IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2021 - 6

September; and Advanced Techniques in Remote Sensing
Data Processing and Analysis, to be held in India (25-27
November). With all the activity, I expect to hear a lot more
about GRSS schools. We will see if the new acronym holds!
As in the past, the Belgium GRSS (summer) school is to
be held the week before our flagship conference, the IEEE
International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
(IGARSS), and I would like to take this opportunity
to cordially invite you to participate in this year's conference.
This year's IGARSS is planned as a hybrid conference,
with a three-day in-person meeting held 12-14 July
and an online-only portion held 14-16 July. The response
to our call for papers was strong, with more than 2,500
papers submitted, and we expect to have a full and exciting
technical agenda. This year has also presented a
unique set of challenges due to the uncertainty of conditions
related to the pandemic. Please refer to the IGARSS
2021 webpage for up-to-date information as the meeting
date approaches.
As I mentioned earlier, one of our priorities within GRSS
is to put in place improved processes to handle the Society
operations that support our many activities. A new website
ticket system that will facilitate updates and changes
to the website is just one example of changes to Society
operations that improves our internal processes to better
serve you. This year, IEEE will also roll out new processes
for financial review focusing on conference finances (called
NextGen financials). We anticipate that this will also help us
streamline and align projects by GRSS members with our
Society's initiatives.
Along these lines, a historic moment occurred at our
March AdCom meeting when the committee approved the
removal of the print option for IEEE Transactions on Geoscience
and Remote Sensing and IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Letters beginning in 2022. This will not only allow for further
reduction of our submission to publication timelines but
will also continue to reduce operating costs. Over the years,
the number of print subscriptions has steadily declined to
the point where many considered it no longer worthwhile to
invest in creating the print version for so few print subscribers.
At the same time, page counts are continuing to increase
along with mailing costs and greater online activity. These
trends contributed to the perspective of AdCom members in
making this decision.
Finally, I would like to take another moment to reflect on
the current trend of increasing GRSS regional activities and
collaborations. Of note, 2020 was planned to be the first
year of three new regional conferences: the Mediterranean
and Middle East Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
(M2GARSS), held in March; the Latin American GRSS
and International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing (ISPRS) Remote Sensing Conference, also to be held
in March; and the India Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Symposium (InGARSS), which was held online in December.
By continuing these activities in 2021 and beyond, we
are adapting to the conditions driven by the pandemic and
making new plans: M2GARSS 2022 is scheduled to be held
in Istanbul in May 2022, and the next InGARSS is planned
for an in-person meeting in December 2021. We are planning
a joint session with ISPRS within the technical program
of IGARSS 2021 to discuss future collaborations. The
Society has been working with SpaceNet, with a focus on
engaging in activities driven by the industry, and with the
Van Allen Foundation, to expand our past Student Grand
Challenge; this year, we are looking at ideas for identifying
and monitoring plastics and debris in our oceans.
In closing, I'd like to remind everyone to stay safe as the
pandemic continues to evolve and present new challenges
for many of us. I look forward to meeting with you either
online or in person at IGARSS or at one of our many GRSSsponsored
activities.
GRS
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IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE JUNE 2021
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2021

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