NAG at ASA Nashville (December 2022)

Posted on September 10, 2023 by NAGadmin

At the Acoustical Society of America in Nashville, TN (5-9 December 2022), Dr. Lily Wang presented the keynote lecture on “Broadening Participation in Acoustics: Personal Reflections and Pathways Forward”. Drake Hintz, who received an NCAC Student Travel Award to attend the meeting, presented a paper on “Spatial release from masking in anechoic and reverberant environments” (co-advised by Dr. Ellen Peng at Boys Town National Research Hospital), receiving second place for the Best Student Paper in Architectural Acoustics! We enjoyed many different games at Board Game Night (Wavelength, Carcassone!), co-hosted by Dr. Lily Wang and Dr. Andrew Barnard from Penn State. See more photos at this link.

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NAG at Inter-Noise 2022 in Glasgow

Posted on September 10, 2023 by NAGadmin

At InterNoise 2022 in Glasgow, Scotland, on 21-24 August 2022, Dr. Lily Wang presented one of the keynote lectures, and both she and Sam Underwood presented technical papers. Sam received an I-INCE Young Professional Grant to attend the conference. One of Dr. Wang’s papers was co-written with colleagues from the University of Campinas, Dr. Bruno Maseiro and his PhD student Fernanda Caldas on “How Classroom Acoustic Conditions May Impact Autistic Students: A Review” – an area of growing interest. The conference included a tour of Arup’s SoundLab in Glasgow, a social with Scottish dancing, and much networking with European colleagues, including Dr. Trevor Cox from Salford University (in photo).

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NAG at ASA Denver (May 2022)

Posted on September 10, 2023 by NAGadmin

Several NAG members attended the Acoustical Society of America meeting in Denver, CO (23-26 May 2022). Kenton Hummel presented a paper on “Applying Unsupervised Machine Learning Clustering Techniques to Hospital Soundscapes” and received second place for the Best Student Paper in Architectural Acoustics. We enjoyed many different games at Board Game Night (Snakes!), co-hosted for the first time not only by Dr. Lily Wang but also Dr. Andrew Barnard from Penn State. An unusual highlight for the evening was a show by local magician, Shawn Preston! 

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NAG End-of-the-Year Party 2022

Posted on September 10, 2023 by NAGadmin

The Nebraska Acoustics Group (NAG) celebrated the end of the academic year by going to Craft Axe Throwing in Omaha! Throwing axes is way harder than many of us expected! We dined at Butterfish in the Omaha Blackstone district afterwards and celebrated Tori Anderson’s completing the Masters of Architectural Engineering degree. It was great to be back in person again for this event.

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NAG Winter Party

Posted on December 31, 2021 by NAGadmin

The annual Nebraska Acoustics Group Winter Party was held on 7 December 2021.  The party featured boxed meals from Zoup; rounds of the game Blank Slate (to determine the order of opening gifts); and our traditional ‘white elephant’ gift exchange.  Lily pulled out an Oculus to play some virtual games (Beat Saber, I Expect You to Die) at the end! Happy holidays to all of our NAG friends around the world, and best wishes for a happy new year in 2022!

Happy Holidays from the Nebraska Acoustics Group!
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Acoustics Today’s Winter 2021 ‘Ask An Acoustician’ article features Dr. Lily Wang

Posted on December 31, 2021 by NAGadmin

In the most recent issue of Acoustics Today, the “Ask an Acoustician” essay features Dr. Lily M. Wang! In the feature, Lily shares her career path, thoughts on work-life integration, what she is proudest of in her career, what she considers her biggest mistake, how she manages feelings of imposter syndrome and more… Read more of the 17 available ‘Ask an Acoustician’ essays at this link.

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NAG at ASA Seattle

Posted on December 31, 2021 by NAGadmin

For the first time in two years, the Acoustical Society of America held an in-person meeting, this time in Seattle, WA (29 November – 3 December 2021). Three NAG students (Tori Anderson, Blake Krapfl, and Sam Underwood) presented technical papers; Tori and Blake both received NCAC Student Travel Awards to support their presentations. We enjoyed many different games at Nebraska Board Game Night (Tenzi, Crew, Sagrada, Blank Slate, Coup, and more)!  More photos from the conference may be found at this link.

NAG students at ASA NCAC Student Social
NAG students (from left) Tori Anderson, Sam Underwood, Kenton Hummel, and Blake Krapfl at the NCAC Student Social at ASA Seattle (1 December 2021)
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Underwood awarded two prestigious ASA Graduate Scholarships

Posted on December 31, 2021 by NAGadmin

Congratulations to Samuel Underwood, a former undergraduate and MAE student in our program who is returning to complete his Ph.D. degree in architectural engineering with an emphasis in acoustics! He has been selected to receive two prestigious fellowships from the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) to support his graduate studies. The Leo and Gabriella Beranek Scholarship in Architectural Acoustics and Noise Control, which was first awarded in 2016, is a $30,000 award. The Frank and Virginia Winker Memorial Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Acoustics, first awarded in 2017, is a $3,000 award. This is the first time that both of these have been awarded to the same student in the same year!

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“Higher Sound Levels in K-12 Classrooms Correlate to Lower Math Achievement Scores”

Posted on December 31, 2021 by NAGadmin

A second paper by Laura Brill (MS ’17) and Dr. Lily Wang on work conducted through a EPA-sponsored research project has recently been published open-access in a special issue of Frontiers in the Built Environment: “Higher Sound Levels in K-12 Classrooms Correlate to Lower Math Achievement Scores“! Data logged over 6 full school days in each of 220 occupied K-12 classrooms has been statistically analyzed against student achievement data from each classroom. Student demographics compiled at the classroom level, including socioeconomic status, have been included in the analysis to control for their effects. Results show that classrooms with lower daily average non-speech levels correlate with higher math achievement scores. This suggests that designing for lower unoccupied sound levels in K-12 classrooms can lead to occupied environments that support better student learning outcomes.

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Ainley from WJHW presents to UNASA

Posted on December 31, 2021 by NAGadmin
Dr. Lily Wang, Christopher Ainley (MS '12), and Dr. Lauren Ronsse (PhD '11)

On 3 November 2021, alum Christopher Ainley (MS ’12) returned to Nebraska for a visit to present on a number of different projects that he’s been working on as a consultant with WJHW in Dallas, TX.  The talk was sponsored by the University of Nebraska ASA Student Chapter and held in conjunction with Dr. Ronsse’s AE 3300 ‘Building Acoustic Fundamentals’ class.  Many students commented on how exciting it was to hear about Christopher’s work on designing the acoustics of large sports stadia.  Thank you so much for the inspiration you provided, Christopher!

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