Editorial of Issue 58, May 2017, of the eNewsletter of the IEEE SMC Society

Dear Readers,

Prof. Mariagrazia Dotoli

This is the first issue of the IEEE SMC Society (SMCS) eNewsletter for 2017.

This issue is mainly devoted to our flagship conference that is now getting closer, IEEE SMC 2017. The IEEE SMC 2017 Conference will be held in Banff, Canada, October 5-8, 2017. In this eNewsletter we report all details regarding the conference and I urge you to plan on participating and work to make it a much successful event. The conference received 840 submissions in the early round but many more are expected to the tracks open for later submission until May 30th (Junior, Late Breaking, Industrial papers and Workshop papers).

The theme of the conference will be “Biological Intelligence for Systems and Cybernetics”. This year’s flagship conference will also establish closer links between the SMC community and medical researchers ranging from Neurology to Surgery.

The IEEE SMC 2017 Conference features several innovative and exciting components in the program, including: Late Breaking Papers; Industrial Papers; SMC Junior; Brain Machine Interface Workshop; IEEE SMC Founder’s Forum; Brain Machine Interface Hackaton; Brain Machine Interface Hackaton student competition.

The Late breaking Track provides an international forum for researchers and practitioners to report their most recent innovations and developments and exchange ideas and advances in all aspects of systems science and engineering, human-machine systems, and cybernetics. Advances in these fields have increasing importance in the creation of intelligent environments involving technologies interacting with humans to provide an enriching experience and thereby improve the quality of life.

The Industrial Track provides an opportunity to fuse industry, academia, and government; it will bring together innovative thinkers – whether engineers, leaders, or researchers – to enable broader and deeper discussions of the sciences & technologies behind industrial applications & practices. The featured paper presentations, keynotes, panel discussions and exhibitions will foster multidisciplinary collaboration and push the limits of innovation, creating partnerships and a fusion of cutting-edge ideas that will drive solutions to shape the future.

The SMC Junior Initiative provides an international forum for student and young researchers and practitioners to report most recent innovations and developments, summarize state-of-the-art, and exchange ideas and advances in all aspects of systems science and engineering, human machine systems, and cybernetics.

The Brain Machine Interface Workshop has the goal to provide a forum for researchers to present research results, facilitate the interaction and intellectual exchange between all researchers, developers and consumers of BMI technology. We invite contributions reporting the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of BMI. The workshop is organized by the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Brain-Machine Interfaces Systems Participation is free to all registered SMC 2017 attendees. The theme of this year’s workshop is: From Lab to Life: BMI Systems in the Coming Decade.

The Founder’s Forum will be part of all the SMC Annual Conferences and will feature panel presentations by former SMC leaders (e.g., past presidents, Weiner/Wohl Award winners, editors of SMCS publications, and other distinguished contributors). The goal will be to share Founders’ thoughts, vision, and ideas about the Society and its future.

The Brain Machine Interface Hackaton shall be a brainstorming and collaborative marathon designed to rapidly produce working prototypes. Objectives include learning State-of-the-Art Brain Technology Platforms and learning more about Brain Computer Interfaces, including those incorporating AR/VR, and develop creative applications. An award of $1,000 will be given to the team Hackathon prize.

The Brain Machine Interface Hackaton student competition will allow high school and undergraduate (pre-Bachelor’s) students to win a seat on a team in the IEEE SMC 2017 Brain Computer Interface Hackathon. This will give them the chance to rapidly prototype new brain technologies on small teams with academic and industrial professionals. Winners of the student competition will be eligible for participation and partial travel support to IEEE SMC 2017.

In addition to a packed technical program, we will also arrange a strong social program and sightseeing tours to the many outstanding locations in and around Banff.

The conference will be dedicated to the memory of Prof. Bill Gruver for his lifelong dedication to SMC society and the conference.

As a final remark on our flagship conference, let me remind you that together with the conference website you have several sources of news on IEEE SMC 2017 in the social media: Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

This issue also includes several interesting news on the Society. Do not miss the appointment of the new Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, the technical co-sponsor of a new exciting publication, the establishment of a new Technical Committee and our continuing Distinguished Lecture program.

Finally, the eNewsletter features a listing of several upcoming SMC events and reports numerous job openings and funding opportunities.

I look forward to receiving your contributions and feedback!

Mariagrazia Dotoli, PhD
Associate Professor of Control Systems Engineering
Politecnico di Bari
200 Via Re David
70125 Bari – Italy
[email protected]