Page 27 - Summer 2007

THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR ACOUSTICS
Gilles Daigle
Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada
Charles Schmid
Acoustical Society of America Melville, New York 11747
and
Philip Nelson
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
Many acousticians attend the trien-
nial congresses organized by the
International Commission for
Acoustics (ICA), but they may not be
aware of the other programs and services
that the ICA now provides for the inter-
national acoustics community. The ICA1
has become more inclusive and proactive in its global out- reach, as have many organizations and countries around the world. For the ICA, this new outreach has been prompted by the increasing need to coordinate and support the grow- ing international interest and activity in acoustics. With that in mind, it would be helpful to understand how ICA functions, especially since it has recently been admitted as a Scientific Associate of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
Purpose
The purpose of the International Commission for Acoustics is to promote international development and col- laboration in research, development, education, and stan- dardization in all fields of acoustics. This is accomplished primarily by providing opportunities for the exchange of information and ideas among the various international acoustics communities. This is a highly encompassing objec- tive since acoustics includes a wide variety of technical fields from the life sciences to physics and engineering on six con- tinents. In addition, there are many organizations, corpora- tions, and government agencies worldwide that are involved in both broad and specialized aspects of acoustics. Despite these complexities, the ICA’s purpose is straightforward, namely to provide worldwide access to information to advance the science and engineering of acoustics, and in so doing, to assist acousticians in solving problems in acoustics. As a side benefit, international collaboration is conducive to the enjoyment derived from working with colleagues around the globe.
The International Commission for Acoustics carries out its mission by: 1) maintaining close contacts with national and regional acoustical societies and associations and other relevant professional organizations, seeking consensus in matters of mutual interest when necessary; 2) providing an information service for societies and the many research and
education organizations in the field of acoustics; 3) announcing workshops, con- gresses, and symposia on acoustics, and taking a proactive role in coordinating the main international meetings within acoustics, and 4) providing funding to organize international meetings and travel
expenses for attendees.
The International Commission for Acoustics is charged
with selecting sites for the International Congresses on Acoustics and acting as the International Advisory Committee for these congresses. It also sponsors or co-spon- sors other topical and special international conferences, nor- mally in close cooperation with national and/or regional organizations. As part of this sponsorship, it provides finan- cial support to meeting organizing committees and to partic- ipants via travel grants.
The Commission has established and maintains a web- site [http://www.icacommission.org] that contains informa- tion on the activities of the ICA and provides direct links to the sites of its member societies. This website also contains an International Calendar of meetings on acoustics. In addi- tion to alerting acousticians of meetings in their field, the cal- endar is intended to minimize conflicts and redundancy since a major complaint often heard is that there are “too many meetings.” The calendar is regularly updated through the ICA Information Services [http://www. icacommis- sion.org/calendar.html] and is published simultaneously in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Background and history
The International Commission on Acoustics was estab- lished in 1951. The main responsibility of the Commission through the years has been to convene the triennial International Congresses on Acoustics. The Commission held its first congress in Delft in 1953 with 314 registrants from 22 countries. The recent 18th International Congress on Acoustics was held in Kyoto, Japan in 2004 where 1332 registrants attended from 47 countries. Every attempt is now made to choose sites which rotate among Asia, the Americas, and Europe since the ICA considers the promotion of inter- national participation to be part of its mission. A list of sites and dates for the past 18 congresses, along with the two
International Commission for Acoustics 25