Reflections on the Poland Chapter Celebration

My end of term as IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) president is fast approaching. It has been an incredible experience that has provided me with so many opportunities to engage with our members around the globe, forge relationships with other IEEE Societies, and meet a diverse range of people that I hope will become active members of our Society in the future. It has been a great privilege to be at the helm of a Society that garners such a high level of worldwide respect and recognition. It has also provided me with the chance to learn, identify the challenges we still face, anticipate future challenges, and work to find solutions that will make our Society, and the world, a better place.

The SPS has a unique dual role. We strive to grow and advance technological innovation and problem-solve at the scientific level—from the bench to the applications of these technologies in the real world. We need to be mindful that our scientific pursuits don’t exist in a vacuum, that they have many social, political, and ethical implications, and that their very existence is often shaped by an uneven playing field—for scientists that are isolated within their research silos or by geopolitical events, for women and ethnic minorities, for citizens of so-called low-income countries, and for young people with economic or cultural restraints.

Our Society has made many strides to level that playing field by providing many initiatives to grow and diversify our membership. I’ve discussed these initiatives in my past messages, and I’ll detail some recent programs below, but there are still many questions that require novel solutions.