President’s Message – January 2025
From President Dragan Damjanovic
President’s Message – January 2025
I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!
The past year has been exciting and potentially transformative for the Society. The initiatives started in 2024 will have a deep mark on our activities in 2025.
The Society’s AdCom has been restructured with the introduction of two new Vice President positions, effective in 2025: one for Community, Connection, and Diversity (which will be chaired by Andreja Erbes) and another for Education (which will be chaired by Holly Lay). The Society’s Bylaws and Constitution have been updated to reflect these changes. To enhance operational efficiency, most permanent and ad-hoc committees have been aligned under one of the nine Vice President positions. Special thanks to Mark Schafer, the Past President and the Chair of the Governance Committee, for his outstanding efforts in this regard.
One of our two flagship journals, IEEE Transactions on UFFC, successfully passed its five-year review. Congratulations to Editor-in-Chief Alfred Yu and the Publications Committee for this achievement!
After society-wide consultations, including input from the general membership and representatives of all three Technical Communities, the AdCom approved a name change for the Transactions to IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, along with a revised scope focusing more on ultrasonics topics. This transition reflects the decreasing number of submissions related to frequency control and ferroelectrics. Importantly, the new Transactions will continue to accept papers from these two areas that relate to the theory, technology, and applications of ultrasonic transducers.
This change will also help differentiate the Transactions on Ultrasonics from the Open Journal of UFFC, which will continue publishing papers in diverse formats across all three technical areas: ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control. The appointment of senior Editors from the latter two communities to the editorial board of the Open Journal during 2025 will be crucial in making this transition a success.
The regional symposia held in underserved regions worldwide are now an integral part of the Society’s strategic plan. The first two in-person meetings, which also provided remote access for those unable to travel, were held last spring in Montevideo, Uruguay (Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium – LAUS) and Gandhinagar, India (South Asia Ultrasonics Symposium – SAUS). Both events exceeded expectations, and these programs are set to continue.
In September, the Society hosted the Joint Symposium of its three flagship meetings, an event held every ten years. The Symposium was highly successful, and congratulations go to General Chairs Pai-Chi Li and Wan-Thai Hsu for their exceptional organization and mobilization of local resources. Kudos also to General Program Chair Susan Trolier-McKinstry and the TPCs of IUS, IFCS, and ISAF for delivering a robust and high-quality technical program, including joint sessions. The rich social program highlighted the engagement of many dedicated volunteers.
The Society’s five-year review in November went well, thanks to the efforts of numerous volunteers who contributed to the Society’s activities over the past five years, prepared the review document, and participated in the review audit both in person and online. Thank you.
Looking ahead to 2025, the Society faces several challenges. Due to changes at the IEEE level, our operations will continue without Special Initiatives funding, and these expenses will be covered directly from the Society’s budget. However, our finances remain stable and healthy, so this should not pose a significant issue in the short term, though we will carefully manage expenses.
The Open Journal will undergo an IEEE review early in the year. We encourage members from all three communities to consider submitting their work to the Open Journal to help establish it as a reference journal across all three technical fields.
The name and scope change for the Transactions has been submitted to IEEE, and an initial decision is expected in February 2025, with the new name and scope effective from January 2026.
All three flagship symposia will hold separate meetings in 2025: Querétaro, Mexico (ISFC); Graz, Austria (ISAF); and Utrecht, The Netherlands (IUS). An AdCom meeting will also take place in Querétaro in May during the Frequency Control Symposium—the first UFFC AdCom meeting in Latin America. Additionally, the first regional meeting on ferroelectrics, the South Asia Ferroelectrics Symposium (SAFS), is planned for August in Bangalore, India.
This year, we will also elect a new President-elect. It is crucial that we have multiple candidates with diverse backgrounds. Therefore, I encourage all our members to consider nominations for this position.
Finally, I want to thank all our volunteers for their dedicated work and encourage you to continue actively participating in the many activities of the Society.