In Retrospect and Looking Forward

Message from the 2007 CAS Society President

• Leadership: The members of the CASS ExCom held their annual summer meeting in
  Seville, Spain in August 2007. It was co-located with the European Conference on
  Circuit Theory and Design (ECCTD) 2007. The CASS elections are being held for the
  incoming five new members of the BoG and the new members of the ExCom. The
  Nominations Committee, led by Prof. Georges Gielen, has selected a strong slate of
  nominees for the upcoming BoG and ExCom elections. The outcome of the BoG
  elections is due shortly, while the ExCom elections will close on November 1, 2007.
  Both election results will be ratified at the upcoming BoG meeting to be held in San
  Francisco on November 4, 2007. While a record 14.6% (1,444 returned ballots from
  9,875 eligible members) of the membership-at-large responded to the BoG elections, we
  hope that this number will increase in future elections. The Society is currently preparing
  for the five-year periodicals review, scheduled to be held during the IEEE Technical
  Activities Board (TAB) meetings in November 2007. The current Editors-in-Chief (EiCs)
  of the CASS Magazine and CASS Transactions and have compiled a detailed report to be
  presented to the TAB Periodicals Committee. The five-year Society review is scheduled
  to be held in February 2008.
• Membership services: The Regional Vice Presidents (VPs), Prof. Mani Soma (Regions 1–
  7), Prof. Peter Kennedy (Region 8), Prof. Pedro Julian (Region 9), and Prof. Yong Lian
  (Region 10), have contributed to the formation of four new CASS Chapters in the
  Republic of Macedonia (Region 8), South Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) (Region 9), and
  Calcutta, India and Nanjing, China (Region 10) Sections. As part of the continuing
  initiative led by CASS Past President, Dr. Ellen Yoffa, to engage CASS Graduates of the
  Last Decade (GOLD) members to participate in the Society’s governance, we have
  invited GOLD representatives from each CASS Region to attend the upcoming BoG
  meeting. In 2008, the CASS Distinguished Lecturer Program (DLP), Chaired by Dr. Tuna
  Tarim, will be enhanced by allocating additional funding to the program and increasing
  the number of DLP lectures. We are also participating in the IEEE mentorship program
  by inviting active CASS volunteers to join the initiative and by encouraging mentees to
  take advantage of the program. The ad-hoc CASS Web Design Committee, led by Prof.
  Wouter Serdijn, has embarked on the implementation phase of the new Society web
  pages. An open contest for a new Society logo has been announced to the membership.
  Please send us your logo design artwork by December 31, 2007.
• Technical excellence: We have received highly qualified nominations in response to the
  open call for (self)nominations for EiCs of the CASS Magazine and CASS Transactions. The ad-hoc EiC Evaluating Committee, composed of CASS VP Publications Prof. Franco
  Maloberti, VP Technical Activities Prof. Joos Vandewalle, Prof. Tony Davies, Prof. Peter
  Pirsch, and CASS President, recommended to the BoG the 2008–2009 editorial team:
  IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine: EiC Prof. Guanrong Chen; IEEE Transactions on
  Circuits and Systems–Part I: Regular Papers: EiC Prof. Gianluca Setti and Deputy EiC
  Prof. Wouter Serdijn; and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems–Part II: Express
  Briefs: EiC Prof. Un-Ku Moon and Deputy EiC Prof. Tony Chan Carusone. The IEEE
  Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology EiC Prof. Chang Wen Chen
  and Deputy EiC Prof. Hamid Gharavi will continue their appointments for a second term.
  The incoming EiCs are currently assembling their editorial boards and are working to
  ensure smooth and seamless transitions. In closing the work, the EiC Evaluating
  Committee has also devised and submitted to the BoG a set of selection guidelines. The
  VP Technical Activities, Prof. Joos Vandewalle, is organizing a one-day workshop on
  “Views, Experience, and Prospects for Education in Circuits and Systems” to be held in
  conjunction with ISCAS 2008.
• Collaboration with other IEEE Societies and Councils: The CASS Technical Committee
  (TC) on Life-Science Systems and Applications (LISSA) is organizing the third
  workshop co-sponsored by IEEE and the National Institute of Health’s Biomedical
  Information Science and Technology Initiative, to be held in November 2007. Jointly
  with the TC on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, they are also collaborating with the
  Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and participating in their newly
  established Special Interest Group (SIG) on Bio and Health Sciences.