IEEE is a platform that encourages its members to take steps towards change. It urges its members to work for society and to ascertain the values of volunteers and the impact of their actions. It is with much honour and pride we congratulate the *IEEE Kerala Young Professionals* team for their achievement of the *IEEE Hall Of Fame Award 2021*. 

The award is a token of appreciation for the inspiring Young Professional Affinity Groups and Society Groups worldwide, on recognising their exemplary activities.

IEEE Kerala Young Professionals is a team of passionate IEEE volunteers who have played vital roles in the growth of IEEE Young Professionals in Kerala. Their collaboration with fellow affinity groups in Region 10 is notable for their commitment to the empowerment of young professionals. The team has made a revolutionary contribution to the different sections of society by providing technical and mentoring support, making them the best candidate for the award. *The awardee will receive a plaque along with a USD 500 cash prize* designated for the winning Young Professionals for future activities.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to all the *IEEE volunteers* for their crucial contribution to this success. A special thanks to the *IEEE Kerala Section Interns Team* for their undivided and willing support.

_#ToBiggerDreamsAndAspirations_

_#JoyOfVolunteering_

_#IKSInked_

The post IEEE Hall Of Fame Award 2021 appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

Here is an opportunity to all the well wishers here – a chance to express your gratitude to the Super Human Heroes – Doctors, Nurses, Ambulance drivers and all other health workers, who help us to survive in this COVID era.

IEEE Kerala Young Professionals is delighted to present this event where you can either write a thank you note or create a thank you poster, a simple act of expressing your gratitude.

📌Submit your entries at :
https://yp.ieeekerala.org/thank-them

🗓️The last date to submit your entries for this event will be on 21st June 2021.

The best creative entries will be awarded.🏆

Stay Safe!

The post A MILLION THANKS TO OUR HUMAN HEROES appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

IEEE Kerala Young Professionals is delighted to present a webinar on Optics, Spectroscopy and Aerospace Engineering- The Scope of Interdisciplinary Research led by Dr. Yedhu Krishna
Postdoctoral Fellow, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology

🗓️ 12th June 2021
🕗 07:00 – 8:00 PM

📌 Register here👇🏼

#ieeekeralayp

The post Optics, Spectroscopy and Aerospace Engineering- The Scope of Interdisciplinary Research appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

Whether you’re a newbie starting out or an expert in your field, being part of communities is one of the best steps in your career journey!

I have been part of various tech communities like IEEE, Women Techmakers, TinkerHub Foundation for more than 4 years now. Communities have created a huge impact in my life — moulded me into who I am today.

By immersing in a community and surrounding myself with people who are dedicated to level up the tech world, I gained a lot of learning opportunities, found excellent mentors to enhance my career, and connected to people and ideas that positively impacted my perspective and vision.

Through communities, I learned to take a step back and appreciate everything and everyone around me, and in the process, I have witnessed what genuine friendship truly looks like. I came for friendship, and to feel a sense of trust, belonging, home and safety.

Each time I am part of a community, I have a different story to tell. I get a variety of opportunities to learn, gain a plethora of other experiences, and take back home a truckload of memories filled with tiny packets of pure joy.

The first community I joined was IEEE, It started when I was in my first year of college.

I believe almost everything we do or try out is out of Curiosity — Curiosity to know what something is, to figure out what may happen, to try out things differently; and for me joining communities was out of curiosity!

I felt the same curiosity being part of communities too. I was curious to know what is happening in a community, whom all I can meet, how I can contribute, what all can I learn, what possible opportunities I may get.

Why should you be a part of a community?

So let us observe why being part of a learning community could change your learning process and improve your productivity greatly.

The one major takeaway from communities is the opportunities and achievements. Opportunities and achievements don’t mean getting the dream job, getting awards, etc it is much more than that.

Networking

Communities always provide a great platform for networking, where we get a chance to meet people from different technical areas, different sectors of society, different parts of the country, and different parts of the world. It can be a great experience conversing with them, understanding their perspectives, and getting their insights thus learning many things.

