INSIDE

With this issue, I begin my tenure as editor of the IAPR Newsletter. I accepted this position as it enables me to serve as a liaison between the many “worlds” covered by pattern recognition applications. While most of us work, research and publish in highly specialized areas of pattern recognition, the Newsletter offers us the opportunity to reconnect to the big picture and inspires us to expand our thinking beyond our specific domains of interest. Larry O’Gorman, the past editor for six years, has taken us on an incredible journey through his feature articles highlighting pattern recognition successes in sports (April 2003), security and entertainment (June 2003), maps (September 2003), defense (January 2004), astronomy (April 2005), traffic (July 2005), biometrics (January 2006), and digital libraries (July 2006).

Larry O’Gorman has established a high-quality publication standard for the Newsletter. It will be hard to follow in his footsteps, although he has made all efforts for smoothing the editorial transition. I am also grateful to Linda O’Gorman, the layout editor, for her much appreciated support with the transition; I am looking forward to working with Linda.

As new editor, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all IAPR members to participate in every aspect of Newsletter that appeals to them. You may wish to propose a new column, volunteer to contribute to one of the regular features, write a special article, propose a theme and act as coordinator for a special issue, etc. We want the Newsletter to represent the interests of IAPR members and to be a useful publication that will be worth your reading. We can only do that with your help. We cannot say this better than Maria Petrou did in 1994: “a successful newsletter cannot be a one-man band - not even a two-women band!”