World renowned scientists join JASCO

The JASCO Applied Sciences global team has been joined in January 2018 by two distinguished scientists well known in the underwater acoustics and bioacoustics communities. Michael Ainslie has joined JASCO Applied Sciences (Deutschland) GmbH and will be based in The Hague, Netherlands; Klaus Lucke has joined JASCO Applied Sciences (Australia) Pty Ltd in the Brisbane office of the company.

Dr Ainslie has 30 years’ experience in underwater acoustics, with special interests in sonar performance modelling, the effects of underwater sound on aquatic life, and underwater acoustical terminology. He is Visiting Professor at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (University of Southampton), a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a fellow of the Institute of Acoustics. He is a member of the expert group that advises EU member states on the interpretation of Good Environmental Status regarding underwater noise, has authored the book Principles of Sonar Performance Modelling (Springer, 2010) and has published more than 50 articles on underwater acoustics in peer-reviewed journals. He transitions to JASCO from the Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research TNO.

Dr Lucke has an academic background in biological oceanography with specialization in auditory studies on marine mammals. He is part of the international panel on scientific review of the ‘Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing’ for the US Department of Commerce, NOAA, and is a member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the Acoustical Society of America, and the Australian Marine Sciences Association. He has lectured and published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers on marine bioacoustics and related subjects. His past affiliations include the Centre for Marine Science & Technology at Curtin University, Australia, the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies (IMARES) at Wageningen University, Netherlands, and the University of Kiel, Germany.

“JASCO is honoured and quite excited at having Michael and Klaus join our outstanding scientific staff” commented Roberto Racca, one of the company’s principals. “Their abilities strengthen core areas of our expertise and enhance our status as one of the preeminent research and consulting organizations in underwater acoustics and bioacoustics. Furthermore, their connections with the European research community are very relevant to JASCO’s interest in expanding our activities in that geopolitical region to help it meet its unique challenges and ambitious goals for mitigating the environmental impacts of underwater noise.”