Mentoring

Everyone doesn’t know everything and Google will not help us every time. We may probably need help from someone else. Through networking not only do we get to meet and interact with like-minded people, we also get mentors who will support, guide, motivate and help us to choose the best in our professional and personal life.

Peer-to-peer learning

Peer-to-peer learning is correlated to networking. It’s a great opportunity wherein we get a chance to meet people of our wavelength & interest in learning tech, people from diverse backgrounds and specializations ; who will always be wholeheartedly ready to help, teach, guide, and learn together. This power of community enables you to get huge amount of resources, rely on each other and grow together.

Self-learning

According to the current education system (schools and colleges), everything is spoon-fed for exams. But in the ever-evolving tech industry, spoon-fed knowledge alone will never make us grow and therefore self-learning is crucial to enhance our learning curve. We may not realize the importance of self-learning in school/college days wherein we always have people around us to seek help and teach us, but once out of this comfort zone and step into the real world we understand the importance of self-learning. Communities always pave a path for building the habit of self-learning.

Building skills

You can enter a community with zero skills and no knowledge, but with an inquisitive mindset thirst for knowledge, courage to take risks and try out different things. In the process, community experiences will help us learn more, realize our true strength & potential, help build our skills and guide us to safely land on to where we wish to be.

Volunteering

Volunteering your time to support a cause you are passionate about is something you will never regret. Helping your community is an opportunity for you to grow as a person, to better understand how you fit into the world around you. Offering help based on our skillset is extremely beneficial, both for you and your community. The joy of giving back and contributing to society is unparalleled.

Visibility

Being part of communities, networking, attending events, meetups, conferences will always provide special visibility to showcase our skills, visibility in career, and also among the recruiters.

Friendships and togetherness

Moreover, communities bring in a sense of belonging, togetherness, support, love, and a lifetime of happiness.

But for all this, just joining a community is not enough. Community opens a door of opportunities, it’s our responsibility to utilize them, by putting in some effort to be open and seek for the content. Have the courage to take that extra step forward, network, interact with people, attend events, volunteer, try out different things, learn, explore and also contribute back to the community.

Let’s always have a curiosity mindset and leave our comfort zones to try out more extraordinary things.

I grew every way being part of communities and For all of that and more, they have my utmost gratitude.

To all of the wonderful communities doing really cool things in this very big world, thank you!

Are you looking for a change? Do you also want to grow better? Not a part of any tech communities yet? Better late than never, this is the best time to join one!

.  .  .

About Author

Ananya is an enthusiastic and inquisitive learner .She is a techie and is the WTM Ambassador of GDG Trivandrum. She is a responsible volunteer who takes part in different community programs with aplomb.She has been awarded’ Outstanding Women in Engineering student volunteer’ from IEEE Kerala Section in 2018 for the contribution to the women student engineering community. She is an opportunist & optimistic personality who loves to explore & learn.

The post The Power of communities appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

Abstract:
Foundational to professionalism is the notion of a duty of care, the accepting of moral responsibility for the impact our actions have on the broader community and the environment. However, many professionals have little formal training in ethics, and can struggle to agree on the right thing to do when confronting a moral dilemma. This seminar discusses the idea of “doing ethics”, utilizing conceptual tools to decide what we ought to do (ethically speaking) for non-arbitrary and properly compelling reasons.

Speaker:
Dr. Mark Howard is a Research Fellow with the Philosophy program at Monash University, part of an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science in the research field of Ethics, Policy and Public Engagement. Specializing in political philosophy, applied ethics and social informatics, Mark’s research focuses on the social, political, and ethical impact of emerging technology in transportation, healthcare and agriculture. His teaching includes Human Rights Theory; Ethics of Global Conflict; Digital Futures, and Professional Practice Ethics for Engineers.

Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2021
Time: 7pm AEDT/ 2:30pm IST

Register: http://bit.ly/VicTEMS2

The post Professionalism and Duty of Care appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

Do you crave to know interesting facts about cultural and professional sphere of African countries? Do you ever wish to have a talk with students and professionals of different sections of the world?

