Innovation Starts With Education: ICASSP 2019 Education Panel

The anniversary of a number of significant signal processing algorithms from the 1960s, including the least mean square algorithm and the Kalman filter, provided an opportunity at ICASSP 2019 to reflect on the links between education and innovation. This led ultimately to the proposal of some special sessions as well a panel session that would provide some insight, via a historical perspective, consideration of the current status, and an assessment of the emerging educational future.

The panel was organized by Prof. Mónica F. Bugallo (Stony Brook University), Prof. Andreas Spanias (Arizona State University), Prof. Danilo Mandic (Imperial College), and Prof. Petar Djurić (Stony Brook University) and was moderated by Prof. Victor Solo (University of New South Wales, Sydney) and Prof. Maria Sabrina Greco (University of Pisa). The discussion was part of a special program “Celebrating Signal Processing Education” and consisted of this 90-min forum and two special sessions: “Half a Century of Adaptive and Statistical Signal Processing Education” and “Traditional and Emerging Signal Processing Teaching Practices.”

The panel, with six discussants (Figure 1), was preceded by presentations of best student paper awards and best education paper awards and was well attended, with about 200 people. The two complementary sessions also drew many people—approximately 125 each. (See the “Conference Highlights” column article on page 127 in this issue for more on these sessions.)