Stony Brook Southampton recently hosted a bootcamp where students from across the country collaborated on underwater acoustics research. Participants conducted experiments to transmit, sense, and measure different 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 activity alongside 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 with underwater acoustic equipment and collaborate with peers from various universities across the northeastern United States. Attendees came from institutions such as Northeastern, Penn State, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, MIT, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Divided into five groups, participants worked on similar experiments but rotated team members daily for a comprehensive experience. While students handled most hands-on tasks, professors provided their expertise.
The objective was to calibrate equipment and measure how well communication signals could be transmitted and detected through ocean waters. The final day involved an excursion into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island's coast. Two boats were used: one transmitted a communication signal using an underwater speaker while another received it using an array of hydrophones. Students measured how effectively the receiver array detected and decoded the transmitted signal.
The event offered students a unique chance to design and conduct their own experiments rather than analyzing borrowed data. This initiative took over a year to plan.
Yongjie Zhuang, a postdoctoral researcher at Stony Brook University who helped coordinate the bootcamp, remarked: “So many of the new students and grad students probably have worked on underwater acoustic signal processing for some time, like a few years, but they didn’t have the actual hands-on chance to do those experiments... But this bootcamp can give everybody a chance to actually do these experiments.”
Participants faced challenges during their experiments that required quick adaptation. Manan Mittal, a graduate student at Stony Brook University who attended the event said: “If something goes wrong, it’s up to you to fix it... Because if you are out on the water without the professors, then that’s exactly what we would need to do.”
Beyond technical skills, students developed greater enthusiasm for underwater acoustics research. “Part of the goal was to get not only me but also other students excited about underwater acoustics research,” said Mittal. “I’m quite interested in the material now.”
Professor Deane plans another bootcamp in San Diego for West Coast students in upcoming months. Stony Brook University also aims to host this East Coast bootcamp again next year.
— Angelina Livigni