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Newsletter

It is a great honor for me to have been elected as President of the IAPR for the 2010-12 term. I have been involved in the IAPR since I participated in the organization of ICPR 2002 in Quebec City and have participated to ExCo activities as Secretary of the association since the ICPR in Cambridge in 2004. During these years, I have been in a position to witness the dynamism of the IAPR and to work with very dedicated persons on past Executive Committees, on standing and technical committees, and on the organizing committees of IAPR conferences and workshops. As a matter of fact, I would like to thank my colleagues on past Executive Committees for their dedication and hard work in making things work for the association and for the wisdom and experience they shared during these years.

During the next term, several initiatives will be conducted by the Executive Committee and other IAPR committees.

The Education Committee has done a tremendous job in making a significant bulk of material on pattern recognition and related fields available on the committee’s webpage. An important job will be to make sure that this material is advertized even more in the scientific and research communities and to prepare the transition between the current implementation of the web access to the education material and a more permanent hosting service.

An important issue that will also need to be addressed in this term is the admission in the IAPR of member societies coming from the same country. Multiple membership issues had been dealt with informally in the past, but recent requests for multiple memberships made it clear that such issues have to be dealt with more formally and be included in the IAPR Constitution and Bylaws. This will be a matter of reflection for the Membership Committee and the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Recruiting new member societies will also be a priority of the ExCo and the Membership Committee for this term.

The Industrial Liaison Committee has worked on a new approach for collaboration between the IAPR and industry. An ambitious plan for collaboration has been proposed by the committee and the implementation of the first recommendations of the committee will start this term.

The Publication and Publicity Committee will maintain its contact with the journals associated with the IAPR name. An important issue that will have to be discussed by the Publication and Publicity Committee is its role as a promoter of the IAPR. Currently, the promotion of the IAPR is made through several channels such as the IAPR website, this Newsletter, IAPR sponsored and endorsed conferences and workshops, and the Publication and Publicity Committee. It would be important to have a better coordination between the different means that are put forward to promote the association. This is clearly a matter for reflection for the Publication and Publicity Committee.

The Conferences and Meetings Committee and the ICPR Liaison Committee will have to work closely with conference organizers, since the policy for submitting proposals to host the ICPR has changed and is now a two-step process. It will be important to keep track of the process for the preparation of ICPR 2014 in Stockholm in order to improve it and make it more efficient for future organizers.

Several years ago, the IAPR initiated its Travel Stipends Program for ICPR. This program aims at helping ICPR participants attend the conference by providing financial support for travel. During the 2008-10 term, the ExCo suggested that a scholarship program be created to support students interested in visiting research laboratories of collaborators in a different country for an extended period of time in order to enhance collaboration even further. The Governing Board has identified several other ways to promote collaboration between research laboratories. This will be a matter for reflection by the ExCo, the Education Committee, and the Conferences and Meetings Committee. As a matter of fact, requests for support for hosting summer schools have been received by the Conferences and Meetings committee but could not be considered since there are currently no provisions to either support or endorse such activities. Summer schools would indeed be a good way of promoting collaboration and are a topic worth investigating.

The priority set above should not prevent other activities or actions from being initiated in the 2010-12 term. The IAPR website lists the current IAPR Standing Committees and Technical Committees (http://www.iapr.org/committees/) which reflect the diversity of tasks and interests within the association. IAPR members are indebted to the Chairs and members of these committees who work very hard to make the IAPR a better association and an association which is growing and improving every year. For instance, the Advisory Committee, under the impetus of Prof. Herb Freeman, has prepared a document on the History of the IAPR (http://www.iapr.org/aboutus/history.php) that is of great interest to our community. The Advisory Committee has also recommended a Statement of Ethics that is now enforced for all events sponsored or endorsed by the IAPR.

I thank the Newsletter Editor, Prof. Alexandra Branzan-Albu, for her excellent work in publishing a very dynamic and interesting newsletter. Linda O’Gorman’s participation in producing the IAPR Newsletter and in managing daily activities of the association is also acknowledged. The contributions of the IAPR Webmaster, Ed Sobzack, and of Prof. Sargur Srihari, who is providing computing resources to the IAPR, are also worth mentioning.

An objective of the ExCo is to encourage new scientists and researchers to participate in IAPR activities at all levels—conferences, standing committees, and technical committees. Consequently, ideas for making the IAPR even more active are welcomed by the ExCo and will be considered with great interest.

I wish all members of IAPR member societies an excellent 2010-12 term and hope that this period will be one of professional and personal growth.

INSIDE the IAPR

Letter from the President

by Denis Laurendeau (Canada)

IAPR Executive Committee for the 2010-12 term:  Past President Brian Lovell, Secretary Ingela Nyström, Treasurer Aytul Erçil, Second Vice President Tieniu Tan, First Vice President Kim Boyer, and President Denis Laurendeau.