SARS

The major signal processing annual conference has been cancelled due to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

The 2003 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP) scheduled for 6-10 April in Hong Kong has been cancelled due to the recent outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The annual conference is sponsored by the IEEE Signal Processing Society.

IEEE Signal Processing Society President Dr. Richard V. Cox said the decision was an extremely difficult one, “ICASSP has been held annually since 1976, but the health and safety of the conference participants became our paramount consideration.”

Cox said, “We have been following the progress of SARS in Hong Kong for the past few weeks. Because the number of people infected with the illness has continued to grow, the IEEE Signal Processing Society concluded that it would not be prudent to host more than 1,400 international conference participants in the city.”

By Zack

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