REPORT ON THE 2003 IEEE NSS/MIC/RTSD/SNPS

The 2003 IEEE NSS/MIC/RTSD/SNPS was held in Portland, Oregon at the Doubletree Jantzen Beach and Columbia River complexes beginning Sunday, October 19 through Saturday, October 25th. In keeping with tradition, the NSS/MIC was complimented by a Short Course program from October 19 to 21 and the Symposium on Nuclear Power Systems (SNPS) on Wednesday, October 22nd.

By all measures the meeting was very successful. The NSS/MIC conference is one of the most productive international scientific meetings in the fields of nuclear and particle physics and the physics of nuclear medicine. It is particularly successful, and unique in the manner in which it combines these areas of research, due to the synergism between nuclear physics and medical imaging. This year’s success can certainly be attributed to an organization of hard working scientists as well as professionals and administrators. In particular, Uwe Bratzler and Maxim Titov, NSS Program Chair and Deputy Program Chair, respectively; Michael King and Stephen Glick, MIC Program and Deputy Program Chairs, respectively, Ralph James and Paul Siffert, RTSD Co-Chairs and Jay Forster, Chairman for SNPS. This year’s conference boasted close to 1400 participants and included an ambitious Short Course Program, chaired by Stephen Derenzo, and numerous Satellite Workshops. The Exhibitor Program, always a favorite among the scientists, was once again top notch.

As General Chair, I’d like to thank all of the members of the program committee who volunteered their time and energy to the organization and running of the conference. In addition to the scientific chairs, I am especially grateful to Roger Gearhart, Judy Sanders, Bonnie Sherwood, Scott Metzler, Bo Yu, Ron Keyser, Tony Lavietes, Tony Maeda and the group from TDMG who took care of registration. To all the participants who year after year make this conference a success, a special thank you as well. I hope to see you next year in Rome.

Ralph James, the General Chair of the 2003 IEEE NSS/MIC/RTSD/SNPS, can be reached at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Bldg. 460, 40 Brookhaven Avenue, Upton, New York 11973; Phone: +1 631 344-8633; Fax: +1 631 344-5584; E-mail: rjames@bnl.gov.