Page 35 - Winter 2009

Acoustical News
Elaine Moran
Acoustical Society of America Melville, New York 11747
Karim Sabra
Karim Sabra awarded the A. B. Wood Medal and Prize
Karim Sabra, Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded the 2009 A. B. Wood Medal and Prize by the Institute of Acoustics. The medal award ceremony took place at the ancient Epidaurus Theater at the end of the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Underwater Acoustic Measurements: Technologies held in Nafplion, Peloponnese, Greece, in June 2009.
The A. B. Wood medal and atten- dant prize is awarded in alternate years to acousticians domiciled in the UK or Europe and in the USA or Canada. It is aimed at younger researchers, prefer-
ably under the age of 35 in the year of the award, whose work is associated with the sea. Following his graduation from Manchester University in 1912, Albert Beaumont Wood became one of the first two research scientists at the Admiralty to work on antisubmarine defense. He designed the first direc- tional hydrophone and was well known for the many contributions he made to the science of underwater acoustics and for the help he gave to younger col- leagues. The medal was instituted after his death by his many friends on both sides of the Atlantic. By agreement with the Institute of Acoustics, the Acoustical Society nominates candi- dates for the award in alternate years.
Dr. Sabra received an M.Sc from École National Supérieure de Techniques Avancées, France, in 2000, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 2000 and 2003. He began at Georgia Tech in 2007 as an Assistant Professor. Prior to this he was a Project Scientist at the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.
Dr. Sabra’s ongoing focus has been the development of novel passive mon- itoring and imaging techniques based on diffuse wave fields (e.g., ambient noise and multiple scattered fields). His current research projects include: The development of an in-vivo passive elas- tography technique for soft tissues (e.g., skeletal muscles) using random physiological vibrations self-generated by the human body (e.g., muscles twitches, heart beats); passive structur- al health monitoring of aircraft wings using flow-induced vibrations and dif- fuse wavefields; and the use of ambient noise for seismoacoustic tomography of the ocean environment. His interests also include the development of envi- ronmentally adaptive sonar systems for detection of buried objects in shallow water costal zones for harbor protec- tion and mine counter measures.
Beth A. Prieve
ASA members named Fellows by ASHA
ASA members Beth A. Prieve and Mario Svirsky were named Fellows of the American Speech-Language- Hearing Association in 2009. The sta- tus of Fellow recognizes professional or scientific achievement and is given to an ASHA member who has shown out- standing contribution to the profes- sions—contributions that are signifi- cant and would be so regarded within and beyond one’s community or state. The profession has thousands of mem- bers who fulfill their responsibilities competently and well, but only a small percentage have, by virtue of the quali- ty and amount of their contributions, distinguished themselves sufficiently to warrant recognition by election to Fellow in ASHA.
Beth Prieve is Professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at Syracuse University. She conducts research on hearing and hearing problems in infants and children of all ages. Dr. Prieve is a member of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Auditory Society, the American Speech- Language-Hearing Association and a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology. She received her Ph.D. in Audiology from the University of Iowa in 1989.
The A. B. Wood medal
34 Acoustics Today, October 2009