IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine - Q1 2022 - 6

capacities are directly proportional to the activities
that take place locally. The creation, rejuvenation and/
or expansion of our chapters should look for cooperative
scenarios with the organization of joint events between
chapters/branches (even from other Societies) so
that those more active can lead the way to others which
remain almost dormant. The engagement of local Industry
in chapter activities is also a fundamental tool not
only to increase the visibility of the CAS Society but also
to showcase the application of circuits and systems in
quite diverse socioeconomic scenarios.
Member Recognition
Throughout 2021, CASS has been hosting specific sessions
at flagship conferences to encourage our IEEE
members to raise their grades to senior members. In
the same vein, CASS will also host conference panels
to increase the number of nominations for elevation to
IEEE Fellows.
CASS Awards also need some adjustments. Based
on the feedback received from evaluators, some of the
award descriptions are not completely clear and there
are overlaps in the merits to be honored. Accordingly,
changes are needed to recognize the different types of
contributions to the CAS Society. Prof. Amara, in his capacity
as Chairman of the Awards Committee and based
on the works done by Prof. Lian, will soon coordinate
efforts to make the appropriate adjustments in the judging
basis of each award so that the selection criteria are
clearly differentiated. Additionally, a new JETCAS Best
Paper Award will be created to recognize the best works
submitted to this journal with more than 10 years history.
Publications
CAS governance must provide the means to make our
Society a core value provider in the global community of
circuit and systems professionals, and it is a priority to
efficiently address the challenges affecting our society
today. From this point of view, the relevance and quality
of CASS publications depend on how well they represent
and anticipate the ever-changing trends and technical
needs of our scientific field; a particularly relevant aspect
for our Industry members. JETCAS, for special issues
on emerging topics, and the CAS Magazine, for impactful
tutorials, are excellent tools to explore and test
out trends; but, not only this, the adaptation to rapid
topical changes should be made permeable to the other
Transactions in our portfolio. This demands that EDICS
are periodically revisited by our Technical Committees
and eventually updated.
Without a doubt, the most reliable source of information
to evaluate any present or future initiative is to get the
opinion of the members to whom the services are directed.
I look forward to hearing your ideas, concerns,
and suggestions (in fact, I am considering conducting a
survey to receive your feedback).
As a final note, CASS is moving forward thanks to the
many volunteers who work for the benefit of the community
at all levels of the organization, including chapters,
committees, conferences, and many more. I would like
to sincerely thank their efforts to make CASS a better
Society. If you are not yet a volunteer but are willing to
join us, you are more than welcome. Every helping hand
is useful to take CASS to the next level of excellence.
Wishing you and your family health and happiness
in 2022.
From a more operational point of view, it is priority
to correct the excessive backlog shown by some of our
Journals despite the notable efforts of their editorial
boards to speed up the review process. My purpose is
to increase the page budget on these Transactions and
reduce their time to final publication.
Conferences
Unfortunately, talking about conferences inevitably leads
to talking about the impact of the pandemic. CASS will
maintain conferences in which the Society sponsorship
is greater than 50% either virtual or hybrid. The CASS
governance is fully aware of the difficulties of organization
and participation that this scenario entails and the
Conference Division will assist the organizers and steering
committees in preserving the quality of the events.
Further, CASS will continue to support our flagship
conferences by providing free of charge platforms for
online participation... Anyway, I hope that throughout
this term we can begin to cautiously embrace the possibility
of face-to-face conferences with all participants
in place.
Technically-focused workshops or medium-sized
symposia in emerging areas with high market projection
have also proven to be valuable tools for fostering interaction
between researchers. They have spawned successful
international conferences (e.g., AICAS) or even
provided the breeding ground for new journal publications
(e.g., FoodCAS). Definitively, this approach, potentially
more suitable for virtual participation than large
conferences, should be promoted for other disciplines
with the support of the CASS Technical Committees and
Special Interest Groups.
6
IEEE CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
FIRST QUARTER 2022
IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine - Q1 2022

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