The members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Industrial Electronics Society (IES) have elected Milos Manic, Ph.D., IEEE Fellow, as its new president-elect effective Jan. 1, 2022. Manic was elected from a slate of five candidates spanning four continents.
The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society, with more than 420,000 members worldwide. Its Industrial Electronics Society, more than 10,000 members strong, focuses on the latest developments in intelligent control systems, robotics, automation, advanced manufacturing and power electronics for the enhancement of industrial and manufacturing processes.
Manic is a professor of computer science at VCU Engineering and director of VCU’s Cybersecurity Center. He also holds a dual appointment with the Idaho National Laboratory and is an internationally recognized leader in cybersecurity research.
A noted specialist in data mining and machine learning applied to cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection, Manic’s contributions to these fields have garnered multiple honors. His Autonomic Intelligent Cyber Sensor (AICS) device won the 2018 R&D 100 Award, an elite recognition of the top 100 science and technology innovations worldwide. He is also a National Academy of Inventors senior member and a Fellow of Virginia’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.
Manic steps into his role as president-elect after leading the IEEE IES at multiple levels for many years. He is currently completing his second term as treasurer and was previously secretary of the organization for six years. In 2018, he was general chair of IES’s flagship annual conference, IEEE IECON, in Washington, D.C. In 2019, he received the IEEE IES Anthony J.Hornfeck Service Award. In 2020, he was named an IEEE Fellow, the highest grade of IEEE membership and recognized globally as a prestigious honor and a major career achievement.
Manic’s two-year term as president-elect will be followed by two-year terms as president and as immediate past-president. Over the course of this six-year window of opportunity, he will focus on meeting the needs of IEEE IES wide membership, which comprises some of the world’s leading researchers as well as early-stage investigators and innovators.
“I'm really excited to think about how IEEE IES can allocate resources strategically for an even better future as we continue to fulfill the organization’s mission to ‘advance technology for humanity,’” Manic said. “We are a technical society, and must maintain our strong presence in top technical journals and academic conferences. That needs to remain our signature.”
At the same time, Manic is committed to ensuring that the IES be attainable — and relevant — to “young kids on the block who have just graduated.”
“It is crucial to get them involved in this influential professional society early in their careers,” Manic said, noting that he had been a member of IEEE since his early days as a student.
“I’d like to enable new blood and new talent by introducing investments and funding of new projects for early researchers. This will make us even better and ensure a steady influx of new ideas.”