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Society News
Transactions Special Issue on Molecular Biology and Neuroscience
The IEEE Transactions on Information Theory will publish a Special Issue to provide readers with an overview of the most important problems in molecular biology and neuroscience, to highlight state-of-the-art applications of information theory in these fields, and to compile a collection of new research results on these subjects.
Authors interested in responding to this call are asked to email a paper proposal, not exceeding 5 pages in length, to Olgica Milenkovic (milenkov AT uiuc DOT edu) by November 15th, 2008. The paper proposals will be reviewed by experts in both life science and information theory, and only those papers deemed relevant to biology will be invited for full paper submission. Authors will be informed about the acceptance of their paper proposal by January 1st, 2009. Full papers should be submitted for a second round of review through
the Pareja system, and the expected publication date of the Special Issue is December 2009.
Call for 2010 Shannon Award Nominations
The IEEE Information Theory Society Claude E. Shannon Award is given annually for consistent and profound contributions to the field of information theory. Award winners are expected to deliver the Shannon Lecture at the annual IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory held in the year of the award.
This year, for the first time, the Shannon Award Committee has decided to issue an open call for nominations. Although anyone may make a nomination, the Committee retains the responsibility of assuring that a suitable slate of candidates is nominated, and may itself generate nominations.
Nominations and optional letters of endorsement must be submitted by March 1 to the current President of the IEEE Information Theory Society. In 2009 the President will be Prof. Andrea Goldsmith (andrea AT wsl DOT stanford DOT edu). A nomination form is available on the Shannon Award page.
Information Theory Society Newsletter
The September 2008 edition of the Newsletter is
now available.
2008 IT and Communication Societies' Joint Paper Award
Congratulations to A. Abbasfar, D. Divsalar, and K. Yao, who receive the joint paper award for their article "Accumulate-Repeat-Accumulate Codes" appearing in the IEEE Trans. Commun., April 2007. The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding papers published in any publication of the Communications Society or the Information Theory Society during the previous calendar year. The running list of awardees can be found at http://www.itsoc.org/society/jointpaper_awd.htm.
Society Updates
Constitution and ByLaws
From time to
time, the Board of Governors (BoG) amends the Constitution and a set
of Bylaws governing various aspects of the Society's operation. The
amendments to the Bylaws have already taken effect, and the amendments
to the Constitution will take effect 60 days after this notice of
amendments, unless at least 1% of the voting members of the Society
object, in writing, within 60 days, to the IEEE Office of Society
General Activities. The updated Constitution and ByLaws, an
explanation of the updates, and additional details on the approval
process is available in the
Society archive.
Society Mourns the Passing of David Slepian
The IEEE Information Theory Society mourns the loss of David Slepian,
who passed away on November 29, 2007. A researcher of immense depth
and breadth, Slepian was known for choosing problems of a fundamental
nature and providing solutions that paved the way for many to
follow.
Born born in Pittsburgh, PA on June 30, 1923, Slepian's
undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan were interrupted
by service in the U.S. Army in World War II. Upon discharge, he
entered Harvard University where he received a Ph.D. in Physics in
1949. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge University and the
Sorbonne, he joined the Mathematics Research Center at Bell Telephone
Laboratories. During the 1970's, Slepian shared time between Bell
Labs and the University of Hawaii.
Slepian received many honors and recognitions, including: election to
three national academies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of
Sciences; the IEEE Centennial Medal in 1983; the SIAM von Neumann
Award in 1982; the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 1981; and the
IEEE Information Theory Society Shannon Award in 1974. Slepian was
the second Shannon lecturer, following Shannon himself.
Slepian is survived by his wife, Janice, their three children,
and four grandchildren.
Call for Paper Award Nominations and Deadline Extension
The Awards Committee, chaired by Andrea Goldsmith, strongly encourages
all society members to consider nominating papers for the ITSoc or
joint ITSoc/COMSOC prize paper awards. To stimulate more award
nominations, the deadline has been extended to March 1. Please
consider nominating any excellent paper you have read over the last
year for one or both of these prestigious awards. (Note that a summary
of the awards and past recipients can be found at http://itsoc.org/society/awards.html,
and the same paper may be considered for both awards.) Our society can
also sponsor nominations for IEEE-wide prize paper awards (individuals
can also directly nominate for these awards); see http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/prize.html
for more details.
Verdú
Awarded 2008 IEEE Hamming Medal
Prof. Sergio Verdú,
of Princeton University, has been named the recipient of the 2008 IEEE
Richard W. Hamming Medal, "for fundamental contributions to
information theory and the development of multiuser detection". The
Hamming Medal was established in 1986 and is named in honor of
Dr. Richard W. Hamming, who has had a central role in the development
of computer and computing science. The award consists of a gold medal,
bronze replica, certificate, and honorarium.
