The formal sessions drew rapt attention, as did information transfer exchanges in informal discussions over meals and in the corridors of the Hilton.

In all,1,322 authors were listed on the papers presented in the conference halls at the Hilton Anchorage Hotel. Interesting to note that the youngest speaker was 19-year-old Tharak Gunarathne, a medical student at the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University, both of Aberdeen,, Scotland. His paper concerned the development of an arterial blood volume pulse analyzer.

The conference was opened by the keynote speaker, Dr. Suyn Ichi Akasofu, Director of the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a world authority on the aurora borealis. Dr. Akasofu demonstrated measurement qualities of the aurora and traced its physical quantities while describing its fascination to early arctic explorers as well as modern scientists

Session topics included sensors and sensor-fusion, perceptual systems, metrology, industrial applications, sensor systems, ADC and DAC, soft computing, sigma delta modulators, signal processing, imaging systems, environmental monitoring, test synthesis in VLSI, measurement uncertainty, virtual laboratories, electrical measurements, measurement monitoring and control of laser processing, instrumentation control on wide area networks, system modeling and identification, resilient computing in instrumentation and distributed sensors in harsh environments, medical applications, virtual distributed measurement systems, high frequency measurements, robotic applications, power, ultrasonic measurements, lasers and optical systems and data acquisition. There also were three tutorial sessions conducted by I&M Magazine Editor Kim Fowler on "Real Issues for Real-Time Systems," "Noise and Shielding" and "Interfacing to the Real World.

On the fun side, the conference banquet featured an appearance by DeeDee Jonrowe, a veteran racer of the Ididarod dog sled race staged each winter between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska, a distance of more than 1,400 miles. The musher, as the racers are known in Alaska, recounted her experiences on the trail and talked of the hardships and the occasional humor of the race. Accompanying Ms. Jonrowe was one of her sled dogs, a sleek, well-mannered animal, and three cuddly puppies which will grow into sturdy trail experts.

The I&M Society's two major awards were presented at a luncheon. Hugo Logemann received the 2001 Society Award for "outstanding leadership in the application of sound engineering principles to the field of electronic instrumentation from the start of his career at MIT Radiation Laboratories through a creative retirement." The Society Distinguished Service Award was presented to Kang Lee for "outstanding contributions to the Society as At-Large Member of the Administrative Committee, technical program chair of the 2000 IMTC and 2001 SIcon conferences and chair of the Technical Committee on Sensor Technology and his leadership in the rapid development of new standards."

The Anchorage IMTC was the 19th annual renewal of the conference sponsored by the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society.