The director of the Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering, AC3E, and academic of Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, USM, Dr. Matías Zañartu, has been named a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), one of the highest scientific recognitions granted by this prestigious international scientific society, which has nearly 100 years of history and about 7,000 members. Only 5% of its members achieve this important honorary title and Dr. Zañartu is the first Chilean to achieve this recognition.
Since its inception in 1929, the ASA has worked to generate and promote knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. In this context, its executive committee elects its Fellows, that is, those members of the society who have been distinguished among their peers thanks to their exceptional scientific and professional contributions, as was the case of Dr. Zañartu, who has had an active participation in this society for almost 30 years.
The Acoustical Society of America especially highlighted Dr. Zañartu’s scientific contributions for the development of mathematical models of voice production and their application to clinical and computational problems, which constitutes the emblem of his honorary title. Likewise, his contribution to the training of students, his work as an associate editor, participation in internal committees and his work in disseminating knowledge to society were highlighted.
Dr. Zañartu is a full professor in the Department of Electronics at USM and has had an outstanding scientific and professional career. He is the first Chilean to obtain funding from the P50 fund of the US National Institutes of Health for research in medicine from the field of engineering. In addition, in December 2023, he was distinguished with the “AIE – IEEE Outstanding Engineer Award” by the Association of the Electrical – Electronic Industry, AIE, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE, in recognition of his professional development, contributions from engineering and research capacity.
“I receive this appointment from ASA with great emotion, since it comes from a society that has witnessed my growth and professional development throughout all these years. It is an important achievement both personally and professionally. From my beginnings I had a special fascination with music and engineering, which resulted early in my interest in acoustics and sound. My interest in acoustics has motivated my career and the scientific and technological work I do, which seeks to have a strong impact on people’s quality of life,” highlighted the USM academic.
Without a doubt, this is an important achievement for Dr. Zañartu, since the society not only brings together a significant number of associates, but also addresses multiple topics such as hearing, underwater acoustics, noise, noise pollution, among others, in which a national scientist had never been highlighted.
“It is an honor to be the first person to represent Chile with this appointment, which illustrates that we can do first-rate science from our country and motivates us to continue working strongly. The impact and visibility of my work in particular have been amplified thanks to AC3E, where we strive to link our scientific and technological work with the community and actively contribute from engineering to medicine. This provides an innovative perspective and additional information for the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases,” he concluded.
