As 2023 comes to a close, we reflect on the highlights of this calendar year in the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS). We welcome your feedback on how we can better serve our community, and we look forward to what 2024 holds in the field of vehicular technology, including mobile communications and networks, motor vehicles, and land transportation.
In 2023, VTS received a record number of nominations for our annual VTS Awards and for our two student fellowships, the Daniel E. Noble Fellowship and the Transportation Electronics Fellowship.
In response to the growing student membership within our Society, the VTS Awards Committee has proposed the creation of a new Student Scholarship Award. Undergraduate and graduate students within the VTS fields of interest will be encouraged to apply. The new Student Scholarship Award has the potential to recognize and support multiple students each year. If you are a VTS student member, we hope that you will consider applying for this new scholarship award once it has been fully approved by IEEE. We owe many thanks to the chair of the VTS Awards Committee, Gordon Stüber, and the committee members for leading this effort.
VTS has one of the largest and most active Distinguished Lecturer (DL) Programs in IEEE. With the bimonthly VTS Chapter newsletter, VTS members have more awareness of Chapter activities, including DL talks. Members have been able to learn and network with colleagues from their IEEE Regions and Sections as well as members on the other side of the globe.
Region 10 Chapter chairs were invited to participate in the first in-person Chapter Chair Training Program since the COVID-19 pandemic. The training was co-located with VTC2023-Fall in Hong Kong. We are grateful to the VTS Chapter Committee chair, Alon Newton, for leading the training. We look forward to similar Region-specific training in the upcoming year.
The Education Committee, chaired by Ping Wang, organized two successful events for students and young professionals at VTC2023-Spring and VTC2023-Fall. The events offered peer networking opportunities and were well attended. The committee received extremely positive feedback from the attendees and will continue to organize similar events in 2024. Stay tuned.
The VTS Resource Center is now populated with current videos, predominantly from recent VTS-sponsored conferences, as an added benefit to members at any stage in their careers.
Hundreds of VTS members expressed their interest in the activities of VTS Technical Committees. If you are interested in our Technical Committees, please submit your interest here: https://vtsociety.org/form/contact-technical-committees. We would like to thank our Technical Committee chairs for creating activities to inspire, including the VTS Membership, AI in Wireless Communications (Li-Chun Wang), Drones (Kamesh Namuduri), Electric Railways (Jinghua Feng), Land Transportation (David Thurston), Mission Critical Communications (Hichan Moon), Motor Vehicles (Loïc Boulon), Propagation (David Matolak), Standards Activities (Oliver Holland), and Vehicular Power and Propulsion (Giambattista Gruosso) Committees.
VTS hosted its first-ever Tales of Tomorrow Storytelling Competition to gather thought-provoking stories that envision how mobile radio and vehicular technologies can transform the world. We are thankful to the vice president (VP) of mobile radio, Lin Cai, and the VP of membership, Neeli Prasad, for overseeing the competition.
Through the efforts of the VTS Volunteer Engagement Committee, we now have open volunteer positions (https://vtsociety.org/open-volunteer-positions-available) listed on the VTS website and an easy-to-use application form (https://vtsociety.org/form/vts-volunteer-application) for interested VTS members. If you are interested in becoming more involved, please take a look at the open volunteer opportunities available.
We hope that you will provide feedback on why you joined VTS and how we can better address your needs by completing this form: https://vtsociety.org/form/new-member-welcome.
IEEE’s mission is to advance technology for the benefit of humanity. Today, the world faces its largest modern-day threat—climate change. We recognize this global crisis and are committed to helping combat and mitigate the effects of climate change through pragmatic and accessible technical solutions and providing engineers and technologists with a neutral space for discussion and action.
VTS is well-positioned for initiatives on climate change due to its technical areas of focus. We will increase our efforts in organizing the responses of engineers, scientists, and technical professionals to address the causes, mitigate the impact, and adapt to climate change. One such activity will focus on new vehicular propulsion architectures. Via our Technical Committee on Vehicular Power and Propulsion, we plan to involve VTS members in ideas for new architectures for the propulsion of land, sea, or air vehicles that can reduce emissions and thus address the challenges of climate change. We welcome your ideas and encourage your participation in this initiative.
I want to thank each one of you for your membership to the Society. If you have not already engaged in one of the membership benefits or opportunities listed here, I hope you will consider doing so in 2024!
As always, I would like to know how VTS can better serve you. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your ideas, suggestions, comments, questions, or concerns.
