President's Message
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society — Expanding Collaboration
C. J. Reddy, AP-S President · August 2026
As I write this message in the third week of June, we are almost half a year into 2026. We are now preparing for the second Administrative Committee (AdCom) meeting of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) to be held in Detroit, MI, USA, during 11–12 July 2026 before the annual flagship conference, the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas & Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting. By the time that you read this, the conference would have been behind us as a great memory of knowledge sharing, networking, and meeting old and new friends. General Chairs Prem Chahal and Amir Mortazawi and the Organizing Committee worked hard to make the conference a success.
I am excited about the progress we have been making in streamlining the Society’s operations as well as expanding AP-S outreach to "sister" Societies in IEEE and non-IEEE societies and associations. IEEE has 39 technical Societies, each dedicated to advancing technology in its respective field. Our Society is dedicated to advancing electromagnetics frontiers. We collaborate and work closely with other Societies that share similar technical interests. The AP-S has strong relationships with the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S), IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society, and IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) (sister Societies) in addition to collaborations with non-IEEE associations such as the European Association of Antennas and Propagation (EurAAP), Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES), Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers (India), and the Communications Society of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (Japan). These collaborations help AP-S strengthen the mission of advancing electromagnetics frontiers widely and help enhance membership value to our members. One of the other Societies that share a common technical interest with the AP-S is the IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society (AESS). On the invitation of AESS President Dr. Braham Himed, I attended the 2026 IEEE Radar Conference in Phoenix, AZ, USA, during 11–15 May 2026 and presented an overview of the AP-S to the AESS Board of Governors (Figure 1).
As presidents of our respective IEEE Societies, Dr. Himed and I attended the IEEE Technical Activities Board meetings in Nashville, TN, USA, during 19–20 June 2026 and took advantage of our presence to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the AP-S and AESS in the presence of Dr. Don Tan, vice president of IEEE Technical Activities (Figure 2). This MoU facilitates the exchange and dissemination of technical information and promotes understanding and cooperation among the members of the AESS and AP-S and starts a productive collaboration between the two Societies.
It is also customary for Societies to invite presidents of sister Societies to their AdCom meetings. I was invited by the president of the MTT-S, Prof. Anding Zhu, to attend its AdCom meeting, which was held in Boston, MA, USA, before the 2026 International MTT Symposia (IMS 2026). It was an opportunity to present various AP-S programs to MTT-S AdCom members (Figure 3). It was also a great opportunity to interact with other sister Society presidents (Figure 4).
AP-S has been collaborating with the Wireless, Antenna & Microwave Symposium (WAMS) Society in India, supporting WAMS for the past four years. This year, the fifth edition of the WAMS conference was held during 10–13 June 2026 in Hyderabad, India, with more than 1,000 papers and 850 attendees. WAMS conferences are geared toward students and young professionals and offer various travel grants and awards. I had an opportunity to participate in the opening ceremony of the conference and give a keynote address virtually to conference attendees. Many AP-S leaders, including Prof. Christophe Fumeaux (past president), Prof. Francesco P. Andriulli (president-elect), Prof. Jawad Y. Siddiqui [chair, Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT) Committee], Prof. Satish Sharma (vice chair, SIGHT Committee; AP-S Distinguished Lecturer), and Prof. Debatosh Guha (chair, IEEE Sections and Member and Geographic Activities Committee), attended the conference in person to interact with and encourage students and young professionals. One of the highlights was the signing of the MoU between AP-S and WAMS Society on future collaboration and sponsorship of WAMS conference series going forward. The MoU was signed in person by Prof. Christophe Fumeaux (AP-S past president) and Prof. Dhaval Pujara (WAMS president).
The AP-S and URSI have a long-standing relationship of collaboration spanning many decades. The annual flagship conference of AP-S is held jointly with URSI and more specifically with USNC-URSI. Last year, the United States Foundation for Radio Science Inc. (USFRS), which is the U.S. adhering body to URSI and appoints USNC-URSI, was formed. I am happy to report that the AP-S entered into a new comprehensive MoU with USNC-URSI, now under the management of USFRS. This new MoU not only strengthens our collaboration related to the AP-S annual flagship conference but also extends this collaboration to the USNC conference (normally held in January every year) National Radio Science Meeting (NRSM), extending benefits to AP-S and USNC-URSI members. I am thankful to Prof. Branislav Notaros (AP-S director of intersociety collaboration) and Dr. Michael Newkirk (president of USFRS) for their work on drafting the MoU, which will have a very positive impact on both organizations.
