Radiation Effects Steering Group News – New Award

Janet Barth
Executive Chairman
Robert Reed
Executive Vice-Chair
Radiation Effects Steering Group News – June 2020
Since March, the Radiation Effects Steering Group and the 2020 NSREC Committee have worked closely with the IEEE Event Emergency Response Team (EERT) and our sponsor, the NPSS, to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on holding an in-person conference. Our first decision was to delay the 2020 NSREC to the first week in December. In the past few weeks, it has become evident that many of our attendees will have restrictions on travel into 2021. It is also likely that social distancing requirements for indoor spaces are going to be long term which would severely limit the number of allowed in-person attendees in Santa Fe. We have decided that, for the safely of our community and to provide a rich conference experience for all attendees, we will hold the 2020 NSREC as a 100% virtual conference.

The 2020 Conference Committee, led by Hugh Barnaby, Chairman, has worked tirelessly over the past two weeks 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 albeit on a different schedule. The virtual format 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 2020 Young Professional and Women in Engineering events are excited to interact with the NSREC community on the virtual platform.

I would like to thank Sherry Russ Sills, lead of the IEEE EERT, for providing sound advice and guidance on our decision and Anne Meadows, our meeting planner, for spending countless hours working with our venue to understand the impact of the restrictions. I would also like to thank the Radiation Effects Steering Group for their sound guidance and support.
 
I am deeply grateful to the 2020 NSREC Committee for the incredible amount of time and energy that they put into planning NSREC 2020. As you can imagine, they are deeply disappointed that they cannot welcome us in Santa Fe. 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 2020 Short Course and technical program and provide multiple opportunities for interactions with our colleagues. I owe special thanks to Hugh Barnaby for his exemplary leadership and resilience over the past few months. He has faced this unprecedented challenge with extraordinary patience and with a renewed vision for his conference.
 
Janet Barth
Executive Chair RESG
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