Spring Issue 

One of the things I like best about attending meetings of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is that I get ideas for new articles for Acoustics Today (AT). I get these ideas by attending sessions, networking in the halls and at social events, and from the presentations at the awards session. Of course, I also greatly value the opportunity to attend sessions in the areas that interest me, meet with current and potential AT authors, and participate in a number of committee meetings. Indeed, I don’t consider the meeting a complete success unless I can get ideas for enough articles for several future issues of AT. So I consider the San Diego meeting a very great success.

Although normally the article ideas are for AT issues perhaps a year later (to give authors time to write for AT), this meeting was an exception. On Wednesday evening, I attended a special ASA session that was a concert by the Hutchins Consort (see hutchinsconsort.org), a group that uses instruments designed and built by legendary ASA member and past Silver Medal in Music recipient Dr. Carleen Hutchins. Sitting at the concert next to Dr. Murray Campbell, the current winner of the Silver Medal in Music, I realized that many members of the ASA, including myself, know little or nothing about Hutchins. This led to the idea of doing an AT article about her. Getting such an article turned out to be rather easy because the author of a Hutchins biography and winner of the ASA Science Writing Award this year, Quincy Whitney, opened the concert, and so I talked with her. The outcome is that the first article in this issue of AT, adapted from the biography, is about Hutchins. I think anyone who knew Dr. Hutchins will find the article a wonderful addendum to their knowledge. And those who do not yet know of Hutchins and her instruments are in for a real treat. I thank Quincy Whitney and the Hutchins Consort for their cooperation. It has been a delight to work with them.   More >>>