Brian E. Anderson Home

Brian E. Anderson

Professor
Brigham Young University
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Acoustics Research Group
Office - N245 ESC
Provo, UT 84602
bea@byu.edu


Here's a video summarizing my research (made in Aug. 2022).

 


Dr. Anderson and students developed a demonstration of time reversal focusing in which a targeted LEGO minifigure is knocked over by remotely focusing vibrations beneath its feet. This demonstration was developed for a Wave Propagation museum exhibit that will be hosted at ETH Zurich University in Switzerland starting in Summer 2021.

 

 

 

One of his favorite hobbies is Geocaching, see www.geocaching.com.
Geocaching Stats: Profile for brian_angela


He also enjoys riding his bike and recently completed his goal of riding 4000 miles in 2024.


 
Publication List found at //physics.byu.edu/department/publications/anderson
74/97 published papers, with Anderson as an author, are peer reviewed.   57/74 peer reviewed papers have Anderson as first author or primary author (advisor of student first author). 39/74 peer reviewed papers include student authors.    
3 book chapters published with Anderson as first author.


Brief Bio about Brian E. Anderson:
2023-present - Professor at BYU
2017-2023 - Associate Professor at BYU
2022 - Fellow, Acoustical Society of America
2020-2021 - Fulbright Scholar to Tohoku Univ. in Sendai, Japan (awarded but unable to go due to COVID-19)
2015-2017 - Assistant Professor at BYU
2015-2016 Los Alamos Early Career Award recipient ($225k/year for 2 years)
2012-2015 - Research Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Geophysics Group
2009-2011 - Visiting Assistant Professor at BYU
2006-2008, 2012 - Postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Geophysics Group
2003-2006 - Ph.D. in Acoustics at Penn State and Research Assistant in the Applied Research Laboratory
2001-2003 - M.S. in Physics at Brigham Young University (acoustics emphasis)
1999-2001 - B.S. in General Physics at Brigham Young University
1995-1996, 1998-1999 - A.S. in Physics at Ricks College
1996-1998 - Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Georgia Atlanta Mission



 

Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Involvement:  
Fellow of the ASA "For contributions to applications of acoustic time-reversal and acoustics education."
Full Member, Acoustical Society of America (ASA)    
Chair, Signal Processing Technical Committee and member of the Technical Council of ASA (2018-2021)    
Advisor, BYU Student Chapter of the ASA (2017-2020)    
Member, Nominating Committee for the 2020 ASA Election (2018-2019)    
Coordinating Editor and Associate Editor, Journal of the ASA (2012-2018)    
Technical Program Co-Chair, ASA meeting in Salt Lake City 2016    
Chaired eighteen sessions at ASA meetings (11 special sessions)    
Curator, ASA Gallery of Acoustics competitions in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014    
Website Administrator, Signal Processing and Structural Acoustics and Vibration Technical Committees (2012-2018)    
Student Council Representative, ASA and Student Council Website Administrator




Current Students:

Graduate Students:

Rylee Russell - Time reversal focusing of high amplitude noise

Bethany Wu - Real time convolution system to assess vocal health

Nate Wells - Virtual acoustic sound reproduction in a room



Undergraduate Students:

Michael Hogg - High amplitude time reversal in a pipe system 

Bryce Lundstrom - Exploration of time reversal with continuous signals using a modal summation model

Spencer Neu (2024 ASA Robert Young Award Winner) - Loudspeaker driver and passive radiator characterization using a plane wave tube

Mark Carlisle - Amplitude dependence of the subwavelength focusing among an array of Helmholtz resonators

Kadyn Wright - Focusing customized vibration patterns with time reversal

Darian Cosma - Theoretical investigation of continuous wave time reversal focusing

Mark Steadman - Microphone positioning system training videos



Former Students:      
     
Graduate Students: 

 
Daniel Tengelsen, M.S. 2010 (JASA article, McKinney Fellowship in Acoustics Winner [Univ. of Texas at Austin, PhD program], AES Educational Foundation David M. Smith Ingenuity Award Winner, ASA 2nd Best Student Paper Award Winner [2009 San Antonio Meeting], BYU Spring Research Conference 2010 Best Student Paper) - Numerical modeling of wave propagation in loudspeaker horns

Matt Shaw, M.S. 2011 (JASA-EL article and JASA-L article, ASA Student Chapter President for BYU, ASA Student Council Representative for SAVTC) - Angular dependent ultrasonic sound transmission measurement through various materials

Miles Clemens, 2015-2016 (JASA article, Miles switched projects) - Time reversal focusing in rooms with directional sources 

Sarah Young, M.S. 2018 (3 JASA articles and 1 POMA article, 2nd Place College Level 3MT Competition, ASA Student Council Representative for TC-SP) -  Implementation and optimization of time reversal for use in nondestructive evaluation of stress corrosion cracking

Michael Denison, M.S. 2018 (2 JASA articles and 1 Appl. Acoust. article, ASA Student Chapter President for BYU) - Image source modeling of time reversal to room acoustics

Joshua Forsyth, 2021-2022 (Josh switched projects) - Virtual reality system to assess vocal health of teachers

Brian Patchett, Ph.D. 2022 (4 JASA articles and Appl. Acoust. article,  2018 Royster Poster Competition Winner, and ASA Student Chapter Social Media Coordinator for BYU) - Nonlinear time reversal focusing of loud impulsive sounds

Adam Kingsley, Ph.D. 2022 (7 JASA articles and two POMA articles, BYU Student Research Conference session winner, ASA Student Chapter President and Vice President) - Time reversal imaging in the presence of near field scatterers



Undergraduate Students: 

David Ripplinger, B.S. 2009 (JUASAL Article - Cover Photo of Journal and Outstanding Paper Award) - Normal frequencies of a string vibrating at large amplitudes

