Graduate acoustics at University of Texas at Austin.

Abstract

While graduate study in acoustics takes place in several colleges and schools at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), including Communication, Fine Arts, Geosciences, and Natural Sciences, this presentation focuses on the acoustics program in Engineering. The core of this program resides in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Acoustics faculty in each department supervise graduate students in both departments. One undergraduate and seven graduate acoustics courses are cross-listed between ME and ECE. Instructors for these courses include staff at Applied Research Laboratories at UT Austin, where many of the graduate students in acoustics hold research assistantships. The undergraduate course, offered every fall, begins with basic physical acoustics and proceeds to draw examples from different areas of engineering acoustics. Three of the graduate courses are offered every year, a two-course sequence on physical acoustics and a course on acoustic transducers. The other four graduate courses, offered in alternate years, are on nonlinear acoustics, underwater acoustics, architectural acoustics, and ultrasonics. An acoustics seminar with invited speakers is held most weeks during the academic year, averaging over 10 per semester. The ME and ECE departments both offer a Ph.D. qualifying exam in acoustics.