Acoustical Society of America
142nd Meeting Special Events

ASA PLENARY SESSION

A plenary session will be held Wednesday, 4 December, at 3:30 p.m. in Section D of the Grand Ballroom, which is located on the third floor adjacent to the registration area. The Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics will be presented to Ilene J. Busch-Vishniac and the 2001 Medwin Prize in Acoustical Oceanography will be presented to Timothy J. Leighton.

Certificates will be presented to the Fellows elected at the Chicago Meeting of the Society.

HOT TOPICS SESSION

A Hot Topics session (3pID) will be held on Wednesday, 5 December, at 2:00 p.m. in Ballroom B and will end before the start of the Plenary Session. Papers will be presented on current topics in the fields of Speech Communication, Physical Acoustics and Animal Bioacoustics.

SPECIAL LECTURES

SPECIAL HISTORY LECTURES

The Committee on Archives and History will jointly sponsor two special lectures on the history of acoustics with the Technical Committees on Acoustical Oceanography and Underwater Acoustics. The "History of Underwater Acoustics" will be covered by several speakers in Session 2pUW titled "How did we get here? Insights into the history of underwater acoustics" to be held on Tuesday, 4 December, at 12:55 p.m. in Room 304. The "History of Acoustical Oceanography" will be presented by Robert C. Spindel in Session 1aAO on Wednesday, 5 December, at 7:55 a.m. in Room 305.

In 1997, the ASA Committee on Archives and History conceived a plan for a series of invited lectures on each of the technical areas of the Society which would document the significant achievements and milestones of each of its thirteen technical committees during the Society's first 75 years. With the cooperation of the technical committees, distinguished individuals are selected to review the history of their particular technical specialty and present a lecture which shows how that activity has developed and has contributed to the Society at large and to the broad field of acoustics as well. To date a total of eight history lectures have been presented, two each at the 138th, 139th and 140th and 141st meetings. At each subsequent meeting two additional lectures will be scheduled including those in Acoustical Oceanography and Underwater Acoustics at this meeting.

The invited lecturers have been asked to prepare a written manuscript of their lectures which will be published in a commemorative book for the 75th Anniversary of the Society to be celebrated in 2004. The Archives and History Committee and the individual technical committees/group welcome comments and suggestions on both the History Lecture Series and on the proposed ASA Diamond Anniversary Book. Volunteers to assist the committees would be most welcome too. Contact Henry Bass, Chair, Committee on Archives and History, pabass@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu

TUTORIAL LECTURE

A tutorial presentation on Noise Propagation and Prediction Outdoors will be given by Tony F.W. Embleton on Monday, 3 December, at 7:00 p.m. in the Atlantic Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel. This is the thirtieth in a series of Tutorial Lectures intended to provide attendees with some understanding and appreciation of areas of acoustical research other than their own specialties. A registration fee of $25 is charged to defray partially the lecture expenses. Students with current IDs may register for $12. Only those who have pre-registered in advance of the meeting are assured of receiving copies of the lecture notes at the meeting.`

DISTINGUISHED LECTURE

Bernard Widrow of Stanford University, who is a pioneer in developing algorithms for adaptive beamforming will present a Distinguished Lecture titled "A microphone array for hearing aids" on Tuesday, 5 June, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in session 2pSP.

MEDWIN PRIZE IN ACOUSTICAL OCEANOGRAPHY AND ACOUSTICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PRIZE LECTURE

The first Medwin Prize in Acoustical Oceanography will be awarded to Timothy J. Leighton of The Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Southampton University, Southampton, UK at the Plenary Session on Wednesday, 5 December. The award citation reads: "for the effective use of sound in the discovery and understanding of physical and biological parameters and processes in the sea.."

Dr. Leighton will present the Acoustical Oceanography Prize Lecture titled "Surf zone bubble spectrometry: The role of the acoustic cross-section" on Wednesday, 5 December, at 9:30 a.m. in Session 3aAOb to be held in Room 305.

SPECIAL WORKSHOPS

TUTORIAL WORKSHOP ON OCEANOGRAPHY

The Acoustical Oceanography (AO) Mini-Tutorial series continues with two one-hour lectures on small-scale processes in the ocean, to be given in the AO special sessions on Turbulence and Fine Structure Studies. The two distinguished speakers are Ann Gargett (Old Dominion University), who will speak on "Small-scale processes and vertical diffusion in the ocean" in Session 2aAO on Tuesday, 4 December, at 8:00 a.m. in Room 305 and John Trowbridge (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), who will speak on "Dynamics of bottom boundary layers in the coastal ocean" in Session 2pAO on Tuesday, 4 December, at 1:00 p.m. in Room 305.

The special session focuses on acoustic remote sensing of turbulent finestructure and microstructure in the water column and within the surface or bottom boundary layers, including measurements, model verification, and new techniques. The goal of the AO mini-tutorial series is to provide up-to-date overviews of ocean processes that affect acoustics and that in turn can be studied using acoustic methods.

SPECIAL COURSES

SHORT COURSE ON APPLIED DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING IN ACOUSTICS

A short course on applied digital signal processing in acoustics will be held Friday, 7 December, 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, 8 December, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Atlantic Ballroom on the ground floor of the Marina Marriott Hotel.

This short course is designed to develop digital signal processing (DSP) techniques that are applicable to acoustical signal processing problems. The discussions range from basic digital signal processing techniques such as digital filtering and the fast Fourier transform (FFT), to more advanced approaches such as spectral estimation and adaptive processing, to some of the even more sophisticated adaptive and model-based techniques. The intent is to provide an overview which will provide the participant with additional details of a particular approach to investigate them further. At each stop along the way various DSP techniques will be applied to acoustical applications. Participants will obtain a basic understanding of the approaches and their applicability discussed from the practitioner's perspective, rather than that of a DSP expert.

