Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference

The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is the world's largest modeling, simulation, and training conference. It is always held near the beginning of December in Orlando, Florida, USA, and it consists of peer-reviewed paper presentations, tutorials, special events, professional workshops, a commercial exhibit hall, a serious games competition,^[1] and STEM events for teachers and secondary students. I/ITSEC is organized by the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA), which promotes international and interdisciplinary cooperation within the fields of modeling and simulation (M&S), training, education, analysis, and related disciplines at this annual meeting. The NTSA is an affiliate subsidiary of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).^[2] Hence, I/ITSEC also emphasizes themes related to defense and security.

History

Attendance

Peak attendance at I/ITSEC occurred in 2011, with approximately 20,000 attendees. Attendance declined to approximately 17,000 in 2012^[3] and to 14,000 in 2013 due to new restrictions with US military and government travel. As a result, conference leaders are taking steps to attract more international attendees, and they have begun expanding I/ITSEC's offerings to appeal to modeling, simulation, and training professionals who work in sectors outside of the defense and security sectors, such as healthcare, civil aviation, transportation, and disaster relief.^[4]

I/ITSEC 2013 Attendance Details^[5]

Overall Attendance: 14,000
Exhibit Visitors: 4,900
Conference Attendees: 3,500
Exhibit Personnel: 5,600
International Visitors: Over 1900 from 70 different countries
Exhibiting Companies: 526 occupying 394 exhibit spaces in 185,000 net square feet

Growth and Evolution

I/ITSEC first started as the “Naval Training Device Center/Industry Conference” in 1966, but its name changed as the conference expanded its focus since its inception. Below is a short history of the names associated with I/ITSEC through the years:^[6]

	1979	1986	1992	1997	2013
Name	Interservice / Industry Training Equipment Conference	Interservice / Industry Training Systems Conference	Interservice / Industry Training Systems and Education Conference	Interservice / Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference	Interservice / Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference
Attendance	866	1,583	1,982	3,000	14,000
Exhibitors	25	115	157	248	526

Papers, Tutorials, and Workshops

Each year, I/ITSEC requests submissions for papers and tutorials to be presented at its annual conference. The peer-reviewed process spans half a year as prospective authors must pass multiple quality assurance gates. Authors must first submit an abstract to one of the six sub-committees: education, emerging concepts and innovative technologies, human systems engineering, simulation, training, or the policy, standards, management, and acquisition subcommittee. Each subcommittee consists of government, industry, and academic members. At the abstract meeting, each submission is carefully considered and either accepted or rejected. If accepted, the full paper submission is required a few months later to again be reviewed, accepted, or rejected. Lastly, accepted authors must prepare presentations that are again reviewed by committee members.^[7] Abstract submission typically opens in February each year with full, accepted papers due sometime in June and presentations due around September. In 2013, there were 132 paper presentations, 21 tutorials presented, and 5 Friday workshops.

If accepted, authors present their tutorials on the first day of the conference (always held on a Monday). Speakers present their papers during concurrent sessions, held across the subsequent three days of the conference (Tuesday-Thursday). Finally, on the last day of the conference (Friday), invited speakers present special workshops, which are like the Monday tutorials but longer. Typically, each conference includes more than 160 of these educational sessions or special events. Attendees can earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs)^[8] at the tutorials, Friday workshops,^[9] and select paper sessions.

Exhibit Hall

The conference includes an exhibit hall, which typically comprises approximately 185,000 square feet and features over 500 organizations and agencies. In addition to commercial vendors, academic institutions and military agencies typically have exhibit hall booths. Frequently, organizations and agencies bring demonstrations of their technology wares. Previous exhibit displays have included: Computer-Based 3D graphics, Flight Simulators, Convoy Trainers, SCORM, Information Technology, Advanced Distributed Learning, Aerospace, Communications, Public Safety. Annually, the NTSA publishes short video clips of notable booths on their YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/NTSAToday

Special Events

Each year I/ITSEC hosts a series of special events that reflect emerging topics in the modeling, simulation, and training domain. Special events are devised by the committee members who organize the conference, and special event participants receive invitations versus completing the peer-reviewed paper/tutorial submission process. In 2013 there were 17 Special Events that included topics such as artificial intelligence for social interaction simulation, transmedia learning, geospatial environment database standards, cybersecurity, and an Ignite (event) session with invited speakers.^[10] Frequently, these special events involve discussion panels, with high-ranking military and civilians personnel among the invited panelists. For instance, each year the conference includes a special event, called the “Congressional Modeling and Simulation Event,” where elected official discusses M&S policies; similarly, another special event, called the “General/Flag Officer Panel,” included active duty military officers and government civilians from the general/flag officer or Senior Executive Service echelons.

