Page 60 - Summer2017

Sound Perspectives
Lauren M. Ronsse
Postal:
1863 North 175th Court Omaha, Nebraska 68118 USA
Email:
ronsse.lauren@gmail.com
Tracianne B. Neilsen
Postal:
Brigham Young University N311 ESC Provo, Utah 84097 USA
Email:
tbn@byu.edu
Women in Acoustics: Honoring Some of Our Heroes
Women in Acoustics Named Luncheon Program
This article is the first in a series of articles planned for Acoustics Today to highlight relevant issues and activities of the Women in Acoustics (WIA) Committee of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to informing Society members about WIA Committee projects, this series is intended to serve as a mechanism to encourage women in the Society and as a means of initiating further discussion among Society members. Acoustics Today is joining the WIA Committee in this way to promote the careers of women in acoustics and in STEM.
The ASA WIA Committee fosters a supportive atmosphere within the Society for female and early-career acousticians, with an emphasis on encouraging women to pursue careers in acoustics. At each national meeting of the Society, a WIA luncheon is held, open to all meeting attendees. The luncheon provides fellow- ship and networking opportunities for women and supporters of women at the meeting. A newer facet of the luncheon is the WIA Named Luncheon Program, which honors prominent women in acoustics who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research, and/or service to the field. The program was started in 2013 under the committee leadership of Erica Ryherd. Since the program’s inception, seven women have received the Named Luncheon Honor. This article presents an overview of their accomplishments, contributions to the field of acoustics, and service to the acoustics community.
Honored Women
Spring 2013 Honoree Rhona Hellman
Rhona Hellman (1935-2009) received her PhD in 1998 at Thou- ku University in Sendai, Japan. An ASA Fellow, Rhona was a distinguished hearing scientist and a preeminent expert in au- ditory perceptual phenomena, especially loudness. More infor- mation on Rhona’s many accomplishments and service to the acoustics profession may be found in a previous issue of Acous-
tics Today (Scharf and Zwislocki, 2010; http://acousticstoday.org/issues/2010AT/ Jan2010/index.html#?page=42).
Spring 2014 Honoree Katherine Safford Harris
Katherine Safford Harris (“Kathy”) conducted pioneering re- search in electromyography (EMG) studies of speech produc- tion. Kathy received a PhD in psychology from Harvard Uni- versity in 1954. She joined the research staff at the Haskins Laboratories in 1952; Haskins became her lifelong research home. In 1970, Kathy joined the faculty of the City University of New York Graduate School, was named a distinguished pro-
fessor in 1984, and became professor emerita in 1997. For 20 years, she was the principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Research Center Grant, directing a large number of investigators and diverse research proj- ects. She has participated on grant review panels as well as serving as a consultant
58 | Acoustics Today | Summer 2017 | volume 13, issue 2 ©2017 Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved.