Page 72 - Summer 2021

ASK AN ACOUSTICIAN
the feeling is closer to intellectual satisfaction than pride. My own experience as a PhD student was invaluable, and now in my work as advisor, I strive to pass on that expe- rience, support my students, and help them become the best scientists that they can be. I am constantly amazed by the capacity of my PhD students to learn and to improve over time. Honestly, I am so proud of every one of them.
What is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made?
This is a tricky one. As I look back, I cannot spot a big mistake that I wish would not have happened. I can count small mistakes, which probably amount to more than a large one, but it is hard picking out a specific one.
What advice do you have for budding acousticians?
Make sure to cherish the things that drive your intrinsic motivation and do not compromise that.
Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? How did you deal with that if so? Yes, in a mild form I guess. I have experienced it at times
where I felt I did not know enough about a certain topic. It is a strange feeling. The way I have dealt with it is to think of a few years back and reflect on how much I have learned since then. This helps me realize that the ques- tion is not only how much you know but also how much you learn. This is great motivation to continue working and enjoy the process.
What do you want to accomplish within the next 10 years or before retirement?
I would like to advance the way in which we sense sound fields, how we process the acquired acoustic information, and how we interact with sound and the acoustic medium. I look forward to finding ways to measure sound remotely and with precision, either by means of remote sensing principles or via sound field reconstruction methods. We are witnessing great advances in how we acquire data, via new sensing approaches, sensor networks, and sensate media as well as developing more refined methods to pro- cess those data while simultaneously our computational capacity continues to grow exponentially. I find that the area where my work lies, somewhere in between sound field analysis, sensing methods, and signal processing, is at a very exciting point in time, where the confluence of
advances in these respective domains can open significant paths of exploration. Besides this, I want to contribute to creating more diverse and inclusive academic environ- ments, mentor great researchers, and, as far as I can, have a positive influence on society.
Bibliography
Fernandez-Grande, E. (2016). Sound field reconstruction using a spherical microphone array. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America 139, 1168-1178.
Fernandez-Grande, E., Jacobsen F., and Leclere Q. (2012). Sound field
separation with sound pressure and particle velocity measurements.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 132, 3818-3825. Fernandez-Grande, E., Xenaki, A., and Gerstoft, P. (2017). A sparse equivalent source method for near-field acoustic holography. The
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 141, 532-542.
Heuchel, F. M., Caviedes-Nozal, D., Brunskog, J., Agerkvist, F. T., and Fernandez-Grande, E. (2020). Large-scale outdoor sound field control.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 148, 2392-2402.
Contact Information
Efren Fernandez-Grande efg@elektro.dtu.dk
Acoustic Technology Group Department of Electrical Engineering Technical University of Denmark (DTU) Ørsteds Plads, B. 352, Room 012 DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Micheal L. Dent mdent@buffalo.edu
Department of Psychology University at Buffalo
State University of New York (SUNY) B76 Park Hall
Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
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72 Acoustics Today • Summer 2021