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 appeared in CAS Magazine vol. 7, no. 4.