Dear Friends,
I hope that the automatic messaging system works and that you have received an invitation to the virtual TG business meeting. If not, please let me (
esa.rantanen@rit.edu) know and I will send you the Zoom link.
Here are some basic statistics about our TG, since last year's business meeting in Seattle, WA:
The current membership is 161 members, down by 41 from last year (2019), which was down by 66 from 2018, and down by 63 from 2017. I am sorry to see this decline continue through my leadership; I just hope there is no
causal connection!
This year's program includes 6 lectures (out of 9 submitted; 3 rejected), 1 alternative format (1 submission, 1 accepted), and 3 posters (3 submissions, 3 accepted). Overall, we had 13 submissions, 10 accepted, with an acceptance rate of 76.9%. We are also seeing a declining trend in the number of submissions, which ws down 4 from last year, which was down 5 from the year before. Many, many thanks to Shi Cao for his diligent work as the TG Program Chair!
Financially, our TG is doing well, although we have increased our spending on student travel awards and best student paper award. I hope to have current numbers for you by tomorrow.
This year also marks a change in TG leadership. I have served my 2 years as a chair, and tomorrow Shi Cao will become the TG Chair. Yiqi Zhiang is the new Program Chair. Both ran unopposed, so there was no need for an election. I think that we all should be very grateful to Shi and Yiqi to have volunteered to lead out TG for the next two years. The transfer of leadership will also be smooth, as Shi has served as the Program Chair for the last two years, and as Yiqi teamed with Shi to put together this year's technical program. Again, many thanks to Shi and Yiqi!
I hope to see many of you in Zoom tomorrow, and I hope that you are able to join the meeting and offer your enthusiastic support to Shi and Yiqi, as well as a wealth of great ideas for revitalizing the TG in these very odd times!
With my best regards,
Esa
Outgoing Chair, HPMTG
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Esa Rantanen
Associate Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester NY
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