Graduate education in underwater acoustics, transduction, and signal processing at UMass Dartmouth

Abstract

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth established a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Marine Acoustics in 1996, building on the strength of the existing M.S. program. Current enrollment in these programs include 26 M.S. students and 16 Ph.D. students. The program offers courses and research opportunities in the area of underwater acoustics, transduction, and signal processing. Courses include the Fundamentals of Acoustics, Random Signals, Underwater Acoustics, Introduction to Transducers, Electroacoustic Transduction, Digital Signal Processing, Detection Theory, and Estimation Theory. The university’s indoor underwater acoustic test and calibration facility is one of the largest in academia and supports undergraduate and graduate thesis and sponsored research. The university also owns three Iver-2 fully autonomous underwater vehicles. The graduate program capitalizes on collaborations with many marine technology companies resident at the university’s Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center (ATMC) and the nearby Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI. The presentation will highlight recent theses and dissertations, course offerings, and industry and government collaborations that support underwater acoustics research.