About the Council
The IEEE Council on Superconductivity, CSC, and its activities and programs shall be to cover the science and technology of superconductors and their applications, including materials and their applications for electronics, magnetics, and power systems, where the superconductor properties are central to the application.
The IEEE CSC publishes the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity (TAS), with six issues per year. To subscribe to TAS, visit the Membership & Subscriptions Catalog section on the IEEE Membership site. You are also encouraged to join one of the Council’s supporting societies.
Other Council Activities
Other activities of the IEEE CSC include conference and workshop sponsorships and organization (including ISEC and MT, when held in the U.S.), graduate study fellowships, preparation and distribution of digital archives, student travel support for conferences, development of standards in collaboration with other international organizations, IEEE Awards, Best Paper Awards, Entrepreneurial Awards, and the highly successful Superconductivity News Forum in collaboration with ESAS and CSSJ.
History of the Council
The IEEE Council on Superconductivity was initiated as an IEEE Technical Committee in 1990 by Professor Ted Van Duzer and focused, from its inception, on the development of the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity (TAS), currently one of the premier archival publications for the applied superconductivity community. With the help of volunteers from the community, the Committee grew and in 2000, under the leadership of Professor Moises Levy, transitioned to become an IEEE Technical Council. Along with this transition to a more formal “Operating Unit,” as Societies and Councils are referred to within IEEE, greater involvement from many volunteers ensued and commitment of the original ten Member Societies was secured. From 2000 until today, the Council has progressively increased its reach to the community, involvement by volunteers, and range of service activities and outreach to other superconductivity groups. The publication of the TAS remains an integral activity of the Council, but increasing importance and benefits are ensuing from the Council Awards, student support activities, Conference sponsorships, Standards activities, the Superconductivity News Forum, and collaboration initiatives with other groups, workshops, and international forums. The Council welcomes inquiries for involvement by volunteers.
The Council is governed by an Administrative Committee (AdCom), with rules set by its Constitution and ByLaws. The AdCom meets once a year with most of its work carried out by Committees between meetings. A subset of the Administrative Committee is the Executive Committee (ExCom) which meets at least twice a year.
Superconductivity Oral histories provide us with valuable insight into the circumstances under which the application superconductivity and technical superconductors have progressed and the IEEE Council on Superconductivity is actively engaged in selecting and sponsoring interviews with prominent senior researchers and managers in the field of superconductivity.
Best Practices
Recommended Practices from the IEEE Council on Superconductivity
The IEEE Council on Superconductivity (CSC) has a number of practices in place that may be of interest to other IEEE societies. The IEEE CSC best practices include the following.
Student Outreach Program: The Council uses its student outreach initiatives to strengthen its engagement with member Societies. Initiatives include a program that provides fellowships to graduate students that include membership in both IEEE and the member Society, funding for graduate students and in-need scholars to attend Council sponsored or co-sponsored conferences, and a year of membership to IEEE and one member Society for student awardees.
Superconductivity News Forum: To give members advance notice on important papers, the Council added a “News Forum” on its website that includes selected paper preprints, which are removed when the papers are published. As a result, both transactions subscriptions and conference attendance have increased.
Awards Program: The Council’s awards programs have been very successful in enhancing the image of IEEE in the CSC community. Winners receive awards at conferences prior to the first plenary sessions, giving them high visibility. A special awards luncheon is also arranged. The prestige of these awards gets noticed by the awardees’ institutions.
Ensuring High Quality Publication of Large Special Issues: The Council publishes a large volume of special issues for its Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. A special editorial process involving a hierarchy of editors, including a special EiC, lead editors by topic, and special issue editors –along with a custom workflow for the reviews – has been an excellent system of quality control for these issues.
Nomination of Conference Attendees to Senior Member Status: The Council uses its sponsored and co-sponsored conferences to identify, through its volunteers, IEEE members in attendance who have the experience and credentials to be elevated to Senior Member Status. At conference booths, these attendees are encouraged to submit their CV for consideration by other IEEE Senior Members and Fellows in attendance to sponsor them for status elevation. In turn, they become more committed and involved in IEEE and the Council.
Collegial Approach in its Interactions with Member Societies: The Council continuously strengthens its relationship with member societies through joint special sessions at conferences, sharing awards and recognitions best practices, and helping manage publications and conferences. Member societies have benefited from increased membership as a result.
Outreach to Improve Member Society Representative Engagement: The Council uses joint conference sessions to identify potential member Society volunteers that might serve as Society representatives. It also funds member Society representative travel to Council AdCom meetings, which has led to increased participation.