Summer school for acoustics graduate students

Abstract

In addition to subject mastery and the focused effort required to complete a thesis project, graduate students also need to develop a broad understanding of their field and cultivate a familiarity with the larger community of researchers and practitioners. The “summer school” format has been shown to enhance both subject-matter breadth and build community awareness in physical acoustics. Physical Acoustics Summer School (PASS) has been held in late-May, in even-numbered years, since 1992. The format for each day is usually two three-hour lectures followed by evening discussion groups to answer questions and explore extensions of the day’s lecture topics. One lecture session is typically dedicated to acoustics demonstrations. Attendance for the full week is required of all participants who also dine together three times each day. Venues are chosen to provide isolation that minimizes distraction and maximizes interactions among all participants. Typical enrollment has been 10 distinguished lecturers (including many Silver Medal winners in Physical Acoustics), 10 discussion leaders, and 30 graduate students. This format has been successfully extended to one other ASA Technical Committee: the marine bioacoustics community has held their summer school twice (SeaBASS). PASS has now been functioning long enough that former students have become lecturers.