UMass Dartmouth Development Web Server
Office of the Provost
Mass High
Tech Whiz Kid nomination: UMass Dartmouth Electrical Engineering
Thomas
P. HURST
Major: Electrical Engineering
Graduation date: May 23, 2004
Work history (if any): Thomas Hurst has been working as a professional technician
for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Mr.
Hurst works with the world's leading marine mammal scientists and helps design
and build electronic devices for monitoring the sounds and diving patterns that
these magnificent animals make. Tom often has been taking classes while working
to improve his knowledge in the field and to become a professional engineer.
Goals after graduation: After graduation, Tom Hurst hopes to be promoted to
Engineer and assume additional responsibilities for the design and testing of
acoustic monitoring tags that will be placed on whales and dolphins to study
their behaviors. He plans to continue working at Woods Hole and use his new
knowledge to contribute to the understanding of marine mammals.
Faculty comments: Dr. David A. Brown (DBrown@UMassD.edu) supervised Tom Hurst's
Senior Design Project which involved the design, fabrication and testing of
a small acoustic Doppler velocimeter that was developed to be placed on a whale
for monitoring the animal's speed. The device works by reflecting acoustic energy
off small scattering particles in the water to produce a Doppler shift in the
acoustic frequency. This is used to measure the animal's speed. Tom's group
built and tested the device and demonstrated its operation. Tom Hurst also completed
an intensive undergraduate independent study research project where he designed
and built a hydrophone and electronic circuit for measuring both the sounds
that whales make and the surrounding noise in the ocean.
