Malcolm
Crocker Named Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer for 2009-2010
The
Graduate School is pleased to announce that Dr. Malcolm Crocker has been named
the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer for 2009-2010.
Jointly sponsored by the Auburn Alumni Association and the AU Graduate School,
the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lectureship Award carries with it a $2,000
award from the Auburn Alumni Association.
Selected by a panel of previous winners of the award, Dr. Crocker is a
Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Sound & Vibration
Research Laboratories in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Dr.
Crocker, the 36th recipient of this award, will give the
Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecture on Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at 4:00 pm
in 136 Ross Hall. He will be honored with a reception in the Ross Hall Atrium following the lecture.
The title of the lecture will be "The World of Acoustics."
Dr.
Crocker has been involved in acoustics, noise and vibration research since his
master’s degree in noise and vibration studies in 1963. From 1957-1962 he was a
coop student working for a BS degree at Southampton University. While a coop
student, he was supported by the British Aircraft Corporation. During 1963-1966
he worked at Wyle Labs in Huntsville, Alabama. His research work at that time
included studies for NASA of the Saturn V launch noise and turbulent boundary
layer transonic flight noise problems during the Moon Landing Program.
From 1969-1983 he headed up Purdue University’s undergraduate and graduate
teaching and research program in acoustics, noise and vibration. In 1983 he came
to Auburn as Head of Mechanical Engineering, and in 1990 he was promoted to
Distinguished University Professor.
He has been involved in many theoretical and experimental studies in acoustics
noise and vibration over his career. In particular his studies have involved
acoustical measurements, noise and vibration of aerospace structures, machinery
noise, vibration damping measurements and active control. In the mid 1980s he
conducted research for NASA on the vibration damping of the truss structure of
the Hubble Space Telescope. This was important, since any vibration in Hubble
would degrade the optics of the telescope system and the photographical images
obtained.
He
has conducted several studies at Auburn for industrial sponsors such as IBM,
Trane Company and American Gas Association on noise control and acoustical
measurements. He has also been supported as the principal investigator on
substantial multi-year grants or contracts for research on aero-acoustics and
active control for NASA and DOD (SDI) and passive damping on composite sandwich
materials for, NASA, ONR, and NSF.
His
recent research has involved predicting the launch noise and the transonic
turbulent boundary layer noise of Ares, the new NASA space vehicle designed to
replace the Shuttle Orbiter. In addition, he has worked on launch noise
suppression of spacecraft using water injection for the United Launch Alliance
(a Lockheed/Boeing Consortium.) In 1997, his 166-chapter Encyclopedia of
Acoustics published by John Wiley, New York, received the Association of
American Publishers professional and scholarly book award for excellence in the
Physics and Astronomy category. In
2007, his 130-chapter Handbook of Noise and Vibration Control, also
published by Wiley, received the Association of American Publishers honorable
mention award in the Engineering and technology category.
About the lecture:
Hearing is one of the most highly developed senses in humans and many animals.
We use sound to communicate, create and listen to music and to detect sources of
danger. Sound can be both wanted and unwanted --wanted in the case of speech and
music, and unwanted in the case of industrial, transportation and community
noise. Professor Crocker will describe sources of sound
-- both wanted and unwanted sound (noise) and how sound propagates. His
lecture will include several demonstrations of sound sources and wave motion
ranging from musical instruments to machinery and aerospace noise sources.
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