It is hard to believe that eight years have passed since Phoenix extended its invitation to host the 2001 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium. The AdCom of the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society accepted the invitation and elected to start the new millennium with an odyssey to this new frontier. Time has passed so quickly because the 2001 Steering Committee was deeply occupied planning and preparing to provide IMS2001 attendees with the service and hospitality they deserve. Our goal is to make this year's event a memorable one, and we will rely on you to tell us that we succeeded. On behalf of the Steering Committee for IMS2001, it is my pleasure and honor to welcome you to Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun.
Growth Continues
This never-before trek signifies the new horizons microwave technologies and applications are approaching in commercial and civilian applications. The penetration of RF and microwave systems, components, circuits and technologies into the daily life surrounding many of us is at an all-time high. This trend will continue, given the steady increase in telecommunications demand and information superhighway requirements. This phenomenal technical and commercial growth reflects and manifests itself very well in the status of the International Microwave Symposium.
Last year in Boston, attendance, papers and exhibits records were at an all-time high. By the time you read this, Phoenix, in all likelihood, will break new records again. In 1993, when the Phoenix team started planning for hosting this symposium, it was projected that less than half of the Civic Plaza would be enough to accommodate it. As of today, IMS2001 expanded to fill the entire plaza, and would fill even more space if it were available. More than 860 exhibit spaces have been reserved, with more companies on the waiting list, which promises the largest exhibit ever. Our Technical Program Committee received a record of more than 1000 papers. The excellent quality of the submitted papers forced the committee to accept more than 500 papers, and to expand the symposium into six parallel sessions, which are new records. The student paper competition is more popular than ever, with 242 papers submitted.
IMS2001 Logo
This year's logo, the theme "2001 A Microwave Odyssey" and Phoenix have strong connotations to the history of the microwave industry. The hidden ties may need some explanation. The innovativeness of our profession is demonstrated in the applications of microwave technology to new areas and in reaching new markets. In the past, the microwave community was perceived mostly as a defense-oriented industry. Microwave ovens were the most common use of this technology. With the end of the cold war, this community went through a major transformation, with a new focus on commercial and civilian applications. It rejuvenated and has reasserted itself much stronger than before, very much like the phoenix bird rising from the ashes. The IMS2001 logo is representative of the past and tying it to the current rebirth, yet the IMS2001 theme is forward looking. It points to the Microwave Odyssey as microwave engineers take humanity to an unexplored land of uncongested spectra, with new applications at higher and higher frequencies.
IMS Legacy
The Phoenix team is building on traditions initiated by other cities, and even introducing new initiatives of its own. Electronic paper submission was a giant step introduced in Boston. IMS2001 TPC took it to the next level by making the paper review process fully computerized also. This initiative made the Technical Committee meeting, which was held in early January 2001 in Phoenix, a smooth and flawless process. The paper submission to the IMS digest was completed, with 100 percent of the papers accounted for in record time.
IMS2001 attendees will be aware the extra steps the Steering Committee has taken to make this event a memorable one. The Plenary Session will be held in the Phoenix Symphony Hall, a unique and well-appointed venue for this session. All Microwave Week registrants and guests are invited to at-tend this event, which will begin at 10:10 am on Tuesday, May 22. Welcoming remarks will be given by IMS2001 Chairman, Samir El-Ghazaly, Arizona State University President, Lattie Coor, and by MTT-S President, Charles Jackson, followed by an overview of the technical program by TPC Chairman, Vijay Nair. The Class of 2001 IEEE Fellows will be recognized, and 2000 IEEE President Bruce Eisenstein will present the IEEE Electromagnetics Award to Professor Fawwaz T. Ulaby. Mr. Dennis A. Roberson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Technical Officer of Motorola Inc., will present the keynote address. After the session, all symposium attendees are invited to a complimentary lunch to be served at the terrace of the Civic Plaza, next to the Symphony Hall. This is another new feature introduced this year. Moreover, this lunch will be served to all symposium attendees everyday of the symposium free of charge. It is just a token of appreciation from IMS2001 to its guests. As usual, the microwave week involves several technical events in many different formats. It has workshops, plenary sessions, contributed technical sessions, special sessions and panel sessions. Furthermore, two other events take place in the same week: The Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) Symposium and Automatic RF Techniques Group (ARFTG) Conference.
RFIC Symposium
The 2001 RFIC Symposium will be held at the Phoenix Civic Plaza, May 20 to 22. Its Chairman is David Lovelace. The RFIC Symposium is the leading IEEE conference dedicated to the advancement of monolithic IC technologies for RF, wireless and broadband communications systems. The Technical Program Committee, under the chairmanship of Sayfe Kaiei, has selected 60 papers for presentation during 14 technical sessions and an interactive forum. Topics such as wideband CDMA transceivers, RF and microwave power amplifiers, frequency generation, next generation front-end design, RFIC packaging, RFIC passive components and high frequency device modeling will be presented. The RFIC social program includes the traditional reception held on Sunday evening, as well as the Microwave Journal Reception on Monday evening.
