A nonlinear career path for acoustic metamaterial research

Acoustic metamaterials are designed materials which have specific functionality to control acoustic or elastic waves. Over the last 20 or so years, metamaterials have proven to be a promising approach for noise control such as acoustic absorption control of acoustic fields such as holography. My technical research has focused on acoustic metamaterials for over 15 years and that work has taken me on a very nonlinear path through 4 institutions over the course of my career. When I was leaving school, like many students or those early in their career in research or industry, I expected that my professional path would be fairly linear but the reality has taken unexpected twists and turns. In this talk, I will describe my own career path researching acoustic metamaterials. This path has included multiple cross-country moves with noise control using acoustic metamaterials as a common theme.