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Dr. Richard A. Volz

IEEE Division X Director-Elect Candidate

Volz Photo

Professor Emeritus

IEEE Life Fellow

Department of Computer Science
Texas A&M University

3112 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3112

Office: 311B H. R. Bright Building
Office Phone: (979) 845-8873

Home Phone: (979) 696-8263

Brief Biography

Dr. Volz received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in EE from Northwestern University in 1960, 1961 and 1964, respectively. Prior to retirement, he was Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor of Engineering in Computer Science at Texas A&M, where he also served as Department Head from 1988 to 1997. Prior to joining Texas A&M, he was founding Director the Robotics Research Laboratory and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He has served on five federal advisory panels, the: 1) Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, 2) Ada Board, 3) NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, a Congressional oversight committee, 4) NASA Space Station Advisory Panel, and 5) NASA Information Technology Center of Excellence Advisory Panel. He has received the U.S. Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, two Special Service Awards and the Public Service Award from NASA, and a special appreciation plaque from the NASA Astronaut Office. He has also received three IEEE awards, the Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Service Award in 2003, the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000, and the IRE Student Award in 1960. He has authored or co-authored more than 175 research papers and led over $15,000,000 in research.

IEEE Activities

IEEE COMMITTEES/BOARDS	Term/Year

Technical Activities Board, member as President, Robotics & Automation Society	1/Jan/06 – 31/Dec/07
TAB Fin-Com, representative of Society Presidents	1/Jan/07 – 31/Dec/08
Publications, Services & Products Board, Member at Large	1/Jan/04 – 31/Dec/06
PSPB Strategic Planning Committee	1/Jan/07 – 31/Dec/07
IEEE Conference Committee (PSPB rep 06, TAB rep 07)	1/Jan/06 – 31/Dec/07
Products & Services Committee	1/Jan/04 – 31/Dec/05
Package Products Committee	1/Jan/04 – 31/Dec/05
PSPB N&A Committee	1/Jan/04 – 31/Dec/04

IEEE SOCIETY & CHAPTER ACTIVITIES	Term/Year

Robotics & Automation, Society President	1/Jan/06 – 31/Dec/07
Robotics & Automation, Society President-Elect	1/Jan/04 – 31/Dec/05
Robotics & Automation, AdCom Member	1999, 2004 - 2008
Robotics & Automation, Transactions Editor-in-Chief	1994 - 1999
Robotics & Automation, Transactions Associate Editor	1989 - 1994
Aerospace & Electronic Systems, Associate Editor for Robotics	1992 - 1999
International Conference on Robotics & Automation, RAS, General Chair	1990
Robotics & Automation, Technical Editor	1984 - 1989
Associate Editor for Book Review, Automatic Control Society	1968 - 1969
Local Chapter on Automatic Control and Information Theory –Ann Arbor, MI, chair	1967 – 1968
Automatic Control Society, Secretary	1964 - 1966

Summary of IEEE Accomplishments

Dr. Volz has shown strong leadership through such actions as:

While EIC of the Transactions on Robotics and Automation, he introduced the first electronic reviewing system used for our periodicals, years before the emergence of Manuscript Central;
He introduced and led an initiative to digitize RAS legacy periodical and conference publications and make them available on-line to RAS members, years before IEEE did so;
He introduced and fostered an activity to create a successful new publication, the Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering;
He led the development of a new business plan for RAS;
He initiated and fostered the creation of a new Steering Committee for Technical Programs and Conference Editorial Board for RAS;
He has extensively modeled the effects of various TAB financial distribution algorithms, which has led to a re-evaluation of the rationale for the proposed Conference Products distribution algorithm;
He was elected by the IEEE society presidents to represent them on the TAB Finance Committee;
He currently chairs a new sub-committee of the TAB Finance Committee to consider new and less painful ways to manage algorithm transitions.

Position Statement

I am a candidate for Division X Director-Elect, nominated by the Division Nominating Committee, and I seek your vote and support. I believe there are a number of important issues which the Board of Directors must address in the near future, and that I am in a position to help with their resolution.

The rapid advance of digital networks is changing the ways that IEEE serves its members and the community at large. These changes will ultimately result in streamlined reviewing, delivery, and archiving of increasing types of technical content. However, expectations of universal access to information will result in critical challenges that require the careful analysis and creative solutions that my background has prepared me to provide. The easy availability of technical information without having to belong to a society will make some, perhaps many, question the value of society membership. Morover, the “open access” movement creates the impression that scientific information can be available for free while, in reality, “open access” is an “author pays” mode of operation instead of subscriber pays. How IEEE resolves the open access issue is critical to the continued success of our societies and councils. Still another important issue is societys’ access to their reserves; presently this is quite constrained and I believe additional access should be allowed. Our IEEE business models need to adapt to the solutions to these problems and better reflect the ways in which societies contribute to the overall IEEE success.

If elected, I will work diligently to help IEEE more clearly acknowledge the critical role that societies play in creating IEEE’s intellectual property and maintaining IEEE’s excellent reputation. I will help IEEE foster an environment that is encouraging and supportive to its many society volunteers so that they can continue to sustain and expand the intellectual benefits that they provide to all members

Link to Volz homepage

Last Updated April 2, 2007