Page 44 - Jul2009

Acoustical News
Elaine Moran
Acoustical Society of America Melville, New York 11747
Susan E. Parks
Jeffrey Fox
Susan E. Parks receives 2009 Presidential Early Career Award
Susan E. Parks, Assistant Professor of Acoustics in The Pennsylvania State University’s (PSU) Graduate Program in Acoustics and Research Associate at the Applied Research Laboratory, PSU, was named one of 100 recipients of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on young professionals in the early stages of their research careers. Recipients will receive their awards in the Fall at a White House ceremony.
The awards, established by President Clinton in February 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected on the basis of two criteria: Pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and a commitment to com- munity service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach. Winning scientists and engineers receive up to a five-year research grant
to further their study in support of crit- ical government missions. Nine Federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most merito- rious young scientists and engineers. Parks was among the 41 recipients nominated by the Department of Defense.
Susan Parks, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography, received her Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography in 2003. Her research is focused on behavioral ecology and bioa- coustics, investigating acoustic commu- nication by marine mammals. Currently, Susan is working on the use of sound by the North Atlantic right whale and southern right whale, and the humpback whale, studying behavioral aspects of sound production, the perceptual abili- ties of whales, and the impact of noise on their acoustic communications.
Susan Parks is a member of the Acoustical Society of America, the Animal Behavior Society, the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the European Cetacean Society, and the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. She also received an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in 2008.
Jeffrey Fox named ASA/AIP Congressional Fellow
Jeffrey Fox has been selected by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) as their first jointly-sponsored Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. He will serve on Capitol Hill during the 2009-10 academic year.
Dr. Fox graduated with a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University, where he was a visiting scientist at Cornell’s Center for Applied Mathematics. Fox’s experience with industry and academia will enable him to effectively commu- nicate on behalf of science and technol- ogy in many ways. His background is interdisciplinary, including helping to develop mathematical models of car-
diac electrical activity by applying non- linear dynamics to the study of heart rhythm disorders. As a new Ph.D., Fox worked at a biotechnology start-up company where he developed software for investigating cardiac rhythm disor- ders. There he discovered the chal- lenges faced by many small biotech firms during the drug discovery and development process, including deal- ing with intellectual property issues and finding ways to bridge the academ- ic/industrial divide to translate innova- tive research into new products and services. This work also sparked Fox’s interest in policy, especially in the areas of healthcare and the economy. Fox also is interested in education, and has served as a volunteer teaching third grade students in math and science. His interest in education policy is founded on the principle that long-term, effec- tive policies in education will be criti- cally important to other policy areas, and that maintaining excellence in sci- ence and math is necessary for our nation’s well-being.
ASA partnered with AIP to co- sponsor a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow and to help expand AIP’s fellowship program from one fel- low to two. Past congressional fellows,
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