IMS 2007 is the largest international conference devoted to the research, development and application of RF and microwave theory and techniques, and is designed to provide the best possible technical program. The IMS program starts with a Plenary Session containing two interesting overview talks. The technical program is very extensive and covers a wide range of topics in microwave theory and techniques.
The Technical Program Committee (TPC) consists of 232 dedicated reviewers who received a near-record 1045 number of paper submissions from 44 countries and regions. After much hard work, the TPC selected 381 papers for oral presentation and 142 for the Interactive Forum.
This year we arranged the Interactive Forum into four two-hour sessions on the morning and afternoon of Wednesday and Thursday.
This will give the presenters and attendees more flexibility to acquire technical information. We have created five Focused Sessions and four Special Sessions. The Focused Sessions provide information on the latest technical advances in the areas of (1) millimeter-wave imaging, (2) microwave in societal security, (3) microwave systems in deep space missions, (4) microwave-photonic signal processing and (5) advances in GaN technology. Two Special Sessions are on microwave activities in Pacific Rim countries and the submillimeter wave activities of Mauna Kea.
One of the Special Sessions is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Leo Young, who is well known among the microwave community, particularly in the area of passive components and filters. Another Special Session is dedicated to the memory of Dr. K.C. Gupta, who is also well known among the microwave community and was a past president of the MTT Society.There will be five Panel Sessions during lunch time on Signal Integrity, GaN, MEMS, Terahertz and GaAs. In addition, there is an Information Session on research funding by the National Science Foundation. We will enhance the operation of the Student Paper Competition.
The selected finalists will present extremely high level research results carried out as graduate students. These papers are not only presented in the regular sessions, but will also compete during the Student Paper Competition session in an interactive format on Tuesday.
In the recent history of the IMS, the Workshops have become more and more popular. This year is no exception. We have organized a total of 47 workshops distributed on Sunday (20), Monday (15) and Friday (12). Topics cover almost all imaginable subjects related to RF and microwaves and range from advanced to tutorial in nature.
For the first time in the recent history of the IMS, we have implemented a short course program that was developed by Dr. Gupta prior to his untimely passing. We plan to provide eight short courses on Sunday, Monday and Friday. Short Courses differ from Tutorial Workshops.
The course is typically taught by one to two instructors and the attendees can obtain an IEEE certified CEU (Continuing Education Unit).
We have organized Workshops and Short Courses with a strong electromagnetic flavor on Friday so that these events may be conveniently attended by the participants of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium to be held on the subsequent week also in Honolulu, HI.
On behalf of the TPC, I am confident that all attendees will have a very rewarding experience by participating in the technical activities of IMS 07.