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My two-year term as VTS President will soon be over. It has been a fantastic experience, and I am very proud of having served the Society and its members. I have been privileged to work with an outstanding team of volunteers (Board of Governors, officers, conference organizers, editors, authors, etc.), and I would like to publicly thank them all for their great work and continuous support. Volunteers are truly the engine of a technical society like VTS.
It
has been a busy term, but we have made good progress thanks to the collective
effort of VTS volunteers and continuous support of our members. Our
publications and conferences are continuing in their positive trend. This year,
VTS publications have experienced a remarkable increase in impact factor,
thanks to the tireless work of our editors.
VTC
continues to be a reference event for the wireless and connected vehicles
communities, and the efforts of our conference team to increase participation by
and involvement of industry is producing positive results. The engagement of
the VPP committee and community has been fantastic, and VPPC is now a key event
in electric vehicles, and vehicle power and propulsion technologies.
In
2016, we launched a new service to our members, the VTS Resource Center (http://resourcecenter.vts.ieee.org):
a multimedia online library where all VTS members can access, free of charge,
educational videos, keynotes and panel presentations from our conferences. We
regularly inform you of the new uploaded videos through this e-newsletter.
VTS
finished 2016 with a 1.7% year-over-year increase of members, and 2017 is going
to be even better. Taking the September 2017 data (the latest available from
IEEE), our membership increased year-over-year by 3.5%. This is very positive
if we take into account that IEEE society membership overall decreased by 0.4%
and 1.5% in 2016 and 2017, respectively (IEEE membership increased by 0.5% in
2016 and decreased by 1.4% in 2017).
VTS
members have also increased their engagement and the number of local
activities. Over the last 2 years, we have increased the number of VTS chapters
from 44 to 51 (a 16% increase), and I am very happy that the 50th VTS chapter
is the Spain chapter, and the 51st the Colombia one. Having a chapter in your
area is not only important to network with your local colleagues, but it will
also give you access to our outstanding Distinguished Lecturers program.
This
year we also approved an initiative to invest Society reserves into activities
developed and led by VTS chapters during 2018. Most of the actions proposed by
chapters (and approved by the BoG) are related to co-funding winter or summer
schools (we started supporting summer schools in 2016), but the floor is
certainly open to new ideas and initiatives.
An
example are online competitions. Under the leadership of our VP Motor Vehicles,
VTS organized for the first time in 2017 a very successful online competition,
the VTS Motor Vehicles Challenge (http://www.motorvehicleschallenge.org).
We had a fantastic response from the community in our first edition, and the
second one (2018) promises to be even better. Check the website for the
conditions to participate. You need to register your team by February 2018.
I am
also very happy to inform you that our actions to promote and recognize young
professionals and students are advancing firmly. The IEEE Board of Directors
approved at the last IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) meeting in Phoenix
this November the creation of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Early
Career Award, and a significant donation from VTS 2016 surplus to the IEEE
Foundation in order to be able to re-initiate the VTS student fellowships that
have been inactive for quite some time.
Now
that all administrative processes have been approved, the first of these awards
and fellowships are scheduled for this coming fall 2018. These new recognitions
are important since they can make a difference in the future career of our
students and young professionals. We also approved at our last Board of
Governors meeting a program to improve our recognition to the contributions and
efforts of the VTS volunteers. We are already implementing it so some of you
might hear again from us!
Last
but not least, VTS wants to satisfy the needs of industry, and we have
partnered with the IEEE Communications Society to create our first industry
workshop/summit. The ‘IEEE Connected and Automated Vehicles Summit, a 5G-driven
event’ will take place in Santa Clara on the 8th of February 2018, and we are
building a very exciting program.
Confirmed
speakers include the Executive Technical Director of Ford's Research and
Innovation Center, the Assistant Vice President for AT&T Business Solutions
- Internet of Things (IoT), the Principal Scientist-Design Anthropologist at
Nissan Research Center - Silicon Valley, the CEO of Veniam, the Director of
Autonomous Transportation Ecosystems at Analog Devices, the Director of
Research at RFNav, and the CIO & Digital Operations Executive of NIO, to
name a few. We will announce the website very soon, and we hope to see you all
at this exciting event in Santa Clara!
In
summary, two very exciting and interesting years that I hope have met your
expectations and served your needs. I cannot finish without thanking once more
all my team and all VTS volunteers for their fantastic work, and you, our
members, for your continuous support. I am sure the incoming team will do a
superb job for our members, and will keep increasing the value of your
membership. ¡Gracias y hasta pronto! | 
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