As Iwrite my first President’s Message for the Newsletter, I’m sitting at an airport gate in St. Louis. I missed my flight after waiting over an hour to pass through airport security. The world has changed in the past six months. Heightened security and concerns about terrorist attacks have caused all of us to rethink the way we do things. Countries around the world have declared a “war” against terrorism. EMC engineers will play an important role in this war.

As someone who has worked on the EM compatibility of commercial aircraft, I am reassured to know that the plane I will eventually be flying on is not susceptible to strong EM pulses or to the fields produced by most commercial or military radio transmitters. However, it is a little disconcerting to know that someone familiar with the plane and its electrical systems could easily build a transmitter capable of interfering with those systems. The same vulnerability can be found in helicopters, trucks, automobiles, communications networks and anything else controlled electronically.

In the coming year, more EMC engineers will find themselves working on the design of systems that are less susceptible to intentional EM disturbances. This will require the development of new design methodologies, new measurement techniques and new test standards. The IEEE EMC Society will play a significant role in this effort. Stay tuned.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Joe Butler, the immediate past-president of the IEEE EMC Society. Joe worked hard for the Society during his two-year term and provided excellent leadership. Thanks largely to his efforts and the efforts of hundreds of other volunteers; the EMC Society is larger, more global, more organized and more productive than ever before. We’re fulfilling our primary mission to serve the field of electromagnetic compatibility by sponsoring conferences, publications, standards and a wide variety of projects designed to inform, educate and promote communication between EMC engineers and the rest of the world.

You may have noticed that the newsletter is thicker, more colorful and has more technical content than it did just two years ago. Janet O’Neil, Bob Olsen and others have worked hard to produce a publication that is both informative and entertaining. Marcello D’Amore, Flavio Canavero and their team of editors have invested a great deal of effort to improve the value of the IEEE EMC Transactions to our members. They have implemented an electronic submission and review process that promises to significantly reduce publication delays without sacrificing the quality of the published papers.

If you’ve been to an annual IEEE EMC Symposium lately, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that this has become a major event. In addition to a strong technical papers program, the annual symposium offers a huge EMC exhibition, software and laboratory demonstrations, tutorials, workshops, live entertainment and the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with over a thousand EMC professionals. Although many volunteers contribute to the ultimate success of any given symposium, Henry Ott and Barry Wallen are the people who ultimately ensure that things go smoothly year after year.

It’s not possible to acknowledge everyone who devotes a significant fraction of his or her lives to the activities of the EMC Society in one Newsletter column. However, I’ve still got seven more to write as President, so I’ll try to point out as many as I can in future columns.

On a final note, we were all saddened to learn of the passing of Don Bush in December. Don was a prominent member of the EMC community and a friend of mine since the days (many years ago) when we were both EMC engineers at IBM. Don contributed to the success of countless products and helped to educate many new EMC engineers. He was a kind person and will be missed by all who were privileged to know him.

EMC