NPSS AdCom traditionally gathers every other year at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, NM for our March retreat and general meeting (March 5-7, 2026). This year was unique in that the hotel was finishing up some significant renovations. Our committee members were the first guests to check in. Hotel staff were incredibly accommodating for our group during our stay, and it was greatly appreciated. We achieved a healthy 93% total attendance for the meetings including 64% in-person participation.

Friday’s retreat (March 6^th) was a great opportunity for new AdCom members to get oriented and to meet all the veteran members. Throughout the day we were also introduced to several IEEE resources and initiatives.

John Verboncoeur presented SpaceTech as a possible IEEE Future Directions (FDC) Initiative with a goal to converge IEEE space technologies across partner societies. NPSS can contribute to this effort. We also had a presentation from the IEEE Council on Superconductivity (IEEE CSC) with a proposal for NPSS to join the council. The IEEE HART Initiative (Hardware for AI, research and talent-building) is a 2026 FDC Initiative promoting cross-society collaboration in AI-focused hardware development. A new tool from IEEE Conferences, Events and Experiences (CEE), the CEE Data Lake, is a centralized, scalable, and unified data foundation for IEEE conferences. It enables real-time insights, advanced analytics, and organization-wide decision intelligence that can be used for current and future conferences.

NPSS Vice President, Lorenzo Fabris, presented some initial results from this year’s Membership survey. This survey (held every 5 years) helps establish future AdCom elected representation based on the general interest in the eight NPSS Technical Committees. There are 16 total elected seats available for distribution. There will be further discussion and a proposal for the distribution and implementation plan presented at the next AdCom meeting in June.

The retreat also provided an opportunity for smaller breakout sessions focused on four different discussion topics. The current task force initiatives: Affinity Groups, Developing Effective Projects/Initiatives, and SMRs and New Reactor Technologies were again on the agenda. Progress reports and discussions for next steps were the focus for three of the breakout sessions. A fourth topic was focused on a required update to the NPSS Strategic Plan this year. Lorenzo Fabris is also leading this effort. Discussion centered around potential changes to the current Vision and Mission statements as well as a new SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).

The general meeting was on Saturday March 7th. Ralf Engels kicked off the meeting with the Treasurer’s report. Publications forecasts are in line with expectations. Conference closings are going well. All 2024 conferences are now closed. He noted however that the 2024-2025 returns are significantly lower than in past years. One point of emphasis was that conference treasurers need to update their budgets regularly in the NPSS Budget Tool. This is critical in getting the most accurate budget numbers for the Society.

In her President’s report, Sara Pozzi emphasized the importance of NPSS strengthening relationships with IEEE/TAB as well as other IEEE Organizational Units. She also proposed that NPSS technically co-sponsor the 2026 Virtual Nuclear Engineering Summer School being organized at the University of Michigan where she is a professor. Several AdCom members have already agreed to be lecturers. Congratulations to Vesna Sossi, who was recently elected IEEE Division IV Director. It was also noted that long-time NPSS FinCom Chair Hal Flescher is retiring. John Verboncoeur will take over his position. Thank you Hal for your many years of service to NPSS!

Lorenzo Fabris gave an update on the status of the new NPSS Constitution and Bylaws approved by AdCom in the November 2025 General meeting. IEEE TAB reached out to request two more small changes. One was administrative and the other required an AdCom vote at this meeting (See Actions taken at the end of my report). As a follow-up, we have received final approval from TAB, and the new NPSS C&BL is published in this newsletter (See Link). They will also be published on the NPSS website.

Publications Chair, Paul Dressendorfer, commented on a general trend of increasing submission numbers for most journals (~20% for IEEE in recent years). It is becoming more difficult to get enough volunteers to review papers. IEEE is attempting to address the issue by evaluating the use of AI tools in the review process. By implementing a more efficient initial submission rejection process, this approach may help mitigate overtaxing existing reviewer pools. IEEE Xplore is having some success in this area.

Other items of note at the meeting included a large number of motions from multiple committees (See Actions). Stefan Ritt proposed a new initiative, referred to as the NPSS Welcome Grant. This would provide USD 50 to students who sign up to be new IEEE/NPSS members. This initiative replaces the free IEEE membership vouchers that NPSS is no longer able to provide. The $50 would effectively cover the cost of their membership for one year. AdCom voted to approve this initiative as a pilot program for the remainder of 2026. In follow-up discussions it was agreed that, rather than cash payments to students, NPSS would purchase $50 equivalent merchandise to offer at the conference for students purchasing new memberships.

The June virtual AdCom meeting will be held on June 27, 2026. My report on that meeting will be in the September Newsletter.

Actions taken at the March 7, 2026 AdCom general meeting

• REC moved that AdCom approve technical co-sponsorship for the 2027 RADECS Conference. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• REC moved that AdCom approve technical co-sponsorship for the 2027 RADECS Conference Data Workshop. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• REC moved that AdCom approve payment of the 2027 RADECS Conference TCS fees ($1450). None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• EduCom moved that AdCom approve an increase of up to USD 25000 for the EduCom 2026 annual budget. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• WIE/YP moved that AdCom approve an increase of up to USD 35000 for the annual WIE/YP budget. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Publications moved that AdCom approve keeping the publication subscription pricing of TNS, TPS, and TRPMS for members in 2027 the same as in 2026. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Publications moved that AdCom authorize a subgroup, consisting of the NPSS President, Treasurer, FinCom Chair and Publications Chair, to set the publication subscription pricing for TNS, TPS, and TRPMS for non-members in 2027 after receipt of the pricing recommendations from IEEE. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Lorenzo Fabris moved (Vesna Sossi seconded) that AdCom approve the transfer of up to USD 200,000 from the NPSS operational surplus to the IEEE Foundation’s NPSS Fund, which is held and administered by the IEEE Foundation. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Vesna Sossi moved (Chunqi Jiang seconded) that the 2026 Nominations Committee be defined as presented in Appendix 11.2.6 (Vesna Chair plus the eight TC Chairs). None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• The ad hoc NPSS C&BL Committee (Lorenzo Fabris, Chair) moved to approve the updated NPSS C&BL as recommended by IEEE TAB. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Vesna Sossi moved (Lorenzo Fabris seconded) that AdCom approve new NPSS Welcome grants (nominal $50 value) for students who become new IEEE/NPSS members through the end of the calendar year 2026 (as a pilot program). None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Sara Pozzi moved (seconded by Joe Schumer) that AdCom approve NPSS technical co-sponsorship of the 2026 NPSS Virtual Nuclear Engineering Summer School (hosted by The University of Michigan). None opposed; motion passed by consensus.
• Lorenzo Fabris moved (Jacob Stephens seconded) that AdCom approve NPSS covering the $1450 co-sponsorship fee for the 2026 NPSS Virtual Summer School. None opposed; motion passed by consensus.

David Abbott can be reached via email at [email protected]