Page 12 - 2017Winter

From the President | Marcia J. Isakson
Greetings from Texas! I am looking forward to this year as the president of the Acousti- cal Society of America (ASA). I have been a member for the past 15 years; the ASA is my
professional home. My work is mainly in underwater acous- tics and acoustical oceanography. My area of research is pri- marily in sonar, and I am interested in how sound propa- gates through the ocean, especially in coastal areas and on the continental shelf. I have also worked in rivers and es- tuaries. My research is used to both explore the ocean and protect and monitor coastlines. I come to the military aspect of my research quite naturally, having graduated from West Point. However, I still cannot bring myself to root for Navy.
I have worked with a number of committees in the Soci- ety and have been especially interested in outreach. When I was chair of the Women in Acoustics (WIA) Committee (see article in this issue by Ronsse and Neilsen on the his- tory of WIA), we started the Girl Scout outreach session. This initiative is now evolving to encourage a broader range of underrepresented people in science. I am very interested in the new Ad Hoc Committee for International Liaisons. This committee will foster new international regional chap- ters, serve as a bridge for the cosponsorship of international meetings, and work to translate non-English journals.
I have been involved with the Strategic Plan from its inception in my hometown of Austin, TX, in 2015. The plan is now in its third year. It has four goals: Awareness of Acoustics, Member Engagement and Diversity, Dissemination of Information and Knowledge, and Financial Stewardship. Each of these goals has an associated task force. (For further information about the strategic planning initiative, see past issues of Acoustics To- day such as http://acousticstoday.org/spring2016).
For the past year, I have had the privilege to chair Task Force 1 in support of increasing awareness of acoustics. Among our initiatives are increasing our online presence and pro- viding opportunities for our younger members to improve their science communication skills.
In the past two years, our online presence has exploded. Many of you are aware of (and “like”) our Facebook page. We
have an active Twitter account (@acousticsorg) and a terrific YouTube channel that hosts videos (see the Sound Perspec- tives article in this issue by Daniel Farrell and L. Keeta Jones that details our social media efforts). These not only teach about acoustics but also highlight many of the students in the Society.
Task Force 1 will soon be conducting a student video com- petition, with cash prizes, to continue to populate the chan- nel. Stay tuned! However, as fun social media is, the flagship of our online presence is definitely our outreach website, http://www.exploresound.org. This incredible site has re- sources for students from kindergarten through graduate school. On the site, visitors can find information on acous- tics of all kinds, discover educational resources, and quiz themselves on different aspects of acoustics. (According to these quizzes, I don’t know much about noise and should stick with underwater acoustics.) Teachers can also use the site to order activity kits, which provide a range of lessons in acoustics. There are many simulators, including an amazing spectrogram tool. For college students, there is an acoustic program directory. (If you would like your institution to be listed, please contact our Education Coordinator Keeta Jones at kjones@acousticalsociety.org.) So, if you are looking for teaching resources, an acoustics program to call home or just the sounds of the singing wolf spider, visit http://www. exploresound.org.
Another initiative of Task Force 1 is improving science commu- nication, especially for our students. As part of this initiative, Task Force 1 sponsored one of our members, Dr. Laura Kloep- per, to attend a ComSciCon (http://www.comscicon.com) workshop. These workshops focus on science communica- tions geared especially for graduate students. Task Force 1 is now working with the ASA Student Council to potentially hold a ComSciCon workshop in conjunction with a future ASA meeting.
Task Force 2, which is concerned with member diversity and engagement and is led by Dr. Lily Wang (ASA president- elect), has been equally busy. Two of their initiatives are live streaming and early-career member development. The live- streaming initiative was started at the fall meeting in 2015 in Jacksonville, FL, with 52 papers broadcast. Only one year
10 | Acoustics Today | Winter 2017