IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine - July 2020 - 7

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2020.2997167

Editorial:

Message From AESS President

ast December, when I wrote my first welcome message as the President of the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society
(AESS) for 2020-2021 to readers of SYSTEMS Magazine, I had no idea that the future course of events would turn out so
differently than what I expected. Probably the same could be said for most of you. The COVID-19 pandemic came
suddenly, and it rapidly changed our lives for the time being in some ways and perhaps permanently in others. Let us
examine what has changed and what we have learned from these circumstances.
Since mid-March, travel has been greatly restricted. IEEE issued instructions that volunteers should not travel or make
future travel reservations until further notice. It is difficult to predict when these restrictions will be removed. For now, we
must rely on video conferencing, online meetings, and webinars to conduct most of our conferences, meetings, and other
activities. Your IEEE membership benefits include access to the IEEE Collabratec integrated, online community and its suite
of productivity tools to facilitate collaboration and networking during this time of physical separation. Now is a good time to
try it out.
Face-to-face meetings and gatherings in large numbers are discouraged. Consequently, IEEE meetings and conferences
have either been cancelled, postponed, or converted to virtual events. Fortunately, the Aerospace Conference took place in
March at Big Sky as originally planned and the International Radar Conference quickly converted to a virtual event in April.
The Systems Security Symposium has been postponed until July/August and will be conducted as a virtual event.
AUTOTESTCON 2020 has been cancelled. The IEEE Radar Conference is scheduled to be held in Florence, Italy, in
September. DASC is scheduled to be held in San Antonio, TX, USA, in October. These and other future conferences could
convert to virtual events if necessary. Our favorable experience with virtual events thus far suggests that future conferences
should consider blending some elements of remote participation. Nevertheless, we look forward to the time that we can
resume physical gatherings, as it lends to the conference experience.
During these trying times, AESS cares about you, our members. Our focus is always on providing quality products and
services that are useful to you. We recognize that public health concerns and attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19 have
caused businesses to close or revise operations, leading to job losses or furloughs for some and work-from-home assignments
for others. This disruption in employment has stimulated demand for job placement, training, and assistance in developing
new skills to adapt to working remotely. Over the last few years, AESS initiated several educational and professional
development products and services to support our members in ways that are quite valuable right now. These initiatives
include our distinguished lectures, tutorials, short courses, professional networking and mentoring program, video lectures,
and on-demand technical training available through the AESS Resource Center. AESS received the 2019 IEEE Educational
Activities Board Society Professional Development Award for our efforts to support to our members in the areas of lifelong
learning, continuing education, and professional development. I encourage you to take advantage of these valuable AESS
member benefits to help you adapt and grow professionally.
I also hope that you remain safe and healthy.
Walt Downing
IEEE Life Senior Member
AESS President (2020-2021)

0885-8985/20/$26.00 ß 2020 IEEE
JULY 2020

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine - July 2020

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