IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2021 - 7

world, enabling a meaningful exchange of ideas to support
IEEE's mission of " Advancing Technology for the Benefit
of Humanity. " We will be exploring how to best leverage
in-person and virtual environments for IGARSS 2022, in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Overall, I am happy to report that the Society continues
to experience growth in membership and publications. As
I mentioned at IGARSS, GRSS membership numbers for
May and June 2021 placed the Society above the median of
all 39 IEEE Societies, for what I believe to be the first time.
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGARS)
is on track for >3,000 manuscript submissions, and IEEE
Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote
Sensing (JSTARS) should receive >2,000 this year. We
have also achieved significant a reduction in the time to a
first decision for both: fewer than 40 days for TGARS and
38 for JSTARS. Congratulations to the editorial staffs for
this impressive achievement.
As part of the Society's overall membership and submissions
growth, it has been a time of extraordinary expansion
in China. One example is the Gaofen Challenge on Automated
High-Resolution Earth Obsession Image Interpretation.
Last year, the event attracted more than 700 teams
with about 2,100 competitors from many countries, and the
final workshop included 320,000-plus students. One of the
results of GRSS involvement is that 2021 membership in
China, so far, has more than doubled from last year. This is
an important development, and I would like to thank Xian
Sun, executive chair of the 2020 Gaofen Challenge, along
with Paolo Gamba, Feng Xu, Jun Li, and the IADF chairs,
Naoto Yokoya and Ronny Hänsch. I am also pleased to
share that the 2021 Gaofen Challenge, as part of the GRSS's
academic activities, is underway. We anticipate continued
success for the 2021 edition.
Here, I would like to take a moment to thank Anna Guo,
our GRSS coordinator in China for the past several years,
who has decided to step down to pursue other activities. We
have had great success leveraging her help and guidance,
and we wish her the best in her endeavors. At our Administrative
Committee meeting in July, we welcomed Wen Yan
to the position.
Significant GRSS membership and activities growth is
also occurring in India. This follows the India Geoscience
and Remote Sensing Symposium (InGARSS), which was
held online in December 2020. This year, InGARSS will
again be virtual, in December, and chaired by Raj Kumar,
Shiv Mohan, and Paul Rosen. Other India events planned
for 2021 and 2022 include a GRSS School on Artificial
Intelligence and Remote Sensing, a Workshop on Spatial
Geoinformatics Using Machine Learning approaches, and
a Symposium on Geospatial Intelligence.
Further regional activities include GRSS involvement
with the Asia Pacific Conference on Synthetic Aperture
Radar, the Group on Earth Observation, and the United
Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management.
In support of the southern Africa remote sensing
community, a GRSS goal is to develop a training program
related to Earth observation infrastructure in collaboration
with organizations that promote applications of remote
sensing science and techniques in the region.
Finally, I would like to mention that Earth observation in
the Arctic and Antarctic regions continues to be an interest
and priority for the GRSS. Since
2017, IEEE Technical Activities
have supported initiatives on
the North and South poles. In
2019, the GRSS cosponsored the
Arctic and Northern Ocean Forum
at the Finnish Meteorological
Institute, in Helsinki. This
year, it cosponsored the 2021
Antarctic and Southern Ocean
Forum with the IEEE Oceanic
Engineering Society. The meeting
was held online in early August,
with 126 attendees and 22
papers addressing technology challenges for the coming
decade in polar regions.
To conclude, I am very excited to report on the many asTHE
EVENT ATTRACTED
MORE THAN 700 TEAMS
WITH ABOUT 2,100
COMPETITORS FROM
MANY COUNTRIES, AND
THE FINAL WORKSHOP
INCLUDED 320,000-PLUS
STUDENTS.
pects of how the GRSS continues to serve the international
geoscience and remote sensing communities. Although my
focus has primarily been on IGARSS and regional meetings
and workshops, GRSS technical committees have also been
a significant aspect of our success. Accordingly, I would
like to recognize the role of the many individuals who lend
their significant technical depth, expertise, and experience
to the GRSS community, enabling the Society to have a
larger impact than would otherwise be possible.
Along these lines, it is with a heavy heart that I report the
passing of one of these key members, Thomas von Deak. He
was an advisor to the GRSS Frequency Allocations in Remote
Sensing (FARS) Technical Committee and helping to
establish GRSS positions in written statements to the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission and International
Telecommunication Union Working Party 7C, among others.
Recently, he contributed detailed background and comments
that were included in a letter from the GRSS to the
U.S. House Science and Space Technology Committee. His
experience in spectrum management enabled FARS to contribute
in more substantial ways on multiple topics. He will
be sorely missed within the GRSS and FARS communities.
GRS
SEPTEMBER 2021 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2021

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