Dear IEEE AP-S Members,

I am exactly at the middle of my term and would like to report to you on the past 6 months. A lot of things have happened since my January email to you. My serving you and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society as President for half a year now has been truly enjoyable and enriching for me, and I continue to feel incredibly honored and privileged to be able to serve with you and lead AP-S to further successes. I believe we accomplished a lot together and I very much look forward to the second half of my term!

First and foremost, all of the Society leadership team, AP-S Officers, Administrative Committee (AdCom) Members, Committee Chairs, Editors in Chief, Conference Chairs, and Support Staff have been absolutely amazing as we work together, and I would like to thank all of them for their fantastic work, collaboration, help, and contributions!

In line with the “plan of action” I outlined for you in my message in the February issue of the AP Magazine, we have undertaken some major actions aimed at establishing foundation for advancing the structure and operation of our Society,

At the beginning of the year, to set the stage for our work for the year, the Society conducted nominations and appointments of as many as 354 volunteers for our various Standing Committees and other bodies and positions. We created several Ad Hoc (temporary) Committees to complete specific tasks, for example, the New Logo Implementation and Communication (NLIC) Committee.

The February 2024 AdCom Meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA, brought about some forward-looking developments and fundamental changes for AP-S. Perhaps the most fundamental change is the establishment of Society Vice Presidents, to enhance coordination between 20 AP-S Standing Committees and operation of the Society and help the President. Namely, AP-S will have five Vice Presidents: VPs of Professional Activities, Technical Activities, Operations and Finance, Publications, and Conferences. In addition, we created a new position of the AP-S Director of Intersociety Collaboration (DISC).

We restructured the New Technology Directions Committee into a new committee, Technical Directions Committee (TDC). New TDC will organize a number of Technical Committees (TCs) for all main areas that the Society covers. We decided to restructure the AP-S Finance Committee, in terms of both its composition and its scope. We created the Fellows Search Committee of the AP-S, with goals to enhance diversity, number, and quality of nominations, as well as the AP-S Awards Search Committee. The AdCom decided that no person, including Committee Chairs and Members, should hold any one position in the Society for more than 6 years total, including reappointments.

We decided in Orlando to create a new AP-S conference in Latin America – Latin American Conference on Antennas & Propagation (LACAP). Since then, there has been outstanding response and enthusiasm, as well as an outburst of communication and activity on planning and organization of the conference. This is just another confirmation how strong and urgent demand for this conference has actually been in the region and the Society. As a result, our First IEEE LACAP, LACAP 2024, will be held from December 1-4, 2024, at San Andrés Island, Columbia. Please mark your calendars and consider attending, if you can.

This year has also been marked by our Intersociety Collaboration activities on several fronts. We further solidified the establishment of the Intersociety Joint Distinguished Lecturer Program of AP-S with our sister societies, and organized and ran Joint Distinguished Lecture Workshops in Croatia and Kenya, and several other innovative and impactful membership-oriented workshops all over the world.

We are in the final stretch of preparations for our flagship conference, IEEE APS/URSI 2024, in Florence, Italy, later this month. With record numbers of almost 2,000 papers ready to be presented and almost 2,000 registered participants ready to travel to Florence, the conference promises to be an astounding success. In addition to fantastic technical and social programs, we will have many AP-S business meetings in every day of the conference.

This is a special celebratory year for our Society as we celebrate our 75^th Anniversary. The AP-S was founded in 1949, as one of the three oldest IEEE societies, and our official IEEE designation is AP-03. The state of AP Society is truly outstanding, thanks to incredible work and contributions by AP-S leaders, volunteers, and members throughout our history of 75 years.

The IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) conducted the IEEE TAB Celebration of the 75-years jubilee of AP-S in February in Orlando, involving 12 AP-S leaders onstage and more than 200 IEEE leaders and Society/Council Presidents in attendance. The Spring 2024 Edition of the IEEE TA Spotlight featured a full article on AP-S Anniversary and Accomplishments, which was sent to some 450,000 IEEE members.

We are also performing final preparations for the main anniversary events which will take place in conjunction with the Florence conference. I hope that the 75 Years Plenary Session, AP-S Past Presidents Panel, Intersociety Collaboration Panel, 75 Years Celebratory Lunch, 75 Years Celebratory Gala, IEEE AP-S Awards Ceremony, Conference Banquet, and other celebratory events in Florence will be truly memorable and “once in a generation” experience in some aspects. I am very much looking forward to seeing many of you in Florence!

As I wrote and said many times this year, it is indeed a fascinating time, during a very special celebratory year, to be an IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Member. If you are attending the conference in Florence, you will receive a beautiful AP-S 75th Anniversary lapel pin with designation “IEEE AP-S Member”, shown below, for all of us to proudly wear in Florence and after Florence, for years to come. Congratulations to All on a phenomenal AP-S jubilee!

Until next time, with very best wishes, Branislav