IEEE Kerala Young Professionals is happy to reveal our first event under Global Outreach Initiative (GOI). We would wish to virtually take you to Africa, world’s second largest and second most populous continent. In collaboration with IEEE Nigeria Section Young Professionals and IEEE Kenya Section Young Professionals, we present before you our first event ‘THIS TIME FOR AFRICA’ . Here we come up with a perfect stage for you to start and dive into a different part of the globe.

Event Details

Date : 05/06/2021
Time : 07:00PM IST
02:30PM WAT
04:30PM EAT

Event is open for both students and professionals. Do you wish to network globally? Then what are you waiting for.
Grab your seats now by registering at :

Are you thrilled to know more about our event? We will be sharing more details soon!
Stay in touch!

#BeyondBorders #GOI
#ikyp #ieeeks #ieee

The post Global Outreach Initiative – Event #1 appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

IEEE Kerala Young Professionals proudly present before you one of a kind initiative to bring people together with a new face – Global Outreach Initiative (GOI). GOI is a platform to collaborate with different sections outside India to know more about cultural and professional differences. To interact, network and to realize more, we came all this way to travel to another part of the globe. Many interesting facts are around us but with an unclear delineation. So here we are to reveal the unrevealed facts to you virtually. Let’s join together for a pronounced learning opportunity for both students and professionals.

So are you curious to know what is inside the box? Keep waiting for a while because we will be back to you soon with our first event to explore beyond borders.

#BeyondBorders #GOI
#ikyp #ieeeks #ieee

The post IEEE KYP Global Outreach Initiative (GOI) appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

When I joined IIT Kharagpur for Ph.D in the year 2005, I have noticed an office near E&ECE department of IITKGP with the name board IEEE  Kharagpur Section. One day I went inside and U could see some IEEE magazines and Journals there. I knew that I need to publish papers as part of my Ph.D and if I become a member of IEEE, I can participate in IEEE conferences at subsidised rates. But there was more interesting in store there in that office. At that time, laser printer was a kind of luxury. In our lab only a dot matrix printer was available. The caretaker in IEEE told me that if I take IEEE membership I can take printout of 200 pages per year free of cost using the printer in the office. That was interesting.. Printouts, conferences…I decided to take IEEE membership again!

I took the graduate student membership on the very next day, and availed the facilities in IEEE office. And that was continued till 2008, the completion of my Ph.D. Apart from conferences perhaps the only IEEE program that I have attended those days were the Annual General Meeting there and you may not wonder that the only interest I had in those meetings was the sumptuous dinner. Later only when I became active, I realized that IIT Kharagpur is the headquarters of one of the smallest Section of IEEE in India!

Even after joining back at NIT Calicut after Ph.D I continued my IEEE membership, but this time as a professional member. But, forget about Calicut, I haven’t noticed any IEEE program happening in the Malabar region. The only interest was again confined to IEEE conferences happening outside Kerala or India. It was at that time  Prof.Mohandas Sir met me one day, and talked about his more than 25 years of journey in IEEE and the lack of IEEE activities in the Malabar region, especially for professionals despite the existence of several engineering institutions in the region. Of Course many student branches were existing and student activities were happening in the area. He was continuously exploring what can be done to change the situation and finally identified a solution; ie, to file a petition to form the first subsection under IEEE Kerala Section by including districts from Palakkad to Kasaragod in the north of Kerala. We started collecting signatures of IEEE members. Approval from Kerala Section was the first hurdle for the petition. Fortunately the then Chair of IEEE Kerala Section, Mr.Sasi P.M, who hails from Calicut gave a green signal of support, and we could successfully submit the petition in early 2010. IEEE MGA approved the petition in October 2010 with Mohandas Sir as founding Chair and myself as the founding Secretary. Though the formal inauguration of Malabar Subsection was held along with the first AGM of the subsection Friday 31st December  2010 at Chanakya Hall, National Institute of Technology Calicut, perhaps for the first time, professional activities of IEEE started taking place in the region under Malabar Subsection from October 2010 onwards. The initial few volunteers met on the inaugural day identified a few activities for 2011, and the rest is history!

