Videos to Raise Awareness about Engineering
Dr. Ward noticed a lack of understanding and appreciation by the general public of engineering. So she set to produce videos to raise the awareness about engineering, especially signal processing, her main filed of experience. She co-directed and/or co-produced many videos which had thousands of hits on YouTube and have been used extensively by professors to attract students to the field. Amongst these are the following 6 videos she has conceived and produced or directed.
- The following are six of Dr. Ward’s frequently used videos:
What is Signal Processing?- Signal Processing and Machine learning
- Under the Radar
- Multimedia Forensics
- Signal Processing in Free Viewpoint Television
- The Benefits of Spoken Language Technologies
IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
IEEE Committees/Boards:
- Chair, TAB Ad-Hoc Committee on Africa and Education (2016-2017)
- Member At-Large, TAB Strategic Planning Committee (2017)
- TAB Management Committee (2018)
- IEEE WIE Voting Committee (2018)
- Senior Member Selection Committee(1992, 1996, 2000)
Society
- Chair, Signal Processing Society Awards Board, (2019- present)
- President, IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) (2016-2017)
- President-Elect, SPS (2014-2015)
- V.P. Conferences, SPS (2003-2005)
- Member of SPS Board of Governors (2003-2005, 2008-2010, 2014-2017)
- Member of SPS Executive Board (2003-2005), (2014-2016)
- Fellow Reference Committee, SPS (2008-2010)
- Conference Board, SPS (2006-2007)
- Editorial Board of IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (2006-2009)
Region 7
- Awards Committee (2013-2014, 2017-2020)
- V.P. Western Canada (1990-1995), Canadian Society for Electrical and Computer Engineers (folded into IEEE)
- Co-founder, Vancouver SPS Chapter (2004)
- Chair, IEEE Vancouver Student Chapter (1985-1987)
Service to Other Professional Assocations
Women Organizations
- University Women Graduate Association, 1980
- Co-Founder Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology 1979 to present
- Academic Women's Association, UBC, Executive Board, 1982 to 198
Advisory Boards
- Member of a 12 scientists committee to advise Her Highness Sheika Mozah (Qatar Foundation head) on how to establish and promote scientific research in Qatar (2006-2008).
- International Scientific Advisory Board of the BC Advanced Systems Institute 1996 to 2004
- The Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 1988 to 2009
- Canadian Academy for the Advancement of Science, 1997 to 2007
- National Research Council ( NRC) of Canada on Information Technology, 1999 to 2001
Royal Society of Canada
- Awards committee on Women Students, 2003 to 2007
- Committee to select fellows of the Society (engineering category), 2012 to 2015
National Science Foundation (USA):
- NSF IGERT program Adjudication Committee 2001
- NSF committee to review the Integrated Media Systems Center, University of Southern California, 2002
Others
- Canadian Society for Electrical and Computer Engineering VP for Western Canada, 1990 to 1995
- BCIT: External review committee; new Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering, 2006 to 2007
- NSERC Grant Selection Committee, Communications, Computers and Components Engineering, 1997 to 2000
- Committee to review the ECE department of University of Victoria, 1998
- Academy of Science In the Developing World (Rome, Italy), to select the Trieste Science Prize winner, 2008 to 2009
- UBC Committee to plan the Kuwait Institute for Business and Technology 2001 to 2004
- Member of a UBC three-people delegation (VP Research & International, Dean of Applied Science and I) that visited Saudi Arabia in April/May, 2010 to discuss research collaboration between Saudi Universities and UBC.
