Editorial

Editorial

Dear Readers,

This is the number one issue of the IEEE SMC Society eNewsletter for 2016, and the first one for

me as an Editor. I wish to thank the Society leadership for having appointed me to the editorship of

the eNewsletter. My predecessor, Prof. Mo El-Hawari, did an excellent job over the past four years.

I take this occasion to thank him for agreeing to help with the transition and wish him success with

his new role as Editor-in Chief of the IEEE SMC Magazine.

Being the Editor of the IEEE SMC eNewsletter is an honor and an opportunity to me, and I am

willing to jump into this role with the same passion that I bring to working with my students and

collaborators at Politecnico di Bari, Italy, where I am an Associate Professor of Control Systems

Engineering. My plan as an Editor of the eNewsletter is set up around two main objectives:

1- Increasing content: I would like to keep sharing up-to-date contributions, while increasing the

eNewsletter technical content and the informative one. Some steps are taken in this direction

already in this issue, with two exciting interviews of two leading members of the Society.

2- Increasing readership: I would like to share the eNewsletter also via social media, to expand

our network with new professionals, while keeping current members informed in a direct and easy

way. We are working towards this objective and will let you now the developments soon.

These two objectives are intended to be met to make the eNewsletter the main vehicle of

communication and interaction between members and volunteers of the SMC Society both ways

from/to the leadership and the members. I believe the eNewsletter is an ideal forum for updates,

reports, announcements and editorials which don't fit well with traditional journals. We welcome

your contributions, including research results and discussions, as well as calls for papers, job

announcements, comments and suggestions by email.

Let me conclude by briefly describing the current issue of the e-Newsletter. It is fully loaded with

up-to-date content on Society news and reports -particularly of the very successful 2015 SMC

Conference in Hong Kong, China, publications’ table of contents, call for papers (including that of

Motor Company, USA, who has just started the 2016-2017 biennium of the Society presidency. Our

President shares with us his views on the current status of the Society and his vision of the future.

In addition, we feature an interview with my predecessor Prof. Mo El-Hawari, Dalhousie University,

Canada, in his capacity of founding Editor-in-Chief of the SMC Magazine. Prof. El-Hawary

discusses the state and his plans for the Magazine, not forgetting to discuss the difference and

overlap with the eNewsletter. He advises prospective authors as to where they should submit

contributions between these two publications.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue. I look forward to receiving your contributions and to making the

eNewsletter the leading forum of the SMC Society.

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