IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2021 - 7

Josaphat Sumantyo, the GRSS Instrumentation and Future
Technologies Technical Committee, and Arifin Nugroho,
chair of the GRSS Indonesian Chapter. Thanks also for keynote
presentations provided by GRSS Administrative Committee
(AdCom) members Alberto Moreira and Paul Rosen.
Next, I would like to announce that in September, GRSS
selected the proposing team from Brisbane, Australia, to
host IGARSS 2025, which is now planned for early August
2025. Congratulations to Prof. Xiuping Jia, Prof. Jeffrey
Walker, and Prof. Jocelyn Chanussot, general cochairs
of IGARSS 2025. I would also like to thank all the teams
that participated in the competition for their hard work
and preparation. We recognize and appreciate your efforts,
and we hope that you will continue to support the longterm
success of IGARSS. The call for proposals for IGARSS
2026 from IEEE Regions 1-7 and 9 has now been posted on
the GRSS website. Interested groups should submit a letter
of intent and a preliminary proposal (preproposal) to
the vice president of meetings and symposia of the GRSS
at vp_meetings_symposia@grss-ieee.org by 1 March 2022.
I am also happy to report that GRSS now has a published
standard (IEEE 4003-2021) on IEEE Xplore describing global
navigation satellite systems reflectometry data sets. This
standard is notable not only because it was developed almost
independent of industry representatives but also because a
draft for balloting was produced in two years despite changes
in leadership. The GRSS Standards Committee has several
more IEEE standards projects ongoing. In future AdCom
meetings, GRSS may consider further defining the role of
standards activity as it relates to the Society's core mission.
In 2021, GRSS leadership held four additional executive
sessions of AdCom meetings. These online sessions provided
some extra time for discussion on important topics, which
has been difficult due to the inability to hold in-person meetings.
This year, all AdCom meetings were again held virtually
due to the continuing changing nature of the global pandemic,
although we are now planning to restart in-person meetings,
beginning with our spring AdCom meeting in March.
From our recent November AdCom meeting, some key
decisions include the adoption of changes to our Bylaws and
Operations and Procedures (OPs) Manual that better reflect
the Society's practice and help ensure transparency in our
future operations. The scope of these changes included the
addition of required clauses and conditions for our GRSS
awards committees, changes to the conference advisory
committee charter, and reduction of the GRSS past-president
term of office from three to two years. The roles of social media
chair and social media ambassadors were also codified
in our documents. Finally, additions to the OPs manual in
November defined the terms of our associate and topical associate
editors. Please look for these updates and additions to
the GRSS Bylaws and OPs Manual on our website. There is a
requirement from IEEE to allow a 30-day review period for
changes to the Bylaws before they become effective.
Considering the scope of the November meeting, I would
like to thank the AdCom for their many contributions to
GRSS activities throughout the year as well as their time
spent preparing and reporting at all of the meetings throughout
the year. Of note, the November AdCom meeting included
15 portfolio topics with 52 live presentations and 20 consent
agenda presentations. The live meeting was held in short
sessions spread over three days to cover the scope of activities
within the Society. It was clear from listening to the many
speakers at the November meeting that the level of activity is
continuing to grow with our membership.
To conclude my December letter, it is with a very
heavy heart that I forward news of the passing of Dr. Gail
Skofronick-Jackson due to an accident while she was on
the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Gail was
a close friend and colleague to many of us within GRSS,
NASA, and the international Earth science community.
Within GRSS, she served as a member of the AdCom from
2012 to 2016, was a member of the organizing committee
of IGARSS 2020, and for several years organized and led
GRSS Women in Engineering activities. Gail was a brilliant
scientist, continually enthusiastic to learn about the world
around us, and always very thoughtful of others. I am grateful
for all of the times we were able to share with her at our
various meetings and activities.
GRS
FROM THE EDITOR (continued from p. 5)
were represented in international proceedings, and Dr. Gail
Skofronick-Jackson, NASA program manager, IEEE Fellow,
former Administrative Committee member, and leader of
WIE activities. Their memorials begin on page 289.
As I have mentioned in the past few issues, IEEE Geoscience
and Remote Sensing Magazine has now implemented
a two-stage review process to give more timely feedback
to potential authors. Short (five pages or fewer, excluding
references) white papers will be submitted first. These will
then be reviewed by associate editors or members of the
editorial board. Following a positive review of the white
DECEMBER 2021 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
paper, authors may be invited to submit a full manuscript,
which will then undergo a complete peer review.
Contributions to our regular columns; ( " Chapters, "
" Space Agencies, " " Women in GRSS, " " Education, " " Software
and Data Sets, " and " Conference Reports " ) are always
welcome. White papers, columns, and invited manuscripts
should be submitted through manuscript central
at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/grsm. Proposals for special
issues should be sent to me directly at jlg@ieee.org.
Please continue to stay safe!
GRS
7
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/grsm
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2021

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