- UBC VPRI rep to the Middle East, 2010 to 2014
Conference Participation (Organizer, Keynote Speaker, etc.)
| Conference or Event | Role(s) | Location | Date(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| IEEE MMSP 2018 | Advisory Committee Chair | Vancouver, Canada | August 29-31, 2018 |
| IEEE WIE TechW Workshop | Conference Committee member | Vancouver, Canada | Sept 21, 2018 |
| iEEE Canadian Confernce on Electrical and Computer Engineerin | General Co-Chair | Vancouver, Canada | May 15-18, 2016 |
| IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Signal and Speech Processing ( This is the flagship conference of the IEEE SPS over 2500 attendees) | General Co-Chair | Vancouver, Canada | 2013-05-01 |
| Brain Computer Interface Workshop and Hands-On Seminar | General Co-chair | Vancouver, Canada | 2012-09-12 |
| IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing | General Chair | Banff, Canada | 2012-09-01 |
| IEEE International Conference on Image Processing | Advisor | Cairo, Egypt | 2012-11-01 |
| Middle East Conference on Biomedical Engineering | Advisory Committee Member | Sharjah, UAE | 2011-02-01 |
| BIRS workshop on Multimedia, Mathematics, and Machine Learning “By Invitation Only” | General Chair | Banff, Canada | 2009-07-01 |
| 2nd International Conference on Advances in Computer Vision and Information Technology (ACVIT-09) | Advisory Committee Member | Aurangabad, India | 2009-12-01 |
| International Conference on Computer Vision, Graphics and Image Processing | International Technical Program Committee Member | India | 2008 |
| BIRS workshop on Mentoring for Engineering Academia “By Invitation Only” | General Co-chair | Banff, Canada | 2007-07-01 |
| IEEE SIPS | Program Committee Member | Banff, Canada | 2006-10-01 |
| 2nd International Computer Engineering Conference (ICENCO 2006) | Technical Committee Member | Cairo, Egypt | 2006-12-01 |
| IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT) | General Chair | Vancouver, Canada | 2006-08-01 |
| International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition | Technical Committee Member | Toronto, Canada | 2005-08-01 |
| “By Invitation Only” BIRS workshop on Multimedia and Mathematics | General Chair | Banff, Canada | 2005-07-01 |
| International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition | Advisory Committee Member | Porto, Portugal | 2004-09-01 |
| IEEE ISCAS (over 1300 attendees) | Vice Chair | Vancouver, Canada | 2004-05-01 |
| IEEE Women Forum | Main Speaker | Vancouver, Canada | 12 Mar, 2004 |
| UBC Applied Sciences Workshop for high school studets to promote engineering as a career | Main Speaker | Vancuver | May 1991, May 1994, May 1998, May2001 |
| International Digital Signal Processing Conference | Technical Committee Member | 2002 | |
| IEEE International Conference on Image Processing ( 0ver 1000 attendees) | General Chair | Vancouver, Canada | 09 Sep, 2000 – 13 Sep, 2000 |
| IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia Information Processing | Advisory Committee Member | 2000 | |
| IEEE CCECE Conference | Technical Committee Member | 1999 | |
| IEEE South West Symposium on Image Analysis & Interpretation | Technical Committee Member | May 1995 – Mar 1996 | |
| UBC Applied Sciences seminar on engineering for high school teachers to promote engineering as a career to their students | Speaker | Vancouver, Canada | 1993-10-01 |
| Best student papers awards,VCIP conference of the International Society for Optical Engineering | Chair | 1997 - 1998 |
Editorships
- Assoc. Editor, Jour. of Electronic Imaging (SPIE), 2001‑2006.
- Member of the Editorial Board of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Jan 2006-2009
Consultant
- MDA , Vancouver , 2013-2014
- AdvancedIO Systems Inc., 2007-2009
- WebTech Wireless,telematics, 1999-2005
- R.F.I.D., Passport photograph compression, November 1996‑1999.
- Hewlett-Packard (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Non-intrusive measurements of cable TV parameters.
- Vision Systems Inc. Building a computer vision system for grading lumber, 1989.
- The Whitsun Foundation of Rhodesia, building a computer model for Agrarian Reform, 1978.
- Arab Projects and Development on their project with the Iraqi Ministry of Planning "Five Year Plan for transportation development", June‑August 1974.
- Computer Modelling of Operations Decisions for the Okanagan Lakes System, January‑June 1973.
