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 We are fast approaching the end of the year, and I would like to take
this opportunity to recount some of the main activities undertaken by VTS in
2016. It has certainly been an exciting year, beginning with a very positive review
of the Society at the first IEEE Technical Activities Board meeting of the year
in San Diego, CA.
One major action of the year has been the launch of the IEEE VTS
Resource Center (http://resourcecenter.vts.ieee.org/), VTS’ new multimedia library. The IEEE VTS
Resource Center contains educational videos (webinars, tutorials),
distinguished lectures, and videos and slides from keynotes and panels of our
conferences.
I encourage you to visit and take advantage of this new resource. New
videos are currently under production and will be uploaded soon. Through the
e-newsletter, VTSMobileWorld, and social media, we will notify you of newly-added
content. All material is free for VTS members (and accessible for a fee for non-members);
simply sign in with your IEEE account.
VTS is in constant pursuit of new speakers and content; to participate
and/or make a proposal, please contact VTS Education Committee Chair Joe Ziomek
at jfziomek@ieee.org.
Another very exciting 2016 project has been the launch of the first
competition organized by VTS under the leadership of the Vehicle Power and Propulsion
(VPP) committee. The VTS Motor Vehicles competition is currently open:
The objective of the competition is to develop an energy management
software module for a fuel cell/battery vehicle in order to increase the energy
sources' lifetime and minimize hydrogen consumption. The competition provides all software models
of the vehicle, except for the energy module that has to be designed by the
teams.
The competition is open to all (students, academics, professionals, and
mixed teams), and VTS members are eligible for grants to publish and present
their winning design at VPPC2017 in Belfort (France) in December.
VTS supported the organization of our first summer school on connected
and automated vehicles at WPI in Worcester, MA. This was a clear success, and
we hope it will set an example for other members to approach VTS and work
together to organize similar training programs. VTS also partnered with BMW for
their 2016 summer school, which was organized around the theme ‘Car as a
Service’, identifying a recent and interesting trend in the automotive sector.
VTS has greatly improved member outreach this year, with the relaunch of VTSMobileWorld, and the use of social media to regularly publicize VTS and IEEE
activities. VTS also has made significant efforts to reach potential new
members, and present what VTS is about and how VTS can serve the technical
community. In particular, different membership development events were held in
China as our two flagship conferences (VTC and VPPC) took place in Nanjing and
Hangzhou, respectively.
Membership has grown significantly in China, and new chapters have been
formed in Nanjing, Harbin and Shanghai (and hopefully a couple more during
2017). Membership development events were also run this November in Colombia.
We look forward to the formation of a VTS chapter in Colombia, and the active
participation of our Colombian colleagues in Society activities. I hope to
report next year on some of the very exciting activities we discussed during
the meetings held in Cali, Barranquilla and Medellin. These meetings included
the presentation of VTS to the Latin American Region, Regional Chapter Chairs
Congress of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc).
VTS presented and discussed possibilities to partner with ComSoc to
develop content and activities for the benefit of our members in the region. I
would like to thank ComSoc for this opportunity, and recognize their interest to
collaborate for the benefit of IEEE members. Another clear example of
collaboration between societies is the strong involvement of VTS in the IEEE 5G
initiative, an IEEE multi-society initiative led by ComSoc to foster
development of 5G and position IEEE in this domain. A call for volunteers to support
the initiative will be distributed shortly via social media.
VTS has made an important investment in 2016 to reduce the backlog of
papers for Transactions in Vehicular Technology (TVT). Its page budget has been
increased from 4500 to 10300 pages. This effort will continue in 2017 to ensure
VTS continues to serve the needs of our authors and members.
The impact factor of our main publications has increased again: VT Magazine
has an impact factor of 2.783; and 2.243 for TVT. The co-sponsored IEEE
Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles was launched in 2016, and VTS has agreed
to co-sponsor two new publications to be launched in 2017: the IEEE Communications
Standard Magazine, and the IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and
Networking (TGCN).
All these activities would not have been possible without the work and
support of our Adcom, enthusiastic volunteers, and service providers. I would
like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard work!
2016 has also been the year of the induction of Professor Claude Berrou
to the VTS Hall of Fame award, our most prestigious award. I would also like to
highlight the 2016 VTS individual recognition awards presented to Prof. Muriel
Médard (James Evans Avant Garde Award), Bill Fleming (Stuart Meyer Memorial
Award), and Prof. Fabrice Labeau (Outstanding Service Award). The last two
awards recognize volunteer service to VTS.
Volunteering for a professional organization such as IEEE and VTS can be a very rewarding
experience, at the professional and personal level. I strongly encourage you to
join us and actively participate in VTS efforts. There are many opportunities,
and we are always looking for new ideas and proposals. Get in touch with me and
other BoG members,
let us know your main interests, and the activities (existing or not) where you
would like to get involved.
Javier Gozálvez
IEEE VTS President, 2016–17
j.gozalvez@umh.es
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