The course instructor will be Dr. James V. Candy, Chief Scientist for Engineering and Director of the Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences at the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has published over 125 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports as well as written two texts in signal processing, Signal Processing: the Model-Based Approach, (McGraw-Hill, 1986) and Signal Processing: the Modern Approach, (McGraw-Hill, 1988).

The registration fee is $300.00 and covers attendance, instructional materials and coffee breaks. Only those who have preregistered by 5 November will be guaranteed receipt of instructional materials. Any cancellation after 5 November will be charged a $50 processing fee. Registration at the meeting will be on a space-available basis but notes may not be available for at-meeting registrants.

SPECIAL DINNERS

ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY FOUNDATION FUND-RAISING DINNER FEATURING SEBASTIAN JUNGER

The Acoustical Society Foundation and College of Fellows are sponsoring a fund raising formal dinner on Wednesday, 5 December, at 6:30 p.m. The dinner will feature Sebastian Junger, author of the popular book and movie The Perfect Storm, as guest speaker. Sebastian Junger is the son of ASA Fellow Miguel Junger. All proceeds from the dinner will be added to the ASA Endowment. This event will be held at the Greater Fort Lauderdale--Broward County Convention Center in Room 315/316 on the third floor. The dinner will be preceded by a cocktail hour starting at 5:15 p.m. that will be held in the Prefunction area on the third floor.

We invite all to attend this singular and enjoyable event. Tickets for this event must be purchased separately and are not included in the meeting registration fee. Tickets are available by completing the form download here. Purchase of tickets prior to the meeting is highly encouraged, but tickets will also be available in the ASA registration area on Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. pending availability. Only those who purchase tickets may attend the cocktail hour and formal dinner.

For more information, or options for reserving a preferred-seating table, contact Bob Frisina, Acoustical Society Foundation, at 716-275-8130 or at asf@q.ent.rochester.edu.

BUFFET SOCIALS

Complimentary buffet socials with cash bar will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the Grand Ballroom at the Marina Marriott Hotel.

SPECIAL TOPICAL MEETINGS

TOPICAL MEETING ON THE PHYSICS OF ULTRASOUND IN RELATION TO THE BIOLOGY OF ITS THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS

This Topical Meeting, sponsored by Biomedical Ultrasound/Bioresponse to Vibration (BB), will be held on Tuesday, 4 December. The meeting consists of a one-day colloquium made up of two special sessions, 2aBB and 2pBB, each session containing invited presentations followed by a short panel discussion that includes audience participation. The emphasis is on how the physical effects generated by ultrasound in any form create associated biological effects that are therapeutic.

TOPICAL MEETING ON ACOUSTIC TIME REVERSAL AND APPLICATIONS

A one-day colloquium and discussion on the topic "Acoustic Time Reversal and Applications" sponsored by the Technical Committee on Signal Processing in Acoustics will be held on Monday, 3 December. After an introductory invited talk, four subtopic sessions, 1aSPa, 1aSPb, 1pSPa and 1pSPb, will focus on: basic theory and experiments, random and chaotic media, underwater applications, signal processing and communications, and nondestructive evaluation and medical applications. Each subtopic session will begin with a short overview invited paper, followed by discussion. Emphasis will be on determining the state of the art in each subtopic and identifying open problems.

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

ASA'S ROLE IN MARINE MAMMAL BIOACOUSTICS

A panel discussion on ASA's Role in Marine Mammal Bioacoustics will be held on Thursday, 6 December, at 4:40 p.m. in Room 315. The panel will discuss ideas to improve standards, research, education and communication regarding current issues in marine mammal bioacoustics.

SPECIAL EXHIBITS

GALLERY OF ACOUSTICS

The Technical Committee on Signal Processing in Acoustics will sponsor its fifth Gallery of Acoustics at the Fort Lauderdale meeting. The objective of the Gallery is to enhance ASA meetings by providing a compact and free-format setting for researchers to display their work to all meeting attendees in a forum emphasizing the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of acoustics. The Gallery of Acoustics provides a means by which we can all share and appreciate the natural beauty and aesthetic appeal of acoustical phenomena.

The Gallery will be held in the prefunction area on the second floor and will include of posters, videos, and audio clips of images and/or sounds generated by acoustic processes or resulting from signal processing of acoustic data. Images and videos can consist of actual visualizations of acoustic processes, or of aesthetically and technically interesting images resulting from various signal processing techniques. Audio clips and segments should also have both aesthetic and technical appeal.

A panel of referees will judge entries on the basis of aesthetic/artistic appeal, ability to convey and exchange information, and originality. A cash prize of $350 will be awarded to the winning entry.

EQUIPMENT EXHIBIT AND OPENING RECEPTION

An equipment exhibit will open on Monday, 3 December, at 5:30 p.m. in Ballroom D at the Fort Lauderdale-Broward County Convention Center. Exhibit hours are Monday, 3 December, 5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.; Tuesday, 4 December, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; and Wednesday, 5 December, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. The exhibition will include computer-based instrumentation, sound-level meters, sound intensity systems, signal processing systems, devices for noise and vibration control, and acoustical materials.

Morning and afternoon coffee breaks will be held in the exhibit hall on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A complimentary social and cash bar will be held in Section A of the Grand Ballroom on the third floor of the Greater Fort Lauderdale-Broward County Convention Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday evening, 3 December, in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition in the Grand Ballroom D at the Marriott. Registration badges are required for entry. One free drink ticket will be provided to registrants. This event will provide opportunities to view the exhibits and to socialize with friends and colleagues.

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