Vehicle Noise Control Engineering Academy - Vehicle Interior Noise Track ACAD01

Pranab Saha, Lead Instructor With over 40 years of experience, Dr. Pranab Saha is recognized worldwide as an authority on automotive noise, body interior systems and sound package materials. He is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Kolano and Saha Engineers, Inc. In his role as principal consultant of the company, he leads automotive, commercial vehicles, other transportation systems, appliances and product noise related programs. He is the direct link between the client and company’s staff and resources. Throughout his career, Dr. Saha has directed and participated in numerous advanced noise control engineering programs and training programs including seminars and webinars for various OEM companies and suppliers worldwide.

Dr. Saha is an active member of SAE International, ASA, ASME, ESD, INCE-USA, and NSPE/MSPE. He has presented technical papers and has organized and chaired numerous technical sessions sponsored by SAE and other professional organizations. As a lifelong contributor to SAE International, Dr. Saha assisted in the development of several SAE Standards on acoustics and an SAE document, “How to Write an SAE Technical Paper,” which guides professionals through the writing process. He is the lead faculty member of the SAE Vehicle Interior Noise Academy and an associate editor for the SAE International Journal of Vehicle Dynamics, Stability and NVH. In 2021, Dr. Saha received the SAE International Medal of Honor, the SAE International Ralph K. Hillquist NVH Lifetime Achievement Award, SAE published his book on Acoustical Materials: Solving the Challenge of Vehicle Noise. Dr. Saha is an INCE-USA Board Certified Member, an INCE-USA Director, a Fellow Member of SAE International and ESD, and has been named an SAE Master Instructor. Dr. Saha holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Acoustics Specialty) from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Eric Frank began his career at the Dana Corporation as an NVH Engineer, focused on driveline components and vehicle development for their customers. Following this, he became a Project Engineer at MTS Systems where he developed skills as a Technical Consultant. In 2006, Eric joined the consulting firm of Sound Answers where he continued to serve as a Senior Project Engineer and other roles related to both technical projects and management. This group eventually joined B&K and now HBK, where Eric is the Head of the Sound & Vibration Engineering Services group.

Throughout his career, Eric has worked closely with customers in several industries on Sound Quality and Jury Analysis. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 papers and technical articles for SAE and other publications. Eric has been a member of SAE’s Noise & Vibration committee since 2012. He has a B.S. Acoustic Engineering, Purdue University, 1999 and a M.S. Engineering Program/Project Management, University of Michigan – Dearborn, 2015.

Todd Freeman is currently a team lead and manager of the HBK Sound & Vibration Engineering Services team in the US, responsible for management and execution of sound and vibration consulting projects in a variety of industries to solve customer problems. He has been a part of this team for 15 years, and has experience with sound quality, transfer-path-analysis, rotating machinery, full-vehicle NVH development, as well as many other areas.

Prior to HBK, Todd held roles with Magna Steyr and Ford Motor Company as an NVH Engineer supporting vehicle development efforts. He has a in B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Grand Valley State University, 1998 and a M.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan – Dearborn, 2002.

Greg Goetchius is currently the Lead for Noise and Vibration Engineering at Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz, CA as. Greg has overall responsibility for interior noise performance, exterior noise testing, GVT and modal testing, and also aircraft flight test noise and vibration data analysis. Prior to Joby Aviation, Greg led the NVH teams at both Lucid Motors and Tesla Motors with primary responsibility for the NVH performance of the Lucid Air and Tesla Model S. From 2002 until 2010, Greg was the Global Director of Research and Development at Material Sciences Corporation (MSC) in Canton MI, where he led a global engineering team in supporting the implementation of MSC’s various acoustical products, including “Quiet Steel”. Greg’s Noise and Vibration development career began at Chrysler Motors in 1986. He was part of the NVH Department for 15 years, focusing his efforts on advanced NVH methodologies, target setting and NVH CAE.

Greg has been an active member of SAE for over 20 years. He was the General Chair of the SAE 2009 International Noise and Vibration Conference, and has served as the Chair of the SAE Automotive Chassis Activity (ACA). In 2015, he received SAE’s Forest R McFarland Award. He has a B.S.M.E. Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1986 and a M.S.M.E. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan – Dearborn, 1988.

Patricia Manning started her career doing modal analysis at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where she learned that neither test nor analysis is ever 100% correct. She then went back to MIT to get her PhD in acoustics and began working for Cambridge Collaborative, doing acoustical modeling and testing in many industries including automotive, aerospace, ship-building, heavy machinery, and consumer products. One of her recent jobs was to help NASA design the Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility at Plum Brook. Dr. Manning currently does Statistical Energy Analysis modeling and acoustical testing, with a focus on practical solutions to real world problems.

Alan D. Stuart is an emeritus professor of acoustics at Penn State. Since 1993, he taught fundamentals of acoustics courses on both the graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as graduate courses on structural acoustics and applied acoustics. He has conducted numerous professional short courses on acoustics and vibrations and noise control engineering. At Penn State, he was the coordinator of the Summer Program in Acoustics and the Distance Education Program in Acoustics and received numerous awards for his contributions to Continuing and Distance Education. He is an active member of SAE, ASA, INCE and ASEE. Dr. Stuart designed, developed and narrated the Pre-Academy web-based lessons.