Society Stimulation Fund

Dear Fellow SMC Society Members & Friends,

The mission of the Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society is to serve the interests of its members and the community at large by promoting the theory, practice, and interdisciplinary aspects of systems science and engineering, human-machine systems, and cybernetics. It is accomplished through conferences, publications, and other activities that contribute to the professional needs of its members.

I am happy to announce that a Society Stimulation Fund is approved by IEEE for 2019.  I would like to ask the BoG members to submit any applicable proposals by July 31st 2019.  Here is the description of the Stimulation Fund.

Stimulation Fund will provide financial resources for projects that will benefit SMC community in general. This is a new initiative to support technical activities which are to be conducted by the SMC members during the year. It is aimed to provide funds for special activities to improve membership, technical activities of the technical committees, and providing enabling support to members for initiatives which are not covered by the regular budget or processes.

Examples of projects that we can support include (not an exhaustive list):

  • Outreach activities for pre-university students and teachers
  • Outreach activities for developing nations
  • Promotional materials for SMC Society or the field
  • SMC membership drives
  • Technical Activities for the local chapter, section or technical committees.

The Society Stimulation Fund can be used to support students, to support administrative or supporting staff, and for material expenditures (including subcontracts) and travel.  The Fund cannot be used for covering salaries of working professionals in the field, including faculty and researchers in industry.  The Fund cannot provide funding for scientific research or to support any for-profit activity.

The Stimulation Fund will be managed by a committee, headed by the VP Finance, Ferat Sahin – [email protected].

The Society Stimulation Fund initiative proposal submission dates are:

  • Proposal Submission: July 31st 2019
  • Funding Decisions: August 15th 2019

We will have one call for proposal for this year and the submission deadline is July 31st  2019.

The funds should be spent in 2019 budget year. If you have an unapproved new initiative proposal, this would be a good venue to get support for your initiative.  The decisions for the proposals will be made by the Stimulation Fund committee and will be provided by August 15th 2019. 

Please visit the IEEE SMCS website for additional details of the Society Stimulation Fund Application Guidelines and submission instructions for your proposed activity.

Sincerely,

Edward Tunstel
SMC President