Awards & Prizes

Undergraduate Research Exposition Award

The Undergraduate Research Exposition is a special poster session for undergraduate students to present their research pertaining to any area of acoustics. Typically held at the fall meeting of ASA, this session is designed to inspire and foster growth of undergraduate research in the ASA while providing undergraduates an opportunity to express their knowledge and interest in acoustics. Interested students should consult the fall meeting Call for Papers for application details. Typically, four awards, up to $500 each, are made to help undergraduates with travel costs associated with attending the meeting and presenting a poster. All Society members are encouraged to stop by the exposition to engage with the undergraduates and their posters during the meetings.

Robert W. Young Award for Undergraduate Student Research in Acoustics

This award, made possible by a gift to the Acoustical Society Foundation from the family of the late Robert W. Young in his honor, has been established to grant undergraduate student research awards. Through this award, a student intending to perform an independent study (beyond the regular classes) can apply for funding to pursue an undergraduate thesis, honors project, or the development of teaching, experimental demonstration, or web-based tutorial materials. Normally, two awards for up to $500 each are given to juniors enrolled in 4-year degree programs. The EdCom reviews applications for the Young Award and selects the grantees once a year in the fall. Additional application details can be found here.

Rossing Prize in Acoustics Education

The Rossing Prize in Acoustics Education was established in 2003 from a generous gift made to the Acoustical Society Foundation by Thomas D. Rossing to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions toward furthering acoustics education through distinguished teaching, creation of educational materials, textbook writing, and other activities. The EdCom reviews applications for the Rossing Prize and makes recommendations to the Prizes and Special Fellowships Committee of the ASA. The recipient of the Rossing Prize delivers the Acoustics Education Prize lecture at the fall meeting of the ASA. Nomination details can be found here.

Past Rossing Prize in Acoustics Education Winners and prize lecture abstracts:

2004 – Allan D. Pierce, Grappling with pithy problems: The education in acoustics of John William Strutt (aka Lord Rayleigh) and of the rest of us
2005 – Katherine S. Harris, Speech neglect: A strange educational blind spot
2006 – William J. Strong, Descriptive acoustics of music and speech
2007 – David T. Blackstock, Songs my students sang to me
2008 – D. Murray Campbell, From the sublime to the scientific: What musicians and acousticians can learn from each other
2009 – James V. Sanders, Fundamental acoustics education and applications
2010 – Jerry H. Ginsberg, Can you fit authorship of textbooks into an academic career?
2011 – Robert C. Coffeen, Teaching architectural acoustics to architecture, architectural engineering, and music students
2012 – Joe Wolfe, Physclips: Multimedia, multi-level learning, and teaching resources
2013 – Juliette W. Ioup, Time-frequency analysis for acoustics education and for listening to whales in the Gulf of Mexico
2014 – Colin H. Hansen, Educating mechanical engineers in the art of noise control
2015 – Yang-Hann Kim, Propagation of acoustic education in space and time
2016 – Brad H. Story, The role of artificial speech in understanding the acoustic characteristics of spoken communication
2017 – Robert. D. Celmer, Student-centered acoustical engineering education at the University of Hartford
2018 – Stanley A. Chin-Bing, The University of New Orleans ocean acoustics program at the Stennis Space Center, Mississippi
2019 – Preston S. Wilson, Learning and teaching acoustics through bubbles
2020 – Daniel Butko, Over a decade of decibels—Celebrating teaching architectural acoustics within an architecture curriculum to students with various majors and minors
2021 – No Prize Awarded.
2022 – Kathleen Wage, DJ Prof: Reflections on teaching
2023 – Scott D. Sommerfeldt
2024 –
2025 –