The city of Boston draws runners from around the world to race in the annual Boston Marathon, celebrating and joining the community together. I was at Boston’s Logan airport, to pick up my son as he returned to Boston, although not (yet) a marathon runner, our family has the fun run spirit. While waiting I met one of the organizers of a marathon travel team in from Spain. I asked about what you say for the Spanish runners of the Marathon and he replied, “take it calm – take the time to be in running and keep going to the finish line.” This idea has resonated in different contexts – building educational programs, new technologies, and seeking to integrate needs for transformative change – all activities that feel more like a marathon to reach the goal!

Arthur Brooks, who I admire as an inspiring leader in several fields, a thoughtful and engaging writer and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, presented a discussion this week on careers and personal transformation. After serving in a variety of career roles, from his position leading a world’s top think tank, he described his own experience in reflecting on change and in researching his own pathway for the perspective on where next to grow. From this experience he developed a contrast between driving innovation and in crystalizing experiences. In the first case, gaining expertise in a career, for example in using technical expertise, applying knowledge, and developing skills. In the second case, building on experiences and wider view of multiple perspectives, leading to crystalizing the viewpoints with roles in mentoring, coaching, and teaching.

An open question is how to best learn and to contribute to future adaptation. The R&D and application of technology creates opportunity and competitive conditions. At a recent talk, the MIT economist David Autor addressed the ongoing question of how will automation, and the rapidly growing machine learning affect the future of work? Autor and a team of researchers have studied these questions in the MIT Shaping the Future of Work program. Taking the analogy of the development of new technologies in the generation of aircraft provided an illustrative example. The Wright Brothers first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, happens to be the same year as the founding of the AIEE Boston Section (the AIEE merged with IRE to form the IEEE). Autor describes that the introduction of new technology does not only automate or replace what humans are already doing –  the airplane did not automate how humans already flew – prior to the new technologies for aviation, aeronautics, engines, and flight controls, humans did not have powered flight as an option. With new technologies, human potential is expanded as new human activities are enabled and generated by creative innovation and invention.

A call to action for our IEEE Boston community! Share your story as you are researching and exploring your pathway and learning journey. What are the questions you are encountering? Who do you find are the mentors, coaches, and teachers? How might you add to your roles in taking these ideas forward and encouraging your fellow members of the IEEE Boston community team? What are the questions and opportunities that you and your teams are encountering with new technologies?

Examples of upcoming events in the IEEE Boston Section that our IEEE Chapters, Members, and leaders are developing may be found in this edition of the IEEE Boston Section e-Reflector. One program that I have had the opportunity to contribute to organizing this spring with friends, colleagues, and staff from the IEEE Sensors Council, and will be hosted at Northeastern University with Professors Ravinder Dahiya and Srinivas Tadigadapa. The event will feature a Boston-flavored edition of the IEEE Sensors Council program, Sensors in Spotlight. Hosted at Northeastern University’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) in Boston, join us to hear stories of sensing enables technological change and how teams are working to provide innovative solutions to challenging missions.

Celebrating our community is an area where the IEEE Boston Section has the honor to recognize many achievements and technology leadership. Thanks to IEEE Boston Section Chair Karen Panetta and 2024 IEEE Boston Section Chair, Maíra Marques Samary, and IEEE Boston Section staff for the rebooting of the IEEE Boston Section Fellows Recognition and Awards last month at Tufts University School of Engineering. Also this month, global IEEE awards will be celebrated, as the IEEE Awards moves from hosted at the Boston Section in 2024 to this year’s program in Tokyo, Japan.

For more on these topics – look for insight and ask about how you could participate and connect to:

1. IEEE Boston Section Awards and Fellow Recognition
2. IEEE Awards
3. IEEE Sensors in Spotlight
4. IEEE AI Coalition and the IEEE Boston Section’s 2025 IEEE International Conference on AI and Data Analytics (ICAD 2025)
5. IEEE Future Directions – Future Technology Forum

I invite you to join where you see resonance, seek your pathway for future growth, and send us a letter at the IEEE Boston Section e-Reflector, or let’s meet up soon to hear what keeps you running and who is helping you reach the next finish line goal!