Personally my journey in IEEE was eventful. I have received many volunteering opportunities at various levels of IEEE; thanks to Malabar subsection! IEEE Kerala Section became a registered society during my tenure as Treasurer. We could organise quite a few events to improve the financial independence of the Section. Efforts for getting the GIEEE agreement signed and initiation of fund transfers through IEEE Bangalore office, financial reporting through the newly introduced NetSuite etc have introduced many challenges but we managed those issues well. It was at that time, the then Chair of Kerala Section, Srinivasan suggested to start a second flagship conference series for the section and entrusted me to organise the first edition. That resulted in the first edition of the biennial conference SPICES, and the first edition was held at NIT Calicut in February 2015. It was a successful event in terms of participation and revenue.

It was in 2015, I became the Vice Chair of Kerala Section and continued for three years. While the role of Vice Chair is minimal in IEEE organization structure, I was fortunate to be involved in many new initiatives of the Section; thanks to two of my Chairs, Mr.Unni Sankar and Dr.Suresh Nair. During 2017, we could organize TENSYMP2017 at Kochi; that was the first time Kerala Section hosting a flagship conference of IEEE R10.  With those learning experiences, I became Chair of Kerala section in 2018 and continued till end of 2019.

My IEEE journey narration will be incomplete without mentioning three very critical tasks projects/programs that the section has undertaken, the humanitarian activities done to deal with the massive floods in August 2018- the initiation of the rescue and rehabilitation portal keralarescue.in by a bunch of our student volunteers, and its adoption as the primary portal for this purpose by the Govt. of Kerala, and various other related activities including supply of large number of temporary electrification boards for restoring power in flood affected houses, power banks, emergency lights, medicines, groceries and so on. It was a rare occasion where all the volunteers of Kerala Section from SBs to Life Members actively contributed with passion and vigor on almost a round-the-clock basis. The immediate challenge after that was the conduct of the International WIE summit at Kochi in September. Amidst several uncertainties associated with the massive floods, we could organize the program with good international presence in September 2018 itself as planned. But the major challenge that the Section took-up during this time was the conduct of the biggest flagship conference of R10, TENCON2019 at Kochi from 17-20 October 2019. With extreme difficulties for getting sponsorship from a State that was affected with a devastating flood in 2018, and a slightly reduced version in 2019, and with concerns on pandemic like Nipah in Kerala, it was an extremely challenging experience; again thanks to a handful of amazing volunteers under the amazing leadership of Dr. Suresh Nair, we could organize TENCON at the best possible venue in Kerala (and perhaps South India) Grand Hyatt Bolgatty in flying colours in terms of participation, quality of events and revenue. 

In between I received some volunteering opportunities as Vice Chair for Educational Activities and Treasurer of IEEE India Council. Right now I serve as the Secretary of IEEE Region-10 (Asia-Pacific). I tried to narrate my IEEE journey just to show how a person can contribute and grow professionally from being a passive IEEE member to an IEEE volunteer. Believe me, if you are a person who loves to meet new people, participate/organize new programs of varying interests, IEEE is the best professional organization that you can try. My asset in this journey is the wonderful array of people that I could closely interact with and the cheerful moments that we have shared and the challenges that we have faced together. Better late than never..! Welcome to the volunteering world of IEEE, and experience your IEEE. 

About the Author

Dr. Sameer S M is a Professor in Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Calicut. He has authored several research publications in international journals and conferences proceedings, and holds 2 US patents.  He is a Senior Member of IEEE and served in various capacities within IEEE, currently as Secretary at IEEE Region-10 ( Asia-Pacific).

The post From a Student Member to R-10 Secretary, My IEEE Experiences!!! appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

One of the most important innovations in FinTech in the last decade was that of Cryptocurrencies, together with the disciplines of CryptoFinance and CryptoEconomics. Starting with Bitcoin in the 2008-09 period, the initial part of the last decade saw significant innovations in cryptocurrencies with platforms such as Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Cardano, Monero, and IOTA emerging.

Although the initial performance of cryptocurrencies was beset with numerous security and other issues (including Ethereum, which need a community “intervention” during its early life to recover stolen funds), over the decade, the core cryptocurrency platforms strengthened their algorithms to the point where security breaches were rare, although users still lost coins through carelessness and through attempts by creative hackers.