Service to the non technical community
- Member of the RCMP Advisory Committee on deterring violence, 2005 – 2009.
- Speaker at the RCMP Conference on Community and Security, January 2002.
- Speaker at the BC Labour Federation, November 2001.
- Speaker at the Vancouver Peace rally, November 2001.
- Speaker at the rally for Canada’s unity on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, October 1995.
- Organized a community dinner for the Committee for Racial Justice, attended by approximately 90 people belonging to over a dozen different governmental, religious and ethnic groups. During the dinner I gave a 30-minute (televised) speech about “stereotyping of some ethnic religious groups,” March 1995.
- Member of the Vancouver Jewish–Arab group to promote mutual understanding, 2003-2004.
- As a graduate student in Berkeley, I participated in establishing a group of Arab and Israeli students to dialogue on “bridges to peace” in the Middle East. In 1992, I actively encouraged the establishment of the Palestinian-Jewish Women for Peace in Vancouver.
- Gave a talk about “Islam and Women,” one hour of which was televised and broadcasted on Vancouver Community Channel. The talk was attended by approximately 150 people at the Unitarian Church, March 1991.
- Gave a 20-minute speech at International Women’s Day on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, 1991.
- Gave a public speech outside the Student Union Building at UBC after the Montreal Massacre of women engineers, 1989.
- Gave seminars in various studios, and taught Middle East Dancing from 1982‑1989. Contributed articles to “Sahda,” BC’s Middle East dance association newsletter, and to “Arabesque,” an international magazine for Middle East dancing, published in New York. I also organized a 2-day workshop in Vancouver given by Ibrahim Farah of New York. Mr. Farah is internationally renowned as a master of Middle East dance. It was attended by 69 local dancers, and the evening dinners and shows were 100% booked, June 1988.
Service to the university
Memberships in committees, including offices held and dates
| Organizational Unit | Committee Name | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| EECE Dept. | Curriculum Planning Committee | 1986 | |
| EECE Dept. | Optical Scanning Equipment Advisory Committee | Nov / 1986 | Jul / 1987 |
| EECE | Curriculum Planning Committee | 1992 | 1996 |
| UBC | President’s Advisory Committee to select Head for the Civil Engineering Department | 1992 | UBC |
| UBC | President's Advisory Committee to select Head for the Mechanical Engineering Department | 1993 | UBC |
| UBC | President's Advisory Committee to select Head for the CS Department. | 1995 | UBC |
| UBC | President’s Advisory Committee to select the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science | 1996 | 1997 |
| UBC | President’s Advisory Committee to select Head for the Advanced Technical Management program | 1996 | 1997 |
| UBC | Killam Fellowship Awards Selection Committee | 1996 | 1997 |
| UBC | Advisory Board of UBC Continuing Education Certificate in Software Engineering | 1996 | Present |
| EECE | ECE department committee to decide on salary and merit increases for the ECE faculty members | 1994 | 2000 |
| UBC | Faculty Awards Committee | 1996 | 1997 |
| UBC | President’s Advisory Committee to select Head for the EECE | 1997 | |
| UBC | Wide Strategic Initiative-Focus Group | 1997 | UBC |
| UBC | Campus Connectivity Project Steering Committee for BC Tel Partnership (of the Advisory Committee on Information Technology) | 1997 | |
| UBC | President’s Advisory Committee to select dean for the Faculty of Applied Science | 1997 | 1998 |
| EECE Dept. | Resource Committee | 1998 | |
| UBC | Alternate Route to Computing Committee | 1998 | |
| UBC | New MIC Committee | 1998 | 1999 |
