AAAM is tracking to have a stellar 2019! I have a few highlights that I want to share with you and hope you are as excited as I am to see our organization reach new milestones. AAAM announced in May a new position statement in partnership with Safe Kids to raise awareness about the importance of unattended child reminder systems and the need for increased public education around the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles, particularly around the summer season. The campaign was a great success. The press release alone resulted in 70 media hits and close to 50 million impressions (i.e. the number of times the content was displayed) as well as a weeklong flurry of social media interaction (#success). We are so proud of the work that has been done for this position statement – thanks to the AAAM’s Policy Committee for their excellent work!
I can’t wait for our upcoming conference in October in the historic and culturally rich Madrid, Spain. The SPC has been hard at work on a program that is coming together very nicely. Registration for our 63rd Annual Scientific Conference is open. We have over 20 full papers accepted for presentation and the SPC is reviewing 26 short communications and 21 poster submissions as well; this is the highest number of submissions AAAM has had in over five years. This year we are providing a new Travel Award – which will be offered to five presenters in the amount of $1000 to aid in their travel to the conference in Madrid. Additionally, we have secured two exceptional keynote speakers – Dr. Mark Rosekind, Chief Safety Innovation Officer, Zoox and Prof. Dr. Ir. J.S.H.M. Wismans (Jac), President, SAFETEQ, and Visiting Professor, Chalmers University. To learn more about these speakers, visit the AAAM conference website. There will be additional communications going out over the next few months regarding several offerings for this conference. These will include special sessions with our Special Interest Groups (Low and Middle-Income Countries and Automated Vehicles), pre-conference workshops including one organized around the Decade of Action presented by the Fundacion Gonzalo Rodriguez and another organized around understanding AIS, and the AAAM student symposium. Please check out the links for details. Lastly, there will be an optional tour of the Emergency Services Coordination Center of Madrid (SAMUR-Proteccion Civil). This will be a nice peek inside Spain’s equivalent of the U.S.’ 911-system operations.
AAAM continues to grow as we increase programs, services, and opportunities for our members. With over 420 members, including members from around the globe from such countries as Kenya, Sweden, Iran, and Korea; we can make a difference worldwide! We hope you will consider serving AAAM by joining and participating in one of our many active committees.
We look forward to seeing you in Madrid!