AdCom met virtually on June 24, 2023. There were Finance Committee, Communications Committee and a special meeting of TC chairs held virtually on June 23^rd. Our president, Vesna Sossi, discussed the TAB series meetings and introduced the Future Directions Presidents’ Forum and also the concept of holding Industrial Days to understand better what industry wants and how IEEE can be more relevant to our industry members.

A key focus of TAB this year is climate change. Vesna has appointed Cinzia Da Via to lead a Climate Change ad hoc functional committee. See Cinzia’s report in Liaison Reports.

Ralf Engels, our treasurer, noted that our journals did very well in 2022 and we have significant reserves. However, access to reserves is extremely limited so it behooves us to spend end-of-year surplus on our initiatives and in donations, as allowed, to the  IEEE Foundation NPSS Fund. If you haven’t made a 2023 donation yet, please do so and, if you are retired, donate as a transfer from your IRA for income-tax neutrality (for US citizens).

Our budget for 2024 will be submitted to IEEE as a first draft in July. Budgets are finalized at the November Board meetings. Ralf also reminded us that all our own conferences and technically cosponsored conferences are to provide a centrally located membership table as well as registration for two membership table reps. Robert Miyaoka must approve these appointments and Ralf must be notified well ahead of the conference of who these individuals are or expenses will not be reimbursed.

Paul Dressendorfer, our Publications Committee chair, is working with IEEE to gain a better understanding of pricing policies. There is no clarity, but some changes are due to changes in IEEE’s accounting plan. Open Access remains an increasing challenge and IEEE is negotiating Read and Publish agreements so cost algorithms will change. Also there are items included in overhead charges that do not seem appropriate.

Our PRAC review noted the long terms of editors as well as the geographical distribution of senior editors.

Reports were also heard from the Finance Committee, the Communications Committee, the Fellow Evaluation Committee and the new Diversity and Inclusion Committee chaired by Jehr Lehr and Mitra Safavi-Naeini.

AdCom Actions

CANPS moves that AdCom approve the new wording for the CANPS award as presented to AdCom on June 24, 2023.

Title: IEEE Computer Applications in Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Award

Description: With the increased dependency of modern experimental scientific research upon computers it seems reasonable to recognize the individuals who have made an outstanding achievement in the application of computing technology in nuclear and plasma sciences. Inasmuch as the technology associated with computers is continually evolving, it further seems reasonable to expect innovative applications in the foreseeable future, thus justifying periodic recognition by the granting of an award.

Administration: The “Computer Applications in Nuclear and Plasma Sciences” (CANPS) Technical Committee created and administers the granting of such an award in the field of nuclear and plasma sciences.

Eligibility: Any person is eligible for the award including non-IEEE or NPSS members with specific exceptions. If a member of the CANPS Technical Committee nominates a candidate or is nominated for the award, this member shall abstain from the discussion and the vote. In addition, the CANPS Technical Committee Chair and members of the CANPS Award Subcommittee are not eligible to nominate or to be nominated during their tenure in these positions.

Eligibility and Selection process shall comply with procedures and regulation established in IEEE and Society/Council governing documents, particularly with IEEE Policy 4.4 on Awards Limitations.  Previous award winners are not eligible for substantially the same achievements (per IEEE Policies 4.4: An individual shall receive only one award for a given achievement, unless the significance merits a higher award, which may be given in the following year or thereafter.)  

Prize: 3,000 USD and a plaque. Travel allowances for the recipient to attend the Real-Time Conference will be provided if necessary and conference registration fees will be waived. Award funding will come from the IEEE Real Time conference budget.

Frequency: In advance of the scheduled IEEE Real-Time Conference, nominally every two years.

Award will be given only if a suitable awardee is identified.

Funds: Funded by the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society’s Real-Time Conference budget. The overall budget necessary will be the award plus nominal travel expenses, if necessary, for a total of around 5000 USD.

Reimbursements will follow IEEE Policies and Procedures.

Nominee Solicitation: Formal solicitation for nominees shall be made via 1) email to CANPS committee members and previous Real-Time conference participants, 2) requests in the NPSS Newsletter, announcements at the society’s conferences, and 3) other appropriate solicitations. Individuals may be nominated by the submission of a completed form, which can be downloaded from the society awards webpage at https://ieee-npss.org/awards/npss-awards. Submission should be made to the chair of the CANPS Awards Subcommittee. Any individual may submit a nomination with the exception of the CANPS Technical Committee Chair and members of the CANPS Award Subcommittee. Self-nominations are not permitted. In case of multiple nominations of the same individual, only the first submitted will be considered. Withdrawal of a nomination can be requested either by the corresponding nominator or by the nominee, provided that this request is forwarded to the chair of the awards subcommittee before the expiration of the nomination’s submission deadline.

