2007 IEEE Information Theory Society Claude E. Shannon Award
The winner of the 2007 IEEE Information Theory Society Claude E. Shannon Award is Dr. Sergio Verdu, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University. The award honors consistent and profound contributions to the field of information theory. Verdu will give the Shannon Lecture at ISIT 2007 in Nice, France.

2006 IEEE Information Theory Society Aaron D. Wyner Distinguished Service Award
The winner of the 2006 IEEE Information Theory Society Aaron D. Wyner Distinguished Service Award is Dr. Anthony Ephremides, the Cynthia Kim Professor of Information Technology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Insitute for Systems Research, University of Maryland. The award honors an individual who has shown outstanding leadership in - and provided long standing, exceptional service to - the Information Theory community.

2006 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2006 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award are A. Orlitsky, N.P. Santhanam and J. Zhang for their paper, "Universal Compression of Memoryless Sources Over Unknown Alphabets", which appeared in the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 50, no. 7, pp. 1469-1481, July 2004.

2006 Joint ComSoc/IT Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2006 Joint ComSoc/IT Society Paper Award are T. Weissman, E. Ordentlich, G. Seroussi, S. Verdu and M. Weinberger, for their paper "Universal Discrete Denoising: Known Channel", which appeared in the IEEE Transactions Information Theory, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 5-28, January 2005.

2006 IEEE Information Theory Society Chapter of the Year Award
The 2006 Chapter Of The Year Award will go to the Hong Kong Chapter. The award recognizes the most active chapter during the previous year.

Society Mourns the Passing of Bill Root
William Lucas Root -- an early pioneer in Statistical Communication and Information Theory, a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, and the Shannon Lecturer in 1986 -- died on April 22, 2007, after a brief bout with cancer. He was 87 years old.

Bill Root was born in Iowa in 1919. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1940, and a Master's degree in Electrical from MIT in 1943. His further education was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as a Marine officer. Upon receiving his doctorate in Mathematics from MIT in 1952, Bill joined the Analysis Group at Lincoln Laboratories, becoming its head in the period 1959-1961. In 1962, and until his retirement in 1987, Bill was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. However, his reputation as a leading researcher brought him many invitations to teach and do research elsewhere.

Root was instrumental in placing statistical communication theory on a sound mathematical basis. Two publications were especially influential. The first, affectionately known as "Davenport and Root", is a text introducing seniors and beginning graduate students to the analytical basis of the analysis of signals and systems in the presence of noise. The second publication setting the standard for an understanding of the mathematical basis of parameter estimation and detection of signals in noise using the Karhunen-Loeve expansion is another classic, namely the epochal paper generally referred to as "Kelly, Reed, and Root", which appeared in 1960. In recognition of his research, Bill was made a Fellow of the IEEE in 1965. He was further recognized as a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow (1970).

Bill Root was widely admired by his colleagues, not only for research prowess, but for his sterling personal qualities. He combined a dry wit with an unusually modest and humble demeanor. His integrity was legendary; he refused to present results that were not rigorously stated and proved. Bill treated colleagues and students on an equal footing, demanding from both integrity, high standards, precision in research, and a little bit of humility. He will be missed by the community of academics and students who were fortunate enough to interact with him. The Information Theory Society shares in their sorrow.

New Journal: Advances in Mathematics of Communications
Advances in Mathematics of Communications (AMC) publishes original research papers of the highest quality in all areas of mathematics and computer science which are relevant to applications communications technology, and aims to cover the algorithmic and computational aspects of these disciplines. AMC is a joint publication of the American Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Shandong University, and has been added to the Journals webpage.

Shannon, Plenary Lecture Media from ISIT 2006
Slides and videos from the Shannon and Plenary Lectures at ISIT 2006, Seattle, are now available at http://media.itsoc.org/isit2006/. Slides have been archived in PDF format, and videos have been archived at several quality levels in both Windows Media and Quicktime formats.

Society Member Nominated to IEEE Board of Directors
Prof. Dr.-ir. Han Vinck of the University of Essen, Germany, has been nominated for the position of IEEE Division IX Director-Elect for 2007. The IT Society extends its best wishes to Han in the September 2006 election, and requests your support. Han's biography and personal statement in response to the nomination are available on his personal website.

2005 Joint ComSoc/IT Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2005 Joint ComSoc/IT Society Paper Award are Nihar Jindal, Sriram Vishwanath, and Andrea Goldsmith, for their paper "On the Duality of Gaussian Multiple-Access and Broadcast Channels," which appeared in the IEEE Transactions Information Theory, vol. 50, pp. 768-783, May 2004. This award recognizes this paper as an outstanding contribution to both communications and information theory in 2004.

