Page 87 - Summer2020

Work-Parenting Harmony
Tracianne B. Neilsen and Alison K. Stimpert
Disclaimer: This article and the associated work-parenting stories were prepared in February 2020, before the added burden parents are currently experiencing due to the pan- demic and the shut-down of schools and childcare facilities.
This article from the Women in Acoustics (WIA) Com- mittee (see womeninacoustics.org) does two things. First, it highlights the professional careers of two recently hon- ored two pioneering female acousticians, Evgenia (Zhenia) Zabolotskaya and Ilene Busch-Vishniac. Second, using these two women as a starting point, we take a glimpse into their family life to explore the challenges of maintaining work- family “harmony.” Although many speak of the elusive work-family balance, we intentionally choose instead to use the word harmony (McMillan et al. 2011; Berger 2018). Balance seems to imply that all the pieces are in one perfect arrangement and that the slightest nudge will send all the pieces flying. We propose that a more useful paradigm is work-family harmony because harmonies come in many beautiful varieties. Harmonies ebb and flow just as our family and work responsibilities change over time.
We hope that the family stories of our two honored women can serve as case studies of parents of their generation, and
©2020 Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved.
https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2020.16.2.87
we are grateful for the insights they provide. We comple- ment their parenting stories with thoughts and quotes from younger Acoustical Society of America (ASA) parents about their own experiences in parenting. Our goal is that these ideas will encourage everyone to do the best they can at cre- ating work-family harmony, allowing themselves to accept support from others, remain flexible, and take it one step at a time as they strive to enjoy life’s journey.
Evgenia (Zhenia) Andreevna Zabolotskaya1
Evgenia (Zhenia) Andreevna Zabolotskaya completed her bachelor’s degree in physics at Moscow State University (MSU) where she met her husband, Yurii (Yura) Ilinskii (Figure 1). They married in 1963, and Zhenia then returned to MSU to complete her PhD. Zhenia’s PhD included a model equation for nonlinear bubble dynamics as well as the first effective medium theory for nonlinear propagation of sound in bubbly liquid. She later created, in collaboration with Rem Khokhlov, the KZ (Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya) equation for nonlinear sound beams, which has had far-reaching impli- cations on sonar as well as high-intensity focused ultrasound. Zhenia and Yura moved to the United States in 1991 to col- laborate with Mark Hamilton at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin where they also began theoretical research on non- linear Rayleigh waves and a research program in biomedical acoustics. Zhenia was the first woman to receive the ASA Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics in 2017.
Ilene Busch-Vishniac
Ilene Busch married Ethan Vishniac in 1976 (Figure 2). Both pursued graduate degrees and became tenure-track faculty at the UT at Austin. Ilene has made several career transitions that allow her to appreciate the full breadth of what ASA members experience as students, academics, administrators, and now working in industry. She was the first woman to receive the Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics in 2001 “for development of novel electret microphones and of pre- cision micro-electro-mechanical sensors and positioners.”
1. Dr. Zabolotskaya passed away in early June. A full obituary will appear in the fall issue of Acoustics Today.
Figure 1. Zhenia Zabolotskaya and Yura Ilinksii with one of their daughters.
Volume 16, issue 2 | Summer 2020 • Acoustics Today 87