Suffolk Reporter

Stony Brook Southampton recently hosted a bootcamp where students from across the country collaborated on underwater acoustics research. Students and professors conducted experiments to transmit, sense, and measure various underwater acoustic signals. Funded by the Office of Naval Research, Dean Andrew Singer of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) organized the week-long event with Professor Joseph Warren from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and Professor Grant Deane from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

“The students had a hands-on, experiential learning opportunity that started with work in the laboratory,” said Singer. “They learned to calibrate acoustic hydrophones and transducers, then took this knowledge into underwater testbeds at the Stony Brook Marine Science Station in Southampton. They then designed and fielded underwater acoustic communications experiments at sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, and off the coast of Long Island, aboard two of our research vessels.”

The bootcamp allowed students to engage directly with underwater acoustic equipment and collaborate with peers from various universities across the northeastern United States. Attendees included students from Northeastern University, Penn State University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, MIT, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, among others.

Divided into five groups focusing on different aspects of similar experiments, students rotated team members daily for a comprehensive experience. Professors provided guidance while students conducted most hands-on activities.

The goal was to calibrate equipment and measure how well communication signals could be transmitted and detected through ocean water. The final day involved an excursion into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island's coast. Two boats were used: one transmitting a communication signal via an underwater speaker; another receiving it using an array of hydrophones. Factors such as temperature and pressure affect sound propagation differently underwater than in air. Students measured how effectively the receiver array detected and decoded transmitted signals.

Yongjie Zhuang, a postdoctoral researcher at Stony Brook University who helped coordinate planning for over a year stated: “So many of the new students and grad students probably have worked on underwater acoustic signal processing for some time... but they didn’t have the actual hands-on chance to do those experiments... This bootcamp can give everybody a chance to actually do these experiments.”

Students faced challenges such as technical difficulties during their experiments which they had to manage independently. Manan Mittal, a graduate student at Stony Brook University remarked: “If something goes wrong, it’s up to you to fix it... Because if you are out on the water without professors then that’s exactly what we would need to do.”

Besides practical experience gained through participation in these activities participants also developed greater enthusiasm towards studying underwater acoustics further commented Mittal: "Part of goal was getting not only me but other students excited about underwater acoustics research... I’m quite interested material now."

Professor Deane plans hosting another similar event San Diego CA upcoming months catering West Coast participants whilst Stony Brook intends repeating East Coast boot camp next year

— Angelina Livigni