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but not without challenges. Nonetheless, the postmeeting survey again revealed general satisfaction with the outcome, especially given the alternative of no meeting at all. We held our first in-person postpandemic meeting December 2021 in Seattle, Washington. To keep everyone as safe as possible, we observed vaccination protocols and social distancing. After two years apart, the joy of con- vening together physically remained palpable throughout the week. With over 1,000 acousticians, our attendance figures paralleled those of “before times.” By the time you read this, we will have held our second in-person meeting in spring 2022 in Denver, Colorado, with hopes that we are fully back on the road to recovery. Of course, there were other challenges to the ASA aside from the necessity of reinventing meetings. After George Floyd’s tragic death, we responded to the need to become even more sensitive to issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity by creating the Committee to Improve Racial Diver- sity and Inclusivity (CIRDI; see tinyurl.com/2p9duycx) cochaired by Tyrone Porter and incoming president Peggy Nelson. Through CIRDI, the ASA went on to establish a Summer Undergraduate Research or Internship Experi- ence in Acoustics (SURIEA; see tinyurl.com/3v7nsvsv). SURIEA, a 12-week paid summer undergraduate research program for students interested in acoustics, is designed for underrepresented minority undergraduates from across the country. It provides training, mentoring, research, and preparing students for graduate studies and careers in acoustics. Reflecting on the past 24 months I can’t help but step back, rest a moment, and appreciate with gratitude our ability to respond to extraordinary events with extraor- dinary commitment and grace. We worked together as a team, and we are blessed with a long-tenured, deeply knowledgeable staff. In many ways, they are our unsung heroes: Nancy Blair-DeLeon, Jolene Ehl, Dan Farrell, Keeta Jones, Mike McGovern, Elaine Moran, Ambri Phil- lips, and Kelly Quigley. Looking Forward As you can see from these examples, the ASA community is undaunted by the unexpected. We are emerging much stron- ger, more aware, and more committed than we have ever been. We now begin the process of planning for the next strate- gic plan and how we will navigate a new set of unmarked, dark streets. An important part of that process, especially now, will be to conduct a trend anaylsis. Once we move past these times, what will our world look like? It’s almost incomprehensible how much everything has changed: the labor force, geopolitics, global supply chains, busi- ness models, and on it goes. Our mission is to generate, disseminate, and promote the knowledge and practical applications of acoustics. What impacts post-Covid must we consider as we position the ASA to best serve the needs of acousticians in a fundamentally changed world? Here are a few top line factors I’m personally following with an eye toward the future and what role the ASA can play to enhance or mitigate consequences: • Women, early-career researchers, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds have been dispropor- tionally affected by the pandemic. Early studies (see tinyurl.com/mr2ysdjp) show that across disciplines, the publishing rate of women has fallen relative to that of men amid the pandemic. Will this rate rebound or is this indicative of women and early- career researchers dropping out of field entirely? It’s too soon to tell. • A perennial on my radar relates to the act convening in all its forms and how that advances the collabora- tive work of science. Studies (see tinyurl.com/y633savt) suggest that we may need to rethink the programmatic design of scientific meetings. “...The way organizers design conferences can have a direct effect on which scientific collaborations are formed and, by extension, on the direction of scientific inquiry.” • Related: What will be the impact of advanced artifi- cial reality (metaverse) (see tinyurl.com/ycknkhjf)? How will this affect and redefine meetings, if at all? Does form follow function or will it evolve into some- thing else with form more in the lead? • International cooperation and collaboration have always been valued in the ASA, but today they become even more important as we become a highly interdependent world. One-third of the ASA membership comes from outside the United States. Now that we have the technical means to involve members more effectively and broadly, what do we need to consider? How can we serve this part of our membership best? Summer 2022 • Acoustics Today 77