A Response to Ernest Hook

Does the stifling of dissent impede scientific advance? Berkeley public health professor emeritus Ernest Hook and former dean of Virginia Polytechnic Institute Henry Bauer disagree.

History matters...through partnerships that advance research, education, and public service

The article deals with the ongoing strategic partnership between the History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) to allow researchers, educators, and students access to new forms of cooperative work through a growing network of resources.

Reimagining Riverfront Access Along the George Washington Memorial Parkway

This paper presents student proposals for redesigning the George Washington Memorial Parkway along the Rosslyn waterfront in Arlington, Virginia, as a case study in university and community partnerships. The George Washington Memorial Parkway, a registered historic landscape, lines the entire riverfront in Arlington, Virginia, and precludes most pedestrian access to the river, especially in Rosslyn, the most densely developed area adjacent to the waterfront. Landscape architecture and architecture students from the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University examined the Rosslyn waterfront and proposed changes to the parkway as a means of accelerating community discussion about potential public access to the water. Six student projects that engage the parkway in various ways are presented, raising questions about historical integrity of the parkway and community access to the waterfront. The paper includes a discussion of the initial steps of Arlington County planners to engage a larger conversation about the work and the issues the projects raise and concludes with a discussion about the value and opportunities of collaboration between universities, communities, or public organizations.

Creating Multiple Spatial Settings with “Granular Spatialisation” in the High-Density Loudspeaker Array of the Cube Concert Hall

This article offers an alternative for spatializing electroacoustic music using high-density loudspeaker arrays (HDLAs). It describes and contextualizes experimentation with the large array of speakers of the Cube concert hall made during the Spatial Audio Workshop residency at the Moss Arts Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in August 2015. The experiments were performed using the implementation of “Granular Spatialisation” (GS), a technique developed by the author for sound diffusion in HDLAs. This is based on the projection of sound using spatial grains of “microdurations,” with ideally one grain individually addressing each speaker of the array. The article focuses on particular aspects of, challenges from, and strategies for using GS for the projection of sound with the Cube's array of 138 loudspeakers, including four independent subwoofers, while composing a new acousmatic piece that was diffused in the Cube at the end of the residency.

Book Reviews

Daniel E. Sichel of Wellesley College and NBER reviews “A Practical Guide to Price Index and Hedonic Techniques”, by Ana M. Aizcorbe. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines price index and hedonic techniques, focusing on the application of these techniques and interpreting the resulting measures. Aizcorbe is Research Professor in the Virginia Bioinformatics Laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.”