Nominations should comply with IEEE Policies and restrictions on awards.  Incidents of misconduct including, but not limited to, violations of IEEE’s publication policies, will be strongly considered by the awards committee and may be grounds for denial of an award or leadership position.  

Award Committee: A member of the CANPS committee shall be appointed by the CANPS TC Chair to be the chair of the CANPS Awards Subcommittee. The chair of the Awards Subcommittee may not hold this position for more than two consecutive awards cycles. The subcommittee (Chair plus one or more CANPS members appointed by the Awards chair) will be formed to facilitate solicitation of nominations and development of the final ballot. All terms for awards committee members will be one election cycle. All CANPS committee members are eligible to serve in at most two consecutive awards cycles. The remaining eligible CANPS general committee as a whole will make the final selection by majority vote. The CANPS chair shall report the result of this vote to the chairman of the NPSS Awards Committee.

Voting and meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order. The Committee Chair shall have no vote except if the vote is by secret ballot or unless the Chair’s vote can change the outcome of the vote. Conflict of Interest concerns shall be disclosed and addressed in accordance with IEEE Policies 9.9 A, B. and C. Any real and perceived conflict of interest (COI) shall be avoided. Anyone with a COI shall recuse themselves from nominating, endorsing, discussing, and evaluating. Individuals serving on any board or committee involved at any stage of the recipient selection or approval process for an award shall be ineligible to receive, or act as a nominator or reference for that award.

Schedule: Solicitation of nominees should start in September of the year preceding the Real-Time Conference. The nominations are due to be received by the third Friday in January in the year of the Real-Time Conference. The announcement of the winner will be made public on the third Monday in March of the year of the award.

Selection/Basis for Judging: The winner of the award shall be selected based upon any evidence the CANPS Award Subcommittee wishes to evaluate consistent with the description of the award. Following the subcommittee’s recommendation and creation of the ballot, a majority vote by the eligible CANPS committee general membership will decide the winner. No more than four (4) ballots of the CANPS committee shall be taken with a quorum of eligible members in the committee voting. Members will be given a voting option of abstaining which will be counted with respect to reaching a quorum. If no quorum or agreement of the committee on a candidate can be obtained, the award will be skipped for that award period.

Presentation: The Award shall be presented by the Chair of the CANPS Technical Committee, on behalf of NPSS, during the IEEE NPSS Real-Time Conference.

Publicity: Publicity shall be given in appropriate NPSS publications and other professional and public outlets. Passed 21 Y. 0 N, 0 A

Radiation Effects Award for Exemplary Service to Meetings and Conferences moves to create a new service award.

• Recognition of a member of the Radiation Effects community who has demonstrated exemplary services to the meetings and conferences of the Radiation Effects Committee over a sustained period. 
• Funded by the Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference unless a suitable endowment is established.
• Description. To recognize a member of the Radiation Effects community who has demonstrated exemplary services to the meetings and conferences of the Radiation Effects Committee over a sustained period.
• Eligibility. The nominee is not required to be a member of the IEEE and the NPSS but where candidates have otherwise equal qualifications, preference shall be given to the candidate who is a member of the IEEE and the NPSS.
• Prize Items. The recipient will receive US$1,500 and a plaque.
• Funds. Funded by the Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference unless a suitable endowment is established.
• Selection Committee. Nominations will be evaluated by the elected members of the RESG, namely, the Executive Vice-chair, Chair, Past-chair, and Secretary and three Members-at-Large.
• Presentation. At the annual IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC) during the NSREC awards ceremony.

Passed: 22 Y, 0 N, 0 A.

FinCom approves transferring up to $500k from 2023 surpluses to the NPSS Foundation Fund in November. The exact amount will be determined by the NPSS Treasurer and the NPSS President.

Passed: 21 Y, 1 N, 0 A.

FinCom approves using the prioritization of initiatives submitted for approval on 6/23/23.

Passed: 21 Y, 0 N. 0 A.

Albe Larsen, IEEE NPSS Secretary and Newsletter Editor, can be reached by E-mail at [email protected]