Message from the President

MESSAGE FROM THE 2007 CAS SOCIETY PRESIDENT*
The International Symposium on Circuits and System (ISCAS) 2007, the Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) flagship conference, celebrated its 40th birthday in New Orleans in May 2007. This was an occasion to attend the technical program, honor the recipients of the 2007 IEEE CAS Society Awards (individual awards, best paper awards, chapter of the year, and the new IEEE Fellows), meet colleagues, and dress up to take part in a traditional New Orleans Mardi Gras Ball. The award winners are listed on the CASS web page: http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/icss/2007_Awards.pdf. The General Chair, Prof. Magdy Bayoumi, and his outstanding team, delivered an excellent technical program and extended warm Louisiana hospitality to more than one thousand ISCAS 2007 participants. Leadership: The first meeting of the CASS Board of Governors (BoG) in 2007 was held in New Orleans in conjunction with ISCAS 2007 and was preceded by the Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting. This year, we have adopted a slightly different format for our meetings to facilitate and encourage open discussion on strategic issues and new initiatives. The BoG members adopted several changes to the CASS Constitution, Bylaws, and Policies and Procedures. The four CASS Divisions were renamed Technical, Conferences, Publications, and Regional Activities Divisions to reinforce their charter to discuss and prepare motions for approval by the BoG within the scope of their activity domains. Changes were also made in eligibility rules for various CASS individual awards to make the award process more transparent and inclusive. The Long-Term Strategy Committee, chaired by Prof. Thanos Stouraitis, proposed several initiatives related to strategic issues for the betterment of the Society. The Nominations Committee, led by Prof. Georges Gielen, is currently selecting nominees for the upcoming BoG and ExCom elections. Nominations that are received for new Editors-in-Chief (EiC) of our sponsored publications are currently evaluated by the ad-hoc EiC Evaluations Committee. Membership services: At the meeting in New Orleans, the CASS Board of Governors (BoG) approved several new initiatives for further development of regional activities and local chapters. CASS President-Elect, Prof. Maciej Ogorzalek, who oversees CASS membership development, plans to work with the Regional Activities Division to prepare a strategic five-year plan for membership development in Region 10 (Australia, Thailand, India, and China). Additional Society funding was allocated to Region 9 (Latin America) to support new chapters and facilitate their communications across widely separated geographic locations. We have also instituted the Best Student Paper Awards to be given at ISCAS and travel grants for student authors at CASS-sponsored conferences. CASS Past President, Dr. Ellen Yoffa, continues to lead the effort to identify CASS Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) members in each Region and encourage their participation in the Society’s governance. Prof. Wouter Serdijn leads the ad-hoc CASS Web Design Committee, whose mission is to migrate the Society web pages to a modern content management system with more relevant and enhanced services for our members. Dr. Tuna Tarim, the CASS Distinguished Lecturer Program (DLP) Chair, has introduced notable improvements to the program. The Society has allocated additional funds to the DLP to provide more support to local Chapters for hosting the speakers.

Technical excellence: The first issue of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, co-sponsored with the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), is now available. The editorial board is actively seeking and encouraging paper submissions. The VP Technical Activities, Prof. Joos Vandewalle, is working with the Technical Committee Chairs on a new initiative to establish rules and benchmarks for submitting reproducible research.
Collaboration with other IEEE Societies and Councils: At the BoG meeting in New Orleans, CASS representatives presented reports from the: Solid State Circuits Society (Dr. Domine Leeartes), Biotechnology Council (Prof. Yong Lian), Council on Electronic Design Automation (Prof. Georges Gielen), Nanotechnology Council (Dr. Wai-Chi Fang), Sensors Council (Prof. Orly Yadid-Pecht), System Council (Prof. Mario di Bernardo), Technology Management Council (Dr. Tuna Tarim), and the Women in Engineering Committee (Prof. Julia Chung). My invitation to all members is to provide feedback and suggestions, get involved in our Society, and take interest in its governance. The contact information for the CASS Executive Office and the names and contact information of CASS volunteers are located on our website (http://www.ieee-cas.org).

Ljiljana Trajkovic President, IEEE Circuits and Systems Society

*This article will also appear in a future issue of the IEEE CAS Magazine.