IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2015 - 91

directed to a team of perhaps 60 editors, each of whom has specialized
knowledge in certain subtopics. The
editors, in turn, find qualified peers
to review each paper and provide
insights on its strengths and weaknesses. The peer review process, of
course, is anonymous.
The process from submission to
publication can range from as few as
four months to perhaps 18 months,
based on two fundamental criteria. Is
the topic familiar or esoteric? The less
esoteric, the easier and swifter it is to
find qualified editors and reviewers.
We do not shy away from esoteric
topics; they simply take longer to
review. Is the article clearly written?
Clarity serves the reader and requires
less editing and, thus, time.
As IEEE Transactions on Smart
Grid has evolved, we've created special issues focused on one topic or
provided a themed section within an
issue to reflect a body of emerging
research. Guest editors are invited to
shepherd these special editions or

sections to fruition. This process
tends to attract expert authors and
editors, which broadens our members' participation, strengthens the
journal's contents, and boosts readership-an ideal outcome.
To give you a sense of how all
involved have succeeded, in a recent
call for papers, we budgeted time and
staff for about 150 incoming papers,
yet we received nearly 400 abstracts!
What's next? We believe the topics
we've cited will continue to inspire
researchers and readers alike. But we
can certainly forecast a few related
topics likely to appear in the pages of
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.
On the microgrid side, the potential efficiencies of directly linking dcgenerating solar, wind, and other
sources with dc-consuming electronics, lighting, and other end uses will
drive intense interest. The intersection between cyber and physical
security is little explored, and we can
anticipate greater attention to this
topic. Clearly, the proliferation of

sensors, algorithms, and applications
will continue to drive the era of socalled big data, which present myriad
challenges that must be met.
All of these topics and more will
undoubtedly drive further research
to fill our pages and enable an avid
readership to absorb the research
and develop real-world outcomes to
serve humanity. In fact, I foresee a
near-term surge in energy awareness
by the general public, which can only
drive further interest in and appreciation of our collective efforts.
Finally, I'd like to extend my sincere
thanks and appreciation to all IEEE
staff and volunteers who have participated in the successful publication of
these two journals. It has been an
honor for me to be involved, and I
look forward to greater milestones for
our collective impacts.

-Mohammad Shahidehpour
Founding Editor-in-Chief
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid

IEEE PES Announces
2015 Plain Talk Schedule
LAIN TALK ABOUT THE
Electric Power Industry is a
three-day series of courses
targeted to power industry professionals who are not engineers but
who need more understanding of the
technical side of the industry in which
they work. New engineers or engineers new to the power industry also
take these courses. The first day

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2014.2387491
Date of publication: 27 February 2015

consists of an overview of the electric
power industry, while days two and
three provide more detail on the distribution system and transmission
system, respectively. Students can
take one, two, or all three courses.
The schedule for 2015 is as follows:
x 24-26 March, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA (hosted by EPRI)
x 2-4 June, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
(hosted by Southwest Power Pool)
x 28-30 July, Denver, Colorado, USA
(colocated with the IEEE Power &
Energy Society General Meeting)

x 2-4 September, Boise, Idaho, USA

(hosted by Idaho Power)
x 6-8 October, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-

vania, USA (hosted by Eaton)
x 10-12 November, Charlotte, North

Carolina, USA (hosted by EPRI).
The most up-to-date schedule,
including registration links, can be
found at http://www.ieee-pes.org/
plaintalk.
If you would like to develop a new
course for the Plain Talk series, please
contact Susan Koval at s.koval@ieee.org.

IEEE Electrific ation Magazine / MARCH 2 0 1 5

http://www.ieee-pes.org/

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