May 22, 2003
Physicist to lead UW oceanography, engineering laboratory
The manager of a multi-million dollar research program for the Office of Naval Research and an expert on using sound energy to “see” inside the world’s oceans has been named director of the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, a center for research 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’s major self-sustaining research 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’s support.
Simmen’s 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 research, and five years researching 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 research 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 research initiatives.
He also has taught and conducted research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and did postdoctoral research in the physics department of University of California, Santa Cruz.
His research concerns how the complex nature of the ocean environment distorts sound. For example in shallow, coastal areas — where underwater vehicles need to communicate with each other and sonar might be used to detect mines — underwater acoustic systems are affected by sound scattering off the seafloor and down from the surface. Over long distances in open ocean — where sound can be used to find submarines or monitor the state of the ocean — sound is distorted by waves traveling through the interior of the ocean.
His bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in applied mathematics are both from the California Institute of Technology, while his master’s 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’s all-time-high $43 million and the lab expanded its teaching role. Currently 40 laboratory staff members have UW faculty appointments, teach classes and train undergraduate and graduate students. Spindel, who like Simmen is an expert on long-distance underwater sound energy, will remain as faculty and researcher with the lab.
###
For more information:
Simmen, 703-696-4204, simmenj@onr.navy.mil
Applied Physics Laboratory Web site: http://www.apl.washington.edu/
