IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - January 2023 - 103

Willett
Dale: I was first elected to the IEEEAESSBoG in 1998 and I
have since served four 6-year terms. So, yes, I have been
heavily involved in the AES Society for more than 24 years.
In fact, I recruited you to be a member ofthe AESS BoG. My
involvement in the AES BoG has focused on publications
and I served as VP for Publications for two years. I consider
my most significant contribution to AESS publications to be
the move of the AES Magazine from reprinting conference
papers and society news to publishing original high quality
magazine articles and tutorials. Today, AESMagazine has an
impact factor near 3. This is amazing, and it took over 10
years to accomplish.
Based on my interactions with Merrill Skolnik and
Yaakov, I recognized the need for historical interviews of
the technical leaders in our field of aerospace and electronic
systems. So, I imitated AES historical interviews
and conducted the first historical interview with Dave
Dobson. I pushed for our quarterly e-mail blast to keep
our readers informed on AESS activities.
I have also been involved in the organizing committee
for many ofthe IEEE Radar Conferences. In 2001, Bill Melvin
and I initiated the first student paper contest at the radar
conference as part of encouraging university faculty to
involve their students in the radar conference. Today, the
student paper contests are a highlight of the radar conferences.
I served as the Conference Co-Chair with Joe Bruder for
the 2012 IEEE Radar Conference in Atlanta. In 2021, I
served as the Technical Program Co-Chair with Fabiola
Colone.
No caption could do justice to these.
I consider my most significant contribution to the TAES
improving the scholarship or academic standing of
the transactions. I pushed for raising the peer review
standards and accountability ofthe technical/associate editors.
I also pushed for editors with a proven publication
record. I moved the peer review process for T-AES to a
web-based system that supported the need for accountability
of the editors. Of course, I involved Lance Kaplan and
you in the editorial board for T-AES. Both of you eventually
served as very good EICs for T-AES. Today, T-AES
has an impact factor over 3.
Peter: You have long been involved with the AES Society,
as VP Publications, EIC, and overall, as a quiet voice
meekly pointing out good and bad policy decisions. Have
you enjoyed yourself? Are there any incidents you would
like to recall for us?
JANUARY 2023
Peter: Same thing for the International Society for Information
Fusion (ISIF), which hosts the annual " FUSION " conference
and for which you were one ofthe founders.
Dale: I was not one ofthe founders ofISIF, but I was involved
in the early days. I served as VP for Conferences for ISIF for
many years. In fact, in 2002, I served as the Steering Chair for
the International Conference on Information (ICIF) and that
was the first year that the conference was self-sustaining. By
that, I mean that it was the first year that the conference paid all
of its expenses without a large grant from a private company.
Since that year, the FUSION conference has shown a small
profitwith one exception, 2011, when DarinDunhammanaged
to lose about $10k. [Note from interviewer: I was Emeritus
Chair that year, so blame me too. Still, it was a very nice
conference.]
While serving as VP for Publications, I was also the
founding EIC for the ISIF Journal on Advances in Information
Fusion (JAIF). I served as EIC from 2005 to 2013.
Since 2014, I have served as VP for Publications overseeing
the operations of JAIF and encouraging the initiation of
newmagazine, ISIF Perspectives on Information Fusion.
As Award Chair for ISIF, I initiated the Yaakov BarShalom
Award for a Lifetime of Excellence in Information
Fusion. Of course, the first recipient was Yaakov BarIEEE
A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
103
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - January 2023

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