Message from the IEEE SPS VP-Conferences

Wan-Chi Siu
SPS Vice President - Conferences

Twenty-eight years ago, in March 1984, a less experienced electronic engineer, new to the signal processing community, attended his first ICASSP in San Diego, USA. More than two decades later that young man became the General Chair for ICASSP 2003 and then ICIP 2010.

The first day at his first ICASSP, he was excited and impressed by the high quality and professional presentations and posters. It was a life changing event for him and many young researchers from all over the world. Then to be honored with the Chairmanship for two of the Society’s most well-known conferences, that was a career changing event. Now, that young engineer has become the Vice President-Conferences for the IEEE Signal Processing Society. This is a true story, readers. I can vouch for its veracity personally – I was that excited engineer. And I was very glad I did attend ICASSP that first time and have missed very few since then. I have met some great people at every SPS conference I have attended, several of whom to this day I call my friends and speak to regularly. I must also give a vote of thanks to my predecessor, Prof. V. John Mathews, who led the Conference Board of the Signal Processing Society fantastically with great success and a harmonious atmosphere. The Society has changed over the years, but the high-quality technical program and the collaboration and networking at its conferences are getting better each year.

The past year has been the most extraordinary time for the IEEE Signal Processing Society that I have ever seen in my entire career. That said, the past is merely prologue. We are just at the beginning of a period of change, changes that hold great promise for the Society, the scientific community and for humanity.

But great changes can also bring great risks. Navigating successfully through this period of change will, more than ever before, require decisions based on observation, dedication and determination. We must raise the bar for our conferences and re-focus our energies on our leading-edge technologies and other research trends.

ICASSP and ICIP for example have established itself as the pre-eminent conferences for signal processing. I look forward to building on that success and growing both the membership base and conference offerings for the Society. But to do so, I will need your help.

I hope that, in my new capacity as VP-Conferences, I will not only sustain but enhance my existing relationships with all of the friends, colleagues and members I have been privileged to know in my career. I also hope to make many new friends in this new role.

Over the next few weeks, in advance of ICASSP 2012 in Kyoto, Japan, and at the conference itself, I hope to identify areas for improvements to existing SPS conferences and listen to your ideas on potential new ones as part of my charge to broaden and upgrade current conference offerings.

While I have some ideas, I want the voice of the members to drive these decisions. Please send me your ideas to enwcsiu@polyu.edu.hk, and please join me at ICASSP 2012. I look forward to speaking with you.

Thank you. It’s truly an honor to be here and a privilege to serve the Society that has served me so well for almost 35 years.

For interested IEEE Signal Processing Society Conference Organizers and Professional Conference Organizers, please see more related articles from the website of the IEEE SPS - Conference Organizer Newsletter.

If you are interested in contributing an article or knowing more about the team, please contact the IEEE SPS Conference Organizer Newsletter Team members:

. Wan-Chi Siu, Vice President-Conferences
(enwsiu AT polyu.edu.hk)
. Lisa D. Schwarzbek, Manager Conference Services
(l.schwarzbek AT ieee.org)
. Nicole Allen, Conference Services Coordinator-Technology
((n.allen AT ieee.org).

Highlights of the current February 2012 issue of the SPS Conference Organizer Newsletter:

. Meeting Planning in Difficult Economic Times

. Plagirism - The Threat to Quality

. PDF eXpress Step-by-Step