With more than 4 million documents in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library, our members in academia need better, more intelligent tools to retrieve knowledge in addition to accessing traditional papers, titles and abstracts. Our members would benefit from productivity tools that use data analytics and are able to answer a technical question or recommend a design or algorithm to fit their specifications. While this goal may appear somewhat distant, it’s important to realize that five years ago we could not make inquiries with a smartphone and get instant answers, as we do today. I will lead IEEE in the direction of offering better search tools for research and design. 

Our members in academia would also benefit from quick information exchange, especially in emerging technologies. As we nurture communities working in new technical areas, IEEE needs to continue to expand our support for sharing technical information and for networking. This includes facilitating inexpensive web-based workshops and conferences.