1983–1984 Hunt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Bergen, Norway

Abstract

The 1983–1984 Hunt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Acoustics took me to the Mathematics Institute at University of Bergen in Norway. My acoustics education began at Columbia University with an undergraduate acoustics course from Cyril Harris, who encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Acoustics at Pennsylvania State University. My doctoral advisor at Penn State, Francis Fenlon, introduced me to nonlinear acoustics. Frank succumbed to cancer at age 41, and David Blackstock invited me to Applied Research Laboratories at University of Texas at Austin to complete my Ph.D. degree in his nonlinear acoustics group while remaining a Penn State student. At Texas I encountered another two leaders in nonlinear acoustics, Jacqueline and Sigve Tjøtta on leave from University of Bergen, who invited me to spend my Hunt Fellowship year with them in Norway. I thus had the good fortune to be instructed and mentored by pioneers who approached nonlinear acoustics from three different perspectives: engineering (Fenlon), physics (Blackstock), and mathematics (the Tjøttas). In this way, the Hunt Fellowship contributed substantively to rounding out my postgraduate education both academically and culturally. Following a second postdoctoral year at Texas I accepted a faculty appointment in Mechanical Engineering that continues to this day.