IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems

Past MWSCAS Symposia

This webpage presents the history of MWSCAS and lists all of the confernces from its beginnings in 1955 until the present. The list of conferences is divided into three eras: (1) Foundational (1955-1979), (2) Growth (1980-1999) and (3) Modern (2000 to present). If you wish to skip the history and go directly to the list of past symposia, just click one of the buttons below:

Foundational Era | Growth Era | Modern Era

The History of MWSCAS

The history of the IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS) begins in 1955, when Professors Myril B. Reed and Ray M. Wainwright of the University of Illinois organized the first Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Urbana, Illinois. The two professors were responding to a rapidly developing field in which opportunities to present new work were increasingly important, but in which the major technical meetings were concentrated in a relatively small number of established centers, particularly on the East Coast. The first MWSCAS provided a new forum for researchers and educators in the Midwest.

According to oral tradition, Reed and Wainwright had become frustrated when their papers were not accepted at conferences held primarily on the East Coast. Rather than simply accept the situation, they decided to create a conference of their own—one that would serve the universities and researchers of the Midwest. Whether every detail of this story can be documented is uncertain, but it captures an important part of the spirit in which MWSCAS was founded: a conference created by researchers to provide a broader opportunity for researchers to meet, present their work, and build a technical community.

Students were an important part of that community from the beginning. Over the decades, MWSCAS has provided a place where graduate students and other early-career researchers could present their work alongside more established researchers. Many researchers who went on to distinguished careers in circuits and systems presented one of their first or second papers at MWSCAS. This role—as a place where a new generation of researchers can enter the professional community—has remained an important part of the symposium's character.

The timing was significant. During the 1950s, a number of important technical conferences were being held on the East Coast. Some eventually disappeared, while others were reorganized, renamed, absorbed into larger organizations, or evolved into conferences with substantially different missions. The International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), for example, traces its origins to the 1954 Conference on Transistor Circuits in Philadelphia. Its first meeting was a relatively small conference focused on the emerging transistor technology; over the following decades it evolved into the major international conference on solid-state circuits and systems-on-chip that exists today.

MWSCAS followed a different path. The symposium evolved with the field, but it retained the basic character established by Reed and Wainwright: a technical symposium devoted broadly to circuits and systems, organized around a tradition of bringing the research community together at a different university from year to year. That continuity is one of the most remarkable features of its history.

The second symposium was held at Michigan State University in 1956, after both Reed and Wainwright had moved from Illinois to Michigan State. The tradition of moving the symposium among universities was established almost immediately. Later, both founders moved to Colorado State University, where Wainwright chaired the 1965 symposium. The conference continued to develop while maintaining its connection to universities and to the growing community of researchers working in circuits and systems.

MWSCAS did not meet in every calendar year during its earliest period, but the conference tradition endured. The first international edition was held at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 1973, marking the beginning of a geographic expansion that eventually took MWSCAS to Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and many other locations in the United States.

Thus, the history of MWSCAS is not simply a list of annual meetings. It is the history of a technical community that has continued to renew itself without losing its original identity. The symposium that Reed and Wainwright created in Urbana in 1955 has changed enormously in size, technology, geographic reach, and organization. Yet its essential purpose remains recognizable: to bring together researchers working across the broad field of circuits and systems and to provide a continuing forum for the exchange of new ideas.

In 2019, this long development was recognized when MWSCAS became the North American flagship regional conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.

Three Eras of MWSCAS History

The more than seven decades of MWSCAS history can be viewed in three broad eras. These divisions are not intended to suggest that the character of the symposium changed abruptly at the indicated dates. Rather, they provide a useful framework for understanding its gradual development.

1. Foundational Era — 1955–1979

The Foundational Era begins with Reed and Wainwright's first symposium at Illinois in 1955. During these years MWSCAS established its identity, developed its tradition of moving among universities, expanded beyond its original Midwest base, and began its transition from a regional meeting into an increasingly important national symposium. The first international meeting in 1973 marked an important milestone in this development.

2. Growth Era — 1980–1999

During the Growth Era, MWSCAS expanded in size, technical scope, and geographic reach. The symposium became an increasingly important meeting for the circuits and systems community while retaining the university-based character and broad technical scope that distinguished it from more specialized conferences.

3. Modern Era — 2000–Present

The Modern Era is characterized by the globalization of both the circuits and systems field and MWSCAS itself. The symposium has been hosted in an increasingly diverse range of locations and has attracted researchers from around the world. At the same time, MWSCAS has retained the fundamental tradition established by Reed and Wainwright in 1955—a broad technical symposium devoted to circuits and systems and built around the continuing participation of the academic and research community.

The pages that follow trace this history symposium by symposium, documenting where MWSCAS has been held, who hosted it, and how the symposium and the field of circuits and systems have evolved from 1955 to the present.

Foundational Era | Growth Era | Modern Era

Foundational Era (1955–1979)

Growth Era (1980–1999)

Modern Era (2000–Present)