I often compare the journey from being an IEEE/NPSS member to volunteering at the NPSS level and then experiencing the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) meetings and activities to traveling through worlds of fractals: there is excitement at every level, and at each level the world expands, and more opportunities arise. When I first became a member of IEEE/NPSS I had no idea what NPSS was until I started volunteering as a conference program chair and reviewer. Then, when becoming part of the NPSS Administrative Committee (AdCom), I realized that my home community, Nuclear Medical and Imaging Sciences, is only one part of NPSS, and that NPSS is so much more than conferences. While the conferences, together with our publications, serve as the main conduit for dissemination of scientific information,  the society continuously strives to promote innovation and technical excellence, leadership skills especially for young professionals and under-represented groups,  education, scientific exchange and humanitarian activities. This is amplified at the IEEE TAB level, where entire sessions are dedicated to discussions of future technical directions and their impact on humanity and policy making, and industry-relevant applications. This is where the operationalization of the IEEE’s core purpose to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity  is promoted and continuously evaluated.

A very important translational mechanism in this process are initiatives and/or IEEE Public imperatives defined in 2016 as Social good activities that are directed at the general public and not an individual or small group of individuals.  They are generally related to the promotion of the public’s understanding and appreciation of our fields of interest and/or positioning our technical expertise in ways to benefit humanity.  Typically these activities are not expected to create a financial surplus but rather are funded by the surplus of other activities. Given IEEE’s current strong financial standing, at the last TAB meeting all Societies and Councils (S/C) were  strongly encouraged to promote their initiative activities. I am pleased to report that this year we had a record number of 19 initiative proposals submitted and we expect to fund a very large fraction of them. There is significant breath to the applications as they range from providing support for conference attendance to selected students from our instrumentation schools, promoting leadership activities for NPSS students through the membership to leadership (M2L) initiative, to supporting young professionals’ (YP) travel to meetings, and humanitarian activities in developing countries, such as bringing electricity to rural communities, which enables better living conditions and education. Others are requesting funds for workshops that will bring academia and industry together to create Roadmaps, currently spearheaded by Pulsed Power Applications in Fusion, and Radiation Instrumentation with Nuclear and Medical Imaging Science. As discussed in my previous write-up,  Roadmaps are important to identify technology gaps and possible solutions in light of major envisioned technology developments. A well-thought out Roadmap can be influential in defining technical trends in the context of societal, industry, research and government needs/policies. Outcomes of these workshops will be reported in later Newsletters.

These efforts are in line with another relevant activity happening at the IEEE TAB level, the creation of a Strategic Plan for IEEE Industry Engagement by the Industry Engagement Committee, whose major aims are to increase value added for industry members and YP in industry, as well as to make IEEE more attractive to corporations.  There is currently a search for an industry lead from each Society/Council — if you are interested, please let me know.

IEEE is also increasing its engagement and involvement in Public Safety Technology. Via the IEEE Public Safety Technology Initiative it held the first IEEE World Forum on Public Safety Technology with engagement of  industry and government agencies; a first white paper on strategies on how to improve current and emerging technologies for public safety applications is currently being prepared. More meetings are planned for 2025 together with a new IEEE publication on Public Safety Technology.

In recognition of the complexity of the technical problems as well as humanitarian and environmental challenges facing the world, there is continuous focus on increasing interactions between societies and councils; an AdHoc Committee on Encouraging Organizational Optimization is being formed (and NPSS was quoted as an excellent example of successful confederation among different technical areas). Such interactions are desirable not only on a technical level in areas such as climate change, search for efficient energy sources, and development of smart agriculture, but also to promote better coordination between IEEE and S/C activities for special affinity groups such as Women in Engineering (WIE) and YP as well as IEEE students and IEEE Life members.

Our own involvement in climate change activities is also increasing with two workshops planned for the near future: an Energy and Sustainability Day in Fukushima on Sept 14^th in partnership with the Osaka University Hamadohri Environmental Radiation School and NPSS instrumentation School (likely already happened by the time this Newsletter is published) and a hybrid, 1-day climate change workshop on October 27^th at the 2024 NSS/MIS/RTSD conference in Tampa, FL, to open the discussions within the NPSS community.

In my previous article I mentioned formation of an IEEE AI coalition working group, to which Dimitris Visvikis has recently been appointed as NPSS representative. The working group has been very active and it already counts 44 representatives from 33 S/C and other groups such as TechEthics and Entrepreneurship, with very good geographical representation. The working group held a meeting at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center, Cambridge, MA on June 6^th and came up with a first list of 11 activities/gaps that need filling; AI-Specific Hardware, Social Implications of AI/ Responsible AI, and AI and BAD/Imperfect Data topped the list. Investigation of IEEE’s involvement in the top gaps is currently underway and opinions are solicited from among IEEE members. A second meeting of the group is planned in the Fall 2024. Please contact Dimitris ([email protected]) if you would like to become involved.

Finally, as part of the Division 4 activities aimed at identifying synergies across S/C, a questionnaire was distributed to the Chairs of our technical areas inquiring about each area’s involvement with

• existing and emerging industries,
• expertise and relevant emerging technologies and
• gaps/opportunities that need addressing.

While the full report is currently being analyzed, some emerging areas of interest listed in the report include: Quantum computing; New materials; THz for medical, material science, biology, and space; Climate change: Renewable energy, Medical care, Smart Agriculture, and Waste Treatment; New space; Wireless power transfer; Scalable fusion and related diagnostics; Satellite defense in space; Mining in space. Major gaps consistently identified were lack of specialized engineering, technology transfer and interdisciplinary education. This preliminary information already showcases the technological breath of our society and some common needs that will be best addressed with a global approach. The full analysis of the report is expected to be very informative and provide some guidance for our future directions.

And a last but not least comment – this year is the 75^th anniversary of our Society, quite a milestone. We are gathering information to document its history, evolution and achievements to be collated in a short write-up and/or presentation which will ultimately be posted on our website.  If you have any stories or pictures to share, please e-mail them to our Communications Committee Chair, Peter Clout ([email protected]). 

More news in the next Newsletter.

Vesna Sossi, IEEE NPSS President, can be reached by E-mail at [email protected].