Page 42 - Winter 2008

the understanding and harnessing of the many potentially beneficial interac- tions between acoustic waves and bio- logical tissue.”
Dr. Coussios is a University Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering and a Tutorial Fellow of Magdalen College at the University of Oxford. He holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge (UK) and worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Cincinnati (OH, USA) on ultrasound-enhanced thrombolysis and at Boston University (MA, USA) on the use of high intensity focused ultra- sound for cancer therapy.
Constantin Coussios is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and serves as a member of the Technical Committee on Biomedical Ultrasound/ Bioresponse to Vibration. He received the ASA F. V. Hunt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Acoustics in 2002. He is a Board Member and Secretary of the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound.
Gerhard Sessler receives Technology Award
Gerhard M. Sessler, Professor of Electroacoustics at the University of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany, received the Technology Award of the Eduard-Rhein Foundation. He was cited “For outstanding and internation- ally acknowledged achievements in numerous areas of technical acoustics, ranging from polymer and silicon materials sciences to a number of groundbreaking new developments of electroacoustic sensor/actor devices.” In particular, Sessler was recognized for the invention, together with James E. West, of the polymer electret micro-
phone, and for the invention, together with Dietmar Hohm, of the silicon condenser microphone.
The Technology Award of the Rhein Foundation is granted annually for outstanding achievements in research and/or development in the area of information technology (www. eduard-rhein-stiftung.de). It is the most prominent award in this field in Europe.
Gerhard Sessler received his Dr. rer. nat. degree 1959 from the University of Goettingen in Germany. From 1959 to 1975 he was a member of the Acoustics Research Department of Bell Laboratories where he had responsibili- ties for work on electret transducers, concert hall acoustics, and charge stor- age phenomena in solids. In 1975, he joined the University of Technology in Darmstadt as a professor of electroa- coustics. He has since been involved in various fields of acoustics and solid- state physics, in particular in acoustic silicon microphones, in electret and piezoelectric materials and transducers, and in acoustic signal processing.
Sessler is an Inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a cor- responding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Science, and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has received many awards, among them the Helmholtz- Rayleigh Interdisciplinary Silver Medal of the Acoustical Society of America, the Helmholtz Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Akustik, and an Honorary Doctors Degree of the Belarus Academy of Science. Sessler has authored about 300 scientific or techni- cal publications and holds 25 US patents and many patents in other countries.
Allan Pierce receives Gold Medal of AFECT
The Acoustical Foundation for Education and Charitable Trust (AFECT) of India awarded the 2007 Stanley Ehrlich Gold Medal to Allan D. Pierce of Boston University for his con- tributions to physical, environmental, and structural acoustics, and acoustics education. In conjunction with the receipt of the award, Pierce presented the Stanley Ehrlich lecture at the 2007 National Symposium on Acoustics, a
Allan D. Pierce
joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of India and the Madras India Chapter of the ASA, in Tiruchengode, India.
According to AFECT, the Gold Medal is presented to an eminent acousti- cian or surgeon, irrespective of nationali- ty, age, or society affiliation to promote international brotherhood in the diverse field of acoustics. The award given to Pierce honors Stanley Ehrlich, an American acoustician and former ASA President, whose work strengthened pro- fessional relations between acousticians in India and the United States.
Pierce is only the third American to receive the AFECT award. As editor- in-chief of the Acoustical Society of America, Pierce became familiar with acoustical activity and research in India when the country became home to the first ASA chapter outside the US. He was nominated for the award and lec- ture by AFECT President Hari Paul.
Over the course of his career, his diverse acoustical interests have blended physical insight and mathematical rigor. His early research focused on determin- ing the magnitude of an explosion by its measured waveform, which was used to verify the ban on atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and estimated the magnitude of the eruption on Mount St. Helen’s. He has been recognized for research in laser generation of sound, diffraction around thick barriers, and is studying sound propagation in the ocean with fellow Boston University professor William Carey. His book, “Acoustics: An Introduction to Its Physical Principles and Applications,” is currently distributed by the Acoustical Society of America.
40 Acoustics Today, January 2008