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Ask an Acoustician: D. Keith Wilson
D. Keith Wilson and Micheal L. Dent
Meet D. Keith Wilson
In this issue, “Ask an Acoustician” features D. Keith Wilson, a research physical scientist at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center Cold Regions Research and Engi- neering Laboratory (ERDC-CRREL) in Hanover, NH. Keith has been attending meetings of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) since 1986. He has served as an editor for The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) for the Noise Technical Committee and as chairperson of the ASA Committee on Publication Policy. With Allan Pierce (then editor in chief of JASA), Keith helped to launch The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America-Express Letters. Most recently, he worked with Amanda Hanford to start the new ASA Technical Specialty Group on Computational Acoustics. For examples of Keith’s research, see the Bibliog- raphy. I will let Keith tell you the rest of his story.
A Conversation with D. Keith Wilson, in His Words
Tell us about your work.
Most of my research is in the area of atmospheric acous- tics. The research ties together sound propagation physics, atmospheric turbulence, and computational methods. While working on my PhD at Pennsylvania State Univer- sity (University Park), I was able to get a solid grounding in aspects of meteorology pertinent to the lower atmosphere.
This multidisciplinary perspective has helped to inform my subsequent research. In particular, I’m interested in how the variability of the atmosphere across a variety of scales in time and space impacts sound propagation and limits predictability in a deterministic sense. An earlier Acoustics Today article (2015) provides more discussion on this topic. The variability and predictive challenges are an important consideration in noise regulation.
I have spent most my professional career working at government laboratories. Although I didn’t envision a
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scientific career with the government, it has been reward- ing to serve the public, and I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on many fascinating research problems. The Army is interested in atmospheric acous- tics for a couple main reasons. First, there is the military problem of how far away something can be heard or detected with a sensor. Second, there is the problem of minimizing disturbances from noise produced by training and testing activities. The scientific issues underlying the two problems overlap. My own projects are a mixture of basic and applied research. The applied research projects often involve transitioning acoustical modeling capabili- ties, which come from basic research, into software and technology for soldiers. For applied research, I also get involved in modeling seismic, radio-frequency, optical, and even chemical and biological signals. Acoustics is great, but it is also fun to delve into other things.
Describe your career path.
I envisioned growing up to become a scientist for as long as I can remember, which is probably not surprising because my father was a chemistry professor at Kalamazoo College (MI). But I became an acoustician largely by chance. As an undergraduate, I resolved to major in anything except chemistry; because I found applied physics and electronics intriguing, physics won out. I received my BA in physics from Carleton College (Northfield, MN). Next, I went to the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) to work on a master’s degree in electrical engineering, where I focused on finding a research assistantship in areas such as optics and magnetics. I wasn’t really thinking about acoustics.
Volume 16, issue 3 | Fall 2020 • Acoustics Today 71