One of the key responsibilities of the president is to organize meetings of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) Administrative Committee (AdCom). As a tradition, AdCom meets three times a year. The first AP-S AdCom meeting was held in Natal, Brazil, from 21 to 22 February 2026 during the weekend before the second IEEE Latin American Conference on Antennas and Propagation (LACAP 2026). The second AdCom meeting was held in Detroit from 11 to 12 July 2026, before our flagship conference — the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas & Propagation and the U.S. National Committee of URSI (USNC-URSI) Radio Science Meeting. I am grateful to all the members of the AdCom for their active participation and productive discussions to chart out Society activities that are beneficial to the members (Figure 1).

In the August 2026 issue of my column, I wrote about expanding collaborations with “sister” Societies. It is important that we strengthen these partnerships for the benefit of our members as well as members of the sister Societies. At this AdCom meeting, we had many prominent guests who attended and addressed the AdCom members (Figure 2) and (Figure 3).

• Mary Ellen Randall, president and CEO, IEEE
• Charlie Jackson, director, IEEE Division IV
• Braham Himed, president, IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society (AESS)
• Anding Zhu, president, IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S)
• Thomas Braxton, president, IEEE EMC Society (EMC-S)
• Saibun Tjuatja, president, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS)
• John McDonald, president, IEEE Foundation
• Michael Newkirk, president, US Foundation for Radio Science, Inc. (USFRS)
• Peter Van Daele, secretary general, International Union of Radio Science (Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale) (URSI)
• Dhaval Pujara, president, WAMS Society.

The presidents of four sister Societies—Braham Himed (AESS), Anding Zhu (MTT-S), Thomas Braxton (EMC-S), and Saibun Tjuatja (GRSS)—presented overviews of their respective Societies and discussed ongoing collaboration efforts. It is interesting to note that AP-S, established in 1949, is among the oldest of these sister Societies, followed by the MTT-S in 1952, EMC-S in 1957, GRSS in 1961, and AESS in 1973.

I am grateful to the IEEE president and CEO, Dr. Mary Allen Randall, for attending and giving an inspiring speech on the state of the technology and the greater role that IEEE plays for the benefit of humanity. Many of us are aware that IEEE consists of many Societies and councils, but we may not be aware that, in accordance with IEEE Bylaws, the Societies and Technical Councils are grouped into 10 Divisions. A Division is typically composed of one or more Societies and may contain one or more Technical Councils (ta.ieee.org/society-council-resources/society-and-council-operations/divisions-society-groupings). AP-S belongs to Division IV, along with the Broadcast Technology Society, Consumer Technology Society, Electromagnetic Compatibility Society (EMC-S), Magnetics Society, MTT-S, IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society, Council on RFID, and Council on Superconductivity. The Division directors are elected by the voting members of their respective Divisions, and they serve a one-year term as director-elect followed by a two-year term as director. They represent the interests of the members of their Division on the IEEE Board of Directors. While not directly representing specific Societies, which is the responsibility of a Society president, the Division directors play a key role in advancing the interests of all members within their Division, fostering collaboration, and promoting professional development through IEEE engagement. Dr. Charlie Jackson, Division IV director, and Prof. Vesna Sossi, Division IV director-elect, attended the AdCom meeting and gave an overview of the Division IV activities.

The IEEE Foundation is the philanthropic partner of IEEE that translates the values of IEEE Members and donors into social impact. AP-S had a close collaboration with the IEEE Foundation with the establishment of the AP-S Talent Development Fund (ieeeaps.org/philanthropy/ieee-ap-s-talent-development-fund). It was great to hear from the president of the IEEE Foundation, Dr. John McDonald, regarding various programs of the IEEE Foundation as well as the upcoming campaign of “Giving Tuesday” 2026! As a donor belonging to the “James Clerk Maxwell Heritage Circle” myself, I greatly appreciate the work being done by the Foundation in connecting the donors with a wide range of philanthropic activities that benefit IEEE Members.

URSI, under the auspices of the International Science Council (ISC), is stimulating research on radio science. Historically, many members of AP-S are also prominent members of URSI, with close collaboration between the two organizations. We were fortunate to have URSI Secretary General Prof. Peter Van Daele addressing the AdCom members. We took this opportunity to sign the renewal of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between AP-S and URSI in the presence of IEEE President Dr. Randall and AP-S Director of Intersociety Collaboration (DISC) Prof. Branislav Notaros (Figure 4).

The WAMS Society is a professional global community of technical students, research scholars, scientists, and academicians engaged in research and development of wireless communication technologies, RF and microwave technologies, and antenna systems. This Society is associated with the Wireless, Antenna & Microwave Symposium (WAMS), which will be held on an annual basis at educational institutions across India. The president of the WAMS Society, Prof. Dhaval Pujara, attended the AdCom meeting and presented various activities of the Society. As I mentioned in the August issue, an MoU between AP-S and the WAMS Society was signed in June of this year during the WAMS 2026 conference in India by Prof. Pujara and Prof. Christophe Fumeaux in person. Taking advantage of the presence of Prof. Pujara at the AdCom, the MoU was signed again in the presence of the IEEE president, Dr. Randall, and the AP-S DISC, Prof. Branislav Notaros (Figure 5).