As I mentioned in my earlier messages, one of the perks of being president of the AP-S is attending conferences that are sponsored by the AP-S to promote membership and Society activities. This also includes flagship conferences of our sister Societies. During the month of April, I attended the 20th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2026) held in Dublin, Ireland. This is the flagship conference of EurAAP. The AP-S and EurAAP have strong relationships promoting research and advancement of technology in the field of antennas and propagation. I am thankful to Dr. Stefania Monni (EurAAP chair) for inviting me and giving me an opportunity to present during the opening ceremony (Figure 6).
The AP-S is proud to be the technical cosponsor of EuCAP 2026. AP-S Young Professionals (YP) sponsored the “All Together Dinner,” an event for attendees across all career stages to get together in an informal setting, relax with old friends and colleagues, and make new connections. With help from the AP-S YP Committee (Prof. Qammer Abbasi) and AP-S YP ambassadors, we organized the AP-S booth to promote benefits of AP-S membership [Figure 7(a)]. In addition, we also organized a 2-h workshop, "IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society—Advancing Careers" with speakers Prof. George Shaker (chair, AP-S Membership Benefits Committee) and Prof. Abbasi (chair, AP-S YP Committee) [Figure 7(b)].
I also had the opportunity to attend ACES 2026 in Thessaloniki, Greece, during 24–27 May 2026 thanks to an invitation from ACES. With help from Prof. Shaker and Prof. Vladimir Okhmatovski (chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Membership Benefits Committee), we organized the AP-S booth to promote benefits of AP-S membership to conference attendees (Figure 8).
Attending the MTT-S AdCom meeting in Boston also gave me an opportunity to attend IMS 2026, the flagship conference of the MTT-S, and promote AP-S membership benefits to attendees (Figure 9).
New this year, we also celebrated IEEE Antenna and Microwave Tech Day jointly with the MTT-S. The vision of this celebration is “to make microwave, antenna, and propagation technologies visible, relatable, and inspiring to society at large.” This is a global initiative dedicated to showcasing how antenna, microwave, and propagation technologies shape the modern world and improve life for humanity. This special day highlights the real-world impact of electromagnetic engineering through public engagement, education, innovation, and community outreach.
Celebrated worldwide every year on 13 May, this day encourages IEEE Chapters across the globe to organize activities throughout the week, including workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and networking events that make these technologies visible, relatable, and inspiring to society at large. The date is chosen to coincide with Guglielmo Marconi’s transmission of the first wireless communication over open sea on 13 May 1897. This year’s theme is “Wireless for Humanity” and was celebrated by AP-S and MTT-S Chapters worldwide. Thanks to Prof. Nosherwan Shoaib, chair of IEEE Antenna & Microwave Tech Day, for his efforts to conceive and execute the idea with the help of representatives from both the AP-S and MTT-S (ieeeaps.org/antenna-microwave-tech-day). I delivered a video message during the celebrations (Figure 10).
Each year, we recognize individuals whose leadership, innovation, and service have made a lasting impact on our Society and the global engineering community. I would like to congratulate the following 2026 IEEE AP-S Service Award recipients (Figure 11):
- 2026 Distinguished Service Award: Prof. Konstantina Nikita "for transformative leadership and exceptional service in advancing the publications, visibility, and global impact of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society."
- 2026 Service Award: Dr. George Shaker "for dedicated service in strengthening global engagement, student and member support, and industry participation in the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society."
On a personal note, I am pleased to announce the awarding of the first-ever IEEE AP-S Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Paper Award for the best article by a young professional in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. I established this award with a donation to the IEEE AP-S Talent Development Fund, and it is named in honor of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, who in 1894 became the first person to conduct millimeter-wave experiments in India. I would like to congratulate Mustafa Ayebe, doctoral student at Chalmers University, for being awarded the IEEE AP-S Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Paper Award for his article, "Joint Tx–Rx Beamforming for Optimal Gain and Self-Interference Mitigation in In-Band Full-Duplex Arrays: Theory, Figures of Merit, and Validation" [1] (Figure 12).
I consider myself fortunate and proud to be serving the AP-S as we advance forward with dedicated volunteers contributing to the growth of our members. The AP-S is one of the fastest-growing Societies of IEEE, with many awards, scholarships, travel grants, and conferences as well as high-impact programs such as Distinguished Lecturers and YP Ambassadors! As I complete half of my term, I look forward to contributing my part to our Society for the remainder of my term and meeting many of you during future travels at various conferences around the world!
C.J. Reddy2026 President, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society
President's Messages published in the IEEE AP Magazine: