The IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) has been awarded the 2026 EAB Society Council/Professional Development Award. Presented by the IEEE Educational Activities Board, SPS is recognized "for establishing a comprehensive lifelong learning ecosystem in signal processing, encompassing extensive digital resource repositories, professional webinars, certified courses, global pre-university partnerships, and multi-continental media outreach serving learners at all career stages."                                                                                                                                          

A Global Framework for Lifelong Learning

In 2020, SPS established a dedicated Educational Board and governance model consisting of five committees and three subcommittees, each focused on a core dimension of professional growth: resource curation, content production, conference education, community engagement, and outreach and visibility. This framework ensures that educational programming is coordinated, scalable, and internationally accessible.

World‑Class Digital Library

At the heart of this ecosystem is the SPS Resource Center, a vast repository of roughly 16,000 educational assets, including more than 10,000 individually curated, classified, and tagged items. In December 2025, SPS expanded this foundation with the launch of the Education Center, a curated catalog maintained by an international Editorial Board spanning speech, imaging, machine learning, and communications. The platform debuted with 179 expert‑selected items, drawing from the Resource Center, the IEEE Learning Network, SPS YouTube, and the SPS podcast.

Unparalleled Learning Opportunities: Webinars, Short Courses, and Certified Training

SPS’s webinar program has become a global fixture, delivering 302 sessions featuring contributions from Technical Committees across machine learning, computational imaging, signal processing theory, and integrated sensing and communication. 

“Our innovational approach to offering relevant and reputable sources of educational content was to look at our successful published journal articles,” says Bill Colacchio, Director, Publications & Education Strategy and Services. "Using Xplore analytics, we identified the top 25 most highly cited or popular articles in our ten journals, developed a congratulatory letter from SPS’ VP Publications to the authors of those articles, and invited them to engage with SPS in leveraging their content into a webinar, technical post, or both.”

“We had a tremendous response to that outreach,” says Bill. “Authors are very happy to continue to promote their work, so from the 250 lead authors we contacted, more than half responded positively, and our webinars grew exponentially!” Bill added that the live webinars are free for everyone, and the articles are made publicly open and available for 48 hours.

SPS also pioneered professionally edited, IEEE‑certified short courses—four multi‑hour offerings designed for both academic and industry audiences. With more than 140 SPS entries contributed to the IEEE Learning Network and steadily increasing revenue, demand for structured, high‑quality training continues to grow. These efforts are complemented by the Distinguished Lecturer and Industry Speaker Programs, ensuring access to expert instruction at every career stage.

Pre‑University Outreach and Hands‑On Learning

Through a strategic partnership with IEEE TryEngineering, SPS has built a robust pre‑university outreach portfolio. Annual STEM Outreach Grants have supported programs in India, Nigeria, Tunisia, Malaysia, Costa Rica, and Greece—engaging thousands of students and hundreds of teachers.

SPS also developed a Signal Processing Collection Page, an eBook, an overview video, and the Bright Beats Challenge, a classroom activity created with MathWorks and micro:bit that teaches students to convert light and image data into music using signal processing.

Forward Thinking Programs to Engage the Larger Community

To broaden engagement, SPS launched the “Our Digital Life” podcast, introduced Expert‑to‑Non‑Expert (ETON) Talks, created an AI Education Panel series, and established a MicroMentoring Experience Program at flagship conferences. Together, these initiatives ensure that professional development reaches learners from pre‑university classrooms to seasoned practitioners.

SPS’s educational programming—spanning digital resources, certified training, outreach, and community programming—has reshaped how the global signal processing community learns, collaborates, and grows. 

“Our members place continuing education at the top of their benefits priorities,” says Richard Baseil, Executive Director of the Signal Processing Society. “This insight inspired a long-term effort to refine and expand our educational offerings, creating the rich collection of learning resources available today, including webcasts, podcasts, tutorials, short courses, recorded conference presentations, and more.”

At the heart of SPS’s educational programs are Michelle Demydenko, Education Program Manager, and Nanette Januszkiewicz, Society Peer Review & Education Program Administrator, who manage the development and delivery of the Society’s educational programs. A special thank you goes to Dr. Roxana Saint-Nom, Immediate Past Vice President of Education. Her leadership and guidance have helped strengthen and expand the program over the years.