Information Theory Society Conference Committee Update

P. Vijay Kumar

ParisJuly 7, 2019

Committee Members in 2019

• P. Vijay Kumar (Chair)(2019-21)• Emina Soljanin (Ex Officio)• Aylin Yener (Ex Officio)• Aaron Wagner (Ex Officio)• Salman Avestimehr (2018-20)• Brian Kurkoski (2016-19)• Chen Li (2018-20)• Alfonso Martinez (2017-19)• Daniela Tuninetti (2018-20)

Status of Upcoming IT Symposia

ISIT Location Status

2020 Los Angeles (detail on slide following)

2021 Melbourne Budget submitted for approval; vetted by conference committee

2022 Helsinki Nothing to report

2023 Taipei • Preponed from 2024 to 2023 at BoG/CC request

• Budget of proposal to be presented today 2024 New York ? Expression of Interest, moved from 2023 at request

of Anand Sarwate, Joerg Kliewer

ISIT Timeline: Proposals for ISITs are approved 4 years ahead at the ISIT BoG. An expression of interest should be made at the Feb BoG meeting.

ISIT 2020 Update (Los Angeles):

Salman Avestimehr

• “Contract with Venue (Westin Bonaventure Hotel) has been signed and executed by IEEE.

• We are finalizing the contract with Universal Studios for the banquet (awaiting IEEE approval and signing of contract). – planning for banquet on Wednesday evening (instead of Thursday) at

Universal Studios,– negotiated contract with Universal Studios also includes admission to

the park (~$100 value), so people can go earlier on Wednesday afternoon to have some fun prior to the banquet.

• Getting quotes for AV setup at the hotel.• We are approaching sponsors. Have heard positive response from

Intel and Qualcomm, and hoping to get more sponsors lined up.• Flyers should be ready for distribution at ISIT 2019.”

Status of Upcoming IT WorkshopsITW Location Status

2019 Sweden Visby, Gotland, Sweden, Aug 25-28

2020(Sep13-17)

Garda Lake, Italy (update on slide following)

2021(Oct.17-21)

Kanazawa, Japan

Proposal by Brian Kurkoski to be presented here

? ITW,India Preliminary expression of interest (Lalitha Vadlamani, IIIT Hyderabad)

ITW Timeline: Proposals for ITWs are usually approved 18 to 24 months before the workshop.ISIT future teams may be interested in organizing an ITW to warm up.

ITW 2020 Update Riva del Garda, Italy

(Sep. 13-17): Enrico Paolini

• “CFP to be distributed at ISIT in Paris

• Call for sponsors is ready and in the upcoming period will be sent out to potential sponsors (besides being distributed at ISIT)

• Website is ready http://itw2020.it (first version)

• Organizing committee has been consolidated - all roles covered

• On July 3 will have a conference call with the congress center. – Will discuss the last details about signing an agreement between them and

IEEE, as well as a few details about the budget. – Afterwards, the first version of the budget will be submitted to IEEE Finance. “

Arrangements for IT Society Events at ISIT: Aaron Wagner

• ISIT Conference Organizers requested to make arrangements for all Society events taking place at ISIT, such as:

– BoG meeting,– Women in Information Theory (WITHITS):– Mentoring roundtable, (student outreach/mentoring event)– Meet the Shannon lecturer,– AE meeting

• Suggested that while cost of above events are borne by IT Society, that the organizers include it as part of their budget negotiations with the conference venue

• While the Awards Ceremony/Awards Luncheon, is an IT Society event, it is paid for from the ISIT budget

– Society pays for the plaques, etc., including the cost of shipping them to the ISIT venue.

ISIT 2019: Student Travel Awards Issue

Students travel awards were given out this year only to students from US & EU

– Because ISIT organizers were able to obtain sponsorship only from the US NSF and two EU organizations supporting students from their respective geographic regions

– Concern (shared by others ) about lack of support to ISIT from non US-EU regions was voiced by Vinod Prabhakaran (TIFR, Mumbai, India)

Country Student RegistrationsAUSTRALIA 1

BRAZIL 3CANADA 3

CHINA (MAINLAND) 20HONG KONG 13

ISRAEL 26INDIA 27IRAN 1

JAPAN 11KOREA 25RUSSIA 1

SINGAPORE 3TAIWAN 2(blank)Total 136

Country-Wise Breakup (Non-US,EU)

A Proposal – 2 versions

• Provide provide some support (approx. $20K) under new initiatives (suggestion from Aaron)

• Follow the procedure adopted for ISIT EU and US student in full– student Letter, CV, advisor letter, travel receipts– Separate committee handled US and EU– .. a lot of work !!!

• Follow a simplified procedure,– just letter from student and advisor and – fund all that provide both, no receipts..

• No feedback as of yet from Conference Committee

Travel Support for Regular ISIT Attendees from Iran

(and perhaps elsewhere as well)

Email from Elza: ``Tara Javidi asked ISIT organizers whether there are any funds to help some colleagues in Iran. These people are regular ISIT attendees, but this year are having a hardship because of the economic circumstances in Iran. Al mentioned that he received a few other such requests, and suggested that this should be brought to the attention of the BoG. ’’(A Committee on Diversity and Inclusion Issue ?)

Some Plans

• Update IT Society website (slowly over time)• Find new Conference Committee Members for

2020• Identify Organizers for ITWs and ISITs down

the road..

Thanks!