Graduate acoustics education in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The 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 poster 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 nine graduate acoustics courses are taught in ME and ECE. Instructors for these courses include staff at Applied Research Laboratories at UT Austin, where many of the graduate students have research assistantships. The undergraduate course, taught every fall, begins with basic physical acoustics and proceeds to draw examples from different areas of engineering acoustics. Three of the graduate courses are taught every year: a two course sequence on physical acoustics, and a transducers course. The remaining six graduate acoustics courses, taught in alternate years, are on nonlinear acoustics, underwater acoustics, ultrasonics, architectural acoustics, wave phenomena, and acoustic metamaterials. An acoustics seminar is held most Fridays during the long semesters, averaging over ten per semester since 1984. The ME and ECE departments both offer Ph.D. qualifying exams in acoustics.