Staff

Professor Robert Parker

Professor Parker joined the University of New South Wales, UNSW, in 2008 after moving from a Professorial position at Ohio State University, USA. Robert’s career began with a BS degree from the University of New York State at Stony Brook in 1986, followed by his MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988 and 1995 respectively. Prof. Parker has received numerous awards throughout his career such as in 1999 he was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 1999, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honour awarded by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers. His current work is supported by NSF, U.S. Army research office, NASA, S.A.E amongst others.

Emeritus Professor Robert Randall

Professor Randall is an Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales, UNSW. Bob has recently taken up the position of Emeritus Professor after 20 years as part of the academic staff at UNSW. His career began as a cadet engineer for Dunlop Rubber Australia, while completing his BTech, at UAdelaide 1961, and then a BA, UMelb 1971. Bob held various engineering positions during this period before joining Bruel and Kjaer, firstly in Denmark and then here in Australia, spending 17 years with the leading sound and vibration instrumentation and consulting company. He is currently an editor for the “Journal of Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing”, and also has served on the advisory committee for numerous applied mechanics conferences such as the recent, ICSV14 and ACAM conferences in Australia. More+

Dr Nicole Kessissoglou

Dr Kessissoglou is a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, UNSW. Nicole has been a senior lecturer at UNSW since 2003, after moving from an academic position at James Cook University, Australia. Her career began with the completion of a degree in engineering at the University of Western Australia, UWA, in 1993, and was also awarded a PhD from UWA, in 1999. Nicole holds various professional memberships with leading industry bodies, being a past director and current secretary of “The International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration”. Nicole was recently the chair of 14th installment of the series of conferences of “International Congress on Sound and Vibration” held in Cairns, Australia. More+

Dr Nathan Kinkaid

Dr Kinkaid is a lecturer at the University of New South Wales, UNSW, having joined the faculty in 2008, after working for the premier US Airforce research centre, The Aerospace Corporation since 2004. Nathan received a BS degree from Iowa State University in 1999, followed by the award of MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2001 and 2004 respectively. Nathan’s current research focus is in the area of statistical finite element methods for high frequency structural response. More+

Dr Nader Sawalhi

Dr Sawalhi is a research associate at the school of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Nader has been a research associate at UNSW since 2007. He received his BSc degree in mechanical engineering from the university of Jordan, Amman in 1997. He received the MEngSc degree and the PhD in 2001 and 2007 respectively, all in mechanical engineering from the University of New south Wales, Australia. From 1997 to 2003, he worked for Jordan cement factories, as a reliability and predictive maintenance engineer. From 2003 to 2007 he worked on his PhD project at UNSW developing signal processing algorithms and simulation models for rolling element bearings. He spent three months on sponsored internship with FAG, Schwienfurt, Germany, 2004. His research interests include signal processing, machine condition monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics. Nader is a member of the Jordanian Engineering Association. More+

Dr Mauro Caresta

Mauro Caresta is a postdoctroral research fellow at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineeringhas where he completed a PhD. He joined the vibration and acoustics research group in August 2007 when he arrived in Sydney to start his PhD. He completed a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in Italy in 2003. He worked as design engineer for a construction company specialising in the water purification plants. His current research interests lie in the area of structural dynamics and acoustics. Of particular interest is the vibration of shells with and without interaction with an acoustic medium. The aim of his research is to investigate control strategies to reduce the sound radiated by a submerged vessel. More+

Mr Russell Overhall

Russell Overhall is the Laboratory Manager of the School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at the University of New South Wales. Russell joined the school in 1984 coming from a civilian ADF (Navy) background. Russell graduated with a BE (Hons) from UNSW in 1984. Russell has overseen the establishment and development of the Acoustics & Vibrations Laboratory. His interest is the delivery of Industry related teaching in the areas of vibration and acoustics and the ongoing development of the instrument base of the laboratory.

Students

Gareth Forbes : PhD Candidate (expected completion date, 2009)

Gareth Forbes is a PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales, UNSW. He joined the vibration and acoustics research group in late 2006, after completion of his Bachelor of Engineering degree, achieving first class honours, at UNSW in 2005 and subsequently working as a design engineer at the consultancy firm KBR. His current research interests lies in the area of structural dynamics and signal processing. Of particular interest is the dynamics of structures under simultaneous spatially and temporally varying loads, and blind separation signal processing. The current working title of his thesis is “Turbine casing response to blade excitation”. The aim of this research is to attempt to measure the vibration characteristics of blades inside a Gas Turbine from external vibration measurements on the casing. More+

Peter Gangemi: PhD Candidate (expected completion date, 2011)

Peter Gangemi arrived at UNSW in 2004 to begin his BE in Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 2008 with first class honours. Following on from his undergraduate studies, Peter became part of the Vibration and Acoustics research group in March 2009. The current working title of his thesis is "The application of control strategies to attenuate the dynamic and acoustic responses of a submerged vessel". His research primarily investigates the implementation of feedforward adaptive active vibration control and active structural acoustic control to a submerged vessel under a range of conditions. Other areas of research include studies into passive control methods which can feasibly be applied to a submarine. The aim of this research is to implement practical control methods to attenuate the structural and acoustic responses of a submerged vessel. More+

Peter Jones: PhD Candidate (expected completion date, 2010)

Peter joined the Vibration and Acoustics research group in late 2007, after completion of his B.E(Hons I) at The University of Technology, Sydney in 1992 and subsequently working in a range of engineering roles within the power generation industry in Australia and overseas. He has considerable experience applying CFD techniques to the design and performance improvement of gas and water systems in power utility boilers and experience in the contract management of power industry projects. Peter also completed his M.E degree at The University of Technology, Sydney in 2001. His current research interests lie in the area of flow path acoustics. The current working title of his thesis is “Prediction and Optimisation of the Acoustic Performance of Mufflers for Sleep Apnoea Devices”. The aim of this research is to characterise the acoustic behaviour of complex flow path elements and develop a methodology whereby individual elements can be combined and their overall acoustic performance optimised. More+

Sascha Merz : PhD Candidate (expected completion date, 2009)

Sascha Merz obtained his first class honours degree in mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Germany, in 2006. He joined the Noise and Vibration Research Group at UNSW in January 2007. At his Phd project, Sascha Merz investigates the harmonic excitation of a submarine hull in the low frequency range due to interaction of the propeller with the wake of the submarine. The excitation of the hull occurs acoustically through the fluid as well as mechanically through the propeller/propulstion system. The radiated sound power is reduced using a passive vibration absorber in the propulsion system. Numerical methods such as finite elements and boundary elements are used for the models. More+

Vibration and Acoustics Research Group, UNSW Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Tel +61 2 9385 4093 | Fax +61 2 9663 1222 | Email mech@unsw.edu.au
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