At the end of my first of two years as president of the IEEE SMCS, I would like to share with you my goals for our society. I group these into five categories: ensure the financial stability of the SMC; finalize the transition of our three journals into full multimedia electronic journals; improve long-range planning and technical activities; improve membership services; and encourage membership growth.

However, first I would like to welcome and congratulate SMC's five new vice-presidents, three new editors, and five new AdCom members. They are:
Vice President (Conferences & Meetings) and Treasurer: J. A. Adams, adamsj@ieee.org
Vice President (Long Range Planning and Finance): W. A. Gruver, gruver@cs.sfu.ca
Vice President (Membership): L. O. Hall, hall@csee.usf.edu
Vice President (Publications): N. Cassaigne, nathalie@co.umist.ac.uk
Vice President (Technical Activities): W. A. Thissen, wilt@tbm.tudelft.nl

Transactions Editors
Part A: D. E. Brown, brown@virginia.edu
Part B: L. O. Hall, hall@csee.usf.edu
Part C: C. C. White, III, cwhite@isye.gatech.edu

New AdCom Members whose terms will end 12/31/2004 are:
Peter A. Beling, beling@virginia.edu
Mo Jamshidi, jamshidi@unm.edu
Kazuhiko Kawamura, kawamura@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
Tsu-Tian Lee, ttlee@cn.nctu.edu.tw
Fei-Yue Wang, feiyue@sie.arizona.edu

The other SMC officers are:
Jr. Past President: P. E. Borne, p.borne@ieee.org
Sr. Past President: R. Saeks, richard@saeks.org
Secretary: Kazuhiko Kawamura, kawamura@vuse.vanderbilt.edu

Our Newsletter Editor is: Tsu-Tian Lee, ttlee@cn.nctu.edu.tw
Our Webmaster is: Peter A. Beling, beling@virginia.edu

The other AdCom members are:

Term ending 2002:
A. T. Bahill: terry@sie.arizona.edu
S. Guerlain: guerlain@virginia.edu
J. A. Marin: jamarin@bbn.com
S. Narayanan: snarayan@cs.wright.edu
M. Zhou: zhou@ece.njit.edu

Term ending 2003:
W. A. Gruver: gruver@cs.sfu.ca
J. M. Keller: kellerj@missouri.edu
S. J. Ovaska: sovaska@cc.hut.fi
S. H. Rubin: srubin@spawar.navy.mil
H. Takagi: takagi@kyushu-id.ac.jp
You will soon be sent out a ballot in early 2003 for the election of 5 new SMC AdCom members. Please take the time to vote for them as the successful governance of our society depends on your participation!

For other information on SMC and its volunteers, e.g., Area or Technical Committee Chairs as well as other committee chairs, please visit SMC's website www.ieeesmc.org.

If you ever have any questions or problems, please feel free to contact any of us anytime!

Now, during the past few years, SMC itself has done very well financially, with reserves of $1.9 million at the end of 2001. However, as many of you know, IEEE itself is running huge deficits (of the order of over $30 million for 2001 and $26 million so far for 2002) due to IEEE's massive increases in expenditures while at the same time incurring stock market losses, and all societies, including SMC, are being taxed by IEEE to cover these deficits (SMC's tax was over $839,000 for 2001).

I strongly urge all SMC members to vote in the next IEEE election for candidates who promote fiscal responsibility within IEEE in order to help ensure SMC's long-term financially viability.

Also, during the past several years, SMC, with the significant help of Larry Hall, editor of Part B, has transformed one of our journals, Part B, to be the first IEEE journal to be truly electronic in nature with all reviewing done electronically through IEEE Manuscript Central and allowing software, MPEG movies, and additional data to be added to the normal manuscripts as attachments. All SMC members have access to this journal through IEEE XPLORE, and I invite you to check it out. Nathalie Cassaigne, our VP of Publications, has been coordinating with the editors of our other two SMC journals, Part A (Don Brown) and Part C (Chip White), to ensure that they will be fully converted to the same electronic format by the end of 2002.

SMC also is improving its long-range planning. Conferences are now being planned five years in advance (SMC'02 - Tunisia, SMC'03 - Washington D.C., SMC'04 - Holland, SMC'05- Hawaii, SMC'06-possibly Singapore or Taiwan).

Larry Hall, our VP of Membership, has been looking at improving membership services and hence encouraging membership growth. SMC has established a task force involving Dick Saeks and Wil Thissen, our VP of Technical Activities, to examine the reorganization of SMC such that our technical committees and activities are made more relevant and useful to our members. Finally, we are encouraging all SMC members to use the free electronic access to all three of our journals.