| UBC | CICSR-CFI Committee | 1998 | 2000 |
| UBC | Dean of Applied Science and Dean of Medicine Committee for Biomedical Engineering | 1999 | |
| UBC | Committee Chair to Appoint Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Field | 2000 | |
| UBC | Vice President Academic Committee to further collaboration between the CS and EECE | 2001 | 2002 |
| UBC | President Committee to design and establish the Kuwait Institute of Business & Technology | 2001 | 2004 |
| UBC | President’s Advisory Committee to select Head for the EECE Dept. | 2002 | 2003 |
| UBC | President’s Committee for the Reappointment of the Dean of Applied Science | 2003 | |
| UBC | Vice President Research Committee to review UBC Industry Liaison Office | 2005 | |
| EECE Dept | Chairman or member of committees for individual faculty members promotion or tenure (around 2 professors yearly) | 2003 | 2015 |
| UBC. | President’s Advisory Committee to select the Dean for the Faculty of Applied Science | 2008-02-01 | 2008-06-01 |
| UBC | CFI-LEF Adjudication Committee | 2008 | 2015 |
| UBC | CFI-NOF Adjudication Committee | 2008 | 2015 |
| UBC | Martha Piper Fund Scholarship Adjudication Committee | 2008-04-01 | 2015 |
| UBC | Coordinator of the NSERC CREATE Program | 2008-04-01 | 2015 |
| UBC | Resposible fo all NSERC programs .eg. Discovery, Accelerate, CREATE, RTI, Strategic, CRD etc. | 2008-04-01 | 2015 |
| UBC | Responsible for the NSERC General Research Fund | 2008-04-01 | 2014 |
| UBC | UBC committee to select NSERC DAS candidates,chair | 2008-07-01 | 2014 |
| UBC | APSC CFI-LOF Advisory Committee on Applications Chair | 2008-08-01 | 2015 |
| UBC | CFI-LOF Adjudication Committee | 2009 | |
| UBC | Peter Wall Institute Adjudication and Advisory Committee | 2009-07-01 | 2015 |
| UBC | Steacie Selection Committee | 2010-05-01 | 2010-05-01 |
| EECE Dept. | FOGS Adjudicating Committee ( to rank all UBC student scholarship applicants in the NSERC areas ) | 2010-10-01 | 2010-11-01 |
| UBC | UBC Selection Committee of NSERC Steacie candidates, chair | 2012-04-01 | 2012-04-01 |
| UBC | Chair of the Banting PDF Selection Committee | 2012-08-01 | 2012-09-01 |
| ECE | Member of the Promotion Committee of Dr. Dunford | 2011 | 2013 |
| ECE | Member of the Promotion Committee of Dr. Mirabasi | 2012 | 2013 |
| ECE | Member of the Committee to rank ECE faculty for April 2012 consideration for Merit and PSA salary awards | 2012 | |
| ECE | 3 Minutes Thesis adjudication Committee | 2013-02-01 | |
| ICICS/ECE/IEEE | Workshop on Future Communications and Muutomedia System | 2013-03-01 | |
| UBC | Responsible for the Banting Postdoctoral fellowships | 2011-07-01 | 2015 |
Other service to University, including dates
| Organizational Unit | Title/Nature of Duties | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| UBC | Coordinator for the 4th year Engineering Technical Report course | 1982 | 1985 |
| EECE | Organizer of the department weekly seminar | 1984 | 1987 |
| IEEE UBC Chapter | Student Counselor | 1985 | 1987 |
| EECE | Courses Time Tabling for EECE Dept. | 1986 | 1987 |
| EECE | Undergraduate Student Advisor (3rd year) | 1988 | 1996 |
| UBC | Responsible for the Imaging Lab development | 1989 | Present |
| MITACS | Reviewer of accelerate PDF program | 2011 | present |
I served as internal Examiner at UBC: I have served on at least 400 (Masters, PhD qualifying, PhD dept. and PhD final) exams of students supervised by other faculty members in my department. The names are too many to include here. In the past 12 months I served on 8 such exams. I have also chaired many Univesrity Ph.D exams.
Committee member or University examiner for over 25 UBC graduate students outside Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The students were in Civil Eng., Mechnical Eng., Bioresource Eng., Computer Science, Mathematics, Commerce and Zoology.
