Category Archives: General News

2022 ASA Student Design Competition Announced

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The program for the 2022 ASA Student Design Competition has been released.  The project involves designing a new 700-seat end-stage theatre to accommodate dramatic and musical performances, which includes a pit for up to 15 musicians for musicals. The building also includes a variety of rehearsal rooms. Teams must register by November 1, 2022, and final entries are due by November 14, 2022.  Please see the full announcement for more information.

2021 ASA Student Design Competition Announced

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The announcement for the 2021 Acoustical Society of America Student Design Competition has been released.  The project involves designing a performance hall primarily for opera for a college of moderate size with a very strong music program. Although the main purpose of the hall is to support their opera program, the hall may be used occasionally for symphony orchestra, chamber music, chorus, and dance.  Teams must register by October 1, 2021, and final entries are due by November 1, 2021.  Please see the full announcement for more information.

Winners of the 2020 Student Design Competition announced

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The results of the 2020 Student Design Competition have been announced! Congratulations to Nima Farzaneh and Tommy Metzger from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Faculty Advisor: Todd Brooks), recipients of the First Honors prize sponsored by the Wenger Foundation! Please see the corresponding webpage for a list of other commendation awardees and more details. Thanks to all who participated!

New Submission Deadline for 2020 Student Design Competition Announced

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Since the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America has been moved to December 7-11, 2020 and is now complete virtual, a revision to the 2020 Student Design Competition Announcement with the new timeline has been issued on October 4, 2020. Teams must register by November 16, 2020, and final entries are due electronically by 1:00 PM CST on Monday, November 30, 2020.  Please see the full announcement (updated October 4, 2020) for more information.

Recordings and Transcripts of R. B. Newman’s Lectures in Architectural Acoustics

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The Newman Fund is pleased to announce the availability of recordings and transcripts of Robert Bradford Newman’s Lectures in Architectural Acoustics, recorded in 1970 during a course that he taught at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. These may now be downloaded from this link. Many thanks to long-time Newman Fund Advisory Board Chair and member Carl Rosenberg for his leadership on this project, as well as Jay Bliefnick, Eric Wood, Lily Wang and her former and current students Jared Paine, Jennifer Solheim, and Samuel Underwood who all contributed to the final product! Donors to the 30th anniversary Newman Fund Campaign will be receiving the complete package on a commemorative USB flash drive soon.

2020 ASA Student Design Competition Announced

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The announcement for the 2020 Acoustical Society of America Student Design Competition has been released.  The project involves designing a music pavilion with covered and lawn seating, to serve as the summer home for a city orchestra. The program also includes needs for an electro-acoustic sound reinforcement system, back of house support space, rehearsal rooms, offices, and dressing rooms. Teams must register by April 15, 2020, and final entries are due by May 4, 2020.  Please see the full announcement for more information.

2019 ASA Student Design Competition Announced

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The announcement for the 2019 Acoustical Society of America Student Design Competition has been released.  The project involves the interior fit-out of the 6th floor of a 15 floor office tower, centrally located in a re-emerging downtown commercial district.  The program of spaces includes a music recording and production suite, a video production studio, a largely open office space with a few enclosed offices, conference and meeting rooms, an adaptable assembly space, a fitness studio, a kitchen and staff lounge, medical consultation rooms, storage rooms, core building services and appropriate circulation space. Teams must register by April 15, 2019, and digital versions of final entries are due by May 13, 2019.  More information can be found here.

Congratulations to 2018 Newman Medalists

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A number of students received Newman Student Medals in 2018. They include:

  • Collin G. Abdallah (The Univ. of Oklahoma): Exploring acoustical options for a multiuse space on campus through digital and physical testing, as nominated by Dr. Daniel Butko
  • Elena Badino (Politecnico di Torino): Acoustic performance-based design: Exploration of the effects of different geometries and acoustical properties of an urban façade on the mitigation of chatting noise in a street canyon, as nominated by Dr. Arianna Astolfi and Dr. Louena Shtrepi
  • Eva Johnston-Iafelcie (Ryerson Univ.): Impact of curved surfaces in performance space, as nominated by Dr. Ramani Ramakrishnan
  • Jonathan Kawasaki (Rensselaer Poly. Inst.): Experimental investigations on acoustic diffractions using a portable goniometer with high angular resolution and large radii, as nominated by Dr. Ning Xiang
  • Martin Lawless (Pennsylvania State University): Assessing the auditory and reward responses to room acoustics and music using functional magnetic resonance imaging, as nominated by Dr. Michelle Vigeant
  • Jacob Ott and Paul Mangelsdorf (University of Hartford): Acoustic absorption study of an architectural façade for acoustic distinctions, as nominated by Dr. Bob Celmer
  • Carl Ruegger (London South Bank Univ.): The production of transparent absorbers using the principle of micro-perforation, as nominated by Dr. Stephen Dance
  • Jamie Spary (London South Bank Univ.): Acoustic absorption at discrete angles using a PU Sensor, as nominated by Dr. Stephen Dance

Congratulations to all of these medalists!