Broadening participation in acoustics: Personal reflections and pathways forward

Abstract

It has been over 30 years since the author embarked on pursuing acoustics and engineering as a career. At the first Acoustical Society of America’s (ASA) Technical Committee in Architectural Acoustics meeting that the author attended in the early 1990s, there were two women in the filled room, of whom the author was one. Overall, these past three decades have provided a fulfilling and positive professional experience, but there have been moments where the author leaned on demonstrating resilience, sought to rise above feelings of not being good enough, and made career choices and conducted research differently than might have been expected. In this presentation, the author shares personal reflections on her experience, as well as thoughts on how the ASA and its members can build on recent momentum to continue to broaden participation in acoustics, particularly among underrepresented groups. The author was tasked to lead diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln as an Associate Dean of Faculty and Inclusion beginning in 2018. A summary of data, tactics, and strategies undertaken since then are shared as possible pathways forward, that could be replicated in others’ research groups and communities.