Jayrin Farley, B.S. 2009 (JASA-L article) - Normal incidence ultrasonic sound transmission through various materials

James Esplin, B.S. 2010 (JASA-EL article,  ASA Best Student Paper Award Winner [2009 San Antonio Meeting]) - The effect of non-ideal microphones on reflection localization methods

Trevor Jenny, B.S. 2011 (JASA-EL article) - Ultrasonic anechoic chamber qualification

Blaine Harker, B.S. 2012 (JASA-EL article and JASA-L article, 2009 ASA Robert Young Award Winner, 2010 BYU ORCA Grant Recipient, ASA Student Council Representative for TC-SP) - Source localization using time reversal

C. Beau Hilton, B.S. 2014 (JASA article) - Equivalent circuit modeling and vibrometry measurements of the Nigerian-origin Udu Utar drum

Christopher Heaton, B.S. 2016 (JASA article) - Time reversal focusing of elastic waves in plates for educational demonstration purposes

Matt Willardson, B.S. 2017 (3 JASA articles)  - Optimization of time reversal acoustic focusing in rooms

Stephen Hogg, B.S. 2018 (NDT&E Int. article) - Characterizing stress corrosion cracking in stainless steel using nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy

Trent Furlong, B.S. 2018 (Applied Acoust. article, Samuel G. Bikman Mentorship and BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities Grant Winner) - Using time reversal acoustics to remotely deliver energy for active noise control

Josh Gregg, B.S. 2019 (NDT&E Int. Article, BYU Office of Research and Creative Activities Grant Winner) - Nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy using electromagnetic excitation and Loudspeaker parameter measurements using a plane wave tube 

Paige Simpson, B.S. 2020 (2 JASA Articles, BYU Student Research Conf. 2020 Session Winner, ASA Student Chapter Activities Coordinator for BYU) - The performance of time reversal in an elastic cavity as a function of volume

Carla Butts, B.S. 2020 (JASA article, ASA Student Chapter Outreach Coordinator for BYU) - High amplitude time reversal focusing of ultrasound in air

Lucas Barnes, B.S. 2021 (JASA Article, 2019 ASA Robert Young Award Winner, and BYU Student Research Conf. 2019 Session Winner) - LEGO museum demonstration of time reversal focusing

Rachel Edelman, B.S. 2022 - Directivity of guitar amplifiers      

Emily Golightly, B.S. 2022 (Appl. Acoust. Article) - Time reversal with nearfield scatterers 

Megan Robertson, B.S. 2023 - Classroom impulse response measurements for assessing vocal health

Andrew Basham, B.S. 2023 (2 JASA Articles, BYU Student Research Conference session winner) - Time reversal experiments with a phononic crystal 

Jay Cliftmann, B.S. 2024 (Nature Scientific Reports Article and POMA Article) - High amplitude time reversal demonstrations and 2D scanning 


 
 
Summer Students:

Brad Moser (RET) - (JASA article published) LabVIEW control of an acoustic line array (Summer 2009) and mp3 player loudness demonstration (Summer (2010)    
     
Jason Brinton (REU) - Nonlinear characterization of loudspeaker compliance with a plane wave tube

Summer Stevens Hughes (REU) - Classroom acoustics assessment and ultrasonic damage assessment in rock arches


Photo taken in April 2023 (from L to R is Michael, Jay, Bryce, Spencer, Dr. Anderson, Rylee, Andrew, Bethany, and Megan).

Photo taken in April 2022 (from L to R back row is Brian, Michael, Spencer, Dr. Anderson, Emily, Josh, Rylee, front row is Adam, Andrew, Megan, Summer, Rachel, Bryce, and Jay).

Photo taken in May 2021 (from L to R is Brian, Adam, Michael, Dr. Anderson, Andrew, Jay, Rebekah and Emily).

Photo taken in May 2020 (from L to R is Michael, Brian, Carla, Dr. Anderson, Adam, and Paige, note that photoshop was used to put us all in the same picture that close together without masks).

Photo taken in May 2019 (from L to R is Josh, Adam, Aaron, Malissa, Dr. Anderson, Paige, Carla, Lucas, and Brian).


Students 2018

Photo taken in Aug. 2018 (from L to R is Sarah, Stephen, Paige, Michael, Dr. Anderson, Trent, Josh, and Brian).


Photo taken in Aug. 2017 (from L to R is Josh, Trent, Sarah, Dr. Anderson, Stephen, Michael, and Matthew).

 


Photo taken in Jun. 2016 (from L to R is Joel, Stephen, Sarah, Dr. Anderson, Matthew, and Miles).

 

Brian was at Los Alamos National Laboratory between 2012 and 2015.

 

Photo taken in Aug. 2011 (from L to R is Beau, Brent, Dr. Anderson, and Matthew).

 

Photo taken in Aug. 2010 (from L to R is Brent, James, Daniel, Brad, Dr. Anderson, Matthew, and Trevor).

 

Photo taken in Jul. 2009 (from L to R is Daniel, David, Brad, Dr. Anderson (above), Jason (below), Jayrin, and Trevor).



The following are links to my theses.

Grating lobe reduction in transducer arrays through structural filtering of supercritical plates, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University, Graduate Program in Acoustics (2006).

Derivation of moving-coil loudspeaker parameters using plane wave tube techniques, Master's Thesis, Brigham Young University, Dept. of Physics and Astron. (2003).

The effect of inharmonic partials on pitch of piano tones, Senior Thesis, Brigham Young University, Dept. of Physics and Astron. (2001). This thesis is not currently available online, but a journal article we wrote reports a more in depth study, see J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117(5), 3268-3272 (2005).