64 8. SEM’S CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
SEM Conferences. SEM/SESA originally organized two annual conferences, the Spring
conference and a topical conference in the Fall. e Fall conference is now dedicated to the
field of Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Every four years the Spring conference becomes an
International Congress where many more foreign members participate. Since 1991, SESA/SEM
took over management of a new winter conference called IMAC.
8.1 THE IMAC STORY…IT’S NOT JUST MODAL
ANYMORE…
e International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC) was created by Dick DeMichele and
Peter Juhl. e first conference was held in 1982. Until 1986, the conference was sponsored by
Union College. From 1987–1991, the conference was co-sponsored by Union College and SEM.
In 1991, SEM assumed total responsibility for the organization and management of IMAC
and Union College agreed to the role of consulting partner. In 1996, Union College ceased any
participation with IMAC.
During the initial planning for IMAC, the organizers quite understandably sought the
support and advice of the leading United States and international individuals working in the
field of modal testing and analysis.
ese selected individuals then became the IMAC Advisory Board in 1982. eir function
was to provide the IMAC staff with advice, suggestions, and support in the planning, promotion,
and administration of the technical program for the annual IMAC Conference. e prestige and
recognition of the IMAC Advisory Board by the modal community has been a major factor in
the continued success of IMAC. Since 1982, the recognition and support given to IMAC by
the universities, industry, and government agencies as the foremost international Conference
devoted to modal testing and analysis has also been tantamount to its success.
In 1995, Dick DeMichele resigned as IMAC Technical Director and Professor Al Wicks,
of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who had worked closely with Dick for a
number of years assumed the position. Currently, Professor Al Wicks, Technical Director from
Virginia Tech, works closely with Dr. Raj Singhal from the David Taylor Laboratory of the
Canadian Space Agency, and the IMAC Advisory Board in planning the IMAC Conference.
SEM provides the financial backing and administrative staff for organizing and promoting
the IMAC conferences. Staff is directly responsible to the SEM Executive Board for the prudent
financial management of IMAC.
Over the past few years, IMAC has evolved by assuming areas outside the subject of Modal
Analysis. e technical divisions that are part of the IMAC community are: Dynamics of Civil
Structures, Dynamic Substructures (new in 2018), Modal Analysis/Dynamic Systems, Model
Validation and Uncertainty Quantification for Structural Dynamics, Nonlinear Structures and
Systems (new in 2018), and Sensors & Instrumentation. Our IMAC TD structure now contains
five TDs other than Modal Analysis and continues to grow with the addition of Focus Groups
and member activity.
8.1. THE IMAC STORY…IT’S NOT JUST MODAL ANYMORE… 65
In 2018, Professor Wicks wrote the following as his introduction in the IMAC Final
Program…
IMAC has become a comprehensive meeting on a broad spectrum of technologies related to struc-
tural dynamics. Technologists and researchers will find presentations, tutorials, and products of interest.
We link a technical agenda with an exposition that features a wide variety of products and services re-
lated to structural dynamics. In addition to the tutorials, short courses are available prior to the confer-
ence, making this conference a comprehensive event and value-added opportunity to build professional
careers.
One of the unique attributes of IMAC, nurtured over the years, is the mix of analytical and
experimental topics, bringing the analyst and the experimentalist together as a team. e traditional
barriers have been removed to foster constructive dialogue between academics, industry and the govern-
ment labs. It is from these meetings, that technologies are shared, enhancing our industries, infrastruc-
ture, our educational endeavors and improving society in general. As lofty as it sounds, IMAC remains
a friendly conference where exhibitors, presenters and attendees spend several days exchanging the ideas
that fuel the coming year.
We welcome all to IMAC to share in the vision of Dick DeMichele.
SEM’s Annual conference focuses on the other technical divisions listed above: Biological
Systems and Materials; Composite, Hybrid & Multifunctional Materials; Dynamic Behavior of Ma-
terials; Fracture and Fatigue; Inverse Problem Methodologies; MEMS and Nanotechnology; Optical
Methods; Residual Stress; ermomechanics and Infrared Imaging; Time-Dependent Materials. Re-
cently, SEM Annual has added a conference track on Additive and Advanced Manufacturing
with a focus on experimental mechanics. Both conferences look to keep their finger on the pulse
of emerging areas of interest to the membership. e SEM Annual Conference is also the time
of the year when all of the councils and committees meet to conduct the business for the year.
Journals. SEM publishes three peer-reviewed journals, Experimental Mechanics, the flagship
of SEM, and Experimental Techniques, a publication to present more technically and applied
topics of experimental mechanics of interest to industry and the membership. More recently,
SEM launched the Journal of Dynamic Behavior of Materials, devoted to the science and engi-
neering of material and structural response to dynamic loading, emphasizing high strain-rate,
impact, blast, penetration, and shock response.
Proceedings. SEM publishes proceedings of the papers presented at the Society’s Confer-
ences.
Manuals and Monographs. SEM publishes manuals and monographs of interest to the com-
munity of experimental mechanicians.
In 2017, SEM launched a new publication with Morgan and Claypool publishers: SEM
Synthesis Lecture Series. It is interesting to point out that no other professional engineer-
ing/scientific society that is as small as we are publishes three peer-reviewed journals plus con-
ference proceedings, book series, etc.
66 8. SEM’S CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
SEM celebrates and encourages publishing its member’s work...a means of sharing the
intellectual equity/property of its members to continue the growth of the field of experimental
mechanics.
SEM Membership. Membership consists of approximately 1,500 members. In 2017, data
showed 942 individual members, 322 student members, 61 corporate members, 10 honorary
members, 82 lifetime members, and 142 retired Members.
