BYU Acoustics

BYU Acoustics had a Strong presence at the Acoustical Society of America meeting this week in Philadelphia. It’s always fun to see how many alumni from our group are also involved at these meetings.

Congrats to our very own Scott Sommerfeldt!

Meet the 2026 Newly-Elected Officers and Members of the Executive Council!

Scott D. Sommerfeldt, President-Elect
Tessa Bent Vice, President-Elect
Laura Kloepper, Member of the Executive Council
Martin Siderius Member of the Executive Council

https://ow.ly/ua7S50YQwFr

Our Physics 461 students studied the noise in our machine shop for their final project and computed various metrics. They found that wearing hearing protection is important from a noise dosage standpoint and recommended adding absorption to the ceiling and blocking air gaps below doors. They also were able to explain why the exhaust fan, while it wasn’t the loudest, is the most annoying noise due to its strong tonal nature. They placed dosimeters in the shop, measured 1/3rd octave spectra of various machines, and measured reverb times. The shop will be renovated over the summer so it’s a good chance to improve its acoustics.

Yesterday we heard from Spencer Neu who was defending his M.S. prospectus on Enhancing Vibration Testing Using Chaotic Cavities and Time Reversal Techniques.

Did you graduate from our program and not get a hard copy of your thesis bound? BYU has a thesis printing/binding service they offer (https://print-mail.byu.edu/ scroll down to THESIS and order it through gradworksonline.com) and you can customize it as you wish and have it shipped to you. You choose the book color, the color of the text on the cover, the text on the cover (author name, date, title, etc.), whether it's single sided or double sided pages inside, whether the pages are B&W or color, and the quality of the paper. It costs minimum about $24 but can be higher with color printing and single sided (maybe $40). Just thought I'd pass this tip along in case any of you want to print a thesis.

We had our first BYU ARG Jam today and heard from several of our members sharing their talents. From classical, to jazz, to the Cougar Fight Song by the “Longitudinal Tripoles” band it was a good time. We enjoyed Dr. Gee playing two trumpets simultaneously but somehow nobody got it on video.

Tyce Olaveson successfully defended his PhD dissertation on "Noise Source Modeling of a High-Performance Military Jet and Theoretical Advancements in Partially Coherent Noise Radiation." His advisor was Kent Gee.

Congrats to ARG alum Brian Monson on being elected Fellow of the ASA!

Congratulations to the new Fellows elected at the Fall 2025 Meeting!
https://acousticalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Fall_2025_fellows.pdf

Mark Anderson defended his dissertation today on measurements and modeling of sonic booms from rockets. His advisor is Kent Gee.