Preston Wilson

Dr. Wilson is an Professor in the Acoustics and Dynamic Systems & Control programs of the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, holds a joint appointment as Research Professor at Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin and is the Paul D. and Betty Robertson Meek Centennial Professor in Engineering. Wilson obtained the PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University in 2001, and the MS and BS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1994 and 1990, respectively.

He joined the Cockrell School of Engineering faculty in 2003 after serving as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Boston University, where he studied sound propagation and scattering in bubbly liquids, and the acoustics of water-saturated marine sediments. Previous experience also includes 3 years as a research engineer at Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas, 1994-1997, where he studied the acoustics of marine mammal sonar, developed a seismoacoustic mine detection sonar, seismoacoustic vehicle detection sensors and the Combustive Sound Source (a safe and inexpensive alternative to explosive sound sources for use in ocean surveys and seismic prospecting).

In 2004, Dr. Wilson received the Office of Naval Research Entry-Level Faculty Award in Ocean Acoustics and in 2007 received the A.B. Wood Medal and Prize from the UK Institute of Acoustics. From 2009–2015, Wilson served as Chair of the Education in Acoustics Committee within the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), and was a member of the ASA’s Executive Council (an electected position) from 2016–2019. Wilson currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA). In 2019, Wilson was awarded the Rossing Prize in Education from the ASA.

Dr. Wilson's current research interests are ocean acoustics, acoustical oceanography, physical acoustics and engineering acoustics, with concentrations on sound propagation and scattering in the ocean and in multiphase media (bubbly liquids, ocean-bottom sediment). Wilson serves as co-chief scientist for the a long-running ONR-sponsored Seabed Characterization Experiment. Wilson also works in the area of underwater anthropogenic noise abatement using large encapsulated bubbles. Wilson’s group has been developing acoustic tools for monitoring the health of seagrass meadows since 2009, which culminated in a 2024 award from ARPA-e for monitoring carbon sequestration in seagrass sediments.  Past projects are studying the use of acoustics and sonar technology in the firefighting environment, vibration control focusing on the use of nonlinear systems such as buckled beams and other negative-stiffness-bearing structures, various topics in animal bioacoustics, novel acoustic materials and transduction. A paper on coffee roasting acoustics became the most-viewed paper in JASA for several months after its publication, led to a US Patent, and two licensing agreements in the coffee industry.

In addition to the scientific literature, work conducted in the Wilson group has been reported in Scientific American, National Geographic, The Alcalde, The Austin Business Journal, and via radio reports on KUT and NPR. Wilson co-founded AdBm Technologies LLC in 2012, to commercialize underwater noise abatement technology and currently serves as a science advisor to the company, which provides underwater noise abatement solutions for the international oil and gas industry, and the international marine wind and offshore construction industries. Wilson currently holds five US patents.

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Wilson is part of Texasacoustics.org and conducts much of his research out of laboratory space at ARL:UT.  Please check those sites for more information on acoustics at UT and the Wilson Acoustics Group work.