Information
Forensics and Security Special Issue
The IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security
will be hosting a 2008 special issue on Network Forensics and
Security. As indicated in the call for papers, the
extended submission deadline is October 15, 2007.
Student Committee Events at Allerton 2007
The IT Society Student Committee will host "A Tribute to Sergio
Servetto" followed by a panel discussion on "The Characteristics of a
Great Researcher", Thursday, September 27, 2007, at 8:15pm in the
Library of Allerton House.
All members of the community are welcome to participate. A condolence
book for the Servetto's family will also be available. If you cannot attend and
wish to contribute something to the tribute or book, please contact
Andrea Goldsmith.
Tragic Loss of Sergio Servetto
The IEEE Information Theory Society mourns the loss of Professor
Sergio D. Servetto, who passed away on July 24th 2007. He was the
sole victim of an accident in a private plane, which he was flying
from Michigan to Ithaca, NY.
Remembered by many as a passionate scientist with great intelligence,
energy, daring, and personal warmth, Servetto was well known for his
research and his involvement in the Society, in which he recently
served as chair of the Student Committee.
Servetto was born in La Plata, Argentina, on January 18, 1968, and
studied computer science at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
Following a 1999 Ph.D. in computer science at the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, from which his dissertation received the
David J. Kuck Outstanding Thesis Award, Servetto spent two years as a
post-doctoral scholar at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
(EPFL). He joined the faculty in the School of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at Cornell University in 2001, received a prestigious
NSF CAREER award in 2003.
Dr. Servetto is survived by his wife Viviana and their two small boys,
Luciano and Alejandro. More information, including pointers to a
condolence book, trust fund, and news articles, are available at http://www.itsoc.org/servetto.html.
2009 Banff International Research Station Calls for Proposals
The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is now accepting proposals for its 2009 program. The Station provides an environment for creative interaction and the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the mathematical, statistical, and computing sciences, and with related disciplines and industrial sectors. Full information, guidelines, and online forms are available at the website http://www.birs.ca/.
Open Reviewing
On an
experimental basis, open reviewing of submissions to the Transactions
will be allowed to complement the standard procedure. If a paper
preprint is posted on ArXiv (http://www.arxiv.org/), with the
explicit indication "Submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Information
Theory," then its readers are allowed to send their comments about it
to the Editor-in-Chief, Ezio Biglieri. Provided that these comments are not frivolous or obviously biased, the Editor-in-Chief will forward them to the Associate Editor in charge of the paper as a supplement of regular peer reviews.
2008 IEEE Information Theory Society Claude
E. Shannon Award
The winner of the 2008
IEEE Information Theory Society Claude E. Shannon Award is
Dr. Robert M. Gray, Lucent Technologies Professor of
Electrical Engineering, Stanford University. The award honors
consistent and profound contributions to the field of information
theory. Gray will give the Shannon Lecture at ISIT 2008 in Toronto,
Ontario, Canada.
2007 IEEE Information Theory Society Aaron D. Wyner
Distinguished Service Award
The winner of the 2007 IEEE Information Theory
Society Aaron D. Wyner Distinguished Service Award is Dr. Jack
K. Wolf, the Stephen O. Rice Professor of Magnetics at the
University of California--San Diego. The award honors an
individual who has shown outstanding leadership in - and provided
long standing, exceptional service to - the Information Theory
community.
2007 IEEE Information
Theory Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2007 IEEE Information
Theory Society Paper Award are
H. Weingarten, Y. Steinberg and
S. Shamai
for their paper,
"The Capacity Region of the Gaussian
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Broadcast Channel",
which appeared in the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,
vol. 52, no. 9, pp. 3936-3964, Sept. 2006.
2007 IEEE Information
Theory Society Chapter of the Year Award
The 2007 Chapter Of The Year Award will go to the Seoul Chapter. The award recognizes the most active
chapter during the previous year.
Five-Page Limit on Correspondences
As recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Growth of the Transactions,
and unanimously approved by the Board of Governors at ISIT 2006 in
Seattle, WA, accepted Correspondence items submitted for review in 2007 and
beyond will be limited in length to five printed pages in the
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. The updated Information for Authors now reflects this change.
IT Society Endorses Posting Paper Preprints on ArXiv
ArXiv
is a public preprint server (partly funded by the NSF) which in the
past decade has become the dominant method for distributing new papers in
the physics community, and more recently in substantial parts of math and CS.
It has been called the "physics model" for "open access" publication. Recently
ArXiv has established an information theory category. In October 2004, the IT
Board of Governors unanimously voted to encourage IT authors to post all of their
preprints (both journal and conference) on ArXiv, to encourage rapid dissemination
of new research. IEEE-published articles should however continue to be accessed
through IEEE Xplore.
For questions and answers about
ArXiv,
see the FAQ.
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