2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Kobe, Japan
The 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) was held in the beautiful and enthralling city of Kobe, Japan between October 22-25, 2018 at the Portopia Hotel. The IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium serves as a premier venue for bringing researchers and scientists from academia and industry to present cutting-edge advances in Ultrasonics research and inspire new ideas and collaborations.
Kobe is well-known as a Japanese city having a unique style with an exotic atmosphere. It has been influenced by foreign cultures and has flourished as an international port. Several World Heritage sites including the Himeji Castle (known as the “White Heron Castle”) and Kyoto are within a short distance from Kobe city. Originally, the 2011 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium was scheduled to be held in Kobe. However, due to extensive uncertainties resulting from the magnitude 9 earthquake that devastated parts of Japan, the venue was changed to its back-up (Orlando, FL, USA). Thus, bringing IUS back to Japan symbolically represents the recovery from the disaster.
Symposium Opening Ceremony:
The 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium began on October 23rd with a Welcome Speech by General Co-chairs, Ken-ya Hashimoto and Clemens Ruppel, followed with Opening Remarks by UFFC-S President Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb and Technical Program Overview by TPC Chair Jan D’Hooge. The plenary speaker was Kazuki Koketsu from Earthquake Research Institute (ERI), University of Tokyo. Professor Koketsu’s speech addressed the 1995 Kobe and 2011 Tohoku earthquakes and their consequences, including the Fukushima nuclear accident.
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Welcome Speech by General Chair Ken-Ya Hashimoto.[/caption] [/mks_one_half] [mks_one_half] [caption id="attachment_6446" align="aligncenter" width="376"]
Plenary given by Professor Kazuki Koketsu.[/caption] [/mks_one_half] [/mks_col]
Technical Program Highlights:
More than 1396 guests attended the conference which is a new record and shows the healthy growth of the symposium. The Technical Program Committee (TPC) Chair, Jan D’Hooge, and TPC members prepared an exciting and rich program for the attendees. There were 14 short courses, 18 invited talks and 3 clinical speakers. A total of 460 oral presentations were scheduled across 8 parallel tracks. 563 Poster presentations were on display over the three days.
This year was also marked by exciting joint-sessions. The joint Photoacoustics session featured three invited speakers, each from a different technical group of IUS. Six experts participated in an interactive panel discussion, Technologies & Challenges for 3D Imaging. In addition, a challenge event for Synthetic Aperture – Vector Flow Imaging was organized, and winners were announced during a lunch event.
Exhibitors and Sponsors:
More than 30 exhibitors from industry leading companies were hosted during the symposium. Running in parallel with the technical program, this exhibition provided an excellent opportunity for attendees and exhibitors to network and conduct business. Gold sponsors for the symposium included Verasonics, Kobe Convention Bureau, FeelKobe+ and Tsutomu Nakauchi Foundation. Other sponsors were Onscale, Shincron Co. Ltd., Skyworks, Lyncee tec and the Murata Science Foundation.
Student Events:
Continuing the IEEE UFFC tradition, special emphasis was given to the students. More than 460 students attended the conference. Many students received travel support, with additional funding honoring the late Prof. David O. Cosgrove, Imperial College, London. Several key events targeting the students included a Student Paper Competition (18 students competed on the first day of symposium), Student-Professor Breakfast, Industry Networking Event and a Lunch with administrative committee members of the UFFC society.
Social Events and Awards Ceremony:
Social events included a Reception on October 23rd and an Awards Ceremony & Banquet on October 24th. The opening act for the awards ceremony was the Murata Cheerleaders by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Murata cheerleader robots wowed the audience by demonstrating uncanny balance and synchronization.
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Murata Cheerleaders performing during the Awards Ceremony at the 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium.[/caption]
Award winners were announced by Jan Brown, UFFC Awards Chair, and Jafar Saniie, Ultrasonics Awards Chair:
The 2018 IEEE Ultrasonics awards recipients are Charles A. Cain, Rayleigh award; Elisa E. Konofagou, Carl Hellmuth Hertz award; and Yun Jing, Early Career Investigator award.
The 2018 IEEE UFFC society awards recipients are Ronal Daigle, UFFC Achievement award; Steven Leeds, UFFC Distinguished Service award; Pai-Chi Li, UFFC Distinguished Lecturer award; and Simon Bernard, Siavash Kazemirad, and Guy Cloutier, the UFFC Outstanding Paper award.
The Student paper competition winners are Kelsey Kubelick, Jack Sauvage in Medical Ultrasound; Naiqing Zhang in Sensors, NDE&Industrial Applications; Tatsuki Fushimi in Physical Acoustics; Ruochen Lu, Microacoustics SAW, FBAR, MEMS; and Robert Wodnicki in Transducers & Transducer Materials.
The awards ceremony concluded with a rousing concert by the IUS 2018 Special Quintet singing “Pops Masterpieces from 1970’s to Present”.
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IUS 2018 Special Quintet performing during the 2018 IUS Awards Ceremony.[/caption]
Other social events included the Women in Engineering (WIE) Elevator Pitch Event which was organized and coordinated by Muyinatu Bell, UFFC WIE representative for Ultrasonics. Approximately 80 engineers gathered for the first WIE elevator pitch event. This event was financially sponsored and supported by UFFC-S.
General Technical Program Committee (TPC) meeting and 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Glasgow, Scotland:
General Co-Chairs, Sandy Cochran & Margaret Lucas and Technical Program Co-Chairs, Lori Bridal & John Hossack made a presentation for IEEE IUS 2019 during the general TPC meeting and answered questions. The 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium will take place from October 6th to 9th in Glasgow, Scotland. The venue will be at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), on the north bank of the River Clyde. The SEC is only 15 minutes on foot from Glasgow city centre and is well-served by public transport, including its own railway station stop, with many hotels and other facilities on the same campus. Abstracts are now sought, describing original research in the field of Ultrasonics and closely related topics, for presentation in oral or poster format. More information can be found at the IEEE IUS 2019 website.
Symposium Closing Session:
This year’s symposium concluded with a new Highlights session. Since the technical program had 8 parallel tracks, it was not feasible for attendees to see all the interesting talks and emerging topics. In order to compensate for this, a special session was held in the final day. Experts in each technical group picked the most interesting papers in their relative field and briefly presented them. Free drinks were served to those participating in the session.