INCE-USA President’s Message
By Judy Rochat, Ph.D., December 2023
One of the highlights of 2023 for me was enjoying the company of two women during NOISE-CON 2023: Nancy Timmerman and Patricia Davies. I thank and appreciate these two women who helped pave the way for me to be the third female INCE-USA President. Let us all keep working to remove barriers to help all individuals reach their full potential, help the Institute reach its full potential, and embrace INCE-USA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statement (excerpt): “The collective sum of life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities, and talent which our membership/staff invest in their work is essential to the Institute’s achievement and reputation.” Thanks also to Dana Lodico and Felicia Doggett for forming and managing INCE-USA’s DEI Committee, which helps to remove barriers for underrepresented groups through several initiatives.
INCE-USA Fellows Dinner, May 2023, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Nancy Timmerman, Judy Rochat, & Patricia Davies
INCE-USA Officers and Directors: Welcome to Steve Sorenson, our 2023 President Elect! Steve brings many years of experience to the Institute, and we’re excited to have him in this new role. Thank you to all officers, directors, and staff who served in 2023. It is the dedication of these individuals who allow INCE-USA to provide conferences, training, board certification, publications, and more. One of these individuals is Mike Bahtiarian, who continues to serve as our Past President and is in charge of nominations; contact Mike (mbahtiarian@acentech.com) if you are interested in serving as an INCE-USA director. Joe Cuschieri continues to provide valuable leadership as the Executive Director, and we welcomed a new Vice President of Publications, Stephen Hambric, and a new Vice President of Conferences, Dana Lodico. We also welcomed some new Directors this year: Erin Dugan, Rui Cao, and Eric Bultemeier, along with three Directors At Large: Mandy Kachur, Jack Zybura, and David Herrin.
Conferences: Co-located with the SAE Noise and Vibration Conference and joint with Transportation Research Board Noise and Vibration Committee Summer Meeting, NOISE-CON 2023, May 15-18, was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at a beautiful riverfront venue. The General Chair Jim Thompson, assisted by Hether Fedullo, Jeanette Hesedahl, and Andrew Barnard, and Technical Chairs Gordon Ebbitt, Miles Penhale, and Steve Sorenson planned and executed a successful conference with 274 full registrants, 408 cross-over registrants from SAE, and 145 technical papers. Thanks to the organizers, and others who helped, including the INCE-USA business office, Virtual, Inc., for all their hard work for the conference and other tasks throughout the year.
Organizers are working hard to deliver a successful NOISE-CON 2024, June 10-12 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This conference was originally planned for 2020, which was pandemic-cancelled, and we are so excited to join you for the stimulating technical, networking, and social programs. Thanks to the General Chair, Gordon Ebbitt, for his dedication to “re-“plan this exciting conference! You don’t want to miss this – register now! And submit an abstract by January 22 if you want to present. Later in the year (plenty of time to recover from NOISE-CON), join us at INTER-NOISE 2024, August 25-29 in Nantes, France! I was able to attend INTER-NOISE 2023 in Chiba, Japan, which was an incredible experience, and I was fortunate to meet Truls Gjestland, our newest INCE-USA Distinguished International Member!
INTER-NOISE social, August 2023, Chiba, Japan: Truls Gjestland & Judy Rochat
Many individuals received well-deserved awards from INCE-USA this year, presented at NOISE-CON 2023:
- Outstanding Educator Award: Patricia Davies, professor at Purdue University
- Nancy Timmerman Members’ Choice Award: The project “Skagit Hydropower Relicensing Sound Study” – Tim Casey, Benjamin Copenhaver, Michael Aronowitz
- Graduate Student Project Award: Samuel Underwood
- Leo Beranek Student Medal for Excellence in Noise Control: Kenton Hummel, Srinivasa-Rao Ippili, Amulya Lomte, Mylan Cook, Jack Case, Carson Cuningham, Bret Johnson, Ross Everett
- Student Paper Award: Britton DeGarmo, Srinivasa-Rao Ippili, Amulya Lomte, Mark Anderson, Kyosung Choo
- Classic Papers in Noise Control Engineering: Anthony Ciletti
- Michiko So Finegold Award: Joseph Aina, Nathan Geib, Joohyun Lee
- Hallberg Foundation Award: Pelumi Abiodun, Xin Yan, Juhyung Kim, Christopher Grabow, Srinivasa-Rao Ippili, Yidan Cui, Won Hong Choi
Congratulations to all! Check out INCE-USA’s awards for more information on the awards and applications. Also, please consider donating to the INCE Foundation, who help to support student scholarships and other great causes related to noise control.
For publications, we want to again thank Jim Thompson for his continued efforts as editor of the Noise Control Engineering Journal (NCEJ). Thinking about submitting? Don’t wait! Take advantage of the dedicated editors and reviewers to help get your work published. Please think about expanding your successful and interesting past or future NOISE-CON or INTER-NOISE article into a journal quality transcript. Also thank you to Eoin King who continues to be the Noise News International (NNI) editor, bringing interesting and informative noise news from around the world.
INCE-USA offerings … here’s what’s happening in 2024, beyond the conferences:
Noise Control Engineering Courses – To date, over 300 students have enrolled in these courses! Will you enroll in 2024? Tyler Dare, Ph.D. is leading a team of instructors for the three distance education courses – learn the fundamentals of sound and vibration and progress through noise control engineering. Successful completion of all three courses will be accepted by INCE-USA in lieu of sitting for the Board Certification Examination! Note that the enthusiastic response to the self-paced, one-on-one instructed enhanced Course I led to INCE-USA investing in expanding content for Courses II and III, planned for completion by 2024.
Webinars– INCE-USA held its first free webinar in July 2022 and two more followed in 2023, with hundreds of participants! The first webinar of 2023 was “Building Design for Room Acoustics,” presented by Erik Miller-Klein and Ethan Bourdeau, sponsored by Rockfon. The second was “Don’t Let Your Good Sound Isolation Go Up in Smoke!,” presented by Mike Raley and Evelyn Way, sponsored by PAC International and Maxxon. Thanks to Kristin Cody, our Vice President of Public Relations for organizing! Stay tuned for upcoming announcements for future webinars … look for emails and follow INCE-USA on Linked-In!
Also stay tuned for INCE-USA’s developing Sound Technician Certificate Program. Jeff Fullerton and Matt Golden co-chaired a committee to build the concept and RFP and are overseeing the development.
In closing, I want to revisit my closing topic from 2022: INCE-USA finances. Although INCE-USA has very healthy investments, we have been operating at a loss in recent years, which we cannot sustain. INCE-USA volunteers have gone above and beyond volunteering their time to help reduce business costs in 2023 – thanks to all who contributed (and continue to contribute)! INCE-USA leadership spent time refining our business needs for 2024 based on the experience. In addition, we are exploring avenues to increase membership and conference attendance by offering even more benefits and content. Please join us for another exciting year!
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and all the best in 2024! Hope to see you soon!
Judy Rochat, Ph.D., INCE-USA President (jrochat@csacoustics.com)
