Page 49 - Volume 8, Issue 4 - Winter 2012

Scantek, Inc. appoints a new president
On October 16, the Board of Directors for Scantek, Inc. appointed Steve Marshall to the position of compa- ny President. Steve has over 30 years of engineering experience in sound and vibration control and a business back- ground that includes management posi- tions in both the aerospace and HVAC&R industries. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering and served for ten years as its Treasurer.
The previous President, Rich Peppin, founded the company in 1985 and has resided at the helm for most years since. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the Institute of Noise Control Engineering and is widely recognized for his contribu- tion within the sound and vibration tech- nical community. Rich will remain engaged in the company as well as with professional societies and standardiza- tion committees.
Scantek, Inc. is a distributor for multiple sound and vibration lines, including Norsonic, RION, CESVA, Castle Group Acoustical Instrumentation, Metra Vibration Transducers, Data- Kustik, Pemard, Causal Systems, Delta Labs and Sound on Numbers software, BSWA Transducers, and Extech Sound and Vibration Instruments. In addition, it has a NVLAP/NIST accredited Calibration Laboratory meeting ISO 17025: 2005.
INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair
Mathew Poese, Frederick Poese, and I [Dick Stern] had the honor and pleasure of representing the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center from 13-18 May 2012.
The Intel ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college science competition, and included 1,549 high school finalists from 68 countries, regions and territo- ries. The students showcased their independent research as they competed for more than $3 million in awards. There were 247 teams of presenters and exhibits of which about two dozen con-
cerned acoustics. This year the ISEF encouraged millions of students world- wide to explore their passion for inno- vation and develop solutions for global challenges.
All the students competed as final- ists in the ISEF after winning a top prize from one of the 446 affiliate fairs. In addition to presenting their research on a global stage, finalists were judged by and interacted with doctoral level scientists as they competed for prizes. This year, more than 400 of the 1,549 finalists received awards and prizes for their groundbreaking research.
Society for Science and the Public, a nonprofit organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education, owns and has administered the ISEF since its incep- tion in 1950. In 1958, the competition became international for the first time when Japan, Canada and Germany joined. This year’s first time participat- ing countries and regions include Azerbaijan, Finland, Northern Mariana Islands, Poland, Spain, Panama, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Kuwait.
The 2012 ISEF was funded jointly by Intel and the Intel Foundation with addi- tional awards and support from dozens of corporate, academic, governmental, and science-focused organizations such as the Acoustical Society of America.
As a member of the Special Awards
Organization, a subset of ISEF, ASA awarded prizes to four teams of stu- dents whose research involved the study of acoustics. The First Award of $1000 went to Savanah Q. Frisk from Kilauea, Hawaii for her research enti- tled “Who Do You Listen To? An Exploration on the Effects of Age and Gender on Listening Comprehension.” In addition, her high school received $500 and her mentor received $250. A Second Award of $500 went to Hawraa Fawzi ALQallaf from Kuwait for his research entitled “A Bracelet Alarm System for Hearing-impaired Parents.” His high school received $200 and his mentor, $100. A Certificate of Honorable Mention went to a team of students from France—Nofoume Ben Ahmed Aly, Alban Teytaud, and Paul Chassagne for their research on “Setting Up a Measuring Protocol of the Reverberation Time of a Room to Improve Its Soundscape Quality.” A second Certificate of Honorable Mention went to Bridget M. Oei from Hebron, Connecticut whose research was on a “Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Piezoelectric Generator: A Novel Approach to Harvesting Vibrations from Human Respiration to Power Biological Implant Devices.”
Over seventy members of the Special Awards Organization presented their awards in a packed auditorium to all the students at a plenary session that
Hawraa Fawzi ALQallaf (l), Dick Stern (c), Savana Q. Frisk (r)
Acoustical News 45