NEWSLETTER 2014 OBERT RADFORD EWMAN RS T U D EB N T A W A R DN F U N D 2014 AT A GLANCE Yiying Hao Adam Lawrence Paul Faculty Advisor: Jian Kang Faculty Advisor: Bob Celmer December 31, 2014 completed another University of Sheffield University of Hartford successful year for the Newman Fund. “Effects of urban morphology on urban “Acoustic evaluation of Austen Arts Center, Newman Medals were awarded to 19 stu- sound environment from the perspective of Trinity College for Smith Edwards McCoy dents, bringing the total to 290 at more masking effects” Architects” than 58 schools of architecture, engineer- ing, music and music technology since the Robert Healey Zhao Ellen Peng program began in 1985. Of particular note Faculty Advisor: Bob Coffeen Faculty Advisor: Lily Wang is the increased participation from schools University of Kansas University of Nebraska – Lincoln and programs outside North America. “Investigations into the sound absorbing “How room acoustics impacts speech com- properties of gypsum wall board” prehension from talkers and by listeners Five student teams received Wenger priz- with varying English proficiency levels” es in 2014 for their meritorious design Christina Higgins work juried and displayed at the ASA Faculty Advisor: Stephen Dance Ariana F. Sharma Student Design Competition held at the London South Bank University Faculty Advisor: David T. Bradley 167th meeting of the Acoustical Society “An investigation into the Helmholz Vassar College in Providence, RI. There were sixteen total resonators of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, “Effect of installed diffusers on sound field entries submitted to the SDC from a num- London” diffusivity in a real-world classroom” ber of different universities. Li Hui Jonathan Sheaffer The 2012 Schultz Grant project was com- Faculty Advisor: Yan Xiang Faculty Advisor: Bruno Fazenda pleted by Michael Ermann and joins the list Tsinghau University University of Salford of teaching tools sponsored by the Newman “The research on human response of stay- “From source to brain: “Modeling sound Fund. ing in extreme silent environments for propagation and localization in rooms” eight hours” The Advisory Committee extends its appre- Fiona M. Smyth ciation to students, teachers, consultants, Acadia Anne Kocher Faculty Advisor: Hugh Campbell professional supporters and friends of the Faculty Advisor: Michelle Vigeant University College Dublin Fund whose extraordinary voluntary efforts Pennsylvania State University “From concept to application: Analytical make the work of the Fund possible and “Investigation of subjective components frameworks in architectural acoustics thoroughly enjoyable. Corporate sponsors of overall acoustic quality using binaural in a contextual study of three Anglican with interest in the realm of architectural recordings made in Hartford’s Belding Cathedrals” acoustics have been especially supportive Theater” Yun Jae Sohn recently. We would also like to make spe- Zachary Nasipak Faculty Advisor: Umberto Berardi cial note of appreciation to the staff at the Faculty Advisor: Kimberly Riegel/David T. Worcester Polytechnic Institute Acoustical Society offices in Melville, NY Bradley “Acoustic corrections of classrooms at the who help the Fund’s operation run so seam- Vassar College Worcester Polytechnic Institute, from intel- lessly. “Numerical prediction of sound scattering ligibility to learning improvements” Lily Wang from surfaces with fractal geometry” Ashwin Thomas Carl Rosenberg Ian Patrick Faculty Advisor: Erica Ryherd Faculty Advisor: Bob Coffeen Georgia Institute of Technology Co-Chairs of the Newman Fund Advisory University of Kansas “Simulated and laboratory models of air- Committee “Investigations into the sound absorbing craft sound transmission in residences” properties of gypsum wall board” Christopher Michael Vincent 2014 NEWMAN MEDALS Faculty Advisor: Bob Celmer In 2014, 19 students were awarded University of Hartford Newman Medals. “Acoustic evaluation of Austen Arts Center, Trinity College for Smith Edwards McCoy Jay Bliefnick Architects” Faculty Advisor: Lauren Ronsse Columbia College Chicago Chiemi Wakabayashi “The development and analysis of a large Faculty Advisor: Yashushi Shimizu variable acoustics space” Tokyo Institute of Technology “Wooden box for brass (Student Design Dane Bush Competition)” Faculty Advisor: Ning Xiang Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute Leo Weber “Room-acoustics investigations of beam- Faculty Advisor: Stephen Dance forming performance using coprime linear London South Bank University microphone arrays” “Investigation into the application of an 2014 Newman Medalist Ian Patrick acoustic metamaterial for sound attenua- (University of Kansas) with faculty advisor tion with airflow” Bob Coffeen VIEW PAST