The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) has awarded Professor Ronald A. Roy (ME) the Helmholtz-Rayleigh Interdisciplinary Silver Medal for his for contributions to physical acoustics and biomedical ultrasonics. Roy will receive the award at the 159th meeting of the ASA in Baltimore on April 21, 2010.

Roy is 16th recipient of the Helmholtz-Rayleigh medal, which is awarded annually to a researcher whose contributions encompass multiple technical areas in acoustics. Roy’s research specializes in the application of physical acoustics principles to problems in biomedical acoustics, industrial ultrasonics, opto-acoustics, and acoustical oceanography.

“It’s wonderful to have one’s work recognized in this way,” Roy said. “It is a true honor to be both nominated and selected by your peers. The ASA silver medal is one of the higher recognitions one can achieve in the field of acoustics.”

Roy has served as chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department since 2007. He joined the College as an associate professor in 1996 and was promoted to full professor in 2002. He spent the 2006-2007 academic year at the University of Oxford, where he served as the 65th George Eastman Distinguished Visiting Professor. His work in academic contract research includes stints as a adjunct assistant professor of physics and research scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics of the University of Mississippi, and affiliate associate professor of mechanical engineering, research associate professor of biomedical engineering, and research scientist at the Applied Physics Laboratory ot the University of Washington.

The Helmholtz-Rayleigh Silver Medal is one of 12 medals awarded by the ASA for contributions to the advancement of science, engineering, or human welfare through the application of acoustic principles or through research accomplishments in acoustics. The first silver medal was awarded in 1974, and Roy said he was honored to be included in the same categories as many of his acoustic research predecessors.

“My most valued mentors won these medals,” he said. “My two thesis advisors – Robert Apfel of Yale and Lawrence Crum of the University of Mississippi – both won Silver Medals from the Acoustical Society, and it amazes me to think that I might be viewed in the same light.”

A Fellow of the ASA, Roy is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound, and a past member of the European Society of Sonochemistry and the American Institute of Physics.

Roy is the third ME faculty to be awarded in ASA medal in recent years. In 2007, Professor William M. Carey was awarded the “Pioneer of Underwater Acoustics” Silver Medal for his contributions to understanding ocean ambient noise and defining the limits of acoustic array performance in the ocean and Professor Allan D. Pierce recieved the Stanley Ehrlich Gold Medal for his contributions to physical, environmental and structural acoustics and acoustics education.