An introduction to the Physical Acoustics technical committee’s activities.
Steven L. Garrett · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2011
The primary activity of any Technical Committee is to exploit the collective wisdom of the Committee’s membership to determine which research topics within its specialization area are most active and interesting. Based on that assessment, the Committee organizes special sessions at future meetings that will bring together experts from those areas, not necessarily limited to the Society members, who can share interesting results and provide guidance regarding the directions that will lead to further understanding. In Physical Acoustics, that is a particularly daunting challenge given the scope of topics that fall within its purview: use of sound to probe material properties, sound propagation and attenuation mechanisms on this planet and in other parts of the universe, and physical effects of sound and its interaction with other forms of radiation, all of which could also go well beyond the limitations of a linear acoustical theory. At just this meeting, PATC is sponsoring special sessions on gas hydrates and on violent cavitation. Needless to say, involvement in debates about “what is hot” is both interesting and valuable. Other activities include proposals for technical initiatives that allocate ASA resources. Recently, PATC received funding to sponsor a demonstration session at the Physical Acoustics Summer School.