EMC Society President Todd Hubing (center) attended the EMC Europe 2002 conference in Sorrento, Italy. While there, he had the opportunity to personally present some EMC Society awards. Salvatore Celozzi (left) from the University of Rome, "La Sapienza," received the Certificate of Technical Achievement for outstanding contributions to the EMC Society especially in the field of shielding and transmission line theory applied to printed circuit boards. Flavio Canavero (right) from the Politecnico di Torino received the Certificate of Appreciation for his contributions as Guest Editor for the Transactions on EMC special issue on "Recent Advances in EMC of Printed Circuit Boards." For more information on EMC Europe 2002, click here.

Despite international conflicts and the lackluster performance of the global economy, interest in EMC seems to be at an all-time high. The Technical Program Committee for the 2003 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Istanbul, Turkey received 500 paper submissions. This is a remarkable accomplishment given that this symposium follows two very successful European EMC symposia in Sorrento and Zurich. The 2003 IEEE EMC Symposium in Boston this August also promises to be one of our largest, most well attended events ever.
What's responsible for this sudden surge in interest? One theory is that the slowing of the economy has allowed EMC engineers to devote more time to professional development activities such as research, education, writing publications and attending conferences. Another theory suggests that the recent emphasis on fighting terrorism has caused more people to take an interest in EMC. It's not clear to what extent either of these theories is correct, but the rising interest in the work of EMC engineers is undeniable.
In November, the IEEE EMC Society Board of Directors met in sunny Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm not sure if it was the pleasant climate, the wonderful food, the gracious hosts or something else; but for some reason we held one of our most productive meetings ever. Among the many things we accomplished were the approval of several new Distinguished Lecturers, selection of a symposium location for our 50th anniversary, and the election of new officers.
While we were in Sao Paulo, the Board co-hosted a workshop with the South Brazil EMC Chapter in cooperation with ABRICEM (an industry EMC association in Brazil). We were also treated to a tour of INPE, Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. I had a chance to meet EMC engineers from all over South America, and the level of EMC-related activity taking place there is impressive. The EMC profession would benefit from improved communication with EMC engineers in South America. The IEEE EMC Society is working to establish additional chapters and increase membership in that region.
The IEEE EMC Society has three new Distinguished Lecturers. Michel Ianoz, Bruce Archambeault and Chris Kendall join existing Distinguished Lecturers Keith Hardin and Cheung-Wei Lam for 2003. Each of these lecturers has many years of experience dealing with a variety of EMC problems and each of them is an excellent speaker. I hope that your chapter or organization will take advantage of the opportunity to have one of these speakers give a talk at an upcoming meeting.
The IEEE EMC Society was first established in 1957 as the Professional Group on Radio Frequency Interference, one of several Professional Groups of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE). We are planning a very special symposium in 2007 to celebrate our 50th anniversary. The 2007 IEEE International Symposium on EMC will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii and it will feature several sessions, exhibits and events designed to commemorate 50 years of EMC. Dan Hoolihan is chairing our 50th Anniversary Committee and Janet O'Neil will be the chair of the 2007 symposium. If you have ideas that you would like to contribute, or if you would like to volunteer to participate in the planning of this event, please contact Dan or Janet.
As of January 2003, the IEEE EMC Society Board of Directors has a new slate of officers. Kimball Williams, of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., is the new President-Elect and will become the Society's new President in 2004. Warren Kesselman was re-elected as Society Treasurer and Janet O'Neil, of ETS Lindgren, was re-elected as Secretary. The Society has three new Vice Presidents. Ghery Pettit, of Intel Corporation, is the new Vice President for Communication Services. Elya Joffe, of KTL Project Engineering, is the new Vice President for Conferences. John Norgard, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, is the new Vice President for Technical Services. Also, Andrew Drozd, of Andro Consulting Services, was re-elected as Vice President for Member Services and Don Heirman, of Don Heirman Consultants, was re-elected as Vice President for Standards. Congratulations to all the newly elected and re-elected officers. EMC