Smart Contracts and Defi

The main difference between Bitcoin, which laid the ground for cryptocurrencies at the intersection of computer networking, economics and behavioural sciences, and second-generation crypto platforms such as Ethereum, was that many of the latter were programming platforms that addressed some of the weaknesses of Bitcoin such as scalability, anonymity and programmability. Second-generation platforms provided a giant global cryptocurrency computer that could implement a cryptographically sound programming model and APIs. This enabled Smart Contracts, which were computer code intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract automatically, without human intervention. While initial smart contracts were purely digital, there is significant work that seeks to integrate real-life digital assets (stocks, vehicles, real estate, bank deposits) through the process of tokenization.

One of the factors that made cryptocurrencies somewhat unstable as a store of value was that most of them had very volatile exchange rates with fiat currencies. Bitcoin, for instance, has seen substantial rises in its exchange rate to the Dollar, with equally significant price crashes. The concept of stablecoins were introduced to address this issue. Stablecoins were tired to fiat currencies, but possessed all the advantages of cryptocurrency including near-instant transfers and smart contracts.

An emergent property of Smart Contracts was Decentralized Finance (DeFi), which allowed owners of cryptocurrencies to stake their crypto assets for others to borrow, and receive interest on their funds. Since crypto-assets were secured by Smart Contracts that automatically liquidated the loan on account of non-repayment or other contingencies, the lender was sure that the asset would be intact. This non-custodial lending scheme allowed for quick, flexible and secure use of funds for both the lender and the borrower.

The Libra Project

The increased flexibility of digital finance services was keenly being observed by several of the giant tech companies. In 2019, Facebook announced its own digital currency through a project called Libra. 

Libra, administered through a consortium of companies, would leverage the 1 billion+ users of Facebook platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, by instantly enabling these apps to carry out financial transactions. Libra was a stablecoin that would be tied to a fiat currency and stabilized by a basket of fiat currency deposits in regular  banks. Libra would offer instant digital inclusion for most of the world’s unbanked population. Any Facebook user could transfer funds or make borrowings for their businesses instantly using just their app.

The community that was most concerned about Libra was the national Central Banks of different countries. The Libra project, if implemented, would significantly benefit citizens of most countries, but would undermine the fiat currency of the country and the control that Central Banks exerted on the economy through the national monetary policy. In addition, Central Banks would have no control over Libra and a private company would be running a parallel economy in the country. In other words, Libra would be a shadow central bank for the world.

Consequently, the Libra project was put under intense regulatory scrutiny and is still being examined by the regulators of different countries. It is notable that several smaller countries have welcomed Libra as it would enable what their own central banks couldn’t do: provide digital financial inclusion for their citizens. In contrast, most large countries are determined not to let Libra operate.

However, most countries, whether small or large, realized that digital currencies such as Libra provided numerous benefits for the citizens. This led many countries to announce their own digital fiat currencies.

CBDCs

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are digital fiat currencies that are managed by the central bank of the country. CBDCs would be part of the monetary system of the country but would enable citizens to benefit from the flexibility of digital currencies. They would not be cryptocurrency (but may use blockchain to implement CBDCs).

Several countries have already announced their CBDCs including the People’s Bank of China, and the Sand Dollar of the Bahamas. Other countries are actively working on their CBDC. 

The Future

Digital Finance Technologies are in the process of transforming traditional finance, banking and monetary policy. CBDCs, when implemented by countries, will radically transform the backbone of finance by providing immutable records, zero-knowledge validations, and programmable platform services that may be automated and executed without human intervention. With tokenization, almost all financial assets can be transferred to the digital finance platforms, thus transforming banking and financial services.

IEEE Services 

The IEEE Blockchain Project (https://blockchain.ieee.org/) provides a number of blockchain and cryptocurrency-based services for members and enthusiasts. Services offered include educational and training resources, podcasts, videos and conferences.

About the Author

Satish Babu is a Free Software activist, early Internet advocate, and development professional based out of Kerala, India. He is the founding Director of the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), an autonomous academic/research institution of the Government of Kerala, India, where he worked from 2011 to 2015. He was earlier the CEO of South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies  (SIFFS), an NGO of small-scale artisanal fishers of south India; a co-founder and President of InApp Information Technologies; and is associated with international and national professional societies such as IEEE, Internet Society (ISOC), ICANN, and the Computer Society of India (CSI).

