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25 Years of WIA
Figure 2. Women in Acoustics Committee Meeting in Honolulu, November 2016
research, and/or service to the field. The WIA luncheon is a highly successful and well-attended event.
A mentoring program was established within the first few years of the committee’s founding and is currently coordi- nated by Ana Jaramillo. The mentoring program is open to anyone (men and women) in acoustics; students and early- career ASA members are especially encouraged to partici- pate. Ana matches mentees with mentors in the same techni- cal area. The mentors encourage the mentees to participate in ASA activities and help them network within the Society. Requests for mentors may be submitted through the WIAC website, and we are always accepting new mentor volunteers.
Various ideas for providing childcare at ASA meetings have been investigated over the years. Because legal and logistical hurdles make it difficult for the ASA to provide on-site child- care during meetings, dependent-care subsidies were started at the Jacksonville meeting in Fall 2015 for meeting attend- ees to offset dependent-care cost associated with attending the meeting. Details on how to apply for the dependent-care subsidies are provided in each ASA meeting’s call for papers.
Also, in part to address the difficulty of traveling with young children, ASA has started streaming online some of the tech- nical sessions and committee meetings that occur during the national ASA meetings. Although not a WIAC initiative, this effort was led by WIAC member and ASA Strategic Plan Goal 2 Task Force Chair Lily Wang.
The efforts of the WIAC chairs and members over its first 25 years have made significant contributions to the ASA, espe- cially in the areas of providing support and opportunities for early-career acousticians and for women throughout their careers. Although we have come a long way since the WIAC was founded, there are still unique challenges and issues that women face within the Society. As such, the WIAC is an on- going active force within the ASA, and all are welcome to attend the open WIAC meeting held at each national ASA meeting. Figure 2 is a photo from the recent WIAC meet- ing in Honolulu in November 2016. New faces and ideas are always welcome!
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the previous WIAC chairs and Judy Dubno for providing information on the history of the committee and reviewing this article, with special thanks to Alex Tolstoy for founding the committee.
References
Ronsse, L. M., and Neilsen, T. B. (2017). Women in acoustics: Honoring
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some of our heroes. Acoustics Today 13(2), 58-61.
ASA School 2018
Living in
the Acoustic
Environment
5-6 May 2018 Chaska, Minnesota
I Two-day program: Lectures, demonstrations, and discussions by distinguished acousticians covering interdisciplinary topics in nine technical areas
I Participants: Graduate students and early career acousticians in all areas of acoustics
I Location: Oak Ridge Hotel and Conference Center I Dates: 5-6 May 2018, immediately preceding the
ASA spring meeting in Minneapolis
I Cost: $50 registration fee, which includes hotel, meals, course materials, transportation from
Oak Ridge to the ASA meeting location
I For information: Application form, preliminary program, and more details will be available in November, 2017 at www.AcousticalSociety.org.
68 | Acoustics Today | Winter 2017