Memories of Bill Kuperman at the Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity, circa 1981

Bill Kuperman arrived at the Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity (NORDA), Stennis Space Center, MS, circa 1981. He had just completed a sabbatical tour at the NATO SACLANT Undersea Research Center in La Spezia, Italy, and had accepted the position of Division Head of the NORDA Numerical Modeling Division. As a junior member of the Acoustic Branch in this division I was assigned to work with Bill. Specifically, Bill was going to mentor me in underwater acoustic research. During this mentoring period I assumed several different roles: student, junior colleague, and Acoustical Society of America (ASA) abstract reviewer and arranger of underwater acoustics session for ASA meetings. On occasion, I also acted as Bill’s pseudo-administrative assistant. My various interactions with Bill allowed me the opportunity to know and observe him on several different professional levels. In this talk, I will present some interesting examples that revealed the leadership qualities and subtle humor that a young Bill Kuperman possessed, both as a manager and as a researcher.