Bill Gruver, our VP of Long-Range planning and Finance, has just finished a major overhaul of our Constitution and Bylaws. Among other changes, we will now have a President-Elect.

The main strength of SMC has been its diversity and breadth of its interests. This breadth can often lead to the exchange of ideas and to intellectual stimulation not found in many (if any other) professional societies. SMC plans to further support this diversity by encouraging new areas of emerging technologies in its future conferences as well as building bridges with other societies and conferences. In fact, Julie Adams, our VP of Conferences, has been very successful in arranging a variety of SMC sponsorships for a large number of conferences.

Finally, every five years, to ensure the health and continued technical leadership of every society or council within IEEE, each society and council is reviewed by IEEE. The SMC society had its five-year IEEE society and periodical review last year. The results of the IEEE Society Review Committee in regards to SMC was:

RECOMMENDATIONS
This report to the Society Review Committee (SRC) was presented on November 14, 2001 by Michael H. Smith, Society Vice President, and other Society officers including Julie Adams, Treasurer; Nathalie Cassaigne,VP Membership Development; and Dick Saeks, Past President. SRC members present were Gus Gaynor, Ruben Hackam, and Barry Oakes.

Comments:
The SMC Society is considered the leading professional society in the field of systems engineering, and has an international reputation for presenting innovative research in its field of interest. The Society membership is currently over 4000, and SMC membership has been growing since 1998, one of the few IEEE Societies to show such behavior. Its reserves are currently (2000) over $2.3M, over twice its yearly income. Main sources of income are publications, investment income, and conferences, in that order. SMC leaders have significant concerns with the "taxation" being imposed on it and other Societies by the IEEE, and feel that their reserves may not be sufficient to prevent their bankruptcy within five years at the present rate of taxation.
SMC publishes its Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics in three parts: Part A, Systems and Humans; Part B, Cybernetics; and Part C, Applications and Reviews, about 2400 pages total. High interest in the field is indicated by the fact that paper acceptance ratios run 15-30%. All SMC members receive Part C as part of their membership, and can also obtain Parts A & B for an additional fee of $10/yr.
SMC holds one annual conference, the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. The Conference is held in Regions 8-10 every other year; conference attendance has averaged about 900 over the past three years. The Conference is beginning to draw more Region 8-10 attendees; Surplus has run from $28K to $91K since 1996.

SMC has started several new initiatives that increase its value and services to its members. An electronic version option of Transactions, Part B, is currently available to members, which allows software, MPEG movies, and additional data to be added to the normal manuscripts. This same option will be available for Part A in January 2002, at which time electronic submission only will be allowed. In addition, all members receive a CD-ROM version of two-year old ICSMC conferences each year. Member recruitment and retention are also a major thrust of the Society. Half-year free IEEE and SMCS membership are offered any non-IEEE member attending the annual conference. A program to attract members from other IEEE societies based on TIP profiles of non-SMCS members is just beginning. Member upgrading and members in-arrears promotions are being actively pursued by the Society. An active student activity program is included in each annual conference, which includes student paper awards, tutorials, and student attendance discounts.

Observations and Recommendations
SMC is a well managed, financially viable, and forward-looking Society. It is very aware of the need to be forward looking, and is duly cognizant of the potential impact of the current IEEE financial problems. Our suggestions are as follows:
1. Seriously investigate the possibilities for expanding conference activities through the establishment of niche meetings/workshops/symposia, some of which may eventually become full conferences.
2. Continue/pursue new initiatives in membership growth, student activities, continuing education, and new technical committee establishment.
3. Many Societies use their long range planning committee to actively search out new areas of potential Society activity; such activity can often enthuse AdCom members who otherwise tend to be more inward-than-outward looking.
SMC leadership already recognizes these topics as important to its future, since they were expressed within their submitted report. SMC is encouraged to actively address its future; it is a particularly successful example of a medium-sized IEEE Society, and deserves to continue to serve its membership.
 

As you can see, SMC passed its IEEE review very positively!
 

Finally, I would enjoy hearing from you, the members of our society, about the above goals and any other matters that interest and concern you. Do not hesitate to contact me by email: m.h.smith@ieee.org. I look forward to the next year and hope you will find that SMC continues to serve your professional needs.

Dr. Michael H. Smith
IEEE SMC President
January 2002

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