Kent Gee
Kent L. Gee, Professor of Physics and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is a Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Brigham Young University. He joined the faculty at BYU after completing his PhD in Acoustics at Penn State in 2005. His primary research characterizes high-amplitude noise sources and fields through data analysis and imaging methods. His research group, the Physics and Aerospace Student-Centered Acoustics Laboratory (PASCAL), has published 120+ articles and proceedings papers in these areas.
Kent has received funding from Office of Naval Research, NASA, the Army Corps of Engineering, Air Force Research Laboratory, NSF, and several industry sponsors, including Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, ATK Space Systems, Ball Aerospace Technology Corporation, and National Institute of Aerospace. He has made and analyzed extensive near and far-field measurements of military aircraft, rockets, and space vehicles.
Some research highlights include:
- development of a numerical model for far-field nonlinear military jet noise propagation
- quantifying nonlinear effects in the near and far fields of military jets, rockets, and volcanoes
- development of near-field acoustical holography methods for use on a full-scale jet aircraft jet plume
- source characterization of near-field rocket and military jets with a new method of calculating vector acoustic intensity
- an improved understanding of crackle in jet noise.
In 2010, Kent received the R. Bruce Lindsay early career award from the Acoustical Society of America “for contributions to the fields of jet noise propagation, nonlinear acoustics, and active control of fan noise.” He was named an ASA Fellow in 2015 for "contributions to jet-noise and nonlinear propagation." He is also an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2011 and 2015, he received a Brigham Young University Young Scholar Award and Lawrence K. Egbert Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellowship, respectively. He received the BYU Technology Transfer award in 2020 and the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer award in 2024.
In addition to his high-amplitude noise work, Dr. Gee has also published in other areas of acoustics including noise control, where he holds several patents, near-field acoustical holography, vibroacoustics of musical instruments, and in the development and analysis of physics education demonstrations.
Beyond the traditional university laboratory environment, his activities as a scientist-citizen include mentoring multiple undergraduate students and outreach to more than 3500 K-12 students and members of the public through tours and demonstration shows. After serving as Editor for nine years, Dr. Gee is presently Assistant Editor of the Acoustical Society of America's Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics.