2004 IEEE International Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 50th Anniversary Joint Conference: The brothers have come home A welcome from the technical chairs

The IEEE UFFC has a common administrative committee and a journal. Even so the conferences for Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control have been separate for quite a while. These three brothers have many things in common and it was time for a reunion. It has been an interesting experience to guide this family reunion on the occasion of the 50 th anniversary of the UFFC society. This year at the joint conference you will find much that is familiar, and many aspects that are the result of fruitful cross-fertilization between our communities. The Joint Technical Program Committee has boiled down 1126 abstracts into 3 plenary sessions, 99 oral sessions and 3 huge poster sessions. The plenary sessions will contain presentations of broad interest from each community. The rest of the program will allow you to get the latest update in your own field, but also to get acquainted with what the others in our society are doing and, even more interesting, to find out the perspective that the other participants have on your field. We trust that if you are interested in Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics or Frequency Control you will find this to be an exciting and important conference. Enjoy,