Dec. 10, 2020

Dear ISCA members:

Welcome to the next installment of the ISCApad for December 2020, and my monthly message to all ISCA members. I think basically all of us will be happy to see the year 2020 close. With COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact the world, it is at least encouraging that several vaccines are now starting to be available for healthcare workers and at-risk individuals, so we hope that 2021 will see at least a modest return to some form of human interaction, even if CDC/WHO guidelines for masks and social distancing are still in place.

In this issue, you will find updates for meetings, job postings, and announcements.

INTERSPEECH-2020: [http://www.interspeech2020.org/] (Oct. 25-29, 2020)

Again, we finished Interspeech-2020 in October, our first online/virtual conference. By all measures, the conference was an extremely well attended event with 1021 papers presented, and ~2000 registered attendees, plus more than 6000 visitors to the general public streamed material.

Again, I extend a sincere thanks to the General Chairs, Helen Meng, Bo Xu, Thomas Zheng, and the Technical Program Chairs Jianhua Tao and Kai, Yu, as well as the entire Interspeech-2020 Organizing Committee for their work and extensive commitment to a truly memorable conference experience (I am so amazed how well the conference logistics could be moved towards online with an experience for technical presentations and content being as effective as it was).

The INTERSPEECH 2020 Proceedings (link) are now available in the ISCA Online Archive (link). 

ISCA INTERSPEECH-2020 Survey: The ISCA Diversity Committee drafted a survey to collect feedback on ISCA members experiences from INTERSPEECH-2020 conference. In addition to this core IS-20 conference survey, a second follow-on survey, which stated up front that all responses were completely optional, concentrated on all forms of diversity for our membership. Such optional voluntary data is being used to help ISCA provide improved experiences and support for our membership.

DIVERSITY MEETING: The ISCA Diversity Committee held an online meeting originally scheduled during INTERSPEECH-2020 conf. on Nov. 23, 2020. ISCA is committed to supporting all forms of diversity including gender, ethnicity, religion, regional, science/technology, etc. Any feedback, suggestions, etc. are always welcomed by emailing: diversity@isca-speech.org. We thank all who have participated, provide input or are involved in supporting diversity for our Speech Communication community.

ISCA DEADLINES in 2021: Some upcoming deadlines for ISCA members are shown below (nomination links are included).

• Nominations for ISCA Medal for Scientific Achievement 2021: Tuesday, January 5, 20201 (link)

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  Nominations for ISCA Service

   

  Medal 2021: 

   

  Tuesday, January 5, 2021 (link)

• Nominations for ISCA Fellows 2021: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 (link)

Please consider nominating your colleagues who have made scientific, technical, and/or service impact to our field of speech communications.

In closing, we hope you all enjoyed INTERSPEECH-2020. The deadline for INTERSPEECH-2021 paper submissions is March 26, 2021 (hope all are working on research and looking to submit!). Again, we hope in this upcoming conference, we have the ability to engage with colleagues and catch up with friends and collaborators. We expect there will be some form of remote/virtual interaction in ISCA conferences going forward, but we do hope there will be a chance to be together in Sept.’21 in Brno, Czech Republic.

Hope all enjoy the holidays and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Until next month, stay safe and stay connected to our community!

John H.L. Hansen (ISCA President)