Mechanical engineering

In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Mr. Howard Baum, a retired mechanical engineer. He discusses his volunteer work with the Cincinnati VA Medical Center and his interest in helping volunteers transition back to civilian life with computer training. He recounts his childhood in Cincinnati, and he discusses his education at the University of Cincinnati, where he focused on industrial design. Baum describes his work in a variety of industries after he graduated, and he explained the value of drafting in the 1970s. He discusses his involvement with OSHA and safety protocols during his work for the Clovernook Center for the Blind, and he describes how the major shift of overseas production happened gradually and how it affected him personally. Baum describes his career as a college professor of ergonomics, and at the end of the interview, he reflects on all of the design work he was able to do prior to the era of computer-aided design.

Interview with Commander M.K. Baldwin, a retired commander in the Civil Engineer Corps in the US Navy and the first and only female winter-over Officer in Charge with Naval Support Force Antarctica. The interview begins with Baldwin discussing her childhood and her parents’ work as engineers. She recalls her decision to enroll at Clemson University for her undergraduate studies. Baldwin then recounts the path that led her to enlisting in the Navy, and she shares stories from training and life in the service. Baldwin describes her first tour in Guam, her move into the Civil Engineer Corps, and subsequent tour in Italy. She explains how each tour prepared her for her eventual experience in Antarctica and reflects on life as a Commander in the Antarctic. Baldwin concludes the interview with highlights from her time in Okinawa and DC, as well as the volunteering she has done with FEMA since her retirement. 

Interview with Dr. Diane McKnight, professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and currently program director for the Arctic Observing Network at the National Science Foundation. The interview begins with McKnight recounting her childhood with both parents having doctorate degrees, and she discusses the early science influences in her life. McKnight describes her decision to attend MIT for her undergraduate studies and subsequently her graduate studies in engineering, where she worked with Francois Morel. She discusses her engineering classes, campus life at MIT, and the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated field. McKnight then recalls how her early career work at the US Geological Survey led to her work in Antarctica. She shares stories of life at McMurdo Station, meeting Al Gore, and working on the Palmer Station Long Term Ecological Research project (LTER). At the end of the interview, McKnight reflects on how this work influenced her life and what life has been like since.

In this interview organized through the Acoustical Society of America, Greg Tocci discusses his life and career, focusing on his entry to the acoustics field, his relationship with ASA, and his long career with the acoustics consulting firm Cavanaugh Tocci. Tocci recalls his upbringing outside Boston as the son of an engineer, his undergraduate education in mechanical engineering at Tufts University, and master’s-degree work at MIT with Richard Lyon. He also discusses early jobs as a draftsman at a mechanical engineering firm and a researcher at the Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center at Watertown Arsenal, and his service in the Army Reserve during the Vietnam War. He then discusses his early career in architectural acoustics through the firms Cambridge Collaborative and Cavanaugh Copley and the circumstances leading to the splitting off of Cavanaugh Tocci in 1975. The interview concludes with a discussion of Tocci’s personal life and his ongoing work to train young employees and maintain the culture of Cavanaugh Tocci following his sale of his stake in it.

In this Oral History, Prof. Roger Tanner (University of Sydney) discusses his life and career in rheology with Gareth McKinley. Starting with discussion of his time growing up in England and working at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, attending Bristol University and then going to UC Berkeley on a King George VI Memorial Fellowship for a Master’s degree in control engineering. He describes the development of his interest in lubrication flows in bearings and first exposure to rheology through Frank Leslie and Arthur Lodge during his doctoral studies in Manchester, UK. He discusses in depth his work in Manchester, University of Sydney and Brown University as well as sabbaticals at the Rheology Research Center in Wisconsin and at the University of Delaware and time in academic administration as Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research. The historical development of the Australian Society of Rheology (ASR) is outlined as well as organization of the quadrennial International Congress of Rheology in Sydney (1988). He explains his first exposure to computational finite element schemes for analysis of viscoelastic die swell with Bob Nickell at Brown as well as his long-standing interests in simulating viscoelastic flows in complex geometries, constitutive model development (with Nhan Phan-Thien amongst others) and most recently the fluid dynamics of particulate suspensions with viscoelastic matrices. 

Interview with Allan Pierce, Professor Emeritus at Boston University and President of the Cape Cod Institute for Science and Engineering. Pierce recounts his childhood in Kansas and New Mexico, where his father worked on building aircraft during World War II. He remembers tinkering with a chemistry set as a child and building his own little radio. Pierce describes his undergraduate studies in physics at New Mexico State University and winning an NSF Fellowship to attend MIT for free for his graduate studies. Upon completing his PhD, Pierce recalls working for RAND Corporation on defense-related issues at the height of the Cold War, as well as his burgeoning interest in acoustics. Pierce describes his career trajectory that took him to Avco Space Systems Division, the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT, and Georgia Tech. He recounts his research in a variety of fields such as helicopter noise, sonic booms, wind turbines, and underwater acoustics. Pierce talks about the genesis of his famed acoustics textbook and speaks in detail about several topics in the book, such as the wave theory of sound, plane waves, and room acoustics. Pierce describes moving to Penn State, then Boston University, and finally the formation of the Cape Code Institute. He also reflects on his time as Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The interview concludes with Pierce reflecting on his unique historical perspective and appreciation for acoustics, and how he has seen the ASA change over the years.

The interviewee has not given permission for this interview to be shared at this time. Transcripts will be updated as they become available to the public. For any questions about this policy, please contact [email protected].

In this interview organized through the Acoustical Society of America, Malcolm Crocker recounts his childhood in England during World War II and attending the University of Southampton for his undergraduate and master’s degrees in the aeronautical engineering program. Crocker then worked at Wyle Labs in Huntsville, Alabama, before returning to England to complete his graduate studies at Liverpool. He describes accepting an offer to join the faculty at Purdue University, where he stayed for years before he was offered a position as department head at Auburn University, where he eventually took emeritus status. Crocker discusses his involvement in the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) and his role as a founder of INCE International. He also details his activity within the Acoustical Society of America, where he has served on the Noise Committee and the History Committee.