Scripps Professor Elected Vice President of the Acoustical Society of America

Michael Buckingham, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego researcher, was elected vice president-elect of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Buckingham will assume the office of vice president on June 29, 2017.

A distinguished professor of ocean acoustics at Scripps, Buckingham’s research focuses on ocean acoustic propagation, ambient noise in the marine environment, and acoustic imaging. His experiments involve the identification of objects in the ocean using naturally occurring sounds, produced as a result of bubbles forming near the surface. This system, described as “acoustic daylight” uses an experimental electronic imaging system that reveals objects in the ocean by listening to ambient underwater noise and displaying the objects as a simple video image.

“For some thirty years the Acoustical Society of America has been my main professional home,” said Buckingham. “During that time, I have benefitted greatly from my interactions with fellow acousticians at the regular technical meetings of the Society and on its administrative committees. Being elected to this position is an honor and a privilege.”

Buckingham is a fellow of the ASA and has served previously as a member of the ASA Executive Council, as chair of a number of ASA committees, and is a founding member of the Society’s Technical Committee on Acoustical Oceanography.

He is a fellow of the Institute of Acoustics and the Institution of Engineering and Technology, both in the UK. His awards include the Clerk Maxwell Premium from the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers, and the A. B. Wood Medal from the Institute of Acoustics. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers and reports on ocean acoustics.

ASA is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics.

-- Annie Reisewitz