For persons in the control and system field, with the exception of the Tri-annual IFAC world congress (see  http://www.sciencenet.cn/blog/user_content.aspx?id=31507  ) the annual IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC for short see  http://control.disp.uniroma2.it/CDC08/  ) is THE conference to attend. Starting in 1970 as the winter counterpart to the summer American Control Conference (ACC), it has become very international in character in recent years. Scholars from all over the world give papers and come to this conference. In the conference hall, you can hear all kinds of language being spoken. Many Chinese scholars and students from all over the world are here. This year it is held in Cancun, the Maya Riviera of Mexico.  I attend my first CDC (the second) in 1971, This CDC is the 47^th.

The Conference is organized and run entirely by volunteer effort of the members of the IEEE Control System Society. With attendance over 1000 and a budget more than half a million dollars, it is quite an enterprise to undertake. Over the years, a comprehensive operations manual has been developed which details every thing that needs to be done on a day-by-day basis for entire two years before the conference. It is a tremendous managerial training experience for the volunteers (I did my share in 1972). Next year 2009, CDC will take place in Shanghai, China with the Chinese Control Conference taking place simultaneously. Academician Guo Lei of CAS and Professor John Bailleul of Boston University are co-general chair. This promises to be a grand occasion for the field and for Chinese control personnel. I am very much looking forward to it.

IEEE决策与控制大会

对于控制与系统领域内的研究人员来说，除了三年一次的IFAC世界大会（见http://www.sciencenet.cn/blog/user_content.aspx?id=31507）之外，年度IEEE决策与控制大会（简称CDC，见http://control.disp.uniroma2.it/CDC08/）则是需要参加的会议。它起始于1970年，作为夏季美国控制会议（ACC）的冬季版本，近年来已越来越具有国际化特征，来自全世界的学者提交论文并参加会议。在会议大厅里，能听到人们说着各种各样的语言。全世界许多华人学者和学生汇集在这里。今年在墨西哥马雅里维拉的坎昆岛举行。我1971年首次参加CDC（第二届），今年已是47次。大会完全由IEEE控制系统协会的成员志愿组织和运行。这是一项艰巨的工作，因为参加人数超过1000，预算超过50万美元。经过多年努力，一份全面的操作指南已经问世，里面列出了大会召开前2年每天需要完成的事情的细节。这对自愿者来说是巨大的管理经验训练（我在1972年曾经参与其中）。2009年，CDC将在上海举行，同期将举行的还有中国控制会议。中科院院士郭雷和波士顿大学教授John Bailleul将担任大会联合主席。这对该领域和中国控制研究人员来说将是重要的时刻。我正热切地期待着它的到来。
下面是今年CDC会议上拍摄的照片 （科学网 梅进译）

Here are some photos taken at this year's CDC

Academician Guo Lei, Professor Bailleul, and me