Page 69 - 2017Winter

ble 1.
Percentage of women in each technical committee
Table 1. Percentage of women in each technical commTaitbtleee2.
Underwater Acoustics 7 9 12 ChaiTras bofleth2e.WCohmaeinrsinoAf cthouesWticosmCoemnminittAeecoustics Committee
Technical Committee
1995
2007
2017
Acoustical Oceanography
5
17
18
Animal Bioacoustics
20
35
42
Architectural Acoustics
4
10
14
Biomedical Acoustics
13
13
15
Engineering Acoustics
10
6
7
Musical Acoustics
11
12
13
Noise
7
8
12
Physical Acoustics
5
5
8
Psychological and Physiological Acoustics
25
26
24
Signal Processing
13
11
13
Speech Communications
32
39
42
Structural Acoustics and Vibration
5
6
6
Underwater Acoustics
7
9
12
Chair
Term
Alexandra I. Tolstoy
1992-1996
Dianna F. McCammon
1996-1997
Barbara Sotirin
1997-1998
Ellen Livingston
1998-1999
Nancy S. Timmerman and Zoi-Heleni Michalapoulou
1999-2003
Peggy B. Nelson
2003-2006
Lisa M. Zurk
2006-2009
Marcia J. Isakson
2009-2012
Erica E. Ryherd
2012-2015
Lauren M. Ronsse
2015-Present
ble 2.
childcare at ASA meetings. Under the leadership of the WIAC Chairs (Table 2), the WIAC has made progress on
each these goals.
Progress has been made in increasing women involvement
updated by David T. Bradley in 2003 and renovated again in 2011 by Kyoko Nagao, who maintains it today.
Recognizing that the transition from student to nonstudent member of ASA can be challenging, the WIAC began the Young Investigator Travel Grant, which is a competitive grant that provides funding for early-career acousticians (men and women) to attend ASA meetings. The WIAC was also instru- mental in getting the Society to provide reduced conference registration fees for early-career acousticians. These efforts and the open WIAC meetings have helped to increase the participation of women in ASA.
The WIAC periodically organizes roundtable discussion and outreach sessions at ASA meetings. The roundtable discus- sion sessions allow mentors to lead small-group discussions on a variety of topics related to women and early-career ac- ousticians. Another roundtable session is planned for the up- coming Spring 2018 ASA meeting in Minneapolis.
The WIAC also sponsors Girl Scout outreach sessions at ASA meetings. Traci Neilsen and Marcia Isakson initiated this pro- gram, called “Listen Up! and Get Involved!” in April 2010. At these sessions, local Girl Scout troops are invited to attend hands-on learning sessions at the ASA meetings. ASA mem- bers have enjoyed helping the Girl Scouts explore acoustics.
A WIA luncheon was started during the initial formation of the WIAC under the leadership of Alex Tolstoy, and this con- tinues at each ASA meeting. The luncheon is open to both men and women. The attendees who are in leadership posi- tions of the ASA and who are active in the TCs are recog- nized at the luncheon. Beginning in June 2013, at the request of Mary Florentine to honor Rhona Hellman, each luncheon has also been used to recognize a woman acoustician. This program, which was featured in a recent Acoustics Today ar- ticle (Ronsse and Neilsen, 2017), honors prominent women in acoustics who have demonstrated excellence in teaching,
Chairs of the Women in Acoustics Committee
Chair Term
Alexandra I. Tolstoy 1992-1996
Dianna F. McCammon 1996-1997
and visibility in the ASA. The percentage of women in the
Barbara Sotirin 1997-1998
ASA membership has steadily increased, as shown in Figure Ellen Livingston 1998-1999
1, to where women make up about 17% of ASA members today and a farNhaingcyhSe.rTipmemrecremnantagnde i1n99a9-2n0u03mber of the TCs
Zoi-Heleni Michalapoulou
(Table 1). The percentage of women members on each TC Peggy B. Nelson 2003-2006
from 1995, 2007, and 2017 (Table 1) shows that although the
percentage of woLmisaeMn. iZnurmk ost of the T20C06s-2h0a09s increased, some
TCs still have relatively few women.
Marcia J. Isakson 2009-2012 Erica E. Ryherd 2012-2015
Another indicator of increased involvement can be seen in the number of wLaoumreneMn. lReoandssers in th2e01S5-oPcreiseetnyt. ASA has had seven female presidents, starting with Patricia Kuhl in 1999 and continuing with our current president (Marcia Isakson) and president-elect (Lily Wang). Also, since the inception of the WIAC, 37% of the ASA Executive Council members have been women compared with 16% over the previous 25 years (1968-1992). Before the creation of the WIAC, the only woman TC chair was Katherine Harris in speech communica- tions (1963-1965). Since 1993, 8 of the 13 TCs have had at least 1 woman chair, and currently there are 5 women TC chairs. Progress in the original goal to increase the participation of women in the TCs and the number of women fellows is re- flected in the increase in women in these leadership positions.
Another way in which the visibility of women in the Soci- ety has been improved is through the WIAC website (http:// www.womeninacoustics.org). The first version of this web- site was created by Barbara Sotirin in 1997. This website was
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