2005 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2005 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award are Shuo-Yen Robert Li, Raymond W. Yeung, and Ning Cai for their paper, "Linear network coding", which appeared in the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 371-381, February 2003.

Problems of Information Transmission
Problems of Information Transmission is a journal devoted to information theory published by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The website contains the table of contents for the journal from vol. 1, no. 1, 1965 to the most recent issue and is updated as the new issues are published.

Full professorship in Radiocommunications at Eindhoven University of Technology
The Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) has the following vacancy Professor in Radiocommunication (V36278) at The department of Telecommunication, Technology and Electromagnatics (TTE), Department of Electrical Engineering. More information about the opening is available at this link

2004 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2004 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award are Ralf Koetter and Alexander Vardy for their paper, "Algebraic Soft-decision Decoding of Reed-Solomon Codes," which appeared in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 49, no. 11, pp. 2809-2825, November 2003.

Full Professorships at Helsinki University of Technology
The Department of Electrical and Communications Engineering of Helsinki University of Technology invites applications for two full professorships in Telecommunications Engineering and Radio Engineering. For details click on this link .

Society Mourns the Passing of Alain Glavieux
Alain Glavieux, Professor and Deputy Director of ENST Bretagne, died on 25th September 2004, after spending many years fighting a long illness. He was 55 years old. He leaves behind his wife Marie-Louise, his adoptive daughter Christelle, and many friends.

Prof. Glavieux graduated as an engineer from ENST (Paris). On his arrival at the newly-founded ENST Bretagne in 1978, he designed a teaching programme in digital communications and set up then supervised high-level research in underwater communications. At the beginning of the 1990s, he contributed, with his colleague and friend Claude Berrou, to the invention of turbo codes, which are considered today to be one of the major innovations of the post-Shannon era. The concepts used in turbo codes have, in particular, opened up the way for iterative probabilistic processing in communication receivers. For his work, Prof. Glavieux, along with Berrou, received many French and international Awards, including one of the Golden Jubilee Awards for Technological Innovation (IEEE IT, 1998), the Richard W. Hamming Medal (IEEE, 2003) and the French Academy of Sciences Grand Prix France Telecom award (2003).

His many students and all his colleagues, in France and abroad, appreciated Prof. Glavieux as a kind-hearted, understanding individual and an outstanding pedagogue.

The Information Theory Society shares in the sorrow of his family, his relatives and his friends.

2005 International Workshop on Coding and Cryptography (WCC)
The Selmer Centre at the University of Bergen will host the International Workshop on Coding and Cryptography (WCC) in Bergen, March 14-18, 2005. More information on the workshop can be found at http://www.selmer.uib.no/WCC.html. WCC 2005 aims to bring together researchers in all aspects of coding theory, cryptography and related areas, theoretical or applied.

2004 Information Theory Workshop
The 2004 IEEE Information Theory Workshop will be held in San Antonio, Texas in October 24-29, 2004. More information on the workshop can be found at http://ee-wcl.tamu.edu/itw2004/. ITW 2004 will bring together leading engineers, mathematicians and scientists working on information-theoretic results with applications including, but not limited to state-of-the-art communication systems and multimedia.

Information Theory Society Distinguished Service Award
Nominations are sought for the Information Theory Society Distinguished Service Award. Completed Nomination Forms are due by April 15.

Nominations are sought for the Information Theory Society Paper Award.
Nominations Procedure: Please email a brief rationale (limited to 300 words) for each nominated paper explaining its contributions to the field by March 10 to the Transactions Editor-in-Chief Paul Siegel , with a cc to Katherine Perry .

IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal to Jack K. Wolf
1974 IT Society President Jack K. Wolf, the Stephen O. Rice Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, has been awarded the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal "For fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of information transmission and storage." Jack was the recipient of the 2001 Claude E. Shannon Award. He is a member of the IEEE Computer, Communications, Information Theory and Magnetics Societies.

Nominations sought for the 2004 Joint IT/ComSoc Paper Award
Nominations are sought for outstanding papers addressing both communications and information theory from Communications Society and Information Theory Society publications. Nominations should be submitted to the Awards Committee (chair Steven McLaughlin) by Feb. 1, 2004.

Korean Government IT Professorship and Scholarship Program
Through the Korean IT Industry Promotion Agency, visiting professorships and scholarships are available at Korean Universities. More information can be found at http://www.kipa.or.kr/english/bbs/NoticeList.php .

