The IEEE Signal Processing Society invites nominations for the 2016 Class of SPS Distinguished Lecturers (DLs). Per the Board of Governors’ motion, besides appointing the usual five Distinguished Lecturers, this year the Society will also appoint a special Distinguished Lecturer in the area of Signal Processing and Machine Learning or Data Science for a two-year term. The special Distinguished Lecturer position will be available for a period of four years, so we will appoint a sixth Distinguished Lecturer in 2015 and again in 2017, explicitly in the areas of Signal Processing and Machine Learning or Data Science. This will provide the Society with a Distinguished Lecturer in Signal Processing and Machine Learning or Data Science for four years from 2016 through 2019. The special Distinguished Lecturer should be taken into consideration when making your nomination. The deadline for nominations is 31 May 2015. The nomination form can be found online at this link, along with the current list of DLs and other general information about the program. Each year, up to ten (10) technically diverse and geographically dispersed individuals serve as IEEE Signal Processing Society Distinguished Lecturers. Up to five (5) new individuals are appointed each year, and their formal term of appointment is two calendar years. The nomination and selection process is handled by the Society’s Awards Board with the eventual concurrence of the Board of Governors. The SP Society's Distinguished Lecturer Program provides means for chapters to have access to individuals who are well known educators and authors in the fields of signal processing, to lecture at Chapter meetings. While many IEEE Societies have similar programs, the SPS provides financial support for the SPS Chapters to take advantage of the service. The Society provides an allotment up to $3,500 per SPS Chapter annually to use towards scheduling Society appointed Distinguished Lecturers or other invited speakers, provided they are pre-approved by the Chapters Coordinator. More details regarding speaker expenses and how to request a speaker can be found here. The current guidelines for the SPS Distinguished Lecturer are as follows: The candidates should be individuals of distinction who are members of the IEEE and of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, who are recognized experts in their fields of endeavor, and who are capable of delivering a message of importance to the technical community, as well as to the Society’s members organized in chapters around the world. Nominations should be submitted to Theresa Argiropoulos (t.argiropoulos@ieee.org), who will collect the nominations on behalf of Jose' M. F. Moura, Awards Board Chair. When making your nomination, please provide the following information:

• Name of candidate, affiliation, title, contact information;
• brief biography or web page; information about current SP, IEEE, or other Society activities;
• the preferred geographic coverage of the lectures, lecture topics;
• and a succinct statement supporting the nomination.

DL nominations must be received no later than 31 May 2015. A list of 2014 Distinguished Lecturers (with term 1 Jan. 2014 to 31 Dec. 2015) and a list of 2015 Distinguished Lecturers (with term 1 Jan. 2015 to 31 Dec. 2016) can be found here. A list of SPS upcoming DL lectures can be found at this page.