NEWSLETTERS AND DOWNLOAD FORMS - VISIT THE NEWMAN FUND WEBSITE AT: www.newmanfund.org SPOTLIGHT ON FUND University’s May commencement ceremo- COMMENDATIONS ny. It has always been a wonderful surprise (Four $700 Wenger Prizes) ADVISOR BOB CELMER for the students/parents for the recipients to be recognized at such an auspicious Per Hultcrantz, Rasmus Gabrielli, occasion. Agnes Nerelius Chalmers Institute of Technology Bob has been an active contributor to the Göteborg, Sweden ASA, serving on the Education Committee since 1984. He was the first to form a Simon Larsson, Martin Nygren, UHartford student chapter of the GBC/ May Hanna ASA in 2003, followed by formal student Chalmers Institute of Technology chapter status and committee membership Göteborg, Sweden with ASA national in 2007. A hallmark Jens Ljunggren, David Svahn, activity of the club has been their annual Monica Loria “Don’t Go Deaf Day,” in which students Chalmers Institute of Technology provide free hearing screenings, ear plugs, Göteborg, Sweden and use the Acoustic Lab’s Binaural Head to check sound levels of student’s personal Chiemi Wakabayashi, Arata Onoshima, Bob Celmer earned his Bachelor of headsets. Bob has been honored to serve on Mina Nakagawa Science in Mechanical Engineering with the Newman Fund Advisory Committee Tokyo Institute of Technology an Acoustics Concentration in 1978 from since 2009. Tokyo, Japan the University of Hartford. He went on to Penn State where he earned his Masters At the Indianapolis ASA meeting, Bob and Doctorate in Acoustics in 1980 and Celmer was elected a Fellow of the 2015 STUDENT DESIGN 1982, respectively, while studying psycho- Acoustical Society “for contributions to COMPETITION AT ASA IN acoustics under Dr. Gordon Bienvenue. undergraduate education in acoustics.” PITTSBURGH, PA Bob programmed a mainframe DEC PDP- As an avocation, Bob plays the piano 10 interfaced with an analog computer to and hosts a weekly jazz radio program on The 169th ASA meeting in Pittsburgh, PA simulate critical bandwidth widening in WWUH-FM. (May 18 – 22, 2015) hosted the annual sensorineural hearing loss. Student Design Competition. The compe- In 1982, he rejoined the University of 2014 STUDENT DESIGN tition involves the design of a performance Hartford as an Assistant Professor of venue addition to a casino and hotel facility Mechanical Engineering at the urging of COMPETITION in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and undergraduate acoustic education pioneer is described in greater detail in the program Conrad J. Hemond, Jr. Mr. Hemond men- The 2014 Student Design Competition was for the meeting, and on the Newman Fund tored Bob, involving him in many of the judged in May at the 167th ASA meeting website (newmanfund.org). active acoustic consulting projects that he in Providence, RI. A distinguished panel of acoustical consultants, architects, and edu- Through the continuing generosity of the regularly undertook in the Hartford area. Wenger Foundation, there were again one Upon Conrad’s retirement, Bob was named cators evaluated each of the 16 submitted entries from several universities. First Honors Wenger Prize of $1250, and Director of the Acoustics Program and four Commendation Wenger Prizes of Laboratory in 1985. Along the way, Bob Participation in the competition requires $700 each, awarded to outstanding student became a registered professional engineer an enormous effort, and each of the entries design team posters, selected by a jury of in 1986. He was promoted to the rank demonstrated an extraordinarily high qual- distinguished professionals. of Full Professor in 1994, and received ity of student work and understanding of the University’s Roy. E. Larsen Award for acoustic design. All of the participants are Please contact Norm Philipp at Pittsburg Excellence in Teaching in 1995. “Dr. Bob” congratulated on a job well done. State University ([email protected]) (as he is known around school) has also for further information and details of the been voted ‘Professor of the Year’ by stu- Student Design Competition program. dents within his college 9 times. FIRST HONORS Bob’s role as Program Director has ($1250 Wenger Prize) 2014 ROBERT BRADFORD given him the opportunity to grow and Lucas Johnson, Wesley Axtell, Rachael NEWMAN STUDENT strengthen the University’s two acous- Kline tic engineering programs: a BSME with University of Hartford AWARD FUND CONCERT Acoustics Concentration and a unique Hartford, Connecticut, USA BSE Acoustical Engineering & Music pro- The annual 2014 Newman Award Fund gram, done in cooperation with The Hartt concert took place in June for the sec- School Music Conservatory on campus. ond year at the home of Parker Hirtle in Bob spearheaded the effort to successfully Lexington, Massachusetts. achieve ABET accreditation