Distinguished Lecturer Program

All AESS Chapters and IEEE Sections are encouraged to take advantage of the AESS Distinguished Lecturer and Tutorial Program for their regular or special meetings, that allows them to select from an outstanding list of truly distinguished speakers who are experts in the technical fields of the society. The AES Society will pay reasonable speaker’s expenses for economy-class travel, lodging and meals, with the inviting IEEE organization expected to cover 50% of the speaker's expenses. As a general guideline, speaker’s expenses involving travel wholly within North America or within the European Union can be approved to be covered up to $1,000 USD. Expenses involving extensive international travel can be approved to be covered up to $2,000 USD. The Society encourages arrangements whereby more than one lecture is presented in a single trip, and costs in such situations will be considered on a case by case basis.

Non-IEEE entities (such as universities, research organizations, and companies) are also eligible to contact speakers directly. If a speaker agrees to give the non-IEEE lecture on a particular date and location, the inviting organization is required to pay 100% of the speaker's expenses as mutually agreed between the speaker and the organization. While the AESS has no responsibilities for any arrangements or costs regarding the lecture, speakers should keep the VP Education advised of their Distinguished Lectures.

The procedure for obtaining a speaker is as follows: If a Chapter or Section has an interest in inviting one of the speakers, it should first contact the speaker directly in order to obtain his or her agreement to give the lecture on a particular date. After this is accomplished, the Chapter or Section must notify the AESS VP for Education by sending in a DL Request Form. If financial support from the AESS is required for the speaker’s expenses, he or she must submit an estimate to the AESS VP for Education before actually incurring any expenses. This estimate must be provided at least 45 days before the planned meeting to provide time for feedback from the VP for Education and for changes if needed. The VP for Education must provide written authorization to proceed.

Distinguished Lecturers and Tutorial speakers are ambassadors of the AESS, who serve as an important demonstration of the value of membership in IEEE and AESS in particular. A short presentation on the benefits of Society membership is available and included in each Distinguished Lecture presentation. Speakers should contact the AESS Operations Manager at (Click to show email) well in advance of each lecture to arrange for shipping AESS and IEEE Membership brochures and copies of society publications to hand out.

Following the lecture, the speaker and/or host are asked to prepare a short report suitable for publication and posting on the AESS website. Pictures taken at the meeting are highly desirable.

How to Apply to Become an AESS Distinguished Lecturer

AESS is not currently accepting applications to become a DL. The next call for applications will be at the end of the year 2024. An email announcement will be sent out to all active AESS members at that time and will be posted on the website.