Governance. Following the initial tradition of SEM/SESA, the Society has a President, a
Vice President, and an Executive Board. e Executive Board is formed by elected members,
some appointed members, and two very important components. A permanent Executive Di-
rector/Secretary, a paid position, and a Treasurer. e Executive Secretary is a very important
position because it provides continuity to the Society’s governance. is was the position that
William Murray held in honorary form for the Society’s formative years.
e position of Executive Director/Secretary torch was passed from William Murray and
Executive Committee and then to SESA/SEM’s first Managing Director, Bonney Rossi who
served the post from (1960–1979). e torch was then passed to Ken Galione from (1979–
1996). From 1996–2000, there were a couple of staff members that served the post. From 2000–
2002, former SEM President, Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Stelts served as interim Executive Director
with significan support from Dr. Jon Rogers who had just served his term as SEM President
(2000–2001). Both Beth and Jon managed the search process that hired Dr. omas (Tom) W.
Proulx as SEM’s new Executive Director in 2002.
Tom brought new energy and an insatiable curiosity for learning of the past, present, and
potential future for SEM. His background as a chemist and employee of PerkinElmer, served
him well in both managing the day-to-day operations of SEM, and in finding areas for strategic
growth. Tom worked closely with Jon Rogers to write a new Experimental Mechanics publishing
contract with Springer Publishing giving SEM, for the first time, a more secure revenue stream
from our flagship journal.
Tom served the society from 2002–2014, and his legacy lives on as SEM strives to achieve
his vision, and that of William Murray, of a sustainable society.
Currently, the position of Executive Director and Secretary is held by Dr. Kristin Zim-
merman. She was the inaugural SEM Student Paper Competition winner under the guidance of
Professor Gary Cloud at Michigan State University in 1990; Chair of the Education Commit-
tee from 1991–2007; Associate Editor of Experimental Techniques from 1996-today, and Senior
Editor from 2000–2007; President from 2008–2009; Assistant Treasurer 2012–2013; and ap-
pointed Treasurer in 2014. She was awarded the Tatnall award in 2014.
Kristin’s professional career began with the General Motors (GM) Research and Devel-
opment (R&D) Center in 1993–1997 where she created GM’s Academic Partnerships program
of over 100 Research Laboratories across the globe. From 1997–1999, Zimmerman worked in
the areas of advanced engineering and design and in 1999/2000, she received a Fellowship to
8.1. THE IMAC STORY…IT’S NOT JUST MODAL ANYMORE… 67
the National Academy of Engineering to work on STEM policy. From 2000–2009, Zimmer-
man worked in energy and environmental policy including an assignment in Beijing, China
(2008–2009) managing GM China’s Automotive Energy Research Center (CAERC) at Ts-
inghua University. She continued her energy and environmental policy work on the Chevy Volt
Team, from 2006–2012. She is currently also President of MedFor: Inc., a translational sci-
ences consulting firm spanning forensic medicine and engineering mechanics, founded with her
husband in 1999.
Kristin’s educational background includes: Physics, Mechanical Engineering, and Engi-
neering Mechanics. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Michigan State Uni-
versity.
e basic structure of the Society has remained consistent throughout its existence. Sus-
tainability of the Society and its structure was always of keen concern to the Society’s father,
William Murray. Unlike other professional societies, like the Societies of Civil Engineers, of
Mechanical Engineers, or SPIE that involve large groups of members tied to large enterprises,
and business interests and hence have very large memberships and financial resources, SEM has
a reduced membership comparatively. William Murray was always concerned about the balance
of academics and active industrial participants. is concern has continued to be part of SEM
history, to increase the membership and to attract more actual applications-oriented members
working in the industry. It is interesting to observe that in the history of SESA/SEM the num-
ber of conference attendees has been what it is today, about 550. Increasing the membership
continues to be a goal for SESA/SEM. However, the steady membership has not been an ob-
stacle for the relevant role that SESA/SEM has played in the U.S. and worldwide. is is proven
by the growth of the SESA/SEM Conference attendance.
SESA/SEM has been the Society where many of the great advances in what, in general,
has been called Experimental Mechanics has been introduced and the successive steps to reach
applied technological levels have been part of discussion forums in the SESA/SEM meetings
and publications. Starting with the roots of SEM/SESA when photoelasticity was the only field
technique available, the birth of the most versatile and practically universal tool, the electrical
strain gage SESA/SEM meetings and publications, were the vehicles were basic developments
and actual procedures and necessary instrumentation and actual techniques of utilization were
introduced and became available to the community. e same can be said with respect to the
stress-coat, the next field technique available to get the location of strain gages. Photoelastic
coatings came after the stress coat method, the tool for the field of stress-strain determination.
is trend was followed with the Moiré methods, many of the applications of holographic inter-
ferometry to engineering problems as well as the different methods of speckle techniques, and
digital image techniques to process fringe patterns. Image correlation techniques are one of the
more recently applied methods of field analysis of displacements and its derivatives.
In the history of SESA/SEM we have seen how all this formidable array of experimental
techniques were born in academic environments or research center groups, transmitted from
68 8. SEM’S CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
creators to their collaborators and in many cases to their students creating a continuous chain
of progress. e secret behind this remarkable success, despite the limited financial basis, is
the dedication of the involved individuals. ose individuals that engaged in the preparation
and organization of meetings and presentation preparation, know very well how many hours of
their personal life and that of their collaborators and students go to these multiple tasks…tasks
that many times dictate the annual rhythm of a group to be ready for a previously promised
presentation or paper. A professional society, like SEM, is small but the growth of very valuable
services from the Society deserves all the support of its membership and the community in
general.
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