The post Innovations & Evolution in FinTech appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.

A decade back, as a mid career professional when IEEE Kochi was in its nascent stage, I was privileged to be a founding member. Little did I know then, what an incredibly fulfilling journey it would be.

Stepping up to be the Chair for Student Activities of IEEE Kerala Section was a turning point for me in 2012. I was able to see in first-hand the passion and enthusiasm the students and young professionals bring to activities. With many trials and errors along the way, I began to understand what went into organizing a good event and it laid a foundation to all of my future experiences with IEEE. I’m eternally grateful for the supportive ecosystem around me, especially senior mentors, my peers, YPs, students and extended family who guided me through the world of student activities and helped me grow ideas into memorable initiatives. A new governance system was introduced during that period and due to the great supportive system, never had to turn back.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky to volunteer in the leadership of  the section including Computer Society, Kochi Sub Section and WIE. During this time, I’m proud to brag that we achieved new levels of success with our initiatives together as a team. Some of my favourites in Computer Society includes the starting of AKCSC and Women in Computing series. Being passionate about tech and gender, I was interested especially in the areas where I can help in the issues of equity, representation, and access.  I am happy to share that I was a part of organising all major events of the section including Tensymp 2017, ILS 2018 and most prestigious Tencon 2019 among many others. The success of these events was exciting for different reasons.    

Looking back, my biggest takeaway from IEEE is that it gives you a strong network of peers, juniors and seniors passionate about technology and ready to explore it further. I got to experience the value of IEEE membership and how it upgraded my skills. In the technical arena, you are exposed to the cutting edge in your field, but the more subtle growth comes from engaging with your community and taking challenging responsibilities. It was incredibly rewarding to mentor the upcoming talents and see them climb the ladders of success in their own careers.  I am really proud of them and have great memories of our Sastra Vismaya programs.

It was definitely challenging to manage both personal life and a full fledged career with these responsibilities.  While it’s easy to pick out the highlights, I can also see a string of mistakes and learning made in my journey. Growth isn’t quick or easy and it doesn’t happen in your comfort zone. I met countless volunteers hailing from all parts of the world who are passionate about making a difference. I’m grateful today to call many of those people my good friends. 

I acknowledge my great family bond,  respecting who I am and helping me to flourish even though at times we disagree on priorities. 

I hope my journey gives you hope as you embark on yours….

#joyofvolunteering

About the Author

Dr. Mini Ulanat  is a Technology evangelist with a career spanning 30 years of experience in Software & infrastructural development, implementation and management of enterprise IT projects. She took her Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Govt. Engineering College Trichur  and Masters (M.Tech) and Ph.D (Computer Science)  from CUSAT. She is a recipient of several awards and accolades including three prestigious international fellowships – Chevening Fellowship(UK) , Fulbright scholarship (USA) and CICC Scholarship (Japan). As a part of the Information Resource Management team of Cochin University, She underwent training in Technical University Delft, The Netherlands. 

Active in Professional organisations, she holds leadership positions in the local, national and International committees. Dr. Mini is the WIE Committee member (2020). She is currently the chair of Women in Engineering (WIE), IEEE Kerala Section. Prior to that she was the chair- IEEE Kochi Subsection and Chair – Student Activities, IEEE Kerala Section. She is the Vice-Chair of Internet Society Trivandrum Chapter and Vice-Chair of ACM Kochi.  She was holding the post of National Student Coordinator of Computer Society of India (CSI). Dr. Mini was the Organising Chair of WIE International Leadership Summit (2018) and organising co-chair of Region 10 Flagship conferences Tencon 2019 and TenSymp 2017. Her off the job interest is evangelizing the Computer Culture with special emphasis on application of Information Technology for the common man. She is philanthropically engaged by supporting organizations working towards making a positive difference in the life of less privileged girls as a mentor and teacher. 

The post Discovering the joys of being an IEEE Volunteer appeared first on IEEE Kerala Young Professionals.