Welcome

On behalf of the entire Technical Program Committee, we are delighted to welcome you all to our favorite city and home for IEEE GLOBECOM 2014.

We attended our first IEEE GLOBECOM more than a decade ago (2000 for Jeff and 2002 for Robert). At that time, we never imagined that we would be writing this letter to you now. We are excited to present to you an outstanding technical program assembled by a handpicked team of symposia chairs and more than 4300 reviewers.

In organizing this conference, we’ve learned firsthand how much planning and work goes into every IEEE GLOBECOM and IEEE ICC. We hope you find the small portion of the technical program that you are able to attend rewarding and educational.

In part because of the enormity of the technical program – in particular the technical symposia – a new feature of IEEE GLOBECOM 2014 is a “Best of IEEE GLOBECOM” poster session, which will be held starting an hour before the Welcome Reception and continue until the reception is in full swing. This poster session features some of the best and most interesting papers submitted to the conference. 100 papers were nominated by the symposia and track chairs, which the Awards committee (chaired by Z. Xiong) whittled down to 50. Best Paper Awards will also be selected from these 50 presentations. One goal of this new poster session is to allow attendees to obtain broader and deeper insight into the innovative research in the many corners of ComSoc. We hope that you take full advantage of this unique opportunity.

We expect you will enjoy the intimate atmosphere afforded by the Hilton’s compact layout, which is where all formal technical exchanges will take place. This did require, however, a slightly smaller and even more selective technical program than is typical. For example, we have 12 Tutorials (out of 32 submissions) and 15 Workshops (out of 48 submissions), while the technical program features 859 papers selected out 2171 submissions, for an overall acceptance rate of just over 39%. We are grateful to the Workshop Chairs (S. Rangan, C. Papadias and L. C. Wang), the Tutorial Chairs (M. Dohler and L. Cimini) and the Symposia Chairs (S. Cui and S. Aissa) for their dedicated efforts over the last 2 years.

Finally, we hope you are able to spend some time exploring and taking in the unique vibe and culture of central Austin, including Lady Bird Lake (which offers outstanding running, walking, and biking on the Hike & Bike trail), swimming in the cool and natural waters of Barton Springs, strolling South Congress, eating your way through the Whole Foods flagship store, and the many vibrant nightlife corridors in downtown, whose live music is world renown. Also be sure to check out The University of Texas at Austin campus, only 15 blocks from the Hilton, and just past the State Capitol. Austin’s charms are subtle but numerous, leading it to be the United States’ fastest growing city since 2000 and a magnet for techies, bohemian hipsters, aspiring musicians, and everything in between.

We wish you a wonderful stay in Austin!

Jeff Andrews and Robert Heath
TPC Co-Chairs