Introducing SPM's New Team of Area Editors: Part 1

This past summer, Prof. Robert Heath Jr. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine’s (SPM’s) former editor-in-chief, stressed to me how important it is to include a strong team of scientists on the magazine’s editorial board. It is especially important for area editors and members of the senior editorial board, but also associate editors for columns and forums as well as the e-Newsletter. In his November 2020 editorial in SPM, he pointed out how important all the editorial board members were [1]. In particular, the tasks of area editors strongly depend on the categories: special issue articles, feature articles, columns and forums, social media and outreach, or e-Newsletter. Thus, in addition to being recognized scientists, the area editors’ profiles can be very different from one another.

For feature articles or special issues, the profile is a senior scientist with areas of interest in various domains of signal and image processing. Of course, these area editors also benefit from the broad expertise of the members of the senior editorial board. Conversely, the profile of an area editor for social media and outreach is a scientist, probably younger, who uses social networks (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and so on) in her/his own activities. The area editor for the e-Newsletter, with help of a team of associate editors, is in charge of keeping IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) members engaged each month. They post short news columns regarding the most recent technological SPS developments and stories about members, especially students (including postdoctoral students). The profile of this area editor must be open to public relations.