Adcom Meetings v1

Since its start, the IEEE MEMS Technical Community has had several major Administrative Committee (Adcom) meetings.

Who Can Attend Adcom Meetings?

Anyone can attend IEEE MEMS-TC Adcom meetings. To receive invitations to the Adcom meetings, one need only specify on their online preferences form a desire to be a “heavy lifter”, which indicates a willingness to devote significant time and effort towards volunteer activities. This is a volunteer organization, so every “heavy lifter” is doing so for free. (Of course, since it is well-known that volunteers live longer, maybe “heavy lifters” get something after all.)

Adcom Meeting History

The following lists the Adcom meetings that have occurred so far since inception of the IEEE MEMS Technical Community.

Impromptu Lunch Meeting at the 2018 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, Kobe, Japan, 10/22/18

Fresh from a go-ahead from IEEE to start the IEEE MEMS Technical Community, a number of MEMS-TC’ers who happened to be attending the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium in Kobe, Japan, had an impromptu meeting/lunch. We enjoyed various sushi dishes while reviewing exactly what was an IEEE Technical Community and seeding plans for how it might grow in the next few years. With no budget, we were all prepared to cover lunch ourselves when Jason Weigold, one of our industry participants, offered to cover everything.

Being an impromptu meeting, and given that the IEEE MEMS-TC just came into existence, there were no slides used or minutes taken. But you can go here for a nice photo commemorating the event.

Adcom Meeting and Lunch at the 2019 IEEE MEMS Conference, Seoul, Korea, 1/27/19

Our first Adcom Meeting occurred the Sunday before the start of the 2019 IEEE MEMS Conference. Without a list of MEMS-TC heavy lifters — since the announcement of how to join and the google form for preferences were to be announced the next day — invited attendees included the greater MEMS International Steering Committee, the Transducers International Steering Committee, and the Transducers Research Foundation, as well as other MEMS researchers and practitioners who had shown interest in participating. This meeting set the stage for the IEEE MEMS-TC, defining its purpose and what it might turn into in a few years, e.g., an IEEE council, what it can do in the meantime, and what steps are required to achieve these goals.

This early in its existence, there were still some in the MEMS community who were suspicious of IEEE, but they did not express themselves at the first Adcom meeting. However, their concerns aired in the MEMS ISC meeting that occurred later in the week.

Meeting minutes were not taken for the MEMS ISC meeting, but they were taken at the Adcom Meeting. Go here for the minutes and slides used at the Adcom Meeting.

Adcom Meeting and Lunch at Transducers 2019, Berlin, Germany, 6/18/19

The second Adcom Meeting took place in Berlin, Germany, at the 2019 Transducers Conference. With a different crowd, there was some repetition at this meeting to introduce attendees to MEMS-TC objectives and the process needed to transition to a council. The meeting, however, quickly transitioned to substantive topics, which with income from the 2019 IEEE MEMS Conference and a few months since the first Adcom meeting, included finances, planned activities — including a possible Technical Co-Sponsorship of the 2019 PowerMEMS Conference, and Constitution and Bylaws discussion.

The slides and minutes for the meeting are here.

Adcom Meeting and Dinner at the 2020 IEEE MEMS Technical Program Committee (TPC) Meeting, Oakland, California, 10/10/19

The third Adcom Meeting took place in Oakland, California, alongside the TPC meeting for the 2020 IEEE MEMS Conference. Attendees included members of the MEMS TPC and ISC, as well as heavy lifters calling in via conference phone. By this time, there were many things to discuss: finances, conference sponsorship, website development, plans for chapters, plans for publications (or not), constitution and bylaws, and the process for transitioning to a council. Good progress had been made in supporting more conferences than just our flagship IEEE MEMS Conference. Specifically, the IEEE MEMS-TC was now Technical Co-Sponsoring the 2019 PowerMEMS Conference and discussions were in progress to perhaps also Technical Co-Sponsor the Transducers 2021 Conference.

The slides and minutes for the meeting are here.

Adcom Meeting, Lunch, and Dinner at the 2020 IEEE MEMS Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 1/22/20

The fourth Adcom Meeting took place in Vancouver, California, immediately after the closing session of the 2020 IEEE MEMS Conference. Attendees included heavy lifters and others who learned of the meeting via word of mouth at the conference and were interested in getting more involved. This was also the first meeting that Tom Compton, from IEEE TAB, could attend. The meeting agenda included a debrief of the just finished 2020 IEEE MEMS Conference, discussion of the PowerMEMS Conference, other conferences on the horizon, publications brainstorming, video capture of presentations (including tutorials), awards brainstorming, Constitution & Bylaws touchups, and next steps towards Council transition. Noteworthy at the meeting was an announcement that the PowerMEMS Conference would like to move from a Technical Co-Sponsorship from the IEEE MEMS-TC to a full Financial Sponsorship, to start at the 2020 offering of the conference.

The slides and minutes for the meeting are here.

Series of Virtual MEMS-TC/MEMS ISC Meetings in May of 2020

Interestingly, the 2020 IEEE MEMS Conference might have been the first IEEE conference to have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, those at the meeting will recall that Canada denied (or delayed) VISA’s to many participants from Asia, particularly from China. One wonders if they already knew of coronavirus and were playing it safe. If so, then perhaps this was fortunate for conference participants, even though it affected conference finances negatively. The proceeds from the the 2020 IEEE MEMS Conference were somewhat low, and this unfortunately significantly constrained the spending budget for the IEEE MEMS-TC this year.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, several meetings of MEMS-TC representatives and the MEMS ISC took place to decide what to do with the 2021 IEEE MEMS Conference. At this time, near the first peak of the coronavirus pandemic, the Steering Committee for the 2020 PowerMEMS Conference — originally scheduled for December of 2020 — had already decided to cancel. It was decided that the 2021 IEEE MEMS Conference would go forward in a completely virtual format and have three chairs from the three major regions: Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The 2021 IEEE MEMS Conference was fortunate to have not yet signed hotel and venue contracts, which otherwise might have constrained its ability to switch to a virtual format.