American Control Conference (ACC)

The American Control Conference (ACC) is an annual 3-day meeting that brings together an international community of researchers and practitioners in all areas related to the engineering and science of control systems. It features presentations and discussions on the latest scientific developments as well as application successes and lessons learned. Participants convene to discuss the latest advances in the discipline, to shape its future directions, to provide training and educational opportunities for attendees, and to develop and maintain scientific and professional networks. The ACC program features plenary and semi-plenary lectures, contributed and invited papers, and tutorial and special sessions. Several pre-conference workshops are held. Annual awards recognize and honor individuals who have made significant contributions to control theory and practice. The conference typically attracts about 1300 participants and features about 1000 refereed papers. It is internationally recognized with about 40% participation from outside the United States. Normally held in June, the ACC venues rotate from the west, midwest, and east regions to maximize audience and professional impact.

The ACC is held under the auspices of American Automatic Control Council (AACC), the US National Member Organization of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). The AACC is governed by its Board of Directors with board members from the nine sponsoring technical societies:  the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the International Society for Automation (ISA), the Society for Computer Simulation (SCS), the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and Applied Probability Society as a subdivision of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS APS).

Planning for the ACC starts five years in advance of the actual conference with the selection of the General Chair (GC) who is approved by the AACC Board of Directors (AACC BoD). The GC and Chair of the AACC Technical Meetings Committee then survey potential cities and hotels that can accommodate the requirements of the ACC and follow up with site visits. Hotel contracts are negotiated and reviewed, and a shortlist of cities/hotels is proposed to the AACC BoD for consideration, and one venue is selected, approved, and secured four years in advance. The GC selects a Program Chair, with AACC BoD approval, and the two individuals start to fill out their ACC Operating Committee (OpCom) members at least three years in advance. The OpCom positions include the Vice Chair (VC) for Invited Sessions, VC for Industry Activities, VC for Special Sessions, VC for Workshops, and Chairs for Finance, Student Programs, Publications, Registration, Exhibits, Publicity and Local Arrangements. The technical program is supported by a Program Committee of about 40 individuals and eight Society Review Chairs.  All individuals involved in the planning and execution of the ACC are volunteers from the control systems divisions of the nine member societies associated with AACC.  If you are interested in participating in any ACC activities, please send a short description of your interest and previous organizational activities to the AACC Vice President along with a couple of reference contacts who are familiar with your previous activities. Members from industry and national laboratories are especially urged to participate in organizing the ACC.

Awards: A separate, more intimate awards ceremony held to honor award recipients.

Student Activities: Nearly $50,000 in student travel grants, reduced registration/hotel costs, students invited to banquet.

Receptions: Receptions are regularly held outside of the hotel, and have included the National Air and Space Museum (Washington DC), the New England Aquarium (Boston), and the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Social Media: Photos, videos, announcements, and other ACC media are available in the ACC LinkedIn Group, on the ACC X (Twitter) Feed, and on the ACC YouTube Channel.

ACC papers are published on IEEExplore, and are copyrighted by AACC. The AACC copyright form returns all of the rights (except the copyright) to the author. Authors may post the version that was submitted for publication (not the version downloaded from IEEExplore) on their personal website or in an open archive. The posted document should clearly indicate that it was published at ACC. Authors may also re-use the text and figures in Master’s or PhD theses, with attribution. A new, expanded publication based on the conference paper (by the original authors) should cite the conference paper and be clear about the extension.