Issue 54 : March, 2016
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
our flagship conference to be held in Budapest, Hungary, IEEE SMC2016), and job openings. The
issue also includes an exciting interview of our newly appointed President, Dr. Dimitar Filev, Ford
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.

Send us your feedback!
Prof. Mariagrazia Dotoli, PhD
Associate Professor of Control Systems Engineering
Politecnico di Bari
200 Via Re David
70125 Bari - Italy
[email protected]
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