December 2014

The Machine Learning for Signal Processing Technical Committee (MLSP TC) is involved with activities that support the use of Machine Learning techniques for Signal Processing problems. The scope of this TC is fairly wide, ranging from traditional machine learning and pattern recognition, to approaches that combine material from both disciplines. Under the scope of the MLSP TC we find areas such as source separation, graphical and kernel methods for time-series, Bayesian non-parametrics, and matrix and tensor factorizations among many more.

The complexity we are involved in, nowadays, is the result of the very fast changing of the world scenario from the point of view of social life, economy, shortage of resources, etc. Internet and social networks, a kind of virtual cyber-skin embracing the planet, have tightly interconnected people, infrastructures and economic systems. All these changes have been fostered by technology innovation and we can only expect, due to the pace of technology innovation, that more changes are to come.

In this series, we introduce topics outside of the signal processing world from which we believe signal processing researchers and practitioners can benefit. This month, we report on a special issue on "Theoretical Foundations of Evolutionary Computation" published  by the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.

The signal processing chapter of the IEEE Singapore Section was founded by me in 1989 with over twenty petitioners. It was established first as a special interest group in 1988 and subsequently in 1989 it was upgraded to the chapter status.

The IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) announced the 2015 Class of Distinguished Lecturers. Five colleagues were honored and they are: Hynek Hermansky (Johns Hopkins University); Visa Koivunen (Aalto University); Hamid Krim (North Carolina State University); Jean-Christophe Olivo-Marin (Institut Pasteur); and Min Wu (University of Maryland).

During the last couple of months, a few new Signal Processing and Machine Learning contests were initiated. Some of the ongoing ones with a strong relation to Signal Processing include:

The IEEE Internet of Things Initiative (IoT) announced it has launched its new IEEE IoT eNewsletter, a bi-monthly online publication highlighting important global IoT-related technology developments, innovations, and trends from the world's top-subject matter experts, researchers, and industry practitioners. The IEEE IoT eNewsletter is provided as a benefit of becoming a member of the complimentary IEEE IoT Technical Community, which anyone actively involved or interested in IoT can join at no charge.

TryEngineering.org, IEEE’s online engineering education resource for pre-university educators, parents, and students, is now available in a new mobile-friendly format. Visitors can now access the TryEngineering content they love, anywhere, any time, on virtually any device including desktops, tablets, and smart phones.

The IEEE Signal Processing Society Malaysia Chapter has been selected as the fourth recipient of the 2014 Chapter of the Year Award!

IEEE Meetings, Conferences and Events introduces RegOnline, a new affordable event registration software option. RegOnline is a low-cost, do-it-yourself system that is simple and easy to manage for small scale events.

Conference organizers who have budget constraints can utilize all of the features and benefits of this do-it-yourself event registration option at a reasonable price.