2016 IEEE IUS in Tours, France
Delegates welcomed to the 2016 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) in Tours, France, will undoubtedly have planned their travel carefully, with many arriving on the Train à Grande Vitesse from Paris, but they may not have spared a thought for their intrepid Publications Chair, Steve Freear. With an important cycle race a few weeks after the symposium, Steve made the decision to travel from the UK by train...and bicycle. Braving delays, cancellations and floods, he finally arrived to a warm welcome in Tours.
Steve Freear, Publications Chair, happily endures appalling conditions on his bicycle in his determination to reach IUS 2016 in Tours[/caption]The General Chair of the Symposium was Ayache Bouakaz, Université de Tours, France, who hosted more than 1,300 delegates from more than 50 different countries at the VINCI Centre Internationale de Congrès de Tours. With 1190 abstracts submitted, the Technical Program Committee chaired by Ton van der Steen, worked hard to configure the three-day program running from Monday to Wednesday. This had seven parallel sessions, including 18 invited speakers and three clinical speakers, as well as encompassing about 150 posters every day. As usual, this program provided a perfect opportunity to learn about the latest advances in medical ultrasound, ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation, industrial ultrasonics, physical acoustics, microacoustics and ultrasonic transducers and materials.
Ayache Bouakaz, General Chair, addresses the delegates at the Welcome Reception in the Hôtel de Ville de Tours[/caption]Short Courses Twelve short courses were delivered on Sunday, 18th September, with the total number attending exceeding 300 delegates. The program was organised very effectively by Nico de Jong, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Lori Bridal, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale, Paris, France. Many important topics were covered by leading experts in the field, including "Ultrasound Therapy", addressed by Kullervo Hynynen, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada, and "CMUT: Theory, Fabrication and Applications", addressed by Pierre Khuri-Yakub, Stanford University, USA, Omer Oralkan, NCSU, USA, and Mario Kupnik, TU Darmstadt, Germany.
Plenary Session and Awards Ayache Bouakaz opened the plenary session with a welcome address to the delegates, followed by the awards ceremony. The 2016 Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator award went to Alfred Yu, University of Waterloo, Canada, for his outstanding work in ultrasound flow imaging and therapeutic ultrasound biophysics. Vincent Laude, FEMTO-ST, CNRS, Besançon, France, was the very worthy recipient of the Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonics Award for his contributions to the physics of phononic crystals and of the interaction of light and sound. Finally, Jim Miller was given the Rayleigh Award for sustained, high impact research in ultrasonic tissue characterization and quantitative echocardiography. Not only is Jim a very highly distinguished academic, but his research has been incorporated into commercial echocardiographic imagers used on patients around the world.
The symposium was also the occasion on which two UFFC Society awards were presented. Jian Yu Lu received the Distinguished Service Award for his work as the President of UFFC-S and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, and for many contributions to symposium organisation. Mickael Tanter accepted the 2015 UFFC-S Outstanding Paper Award with his team, comprising Jean-Luc Gennisson, Jean Provost, Thomas Deffieux, Clement Papadacci, Marion Imbault and Mathieu Pernot, for their paper on "4-D Ultrafast Shear-Wave Imaging", describing a technique that paves the way for real-time 3-D shear wave elastography.
Mickael Tanter (3rd left) and his team accept the 2015 UFFC-S Outstanding Paper Award, flanked by Jan Brown, Chair of the Awards Committee (left) and Clark Nguyen, UFFC-S President (right)[/caption]The plenary presentation was given by Bénédicte Palazzo-Bertholon and Jean-Christophe Valière and was entitled "Archaeology of the Sound through the Acoustic Pot Devices in Medieval and Renaissance Buildings: an Exploration of the Instigator's Aim". Dr Palazzo-Bertholon and Dr Valière took the audience into a mediaeval world in which church architects and builders embedded ceramic pots within certain walls to correct their acoustic properties according to the needs of the singing of the times. A case study was presented from the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Noyon, Picardy, France, with sound recordings allowing conference delegates to experience the effects themselves.
