The grade of IEEE Fellow recognizes unusual distinction in the profession and is conferred by invitation of the Board of Directors upon a person of outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience in IEEE designated fields, who has made important individual contributions to one or more of these fields, that have been reflected in an improved quality of life for society. The following OES members were selected in 2009:

• Rodney Coates – For contributions to underwater acoustics education.
• Jean Pierre-Hermand – For contributions to geoacoustic inversion techniques for adaptive signal processing in ocean acoustics.
• Junzo Kasahara – For contributions to submarine seismic technology.

Editors Note: In this issue we feature Jean Pierre-Hermand. The other IEEE fellows will be featured in future issues.

Jean-Pierre Hermand earned the Ingénieur Civil degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in 1981 from the Université libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.). In 1994 he received the PhD in Applied Sciences also from the Université libre de Bruxelles. Between 1985 and 2000 he held several research positions at the SACLANT Undersea Research Centre in La Spezia, Italy, conducting research and experiments on a wide range of topics in underwater acoustics and oceanography with emphasis on model-based signal processing and inverse problems. In 1991 he became the Principal Investigator of a grant from the Office of Naval Research to develop environmentally-adaptive signal processing at the Naval Underwater Systems Centre in New London, USA. In 1993 he was appointed Principal Scientist to the SACLANTCEN Environmental Research Division to lead the research and development of acoustic remote sensing techniques and inversion methods for the physical characterization of the subseafloor in shallow water environments. He has been Chief Scientist of many multidisciplinary experiments at sea. He has had adjunct appointments at the A.I.L.U.N. Free University of Nuoro, Sardegna, and the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, and has been a consultant to industry and government on applied ocean acoustics and environmental ­measurements. Presently, he is Professor of Physics-Acoustics, Research Director at the Université libre de Bruxelles and founder of the Environmental Hydroacoustics Laboratory. Since 2001 he coordinates research activities on integrated acoustic observatories, shallow-water tomography and data assimilation in cooperation with European and international institutions.
     The author on over 100 publications and co-editor of two books, Dr. Hermand has been serving on technical committees for the IEEE Ocean Engineering Society, the Acoustical Society of America, the European Optical Society, the European Conferences on Underwater Acoustics, and the International Conferences on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics and Underwater Acoustic Measurements. He co-organized the first and second workshops on Experimental Acoustic Inversion Methods for Exploration of the Shallow Water Environment in 1999 and 2004. His current research interests lie in the integrated use of acoustics to remotely sense and characterize the ocean to very shallow aquatic environments, and in particular the physical and biological monitoring of marine habitats.
Dr. Hermand is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.