Page 71 - Summer 2021

the weather is good. Then, with a fresh cup of coffee, I attend to pending e-mails and do some work as asso- ciate editor or reviewer or might have a meeting with collaborators, or attend to my duties for the MSc in engineering acoustics at the DTU. By around 2 or 3 pm, as meetings recede and the inbox starts to slow down, I try and use some uninterrupted time for my research and experiments before going home and enjoying some family time. Teaching days are quite different because many hours go into the classroom, which is also nice. In 2021, a “new-normal” typical day would involve many Zoom online meetings and a lot of working from home as well as more simulations than experiments, but still the essence is similar, although I miss in-person interac- tions and cycling to work!
How do you feel when experiments/projects do not work out the way you expected them to?
That’s a good one. Well, they often turn out different than planned, so I keep a moderate expectation. It might sound cliché, but I set myself to expect the unexpected and it works just fine. Often the data seem not to make any sense at first, especially in challenging experiments, but I remind myself that an experiment rarely fails com- pletely (a seemingly failed one could hide new knowledge or point to a methodological refinement). So I try to work my way through the data, observing patiently and with caution...as they say, everyone trusts an (experimental) observation, except the person who made it.
Do you feel like you have solved the work-life balance problem? Was it always this way?
Yes, I think I have found an enjoyable and healthy bal- ance. I love the work that I do, and I am easily drawn to it. At the same time, I enjoy so many great things out- side work that it is simply very difficult to neglect them. Sometimes one might encounter a “freak wave” of tasks related to research, teaching, proposals, departmental duties, and other items, which can be challenging. When a wave of work lasts for too long, I try to press the reset button, prioritize things, and get back to finding my bal- ance or else the intrinsic motivation suffers. I became a father some months ago (such a wonderful experience), and this has made me live and enjoy the moment very much, being more focused at work and spending great quality time at home.
What makes you a good acoustician?
I am not sure if there are bad acousticians out there. Attributes that help me in my work are that I am inher- ently curious, I enjoy the process of discovery, and this drives my intrinsic motivation to work. Also, I am lucky to work in an area where you can start working on an idea on a blackboard or piece of paper, you can test it numerically, later go down to the laboratory to validate it experimentally, and listen to your experiment
while walking around refining the setup. The process is extremely valuable because it allows time for reflection and for developing a good understanding of the relevant phenomena. Sometimes people are surprised to find me performing my own experiments instead of asking a stu- dent to do it, but I like it. This is something I learned from my PhD advisor Finn Jacobsen, no matter how busy he was, he would always have time to jot down some equations on a piece of paper and go to the laboratory to test his ideas firsthand. I always admired this. I remember that about 10 years ago, we had a meeting one evening with a close collaborator and they would not fully agree on some properties of the experiment we were planning. It was about which reference transducer should be used, and the properties of the resulting cross-spectral matri- ces. The meeting finished, we left, and the matter was left unresolved or so it appeared (eventually Finn was right, but that’s not the point). The next morning, I met Finn entering work and the first thing he told me, with a smile on his face, was, “Efren, yesterday before going home, I went to the lab and tried out some measurements. As far as I can see, if you use this sensor as a reference... etc.” As the years go by, I understand more and more the long-term value of going through the whole process from blackboard to laboratory experiments firsthand.
How do you handle rejection?
I do not take it personally, or that’s what I like to think. If it is justified and constructive, I handle it well because it contributes to a better outcome. If the rejection is poorly substantiated, it is upsetting, but this is rare. Most rejec- tions happen after careful consideration.
What are you proudest of in your career?
I would say mentoring. It is one of the outcomes of my work that I enjoy and value the most. There are other aspects of my research that I find gratifying, although
Summer 2021 • Acoustics Today 71