During the past few months since the beginning of the new academic year, the IEEE student branch at the University of Jordan in Amman has been active expanding its audience and introducing the membership's benefits to their students. The branch's volunteers and committee have successfully created a few local benefits to being an IEEE member in our university.

Four courses were held during the semester break in topics chosen based on student's demand. We organized an introductory microcontrollers course as well as an advanced one, in addition to two training courses on using PSoCs (programmable system on chip) in system design. And finally a programming course, VB.NET, for the .NET framework. We received good feedback and are preparing a course on C# programming to be held during the second semester, and a new set of courses to take place in the summer break.

Our website (www.ieee-ju.com) and the forum have become a place where students meet and discuss all sorts of topics, and even group up to take on projects. Along with our announcement boards in the Faculty of Engineering and the school of Information Technology, the website helps us in organizing and promoting events. We found that members' early thoughts and ideas are an important part of a successful event.

The second annual chess competition took place in March, IEEE members tried their smarts in a different activity and had a good time. The Social Activities team is also planning a trip into the Jordanian desert to discharge some of the academic stress before final exams. Our university also hosted a very interesting presentation on MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) in a series of presentations organized by the Jordan Section.

We are happy with what we have achieved so far, and we for more. There are plans for a national programming competition, a presentation on "how to use your membership", and field trip to see engineering in action.

The IEEE family here at the University of Jordan is happy and proud to be a part of such a great organization, we are looking forward for more activities, projects and fun.

Samir Rawashdeh
Sudent Branch vice-chair
University of Jordan