91自拍

The manager of a multi-million dollar 91自拍 program for the Office of Naval Research and an expert on using sound energy to 鈥渟ee鈥� inside the world鈥檚 oceans has been named director of the UW鈥檚 Applied Physics Laboratory, a center for 91自拍 and teaching that last fiscal year brought in $43 million in grants and contracts.

Pending approval by the UW board of regents, Jeffrey Simmen becomes director July 1 of the lab where oceanographers, polar scientists, physicists and engineers work on projects that range from tracking global ocean changes to developing an ultrasound instrument to treat soldiers or car-wreck victims likely to bleed to death before they reach medical facilities.

The Applied Physics Laboratory is one of the UW鈥檚 major self-sustaining 91自拍 centers, meaning it pays its 240 employees and provides support for several dozen graduate students with grants and contracts instead of state dollars. The National Science Foundation, NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Navy are among the funding agencies, with the Navy providing about two-thirds of the lab鈥檚 support.

Simmen鈥檚 ties to the Navy include the last 10 years in Arlington, Va., as director of the ocean acoustics program for the Office of Naval Research, which sponsors basic 91自拍, and five years 91自拍ing operations and tactics for submarine and anti-submarine warfare with the Center for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Va., and Italy. As director of U.S. ocean acoustics 91自拍 for the last decade Simmen advanced international cooperation, especially with Asia, Russia and Europe, directed more than 100 members of the scientific community and launched several special multi-disciplinary 91自拍 initiatives.

He also has taught and conducted 91自拍 at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and did postdoctoral 91自拍 in the physics department of University of California, Santa Cruz.

His 91自拍 concerns how the complex nature of the ocean environment distorts sound. For example in shallow, coastal areas 鈥� where underwater vehicles need to communicate with each other and sonar might be used to detect mines 鈥� underwater acoustic systems are affected by sound scattering off the seafloor and down from the surface. Over long distances in open ocean 鈥� where sound can be used to find submarines or monitor the state of the ocean 鈥� sound is distorted by waves traveling through the interior of the ocean.

His bachelor鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in applied mathematics are both from the California Institute of Technology, while his master鈥檚 is from Cornell University.

The current director of the Applied Physics Laboratory, Robert Spindel, decided to step down after 16 years, a period when funding more than doubled to today鈥檚 all-time-high $43 million and the lab expanded its teaching role. Currently 40 laboratory staff have UW faculty appointments, teach classes and train undergraduate and graduate students. Spindel, who like Simmen is an expert on underwater sound, will remain as faculty and 91自拍er with the lab.