IT Transactions Moves to Web-Based Manuscript Submission
Effective June 1, 2004, electronic submissions to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory are no longer being accepted via email or FTP. To submit your paper electronically please see the Author Guidelines. where the link "IT Transactions first submission guidelines" will transfer you to a website for electronic submission of your manuscript. For all other inquiries, or if you have any questions about the new electronic submission procedures, please email the Editor-In-Chief's office at eic@itsoc.org.

October 2003 Transactions to be Reprinted
There was a font error at the printer that affected the IT Transactions October 2003 issue (the special issue). Because of this error, the left parentheses in many math expressions were replaced with an unknown character. The issue will be reprinted and a new version sent to all subscribers. The on-line (Xplore) version of the issue was unaffected by this print-related error.

Changes in IT Society Membership Structure for 2004
In response to the changing financial model of the IEEE and the increasing emphasis on electronic publication, the IT Society Board of Governors has approved a new membership structure for 2004. The fee increase for members who receive a paper copy of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory reflects the actual cost to the Society to produce a paper copy. In the past the Society has been able to make up the cost differential and subsidize its members, but under the new financial structure this is much more difficult. As a result the Board has approved the following. When you renew your Society membership you will have two options:

Option A: Electronic-only Membership: $30, includes access to the Transactions through IEEE Explore and paper copy of the IT Society Newsletter

Option B: Regular Paper Membership: $60, includes access to the Transactions through IEEE Explore, paper copy of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and the IT Society Newsletter.

The Board of Governors is committed to keeping Society membership costs as low as possible while continuing to ensure its long-term financial health. If you have questions or comments, you can contact: Steven McLaughlin (2nd Vice President 2003) swm@ece.gatech.edu

Note that for 2004 the IEEE Renewal Information is incorrect, you will be asked to pay USD 90 instead of USD 60 if you still want the paper copy. You need only pay the latter (lower) amount.

2003 Joint IT/ComSoc Paper Award
The winners of the 2003 IEEE Communications Society and Information Theory Society Joint Paper Award are Shlomo Shamai and Igal Sason for their article, "Variations on the Gallager Bounds, Connections and Applications," which appeared in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 48, No. 12, Dec. 2002.

2003 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2003 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award are Lizhong Zheng and David N. C. Tse, for their paper, "Communication on the Grassmann manifold: A geometric approach to the noncoherent multiple-antenna channel", which appeared in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 48, pp. 359 - 383, February 2002.

Robert Gallager wins Marconi Award
1971 Society President Robert Gallager will share this year's International Marconi Fellowship. The award is given by the Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation at Columbia University. "In light of this 30th anniversary year of Ethernet, it's entirely appropriate for a giant among information theorists to be selected as a 2003 Marconi Fellow," said Dr. Charles Kao, chairman of this year's selection committee. The annual Marconi Fellowship, recognizes individuals whose aspirations and accomplishments in communications technology emulate those of Marconi, the father of modern communications. The award ceremony will take place in New York on Oct. 3.

Workshop on Algebraic Coding Theory and Information Theory
A workshop on Algebraic Coding Theory and Information Theory will be held December 15-18 2003 at the DIMACS Center, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. it is sponsored by the DIMACS 2000-2003 Special Focus on Computational Information Theory and Coding

Michael Pursley wins the Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award
Former Society President Michael Pursley is to receive the Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions over a period of many years in the field of Communications Technology.

Read about the legacy of A.N. Kolmogorov on the centennial of his birth at http://www.kolmogorov.com .

The Five-Year Review of the IT Transactions.

Joachim Hagenauer wins the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal
2001 IT Society President Joachim Hagenauer, Professor, Munich University of Technology, Munich, Germany, has been awarded the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, "for contributions to soft decoding and its application to iterative decoding algorithms".

Claude Berrou and Alain Glavieux win the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal
Claude Berrou, Professor, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications de Bretagne, Brest, France, and Alain Gavieux, Professor, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications de Bretagne, Brest, France, have been awarded the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, "for the invention of turbo codes, which have revolutionized digital communications".

Former Society President Bruce Hajek wins the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award
Bruce Hajek, Founders Professor of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, has been awarded the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award, "for the application of stochastic and probabilistic theory to improved understanding of computer-network behavior, particularly, the modeling and performance optimization of multiple-access channels".

Joint winners of the IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award
The winners of the 2002 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award are T.J. Richardson and R.L. Urbanke, for their paper, "The Capacity of Low-Density Parity-Check Codes Under Message-Passing Decoding", and M.G. Luby, M. Mitzenmacher, M.A. Shokrollahi and D.A. Spielman , for their paper, "Improved Low-Density Parity-Check Codes Using Irregular Graphs", both of which appeared in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 47, No. 2, February 2001.