THE IEEE SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS SOCIETY - PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

In the evolution of any professional organization, it is informative and desirable to take stock of what has occurred, and to use this assessment to consider and plan for the future. In this paper, we-a group of four current and former IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Society presidents-consider the past, present, and future of the IEEE SMC Society; we are also doing this to commemorate the Society's 20th anniversary. In particular, we address our auspicious beginning; our transition from an incubatee to an incubator society; the breadth of our TRANSACTIONS; the international character of our membership; the appropriateness of our name; the move toward a systems-oriented umbrella organization; the evolving array of research areas; and the challenges and opportunities we face in the future.