Eligibility

IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Chapters and combined IEEE Chapters are eligible. However, chapters that receive the GRSS Chapter of the Year Award are not eligible to receive it again within 3 years.

Eligibility and the selection process shall comply with procedures and regulation established in IEEE and Society governing documents, particularly with IEEE Policy 4.4 on Awards Limitations.

Award Items

Certificate and check for US$1,000 to be used only for Chapter activities.

Frequency

The award shall be presented annually to one chapter, provided a qualified chapter is identified.

Nominee Solicitation

For each Chapter to be considered, the Chapter Chair is required to submit a copy of the previous year’s annual Chapter Report to the AdCom Chapters Committee Chair before January 15. The AdCom Chapters Chair then will compile a synopsis of all Chapter Reports received and may provide a recommendation to the Special Awards Chair before January 31.

Selection Procedure

The Special Awards Chair determines if a suitable Chapter is found for this award. The AdCom Chapters Committee Chair may provide recommendations but does not have a vote in the Awards selection. The award is approved by the GRSS AdCom.

Selection/Basis for Judging

• Quantity, quality, breadth, and significance of activities and technical meetings during the previous calendar year

• Active participation of members in IGARSS and other GRSS-sponsored activities

The Chapter VP may give preference to a Chapter that:

• Has shown significant Section membership growth during the past 3 years

• Engages officers and members to show leadership in international GRSS activities (e.g. IGARSS TPC, Tech. Cmtes.)

The special awards evaluation committee consists typically of 7 GRSS members who have already received at least one special award of the society and are not member of the GRSS AdCom. Each member of the evaluation committee provides for each candidate a rating as follows:

• 3 – truly outstanding and long overdue

• 2 – strong contender

• 1 – consider later

• 0 – not to be considered

The rating is typically a non-integer number. The final ranking is the sum of the ranks given by each evaluator. If the average of the rankings for all candidates is less than 2, the award is not presented in that year. In the event of a tie, a virtual meeting is organized with the members of the evaluation committee. A decision is made based on a discussion of how well both candidates meet the selection criteria. Next, the special awards chair forwards the selected candidate, along with the list of all candidates and the respective ratings, to the GRSS president, who approves the recommendation of the evaluation committee. Finally, the GRSS AdCom endorses the selection of the major award recipient in an executive session at the March AdCom meeting.

Award Timeline

Presentation

The award shall be presented at an awards ceremony during IGARSS of the following year.

Special Awards Committee

• Jaya Sreevalsan Nair: Chair (India)

• Paolo Gamba (Italy)

• Jeffrey Walker (Australia)

• Yanfeng Gu (China)

• Xiaoxiang Zhu (Germany)

• Xiuping Jia (Australia)

• W. Linwood Jones (USA)