Inside the Radiation Effects Steering Group

The IEEE Radiation Effects Steering Group (RESG) held its annual fall business meeting in Monterey, California, at the site of our upcoming 2003 Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC).
Yes, this year NSREC will celebrate its 40th anniversary conference in Monterey on July 21-25, 2003. The RESG chose Monterey because of its excellent location and outstanding technical facilities. We found the “environment” at this conference location to be very peaceful and relaxing, a good choice for NSREC.
The DoubleTree hotel, located on Fisherman’s Warf in Monterey Bay, is the site of this year’s conference. The hotel is surrounded by a historic old-town area, which includes many outstanding restaurants, gardens, and tiny shops. In fact, a small microbrewery is located next to the hotel. Need I say any more? And this year, bring a sweater, as Monterey’s average daily maximum temperature is 68F in July. The Wednesday evening social will be held at the Monterey Aquarium, so bring the family.
Allan Johnston from Jet Propulsion Laboratory and his 2003 conference committee are planning to observe the 40th anniversary of the NSREC with a special June issue of the Transactions on Nuclear Science (TNS). The special issue will include about 20 invited papers, summarizing the significant technical findings of the radiation effects community over the past 40 years. If all goes according to schedule, the June 2003 issue of TNS will be available for NSREC attendees in July.
And speaking of the TNS, did anyone notice that the December issue arrived in December this year? That may not sound like a significant event, but it is. Congratulations to the authors, reviewers, guest editors, and IEEE publications for making this happen. We are starting a new tradition.
As far as future NSRECs are concerned, the 2004 conference is scheduled for July 19-23, 2004 at the Renaissance/Waverly hotel in Atlanta Georgia. Dan Fleetwood of Vanderbilt University, Conference General Chairman, has been working for over a year on the details of this meeting.
Last year, Fred Sexton of Sandia National Laboratories was appointed as 2005 Conference General Chairman. Fred visited several potential sites this fall. At this point, we are giving serious consideration to Seattle, Washington.
It takes more than three years to plan those details for each NSREC. Janet Barth of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center was recently appointed as 2006 Conference General Chair. Janet is excited about serving NSREC in this capacity and has started to look for prime locations to host her conference.
During the fall RESG meeting in Monterey, Professor John Cressler (IEEE Fellow) from Georgia Institute of Technology was selected as Associate Guest Editor for the December issue of the Transactions on Nuclear Science (TNS). The editor’s job has a 3-year term. John will support Guest Editor Jim Kinnison from John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Assistant Editor Lew Cohn from Defense Threat Reduction Agency in the huge task of organizing our peer review of the upcoming December issue. John is well suited for his position, having been an integral part of both the IEEE NPSS and IEEE Electron Devices communities for many years. And since our guest editors have now started this new “tradition” of on-time publication, we expect the best in 2003.
RESG, with the help of Dr. Tim Holman from Vanderbilt University, recently published a video of the 2002 Radiation Effects Short Course on CDROM. We did this as a promotional tool to attract new members to NPSS and our annual rad-effects short course. Apple’s “Quick Time” video format was used, which allows the CD to be played on a standard PC (or Mac) computer. NPSS members, who attended the 2002 short course, received a complimentary copy of this CD. Extra copies are available to NPSS members to use as a promotional tool. If you would like a copy of this CDROM, please contact me. Of course, you will be asked to show this video to your non-NPSS colleagues at work, and tell them why YOU are an NPSS member. We are banking on the fact that it’s “your word-of-mouth” that attracts 99% of our new members.
Keep visiting our web site at www. nsrec.com for author information, paper submission tips, vendor links, on-line registration, and the latest NSREC information.
Dale Platteter serves as Chairman of the Radiation Effects Steering Group, which oversees the NSREC Conference. He is technical chair of the NPSS Radiation Effects Committee. Dale can be reached at NAVSEA Crane, Code 605, Building 3334, Crane, IN 47522; Phone: +1 812854-1206; Fax: +1 812-854-1751, E-mail: platt@ieee.org