Geographical Span

IEEE refers to all of its various volunteer-operated groups as “Organizational Units” (OUs.)

OUs may be structured as technical, geographical, or social entities.

The Washington Section is a geographical OU formed for the purpose of supporting and funding the various IEEE OUs (Technical Chapters, Affinity Groups, Student Branches) and their members within its boundaries.

  • IEEE Region 2 (R2) is one of the 6 IEEE Regions in the US.
    R1 Northeast, R2 East, R3 South, R4 Central, R5 South, R6 West
  • IEEE R2 has 4 Areas holding 20 Sections
    • R2 East (Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Delaware Bay)
    • R2 West (Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Lima, Youngstown)
    • R2 Central (Central PA, Erie, Johnstown, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Susquehanna)
    • R2 South (Baltimore, Northern Virginia and Washington)

The Washington and Northern VA Sections together form the National Capital Area of IEEE.

The Washington Section comprises

  • Washington DC
  • 6 Maryland counties (Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Washington County)
  • 7 West Virginia counties (Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan)

DC and each of the Maryland counties in the Section border on and include the Potomac River.  (Garrett County, MD and Allegheny County, MD  also border on and include the Potomac but they are not in the Section.)

Six of our seven West Virginia counties also border on the Potomac River. Hardy County, WV, is quite rural and has no river borders.  The seven WV counties form the eastern-most portion of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.

So to understand the extent of our Section, a better descriptive name would recognize that, except for Hardy County WV, each of our jurisdictions may be defined by its adjacency to the left-hand descending shoreline of the Potomac River. Perhaps we should recognize this riparian proximity to the Potomac and more properly be named the “Potomac Section”.

The Washington Section is very close partners (both geographically and organizationally) to the Northern Virginia Section. Together we sponsor many joint technical, social, and educational events.