator, IEEE AIUB Student Branch; Coordinator, IEEE AIUB Student Branch WIE Affinity Group; Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB, provided a token of appreciation to Mr. M S Siddique for his time and contribution as a speaker for this bold initiative.

Prior to the lunch break, the fourth session was conducted by Almeer Ahsan Asif, Deputy Manager, Curriculum Development, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), which was based on Youth & Leadership for Career Development. It was a very interactive session as he provided a task for the participants which needed to be completed through group discussions. Based on that, he established the laws of Mover, Follower, By-Product and Leadership in managing a successful organization or institution. He also stated how leadership skills could enhance one’s career at a professional level. Following the conclusion of his talk, a token of appreciation was provided to him by Chowdhury Akram Hossain, Counselor, IEEE AIUB Student Branch; Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB; Membership Development Coordinator, IEEE Computer Society BDS Chapter, and A R M Abdullah Rocky, Chairperson, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh; Digital Solutions & Service Specialist Engineer, Business System Management, Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd.

After the lunch break, an ice-breaking session was initiated among the participants where they communicated with each other regarding their background and corresponding work. Following that, the last session of the venture, Workshop on Business Case Solving Exercise was conducted by Mr. A R M Abdullah Rocky, Chairperson, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh; Digital Solutions & Service Specialist Engineer, Business System Management, Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd. He emphasized on the necessary skills for engineers needed to solve business cases. In this workshop, a business case was provided to different groups of participants where they had to forecast and come up with a potential sustainable solution to overcome the problem provided in the case. A token of appreciation was provided to him by Chowdhury Akram Hossain and Shams Shad Islam Khan, Student Activity Coordinator, IEEE Bangladesh Section; Mentor, IEEE AIUB Student Branch; System Engineer, Banglaphone Ltd. 

The day-long venture was concluded with a closing speech from Chowdhury Akram Hossain, who acknowledged the presence of participants in such a bold initiative of IEEE. He also stated the importance of IEEE Membership with benefits and how the membership can create an impact in one’s professional career. He urged the students to take part in professional awareness programs in the future. The IEEE SPAVe 3.0 was concluded with a group photo session consisting of the speakers, guests, faculty members, organizing team and participants.

The venture was graced by the presence of Akib Jobaer Rahman, Vice-Chairperson (Activity), IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh, Rajesh Paul, Treasurer, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh, Shabab Iqbal, Website Coordinator, IEEE Region 10 Student Activities Committee, Md Abdul Al Azmain, Membership Development Coordinator, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh, Raihanul Haque Raihan, Event Coordinator, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh and Salman Farshi, Logistic Coordinator, IEEE Young Professionals Bangladesh. Dhaka Tribune and Channel Agami supported the venture as the Print & Online Media Partner and Channel Partner respectively.