Page 36 - Fall 2007

National News
Elaine Moran
Acoustical Society of America Melville, New York 11747
National Inventors Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Golden Torch Award of the National Society of Black Engineers in 1998 and received ASA’s highest honor, the Gold Medal, in 2006 “for development of polymer electret transducers, and for leadership in acoustics and the Society.” West is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In 1997, the New Jersey Institute of Technology awarded West an honorary doctor of science degree and in 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Michigan State University.
Jim West has served the ASA as a member of numerous committees, as Chair of the Technical Committee on Engineering Acoustics (1974-77), as a Member of the Executive Council (1989-92), and as President (1998-99).
Jan Achenbach awarded the National Medal of Science
Jan D. Achenbach, Walter P. Murphy Professor and Distinguished McCormick School Professor of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, has been awarded the 2005 National Medal of Science—the nation's highest award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research. Achenbach was honored for his seminal contributions to engineering research and education in the area of wave propagation in solids and for pioneering the field of quantitative non- destructive evaluation. The medal was presented by President George W. Bush during a White House awards cer- emony on July 27.
The National Medal of Science which was established by the Congress in 1959 honors individuals for pioneering sci- entific research in a range of fields, including physical, bio- logical, mathematical, social, behavioral and engineering sci- ences, that enhances our understanding of the world and
James E. West with George W. Bush Photo by Ryan K. Morris
James West awarded National Medal of Technology
James E. West, a Johns Hopkins University engineering faculty member who co-invented the microphone used in most telephones and many other electronic devices world- wide, has been named a recipient of the United States high- est honor for technological innovation—the 2006 National Medal of Technology. The medal was presented by President George W. Bush during a White House awards ceremony on July 27.
Established by an act of Congress in 1980 and first awarded in 1985, the Medal of Technology is given annually to individuals, teams, and companies for their outstanding contributions to the nation’s economic, environmental and social well-being through the development and commercial- ization of technology products, processes and concepts; tech- nological innovation; and development of the nation’s tech- nological manpower.
At Bell Labs in 1962, West and his colleague Gerhard Sessler patented the electret microphone, in which thin sheets of polymer film, metal-coated on one side, are given a perma- nent charge to serve as the membrane and bias of a condenser microphone that helps convert sound to electrical signals with high fidelity. Almost 90 percent of the more than two billion microphones produced today are based on the principles devel- oped by West and Sessler. West spent more than four decades with Bell Labs, building upon this research and obtaining more than 200 U.S. and foreign patents. He also authored or con- tributed to more than 140 technical papers. In 2002 West joined the Johns Hopkins University faculty as a research pro- fessor in the Whiting School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
His achievements have led to numerous professional honors. In 1995, West was awarded the Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1998 and a year later was inducted into the
Jan D. Achenbach with George W. Bush Photo by Ryan K. Morris
34 Acoustics Today, October 2007