Since 2016, the IEEE UFFC International Ultrasonics Symposium has included a challenge every other year. These challenge sessions (PICMUS 2016, SAVFI 2018, CUBDL 2020, ULTRA-SR 2022, and a-MEM 2024) have been a great success. The organizers of the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held October 4-8, 2026, in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, are soliciting proposals for the 2026 IEEE IUS Challenge.
A challenge provides a unique opportunity for friendly competition between research groups worldwide. Researchers with diverse perspectives and expertise work 1) towards the same objective, 2) with the same datasets, and 3) with the same evaluation criteria. Ideally, the challenge topic should be broad enough to bring together a significant number of participants, and it should address an important emerging question in the field. Challenges can be purely computational-based or the physical realization of a prototype, though more complicated to organize, is also a possibility.
We invite any group, or association of groups, from anywhere in the world, willing to organize such a challenge to submit a formal proposal. Challenge organizers will have a full oral session to present the results of their challenge and/or solutions proposed by selected finalists during the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium in 2026.
Expected schedule
- 31st of December 2024: Challenge proposal submission deadline
- 31st of January 2025: Challenge decision notification sent to proposers
- Spring 2025: Challenge organizers submit progress report for review and comment by the IUS Challenge Oversight Committee
- IUS 2025: Challenge call for participation shared with the entire community
- Early Spring 2026: Challenge participation submission deadline (at the same time as the IEEE IUS 2026 abstract deadline)
- IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium 2026: Challenge results presentation
Proposal submission:
Your PDF file (3 pages maximum) should include:
- Acronym and Title
- Organizers list
- Context
- Objectives
- Justification of relevance/importance to organize a challenge on this topic
- Description of the challenge organization (nature of the data, metrics, platform to host the evaluation or any information that permits to anticipate a smooth progression of the challenge)
- Prizes and/or sponsors
- Tentative list of potential participants.
If you need additional information to prepare your proposal, do not hesitate to contact the members of the IUS Challenge Oversight Committee (see list below) for informal feedback and potentially some input to help build your proposal.
Send your proposal as a PDF file by e-mail to mledijubell@jhu.edu with the subject line “IEEE IUS 2026 Challenge Proposal” before the 31st of December 2024.
Challenge Oversight Committee: Muyinatu Bell, Emma Harris, Koen van Dongen, Mengxing Tang, Hervé Liebgott