Since its founding nearly 35 years ago, the SMC Society has been a pioneer in the development and use of the methods of systems engineering. As systems become more complex and the need for systems engineering increases, our technical committees, publications, and conferences continue to provide leadership in this key technology and its applications, thereby creating new opportunities and demands for our members. In this message, I will identify how you may grow personally and professionally by becoming more actively involved in the activities of the SMC Society.

Our Society was the result of a merger between the IEEE Man-Machine Systems Group and the IEEE Systems Science and Cybernetics Group, both of which were formed in the 1950s. While our major focus has always been on systems engineering, the name “Systems, Man, and Cybernetics” was chosen to highlight the three pillars of systems engineering:

• Systems, a shorthand for systems engineering design and development methodologies that can be used to produce a system of large scale and scope;
• Man, referring to a system design that is human-oriented;
• Cybernetics, relating to command, control, and communication among humans and machines so that the total system is well suited to its intended purpose.

The technical scope of the SMC Society covers the following topics:

• Development of systems engineering technologies including problem definition, modeling and simulation, methods of system experimentation, human factors engineering, data and methods, systems design techniques, and test and evaluation methods;
• Integration of the theories of communication, control, cybernetics, stochastic processes, optimization, and system structure;
• Application of systems engineering theories and methods at both hardware and software levels to the analysis and design of biological, ecological, socio-economic, social service, computer information, and operational human-machine systems.

We are governed by a Board of Governors which includes fifteen members-at-large in addition to officers and committee chairs. Each year five new members-at large are replaced, thereby creating an opportunity for you to become involved and influence our Society. I invite you to let me know your interest in taking advantage of this opportunity.

This year, I am pleased to welcome five new members-at-large whom you have elected: Ellen Bass (University of Virginia), Dimitar Filev (Ford Motor Co.), MuDer Jeng (National Taiwan Ocean University), Stuart Rubin (SPAWAR Systems Center), and Peter Wieringa (Delft University of Technology). In addition, I would also like to thank Zenn Bien (Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Kaz Kawamura (Vanderbilt University), and Feiyue Wang (University of Arizona) for their service during the past three years as members-at-large.

To plan our strategic directions for the future, last year I established a Strategic Planning Task Force consisting of Society officers and members-at-large. To date the Task Force has already completed an analyses of our Society’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and now we are developing a new strategic plan to be implemented later this year.

The SMC Society continues to evolve through the creation of technical committees, publications, conferences, and collaboration with other organizations within and outside of the IEEE. I invite you to join us in one or more of these activities, and thereby strengthen your professional network and gain professionally through your participation.

Please view our web site www.ieeesmc.org and select “Contact SMC” from the top bar of any page to reach the appropriate committee chairs, or send your inquiry directly to me.

Our first 35 years have been very successful. With your support and participation, I am confident that our next 35 years will be even better.

Sincerely,

William A. Gruver, PhD, FIEEE
President, Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society
w.gruver@ieee.org

Vancouver, March 10, 2005