Serious Games Showcase and Challenge

The Serious Games Showcase and Challenge is a competition and a showcase event that was created to encourage video game developers to create products that are useful for non-entertainment purposes.^[11] The annual event made its first appearance as an exhibit space at I/ITSEC in 2006. The event accepts games from universities, businesses, and government organizations as entries in competition for awards prizes. Each year the event awards a Special Emphasis Award, Students’ Choice Award, Best Business Game, Best Student Game, Best Government Game, Best Mobile Game, and finally, attendees at the conference can also vote on the People's Choice Award.

Awards and Scholarships

Best Paper and Best Tutorial Awards

I/ITSEC presents annual awards in the following areas:

Best paper per subcommittee
Overall best paper, selected from the best papers from each subcommittee
Best tutorial

Below are the Best Paper and Best Tutorial winners for the past 5 years. To see the full archive of winners, see the Best Paper and Best Tutorial I/ITSEC page.

Year	Best Paper	Author(s)
2013	Medical Holography for Basic Anatomy Training	Matthew Hackett, ARL/HRED STTC
2012	Making Good Instructors Great: USMC Cognitive Readiness and Instructor Professionalization Initiatives	Sae Schatz, Ph.D., Kathleen Bartlett, Nicole Burley, MESH Solutions; Capt. David Dixon, USMC, Kenneth A. Knarr, LtCol Karl Gannon, USMC
2011	A Game AI Approach to Autonomous Control of Virtual Characters	by Kevin Dill, Lockheed Martin
2010	Simulated Clinical Environments and Virtual System-of-Systems Engineering for Health Care	Frank Boosman, Robert J. Szczerba, Ph.D., Lockheed Martin
2009	Assessment of Educational Visual Storytelling at the Smithsonian	by Robert Costello, Daniel Bliton, Smithsonian Institution

Year	Best Tutorial	Authors
2013	Model Verification and Validation Methods	Mikel D. Petty, Ph.D. University of Alabama in Huntsville
2012	Distributed Simulation Fundamentals	by Margaret L. Loper, Ph.D., Georgia Tech Research Institute
2011	Why Games Work—The Science of Learning	by Curtiss Murphy, Alion Science and Technology
2010	Return on Investment (ROI)	by Edward J. Degnan, Ph.D., Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation
2009	Virtual World Technologies for the 3D Internet	by Michael R. Macedonia, Ph.D., Jon Watte, SAIC

Outstanding Achievement Awards

The NTSA confers professional achievement awards at the I/ITSEC conference to individuals, organizations, or project teams that have made significant contributions to the M&S discipline. These include the following categories: training, analysis, acquisition, cross-function (multiple uses), and individual/lifetime achievement.^[12]

I/ITSEC Fellows

The NTSA established a Fellows recognition award in 2010. Conference leaders bestow the "I/ITSEC Fellow" title to an influential person whose contributions have fundamentally shaped contemporary simulation and training capabilities. Individuals receive this recognition by being nominated and meeting conference leadership's standards for merit; consequently, the number of Fellow awards varies by year.^[13]

Year	I/ITSEC Fellows
2014	Andy Ceranowicz, Ph.D.
2013	Colonel James E. Shiflett, USA (Ret)
2011	General Paul F. Gorman, USA (Ret)
2010	Jack Thorpe, Col, USAF (Ret), Ph.D.
2010	Paul K. Davis, Ph.D.

Postgraduate Student Scholarships

Since 1990, the conference has awarded academic scholarships to graduate students. The scholarships were renamed the “RADM Fred Lewis Postgraduate I/ITSEC Scholarships” in 2012. Currently, the conference names two student winners, one at the master’s degree level and the other at the doctoral degree level.^[14]

Outreach

During I/ITSEC, the NTSA conducts outreach to students and teachers, primarily from the K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Outreach programs include the following:

America’s Teachers Program: Sponsors the travel and conference attendance for K-12 teachers and school administrators
Future Leaders Pavilion: Exhibit hall venue for secondary school students to demonstrate technical projects they have developed in modeling, simulation and training topics
Student Tours: Guided tours of the conference, designed for school field trips