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Fellows. The modifications changed the lens through which candidates are evaluated to better represent the accomplishments of practitioners as well as those of acade- micians so that there would be a better balance of awardees. The ASA Academy arose from a desire for professional training for practitioners who may be in other fields or need to broaden their acoustics focus. Michael Vorländer engaged colleagues to develop pilot courses in various technical areas that are currently in the planning phase. The intent is to offer a series of pilot courses in acoustics beginning in early 2023. Task Force B has also been active in promoting sponsor- ships for the ASA. They cosponsored the first keynote lecture at the December 2020 Acoustics Virtually Every- where meeting and suggested speakers from industry. Jim West and Ellington West were our first keynote speak- ers. Task Force B was also instrumental in providing potential sponsors and contacts in industry for the 2021 Seattle meeting. Task Force A: Identification and Promotion of Emerging Scientific and Technical Areas Professional societies always run the risk of losing their impact by remaining the same while their membership and the field change. One of the methods we use to pre- vent this is the Strategic Plan. Every three-to-four years, a retreat is held to create task forces to address noteworthy issues in the field or in the ASA. Task Forces A and B both emerged from this plan. Task Force A came about to ensure that the Society remains current as science and the field of acoustics grow and change. The goal of Task Force A is to identify emerging scientific and tech- nical areas and create processes that will promote their inclusion in the ASA, to keep the Society relevant, and to promote cross-fertilization between technical areas. Task Force A, among other things, has created and curated a list of about 15 emerging areas and ASA members who work in these areas as well as points of contact in other societies and journals that target these areas. The list is being used currently to identify speakers for the ASA Webinars. For 2022, about half of the Webinar speakers will be in emerging areas taken from this list. The list is also being used for suggestions for keynote speakers in current and future meetings. Another idea along this line has been to reinitiate the Distinguished Lecture program at the Society meetings with speakers in these areas. Finally, there are ideas to coordinate efforts with future special sessions of ASA meetings and special issues of JASA and to connect with relevant individuals in other societies and societies with which we might hold joint conferences. My Last Column This is my last column as president, and I want to take the time to say how enjoyable and rewarding this position has been. The other officers, managers, committees, and members are so committed to the future of the Society that it has been a pleasure to work with all of you. At the close of the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the ASA in 1954, Hallowell Davis said, “The Acoustical Society of America is in a state of evo- lution. We don’t know what the form of the Society will be or what the subject matter of the papers and the programs will be at the Hundredth Anniversary Celebration. We wish that we could look into the crys- tal ball. There is a crystal ball up here \[pointing to the movie camera\], but it is only half a crystal ball, it’s a one-way affair, posterity is able to look at us, but we can’t look back through that lens and see you on the other side. I wish we could. I know that we would find you as strange and quaint and amusing, in your ways, different from us as you find us as you look at our faces on the screen. However, you are our descendants, you carry on the torch” (from the Anectodal History of the Program, The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Cel- ebration of the Acoustical Society of America, The Forty-Seventh Meeting. JASA 26, 905 \[1954\]). As the ASA approaches 100, it is so good to see that the Society and its membership carries on the torch referred to by Davis, and I too look forward to seeing where we go. I am honored to have been part of the process, and I want to encourage other members, and particularly our younger members who are the future of the ASA and of acoustics, in all its realms, to get engaged with the ASA, become part of leadership, and help shape the ASA and acoustics in the years up to the 100th Anniversary Cel- ebration and well beyond. I thank Elaine Moran, Director of Operations, for her invaluable contributions to this column. 12 Acoustics Today • Summer 2022