Dear ISCA members:
Welcome to the next installment of the ISCApad for December 2018! This is the last edition for 2018, so I would like to highlight some activities as well as point to updates from the community including meetings, job openings, theses, and announcements in this edition.
ISCA INTERSPEECH-2018:
A Tremendous Success! [http://www.interspeech2018.org/]
Interspeech-2018 took place September 2-6, 2018, at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), Hyderabad, India, with the theme of: Speech Research for Emerging Markets in Multilingual Societies. From an historical perspective, ISCA made it a point to actively work with potential countries/regions who had not had a major conference in speech. India had been on ISCA’s radar for many years given the significant number of labs, industry, and activity for speech communications within the country – and so ISCA committed at least 3-4 different ISCA Distinguished Lecturer’s visits over a several years to both identify critical institutions & individuals as well as to encourage a submission from this region. While there are many challenges in organizing a major conference such as Interspeech in a country like India (traffic, logistics, infrastructure, etc.) – it is safe to say this was a resounding success! Between 1500-1600 attendees participated in Interspeech-2018, with aproximately 1688 paper submissions originally received for the review process from over 60 countries. The venue was exceptional, and much credit goes to the General Chair (B. Yegnanarayana), the General Co-Chairs (C. Chandra Sekhar, Shrikanth Narayanan, S. Umesh, S. R. M. Prasanna), and Technical Program Chairs (A. Hema Murthy, Preeti Rao, Paavo Alku, Prasanta Kumar Ghosh). Excellent credit goes to V. Suryakanth Gangashetty for his extensive work overseeing the Local Organization Program. Finally, recognizing the ISCA SAC (Student Activities Committee) retiring member Ravi Shankar Prasad (India), and retiring volunteers (Dimosthenis Kontogiorgos (Sweden), Yaru Wu (France)). We also had a record number of recipients for ISCA Travel Grants to attend and participate in Interspeech-2018 (congratulations to all the recepients!). Here, I include some pictures of Interspeech-2018 to remember the event!
Interspeech-2018: Opening Ceremony!
Interspeech-2018: Keynote talks!
Recognizing our new 2018 ISCA Fellows: Richard SCHWARTZ, Haizhou LI, Keikichi HIROSE, Carol ESPY-WILSON, Denis BURNHAM, Simon KING
Recognizing 2018 ISCA Special Service Medal recipient: Christian WELLEKENS
Recognizing 2018 ISCA Medal for Scientific Achievement recipient: Bishnu ATAL
INTERSPEECH-2018 Banquet Event (do you spot any former ISCA Presidents in here?)
Recognizing General Chair & Co-Chairs for INTERSPEECH-2018: B. Yegnanarayana, Co-Chairs:C. Chandra Sekhar, Shrikanth Narayanan, S. Umesh, S. R. M. Prasanna; much credit goes to V. Suryakanth Gangashetty for overseeing the local arrangements!
Recognizing Techncial Program Co-Chairs for INTERSPEECH-2018: A. Hema Murthy, Preeti Rao, Paavo Alku, Prasanta Kumar Ghosh
Recognizing future INTERSPEECH Events: 2021 (Brno), 2020 (Shanghai),
and 2019 (Graz)
Countries that have hosted ISCA INTERSPEECH (Austria to be added next year!)…
ISCA Nominations for Awards/Recognition: I would like to thank those of you who have renewed your ISCA Membership or joined ISCA this year! I will also note that December is a great month for reflecting on our colleagues contributions and impact to the field. As ISCA members, we hope you will use your time to consider a number of ISCA nominations opening this month. Which of our colleagues should receive the honor of being awarded the ISCA Medal for Scientific Achievement? Or recognized as an ISCA Fellow for sustained contributions to the field in 2019? Who can help spread Speech Communication around the world throughout Distinguished Lecturers program? Which young speech scientist or engineer could benefit from the Christian Benøit Award? Finally, would you consider helping ISCA continue to grow by running for election as a member of the ISCA Board? Calls for each of these can be found in the ISCApad. We hope you would either nominate your colleagues or consider contacting us! We look forward to hearing from you (nomination deadlines for ISCA recognition awards listed below and on ISCA website/and in ISCApad):
1. ISCA Board elections (nominations close 1st March)
2. ISCA Medalist 2019 (nominations close 15th January)
3. ISCA Fellows 2019 (nominations close 10th February)
4. ISCA Distinguished Lecturers 2019/20 and 2020/21 (nominations close 31st January)
5. Tenth Christian Benoit Award (applications close 15th May)
You will found other announcements in this ISCApad including call for papers for the next INTERSPEECH-2019, job opportunities, and announcements related to speech communications for our community. As always, we welcome feedback and input from the ISCA community – if you have suggestions for our society or want to be involved, please let us know!
We look forward to your participation in ISCA and Interspeech-2019!
John H.L. Hansen, ISCA President | 
