|
 IEEE Vehicular
Technology Society (VTS) seeks to support such activities by providing a
plethora of services and benefits to enable continued professional growth and
development by our members.
Yet, when I ask folks what they think of when I say
“VTS membership services and benefits,” they frequently identify the
organization and hosting of peer-reviewed technical conferences or the
operation of peer-reviewed archival journal publications, magazines, and
transactions.
Although these
high-quality services are of significant benefit to our members, there are many
other services that support the professional development goals of the VTS
community, especially for members from industry.
For instance, at the 80th
installment of the VTS flagship conference, 2014 IEEE 80th Vehicular Technology
Conference (VTC2014-Fall), the conference organizing committee implemented the
first comprehensive industry track, allowing our industry members to exchange
the latest insights and information across a variety of vehicular technology
topics. This inaugural industry track was a huge success by all accounts, with
several industry sessions filling to capacity.
Our
industry members wanted a dedicated portion of VTC to be tailored to industry,
and to use a panel discussion format for sharing and exchanging information.
VTS has held similar industry tracks at almost all subsequent Vehicular
Technology Conferences, with continuing success.
The latest industry track was
offered at the 2017 IEEE 86th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2017-Fall) in
Toronto—check out the entire industry track program.
If
you are a VTS member from industry, please take advantage of these excellent
opportunities to learn about the latest in a variety of vehicular technology
fields. Furthermore, if you are interested in participating as a panelist or
organizing a panel at an upcoming industry track, please let me know—I would
love to chat more about it with you!
In a
similar spirit to the industry tracks hosted at our flagship conferences, we
have started organizing industry summits hosted in geographical regions with
significant industrial bases. The purpose of these summits is to target specific
topics related to vehicular technology in locations with related industry
critical mass. Instead of attending one of our industry tracks at a VTC, we
bring a targeted industry summit to a central location for the industry itself.
Our
first such industry summit focused on connected and autonomous vehicles, in
Santa Clara, CA on 8 February 2018, in collaboration with the IEEE
Communications Society. Topics such as sensor technologies for autonomous
vehicles, vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity, automotive cyber security, and many
others were covered throughout the day-long program via panel sessions
involving industry experts from around the world.
The
complete program is available from the industry summit website
www.vehiclesummit.ieee.org. Nearly 200 attendees spent the day at this event,
and, based on feedback, this summit was a complete success! We are planning more
industry summits in connected and autonomous vehicles and other topics related
to vehicular technology.
If
you are interested in organizing your own industry summit, or have ideas on
potential topics that would be of interest to industry, please let me know.
The
last service I want to mention is not a new one, but one that has significant
potential to enhance one's professional development: your local VTS chapter.
Engaging with your VTS chapter is an excellent way of learning more about
various topics in vehicular technology, whether by networking with other VTS
members or hearing from invited speakers at chapter meetings.
Over
the past several years, the number of VTS chapters has ballooned to nearly 60
worldwide, making this resource accessible to many of our members. If you
belong to a VTS chapter, please take advantage of this wonderful resource and
consider participating by organizing activities and talks. Click here for a list of VTS
chapters.
If
your IEEE section does not have a VTS chapter, consider creating one.
Information on how to form an IEEE chapter can be found on the IEEE website. If
you would like to know more about VTS chapters, please reach out to our
Chapters Committee Chair, Oliver Holland, at oliver.holland@kcl.ac.uk.
Finally,
one resource not to miss as a membership and chapter benefit is our growing
Distinguished Lecture (DL) program, which brings world-renowned experts on
various topics in vehicular technology to your chapter. Find out more about the
topics covered by our DL program.
VTS
is a technical community consisting of industry practitioners, government
technologists and researchers, and academia. To learn more about our member
services and benefits, please feel free to reach out to me at alexw@wpi.edu or Richard Yu, VP—Membership, at richard.yu@carleton.ca. Our mission is
to assist ALL of you with respect to your professional development needs and
activities. | 
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