Radiation Effects Steering Group News

Janet Barth
Executive Chairman

Robert Reed
Executive Vice-Chair

Radiation Effects Steering Group News – April 2021
Since December, the Radiation Effects Steering Group and the 2021 NSREC Committee have worked closely with the IEEE Event Emergency Response Team (EERT) and the Ottawa Tourism bureau to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on holding an in-person conference in July 2021. It is evident that many of our attendees continue to have restrictions on travel in 2021. It is also likely that social distancing requirements for indoor spaces will still be in effect in July which would severely limit the number of allowed in-person attendees in Ottawa. We have decided that, for the safely of our community and to provide a rich conference experience for all attendees, we will hold the 2021 NSREC as a 100% virtual conference.

The 2021 Conference Committee, led by Steven McClure, Chairman, has worked tirelessly over the past two months to develop a go-forward plan that will allow NSREC to maintain the quality and integrity of the event and its content in a virtual format. The publication pathway for the authors will be the same as in the past. The Committee applied your feedback and the “lessons learned” at NSREC 2020 to further enhance the virtual format. It will be a rich, interactive experience that can be accessed by our registered attendees from anywhere in the world. The platform will incorporate all key components of our NSREC conferences – the Short Course, oral and poster presentations, the Radiation Effects Data Workshop, invited speakers, and industrial exhibits. The speakers for the NSREC 2021 Young Professional and Women in Engineering events are excited to interact with the NSREC community on the virtual platform.

I would like to thank Tina Watkins and Anne Meadows, our meeting planners, for working closely with Ottawa Tourism, the Westin Hotel, and the Shaw Convention Centre. They spent countless hours to understand the impact international travel and social distancing restrictions. I would also like to thank the Radiation Effects Steering Group for their sound guidance and support.
 
I am deeply grateful to the 2021 NSREC Committee for the incredible amount of time and energy that they put into planning NSREC 2021. As you can imagine, they are deeply disappointed that they cannot welcome us in Ottawa. Despite this setback, the team is moving forward with renewed energy and enthusiasm to reformat the NSREC into a virtual venue that will showcase the strong NSREC 2021 Short Course and technical program and provide opportunities for interactions with our colleagues.

Janet Barth
Executive Chair RESG

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