National Research Council in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
In this interview with former Acoustical Society of America president Mike Stinson, the discussion begins with Stinson’s experiences as a member of the society and recollections of his work with Shyam Khanna. The interview then shifts to Stinson’s youth near Vancouver, British Columbia, including his undergraduate education and master’s degree work in physics at Simon Fraser University. Stinson then recounts work in the sawmill industry and his decision to pursue a doctorate at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, involving research on the electrical and thermal conduction properties of metals at low temperatures. Stinson discusses his career at the National Research Council of Canada, where he moved into acoustics, working with researchers such as Gilles Daigle, Dave Havelock, Edgar Shaw, and Tony Embleton, and technicians such as Allen Hellard and Marina Vaillancourt. He also recounts particular projects, such as work on the acoustics of Blackberry devices and the effects of atmospheric turbulence on sound, as well as the NRC’s decision to discontinue his group and his establishment of the company MG Acoustics with Daigle, who is also the interviewer.