Xiao Zhang, North Carolina State University, has an engrossed audience for his entry in the Student Paper Competition[/caption]Technical Program The adoption of a program with seven parallel oral sessions allowed the delegates an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest developments in a wide range of topics. The Student Paper Competition posters were displayed throughout the whole conference in a highly advantageous position allowing delegates ample time to view them and to discuss their contents with the students. The posters for each day were displayed throughout the day's sessions, with a great deal of discussion at the morning and afternoon breaks.
An innovation introduced for the first time in 2016 was the IUS Plane Wave Imaging Challenge. In response to the difficulty in comparing techniques for high frame-rate plane wave imaging, a challenge was set to carry out such imaging on datasets provided to the competitors. The results were evaluated numerically, with the top three participants in several different categories receiving certificates and prizes. With approximately 30 participants and more than 150 people attending the challenge session, this innovation was deemed a success, to be followed up again in future.
A still further innovation was a Student – Industry Networking event. Motivated by the desire to enhance the period during which members of the ultrasonics community remain attached to it, the event aimed to make known to students the vast job opportunities that are available and to allow students to present themselves to potential employers. 25 students were each given three minutes for this part of the event, with the number of employers limited to 50. The formal presentations were followed by informal networking for direct contact between students and employers.
Another, more long-standing feature of the symposia is the Student Paper Competition. This year's entry of 23 papers covered a huge range of topics, from "The effect of ultrafast imaging on shear wave observations" to "High temperature static strain microwave acoustic sensor" and the judges had many difficult decisions to make. Finally, the winners, shown below (L-R), were selected as Etienne Coffy, Ryan Jones, Jinwook Kim, Anin Maskay, Elodie Tiran and Takashi Kogai.
Students and employers' representatives mingle for discussion after the formal presentations at the Student – Industry Networking event[/caption]
The Student Paper Competition winners meet Ton van der Steen, Technical Chair (second right) and Ayache Bouakaz, General Chair (right)[/caption]Sponsors and Exhibition UFFC-S is always grateful for the support it gains from its sponsors. This year Vermon and Verasonics were Gold Sponsors and PZ Flex and Probe Hunter were Bronze Sponsors. In 2016, we had more than 20 other organisations also exhibiting their products, with coffee available and the posters nearby, creating a lively atmosphere for delegates looking to purchase relevant items or to gauge industry interest in their research.
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There was a buzz around the exhibition, with plenty of delegates on hand to keep the exhibitors busy.[/caption]
Social Events and Associated Committees and Meetings The IUS symposia are always associated with glittering social events, the flagships being the Welcome Reception and the Banquet. This year, the Reception took place in the evening of Monday, 19th September, in the Hôtel de Ville de Tours, just a short walk from the VINCI convention centre. Following well-received speeches in a grand hall, delegates enjoyed food, drink and the opportunity to make new acquaintances and to renew those established previously. The Banquet took place in similarly distinguished surroundings, in La Grange de Meslay, a fortified farm in the beautiful French countryside a 15-minute bus ride from Tours. Associated with the Abbey of Marmoutier, the Grange was originally built by Hugues des Roches, who was abbot from 1210 to 1227. Damaged by Scottish soldiers in 1422, it was rebuilt ten years later and, despite suffering some further depredations, this was the form enjoyed by the IUS delegates for their Banquet and entertainment.
Delegates enjoy entertainment at the Welcome Reception in the magnificent Hôtel de ville de Tours[/caption]
Delegates prepare to enter the historic barn of the 13th Century Grange de Meslay for the Banquet[/caption]Along with its social events and technical program, the IUS also hosts several working meetings and other social gatherings. This year, the UFFS-S AdCom meeting took place on Saturday, 17th September, followed by a visit to the Chateau d'Amboise, at which dinner was served. The UFFC-S UltraCom was held the evening of Sunday, 18th September, with Jafar Saniie chairing an interesting meeting and ensuring none of his committee were left in the VINCI centre when it was locked up for the night. Additionally, the Women in Engineering Meeting took place just before the Welcome Reception on Monday Evening and the President's Reception for Students, with breakfast, early on Tuesday, 20th September.
IUS 2017 Washington, DC, USA The last formal event of the conference was a meeting of the Technical Program Committee at which Keith Wear presented his plans for IUS 2017. This will be held from September 5th – 9th, 2017, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, USA. With a particularly early start, delegates are encouraged to consider making their decisions to attend soon and should note that the deadline for the submission of the four-page papers will be in the August holiday season.