ACADEMIA

WASHINGTON, DC -- LeEarl Bryant will make history on Jan. 1, 2002 when she becomes the first woman president of IEEE-USA. Bryant, a licensed professional engineer from Richardson, Texas, served as president-elect in 2001. She succeeds Ned Sauthoff of Princeton, N.J., and will serve for one year. "I hope to leverage this unique opportunity for the benefit of all engineers and scientists," Bryant said. "This includes the women and minorities who are beginning to more visibly contribute to the creative processes that develop products and services, resulting in a higher quality of life for us all. I learned long ago that women help women the most when we take our profession and careers seriously." As an IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow in 1993, Bryant served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Rep. Pete Geren of Fort Worth, Texas. She was responsible for issues in telecommunications, competitiveness, technology, health, education and aging. In 1999, Bryant received an IEEE-USA Citation of Honor for her extensive volunteer service to the Institute. She participates actively in the IEEE Dallas Section and is a principal organizer of the IEEE Consultants' Network of Dallas. Bryant has been active in the IEEE since her days at Texas Tech University, from which she earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1966. She was a pioneer in the development of the Society of Women Engineers Texas section (www.swe.org/SWE/RegionC/history/bios.html ) and in 1988, was elected an SWE Fellow. She added an MSEE degree with a bio-medical option from Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1968. Bryant has spent much of her career as a technical manager with an extensive background in the telecommunications, transportation and defense industries. Her company, Texas LAB Consultants, specializes in venture and start-up guidance, project management, strategic and business planning and technical writing, including patent descriptions. IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE created in 1973 to promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 230,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, visit www.ieeeusa.org