Page 39 - Summer 2008

International News
Walter G. Mayer
Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057
honor of an OBE for “Services to Noise Assessment.”
The Institute of Acoustics is the UK’s professional body for those work- ing in acoustics, noise and vibration. It was formed in 1974 from the amalga- mation of the Acoustics Group of the Institute of Physics and the British Acoustical Society (a daughter society of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). The Institute has some 3000 members from a rich diversity of back- grounds, with engineers, scientists, edu- cators, lawyers, occupational hygienists, architects and environmental health officers among their number.
Jian Kang (l) and Colin English (r)
Jian Kang awarded Tyndall Medal
Jian Kang, Professor of Acoustics at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture has been awarded the Institute of Acoustics’ 2008 Tyndall Medal in recognition of his prodigious contributions to environmental acoustics and in particular the behavior of sound in the built environment. He received his award from Colin English, President of the Institute of Acoustics, at the Institute’s Spring Conference on “Widening Horizons in Acoustics” at Reading University. Following receipt of the award, Jian Kang gave a lecture enti- tled “Urban Soundscape.”
The Tyndall Medal is awarded bi-
annually to a citizen of the UK, prefer- ably under the age of 40, for achieve- ment and services in the field of acoustics. The medal is named for John Tyndall (1820-1893) who preceded Lord Rayleigh as the Professor, Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institute.
Jian Kang was born in China and received his higher education at the University of Tsinghua where he was awarded a Bachelor’s degree in architec- ture and a Master’s degree in Acoustics. After relocating to Europe in 1992, he worked on non-fibrous absorbers and low frequency sound insulation in buildings at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik in Stuttgart. In 1993 Jian moved to the UK where he undertook a Ph.D. at the School of Architecture at the University of Cambridge.
On completing his Ph.D., Jian took up a lectureship at the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield and was rapidly promoted to a professorship. He has formed a strong multi-disciplinary research group which has worked extensively in environmen- tal acoustics and led to the publication in 2007 of a book entitled “Urban Sound Environment.” His work is reflected in over 250 publications including 3 books.
Jian Kang is an editor in Environmental Noise for Acustica, unit- ed with Acta Acustica and is on the edi- torial board of the Journal of Architecture and Planning. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics and the Acoustical Society of America. He received a Robert Newman Medal in 1996 “for excellence in the study of acoustics and its application in architec- ture” and a Theodore John Schultz Grant for his project titled “Computer Tools for Architectural Acoustics Education,” both awarded by the Robert Bradford Newman Student Award Fund of the Acoustical Society of America.
Christopher Harrison awarded Rayleigh Medal
Chris Harrison, a Principal Scientist at the National Undersea
Institute of Acoustics announces a new president
The Institute of Acoustics (IOA) is pleased to announce the appointment of John Hinton OBE as its new President for a two-year period. John takes over from Colin English.
John Hinton is Special Projects Officer, Noise, for the Birmingham City Council. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics and served as Chairman of the Midlands Branch of the Institute since its inception. He was also Chairman of the Institute’s Working Party on Noise from Pubs and Clubs, which produced the IOA’s “Good Practice Guide on the Control of Noise from Pubs and Clubs.”
Outside the IOA Mr. Hinton is cur- rently Chairman of the National Ambient Noise Committee of the Environmental Protection UK and is an advisor on environmental noise matters (particularly noise mapping) for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He has also been Chairman of the European Commission Working Group on Noise Mapping from 1998-2002 and Chairman of the European Commission’s Working Group for the Assessment of Exposure to Noise from 2002-2005. He is currently Chairman of the European Environment Agency’s Working Group on Assessment of Exposure to Noise. In 2005, he received the well-deserved national
38 Acoustics Today, July 2008