ARFTG Conference
The 57th ARFTG Conference will be held on Friday, May 25 in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It is chaired by Charles Wilker. The conference will include technical presentations, an interactive forum and an exhibition, all of which are intended to give one ample opportunity to interact with some of the top people in the automated RF and microwave test community. The main conference theme "Best Practices and Strategies for RF Test" will focus on alternatives, tradeoffs, practical considerations and particular examples of industrial microwave test and measurement methods. Technical considerations (such as accuracy, equipment selection, test methodology) and non-technical issues (for example, cost of test, cost of equipment, speed of test) will be discussed in detail by the invited presentations. In addition, papers concerning traditional ARFTG interests such as metrology, S-parameter, noise figure and non-linear measurements will be presented.
Fun for Everyone
For the microwave week to be complete, it must go beyond technical discussions and new discoveries. Our steering committee has prepared a very rich and diverse social program for you. You have the opportunity to visit historical sites, modern elegant shopping boutiques, hidden valleys of Arizona and one of the seven natural wonders of the world, The Grand Canyon. The southwestern evening at the Corona Ranch and Rodeo Grounds is a new highlight of the week. The Awards Banquet is another memorable blend of the microwave and Arizona cultures.
Special Tuesday Evening Event -- Corona Ranch and Rodeo Grounds
IMS2001 will sponsor a unique southwestern event on Tuesday evening. A fleet of buses will transport you to Corona Ranch and Rodeo Grounds, located in the shadow of South Mountain. As you exit your bus, you will be greeted by Mariachis and Margaritas. Once inside the grounds, the reception will start with a variety of hors d'hourves and libations to celebrate the spirit of the southwest. Walk around the grounds and participate in several cowboy events: see how long you can ride the bucking barrel (er, we mean "bull")! Cowboys will provide roping lessons, after which you will test your new found skills by roping a mechanical "calf." And, of course, the activities would not be complete without lessons in the quick draw. A country & western band will keep you rockin' throughout the night. This special event will include a Rodeo Show that highlights the most exciting portions of both Western Rodeo and Mexican Charreada. The Charreada will demonstrate riding, roping, accuracy and style. The Western Rodeo showcases wild bull riding and western style wild bronco riding. Other activities will include precision high speed horse maneuvers, trick roping, the women's formation drill team and much more! We will also have two very special audience participation rodeo events set aside for the attendees! This is one of the best parts of the Rodeo and promises to be a hilarious event. After the Rodeo, the feast begins...our cowboy cuisine includes mesquite grilled top sirloin paired with BBQ chicken and western ribs. Mixed greens, baked beans, corn-on-the-cob, fabulous desserts and coffee will round out the dinner.
The Awards Banquet
This event will be held at 7:30 pm, Wednesday, May 23, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. It will consist of an elegant dinner, an MTT-S awards presentation and entertainment. The banquet will feature Native American dancers and an after dinner performance by comedian Paula Poundstone. PaulaÕs ability to create humor on the spot is legendary and with her casual air, impeccable timing and razor-sharp wit, she raises stand-up to an art form. As a performer, Paula enjoys a uniquely intimate rapport with her audience. Her relaxed, comfortably humorous wanderings from topic to topic turn each show into a brilliant stream-of-consciousness experience, with no two performances being exactly alike. Her off-kilter view of the world and her complete honesty strike a receptive chord, which has led to an impressive list of achievements. In keeping with ArizonaÕs southwest traditions, the audience will also be delighted by the performance of Native American hoop dancers.
In summary, the microwave week is the culmination of eight years of continuous hard work. I invite you to participate, and enjoy every aspect of it. To end, I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to share this microwave odyssey with you. *
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He visited and worked at several universities and research centers including Cairo University; the Centre Hyperfrequences et Semiconducteurs at UniversitŽ de Lille I in France; University of Ottawa in Canada; the University of Texas at Austin; NASAÕs Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA; CST-Motorola Inc., Tempe, AZ; iemn, UniversitŽ de Lille, France; and the Swiss Federal Research Institute (ETH). His research interests include RF and microwave circuits and components, microwave and millimeter-wave semiconductor devices, semiconductor device simulations, ultra-short pulse propagation, microwave-optical interactions, linear and nonlinear modeling of superconductor microwave lines, wave-device interactions, electromagnetics and numerical techniques applied to monolithic microwave integrated circuits. Dr. El-Ghazaly is a Fellow of IEEE, an elected member of Commissions A and D of URSI, a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi and Eta Kappa Nu. He was the secretary and vice-chairman, and currently is the chairman of Commission A of the US National Committee of URSI. He is a member of the Technical Program Committee for the IEEE International Microwave Symposium since 1991, and on the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. He was the chairman of the IEEE-Waves and Devices Group, Phoenix Section. He was the chapter funding coordinator and the chairman of the Chapter Activities Committee of the IEEE MTT Society. He is an elected member of the Administrative Committee (AdCom) of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters. |
Samir M. El-Ghazaly received the PhD degree, in electrical engineering, in 1988 from the University of Texas at Austin. In August 1988, he joined Arizona State University, where he is now a professor in the department of electrical engineering.