Page 70 - Summer 2021

Ask an Acoustician: Efren Fernandez-
Grande
Efren Fernandez-Grande and Micheal L. Dent
Meet Efren Fernandez-Grande
In this “Ask an Acoustician” essay, we feature Efren Fernandez-Grande, a Spaniard who finds himself in Denmark. Efren is an associate professor in the Acous- tic Technology Group in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Technical University of Denmark (Kongens Lyngby; DTU, from the Danish acronym). Efren is a member of the Signal Processing Technical Committee of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), regularly organizing sessions and serving as the technical program coordinator. He is also a Fellow of the ASA and serves as an associate editor for The Journal of the Acous- tical Society of America. I will let Efren tell you the rest.
A Conversation with Efren Fernandez- Grande, in His Own Words
Tell us about your work.
My work mostly consists of doing research and teaching, but I also hold some institutional responsibilities. My research lies in the areas of sound field analysis, acous- tic holography, signal processing, and sound radiation. Much of the research I do is concerned with analyzing the spatial properties of sound fields and developing meth- ods for reconstructing sound fields in cases where only a limited number of observations are available. Other aspects of my work involve methods for sound localiza- tion, typically using microphone arrays as well as sound field reproduction, inverse problems, and acoustic mea- surement techniques. I teach a couple of graduate-level courses that are closely related to my areas of research. Besides research and teaching, I am head of studies of our international MSc in engineering acoustics, and I am involved in several organizations in acoustics, including the ASA, the European Acoustics Association, and the
Danish Acoustical Society. I also enjoy engaging in out- reach activities (e.g., open houses, laboratory tours and demonstrations, or school visits) as a way to demonstrate and share our work with the general public.
Describe your career path.
I am originally from Spain where I studied electrical/ telecommunications engineering with a major in acous- tics and later moved to Denmark, which is one of the leading countries in the field of acoustics, to pursue my graduate studies at the DTU. I had the good fortune to obtain a PhD scholarship under the supervision of Finn Jacobsen, who was a great mentor and a very inspiring person to work with. After receiving my PhD, I was for- tunate to obtain a fellowship from the Danish Council for Independent Research, which allowed me to con- tinue my work as a postdoc. Along the way, I obtained a tenured faculty position at the DTU where I continue to work now as an associate professor in the Acoustic Technology Group.
What is a typical day for you?
Days can be very different from each other, of course, but I would say that a “very good day” is one where I cycle to work early and use the first few hours to do some writing or key research work (e.g., a new idea, plan a key experiment, theoretical work). Later, I might have a meeting with one of my PhD students to discuss their progress and provide insight. I would have lunch at noon, typically with my colleagues in our shared kitchen/lunch- room or outdoors in the gardens by the laboratory when
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70 Acoustics Today • Summer 2021 | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2021.17.2.70