IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2012 - 104

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Finally, please
notice that the
nomination scheconferred by the IEEE
dule for the other
Board of Directors
IEEE Awards remains unchanged,
to a person with an
and, in particular:
extraordinary record
l IEEE Robotics
and Automaof accomplishments
tion Technical
in any of the IEEE
Field Award
(31 January)
fields of interest.
l IEEE/Interna* tional Federation of Robotics (IFR) Invention
and Entrepreneurship in Robotics
and Automation (IERA) Award
(deadline determined annually)
l IEEE Fellow (1 March).
I trust that you will find the new
schedule better serving our common
goal to reward technical excellence
and service dedication within our
membership and that you will smoothly adapt to it for the next nomination
round.
The grade of Fellow is

Bruno Siciliano
RAS Senior Past President
Awards Chair 2011-2012

RAS Membership
Continues to Grow
The February 2012 membership
report, which excludes members who
have not renewed for 2012, shows that
the total membership in RAS has
increased by 17.2% over the same
period in 2011. RAS is the only IEEE
Society to show a double-digit growth
during this period. According to the
report, the Society has 6,976 highergrade members, which include graduate student members, 842 student
members, and 88 affiliate members.
Student membership grew by 37.8%
while higher-grade membership increased by 15.2%. The volunteers and
staff of the Society are working hard
to ensure that new and continuing
members feel that RAS membership is
valuable to all members.
25 Years with RAS-
Thanks from Rosalyn Snyder
In 1987, I was "volunteered" to
produce a newsletter to be distributed
by snail mail to the subscribers of
IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, published by the newly created
IEEE Robotics and Automation

Council. The volunteer gig turned
into a temporary contract and
expanded in 2005 to a full-time position to meet the increasing support
needs that had developed as the
Council turned into a Society, and the
new Society launched one major initiative after another: the journal was
renamed IEEE Transactions on
Robotics and Automation, the newsletter matured into IEEE Robotics &
Automation Magazine, and the Society launched the first Web page under
the IEEE logo (in 1999). The numbers
of conferences, local Chapters, and
TCs sponsored by RAS have continued to grow and have become truly
international in scope. In my personal
life, the preschooler I had when I
began this adventure is now in graduate school while his brother and sister
are married with children and careers
of their own. In 2011, the size of the
RAS full-time professional staff
doubled, thanks to the much appreciated addition of Kathy Colabaugh.
It has been quite a ride! My career as
RAS administrator and IEEE Robotics &
Automation Magazine editorial assistant has provided me the opportunity

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Welcome New Chapters
Congratulations to the following local Chapters which have been recently
approved:
al RAS Section Chapter, Chair: Malika Meghjani, McGill University
l IEEE Montre
l Universidad de la Sabana RAS Student Branch Chapter Advisor: Mario
Arbulu, Chair: C. Osoriovega.
Competitions
Since many RAS Local Section Chapters provide financial and technical support
for robotics competitions from preschool to secondary school level, and many
of our Student Chapters are actively involved in competitions, we put out a call
in the last issue of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine for brief reports from
Chapters on their activities. We look forward to more contributions. Describe
your competition in less than 500 words and include one picture in an e-mail to
ras@ieee.org.
de Caldas in Bogota
,
l RAS Chapter, Distrital University Francisco Jose
Colombia. Robot Al Parque, a robotics contest created by the RAS Chapter
in collaboration with the University Control Systems Chapter in 2006. The
2011 competition involved participants from eight precollege schools in
. The Chapters are currently organizing for the 2012 contest in SepBogota
tember 2012, with an ecological theme.
Carlos Riveros
Chair of Capı´tulo Estudiantil
IEEE de Sistemas de Control

104

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

JUNE 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2012