As I mentioned in my August message, the annual flagship conference of AP-S is held jointly with URSI and, more specifically, with the USNC-URSI. Last year, the USFRS was formed, which is the U.S. adhering body to URSI and appoints the USNC-URSI.

I am happy to report that AP-S entered a new comprehensive MoU with the 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 of every year), the National Radio Science Meeting (NRSM), extending the benefits to AP-S members as well as USNC-URSI members. I am thankful to Prof. Branislav Notaros, AP-S DISC, and Dr. Michael Newkirk, president of the USFRS, for their work to draft the MoU, which will have a very positive impact on both organizations. Taking advantage of the presence of the president of the USFRS, Dr. Newkirk, at the opening ceremony, the MoU between AP-S and USNC-URSI was signed in the presence of the IEEE president, Dr. Randall (Figure 8).

I have been attending IEEE AP-S/URSI conferences since 1992 (it was in Chicago!!), and I can say without any doubt that this year’s conference in Detroit was the best for me!! While every conference provides unique experiences, it is indeed special for me to attend this conference as the president of AP-S!! I hope all of you who attended the conference went back with memories that you may cherish for a long time. I would like to congratulate the general chairs, Prem Chahal and Amir Mortazawi, and the organizing committee who worked hard to make the conference a success.

As I mentioned in previous columns, one of the “perks” of being the president of AP-S is to attend conferences of sister Societies. This time, it was great to be at the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Signal & Power Integrity (IEEE EMC SI+PI) in Dallas, TX, USA, in the first week of August. I am thankful to the president of the EMC-S, Thomas Braxton, and the EMC-S sister Society coordinator, Dr. Vignesh Rajamani, for inviting me and providing booth space to promote AP-S membership to the attendees of the conference. I also greatly appreciate the help of Jake Peters from the University of Waterloo in managing the AP-S booth and promoting AP-S membership benefits to the attendees of the conference (Figure 9).

Thanks to Prof. Saibun Tjuatja, president of the GRSS, for inviting me to address the GRSS AdCom meeting held from 7 to 8 August in Washington, DC, before the 2026 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). Hearty congratulations to GRSS as it celebrates its 65th anniversary (Figure 10).

Following the AdCom meeting, I also had an opportunity to attend the opening ceremony of the IGARSS 2026 conference along with the IEEE president, Dr. Randall, Prof. Kamal Sarabandi, and the president of the GRSS, Prof. Tjuatja. It was an honor to receive the IEEE Challenge Coin from IEEE President Randall (Figure 11). I am grateful to Prof. Kamal Sarabandi for his help in managing the AP-S booth at IGARSS 2026 to promote AP-S membership to the attendees (Figure 12).

I am very happy to announce the introduction of the IEEE AP-S Maria Stuchly Award in Bio-electromagnetics, a new annual field award established to recognize individuals or groups whose careers have made outstanding contributions to bio-electromagnetics through advances in science, engineering, and technology that benefit humanity (Figure 13). The award is named in honor of Prof. Maria Stuchly (1942–2022), an IEEE Fellow whose pioneering research helped shape the field of bio-electromagnetics. Throughout her career, she led influential research on electromagnetic field exposure, contributed to the development of international safety standards, published more than 180 journal articles, and held numerous leadership roles, including the president of the Bioelectromagnetics Society and the first woman elected vice president of URSI. She is also remembered as an exceptional mentor and advocate for early-career researchers, leaving a lasting legacy of scientific excellence, leadership, and service. Watch out for the call for nominations for this award along with the other AP-S field awards!!

Speaking of awards, Prof. Gianluca Lazzi completed his term as the Awards Committee chair with the awards ceremony at the 2026 IEEE AP-S/URSI conference in Detroit. On behalf of the AP-S leadership as well as the membership, we are grateful to Prof. Lazzi for his hard work and dedication over the years. I am happy to announce that Prof. Stefano Macci has accepted the position of Awards Committee chair, along with Prof. Yang Hao as the AP-S Field Awards Subcommittee chair. We are grateful to both Prof. Macci and Prof. Hao for agreeing to serve in these important roles going forward.

As we already know, AP-S is one of the fastest-growing Societies in IEEE. With that comes the responsibility of serving our membership efficiently. I am thankful to Rachel Moore, AP-S Society administrator, who handled the ever-increasing workload. I am happy to announce that we now have a second Society administrator, Ashley Shaw, who joined IEEE to work alongside Ms. Moore so we can serve the AP-S membership better (Figure 14). Please join me in thanking Ms. Moore for her hard work and welcoming Ms. Shaw to the Society operations!!

As always, I consider myself fortunate and proud to be serving 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 a great number of awards, scholarships, travel grants, and conferences as well as high-impact programs such as Distinguished Lecturers and Young Professional Ambassadors! As I am in the last leg of my term, I look forward to contributing my part to the 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