Minutes of the MMSP Technical Committee Meeting on April 17th 2007 at ICASSP

In attendance:

Yucel Attunbasek
Andrea Cavallaro
Phil Chou (partial attendance)
Ingemar J. Cox
Li Deng
Jean-Luc Dugelay
Shrikanth Narayanan
Ken Rose
Anthony Vetro
Min Wu (partial attendance)
Zhengyou Zhang


Also in attendance (non-members)
Alex Acero
Yen-Kuang Chen 
Yu Hen Hu
Alex Potamianos




Minutes:

1. MMSP 2006

Li Deng provided a summary review of last year’s MMSP 2006.  It was noted 
that the format of MMSP 2006, consisting of two keynotes talks and six 
tutorial speakers was popular. This was supported  by comments from a 
survey of MMSP participants. The MMSP budget returned a 20% surplus to 
the IEEE, as required.  Attendance was about 150 people, and the 
acceptance rate was about 50%, although it was much lower for oral 
presentations.

2. MMSP 2007

Alex Potamianos provided a summary of preparations for MMSP 2007 in 
Chania, Crete.  The contract has been signed with the hotel and most 
local arrangements are now complete. One issue remaining is the 
exchange rate with the US dollar.  Paper submissions are now closed. 
200 papers have been received, excluding special sessions papers.  
A similar acceptance rate to MMSP06 is expected. And the tutorial 
format will be maintained. Remaining work includes plenary/invited 
speakers. A special session on medical and bio-signal processing 
is planned.  

3. MMSP 2008

Jean-Luc Dugelay provided a brief summary of progress for the 2008 
MMSP Workshop in Cairns, Australia.  A draft hotel agreement had been 
negotiated. This needs to be approved by the IEEE.  A first Call for 
Papers is expected at the ICME conference in July. Yu Hen Yu reminded 
the TC that IEEE procedure requires that the Conference Board 
approve the Workshop. 

4. MMSP/ICME

Anthony Vetro provided a presentation summarizing progress by the 
subcommittee responsible for examining the MMSP TC’s decision to 
run future MMSP Workshops in conjunction with the IEEE ICME conference.  
The subcommittee has examined a number of issues including 
(i) content/format of the workshop, (ii) impact on attendance, and 
(iii) relationship with ICME (financial, timing, overlap).  
The PowerPoint presentation is attached.

A lively discussion ensued.  It was agreed that the next step was 
to begin a discussion with the ICME Steering Committee which will 
next meet at ICME’07 in July.  Due to the schedule, it was further 
agreed to defer co-location with ICME until 2010. This permits 
adequate time to arrange MMSP’09.  Anthony agreed that the subcommittee 
would draft a Call for Proposals for MMSP’09.

5. AOB

Alex Acero provided background information on the TC reviews.  
Each TC is reviewed every three years. The MMSP-TC will be reviewed 
this year at ICASSP. A goal of these reviews is to help set strategic 
objectives for the TC.

Yu Hen Yu noted that there was poor communication between the TC and 
the MMSP community, and that better mechanisms were need to support 
communications. Yu Hen suggested that the TC create a mailing list 
based on previous attendees of MMSP Workshops. Ingemar Cox agreed 
to look into this.

The issue of awards was raised.  It was suggested that the MMSP-TC 
be more proactive in preparing nominations.  Phil Chou agreed to 
establish a small committee (three people) to prepare in advance 
for nominations.

Ingemar Cox reminded the TC that we need to update our bylaws. 
Ingemar will draft a proposal.