Page 9 - Fall2020

From the President
Diane Kewley-Port
Decisions, Transitions and Opportunities for the Acoustical Society of
America in 2020
As I write this column at the end of June 2020, it is my hope that by fall you, your family, and
your community will be in healthier and safer circum- stances. The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) will continue to adjust on how to best serve our members and friends during these unpredictable times. This spring, we demonstrated that the ASA can navigate unknown waters and make very rapid changes to keep our Society strong. This report reviews some of these actions and describes exciting plans for our future publications and meetings.
First, let me start with introductions. ASA volunteers lead our Society, and they change over at each spring meeting. It was just a year ago that Figure 1 was taken at the Louis- ville, KY, meeting. Vic Sparrow became president, Lily Wang transitioned to past president, and I became president-elect. Lily Wang made the selfie frame as part of the celebrations in Louisville for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the ASA. Now I have transitioned to president under very differ- ent circumstances, but a term that holds many opportunities.
A Bit About Me
I have been preparing for the mantle of president of the ASA throughout my life. Engineering school at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) provided the foun- dation for my career. I continued for my master’s there in Communications and Computer Sciences. Based on the speech acoustics coursework, in 1967, I was hired as a research assistant in the Neurocommunications Labo- ratory at The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD). This research on the developing speech of infants allowed me to attend my first ASA meeting in Miami Beach.
The ASA has been my professional society home ever since because acoustics is exciting and interesting, and the social support of younger members is ingrained in ASA's character. For example, although women in engi- neering and the ASA were indeed rare, I felt welcome and encouraged to pursue my passion for research in speech acoustics. Therefore, I entered doctoral studies at The Graduate School, City University of New York, where I was mentored by Katherine S. Harris, who later was the first woman awarded the ASA Gold Medal. I completed my doctoral studies in speech sciences, albeit slowed a little as the mother of a son and twin daughters.
Beginning in 1976 at Indiana University (Bloomington), the majority of my career has focused on laboratory research and teaching. My best-known research in speech perception demonstrated that for understanding sentences,
Figure 1. Left to right: Diane Kewley-Port, Vic Sparrow, and Lily Wang.
Fall 2020 • Acoustics Today 9