Education

• Ph.D. in Acoustics, Department of Ocean Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002
• B.Sc.(Hons.) in Physics, National University of Singapore, 1994

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Awards and Honours

• Ocean Research Advisory Panel member (2023-presnt)
• Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (2014)
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) 2007
• ONR Young Investigator Award (2007)
• R. Bruce Lindsay Award (2006)
• MIT T. Francis Ogilvie Young Investigator Lectureship in Ocean Engineering (2006)
• ONR Postdoctoral Award in Ocean Acoustics (2002-2004)
• Young Investigator Keynote Address, Acoustical Society of America (ASA) 75th Anniversary Celebration, New York (May, 2004)
• Best Student Paper Awards, Acoustical Society of America Meetings
• DSO National Laboratories Graduate Scholarship, Singapore (1998)

Students

• Current Postdoctoral Associates : Matthew Schinault
• Current Graduate Students : Max Radermacher, Arpita Ghosh, Saunak Samantray, Hrafn Sigurarson, Nishanth Subramani
• Former Ph.D. Students : Dr. Mark Andrews (PhD 2009), Dr. Zheng "Roger" Gong (PhD 2012), Dr. Duong Tran (PhD 2014), Dr. Wei Huang (PhD 2017), Dr. Delin Wang (PhD 2017), Dr. Heriberto Garcia (PhD 2018), Dr. Chenyang Zhu (PhD 2020), Dr. Hamed Mohebbi-Kalkhoran (PhD 2022), Dr. Sai Geetha Seri (PhD 2024), Dr. Matthew Schinault (PhD 2025)
• Current or Former M.Sc. Students : Ninos Donabed (M.Sc. 2006), Ameya Galinde (M.Sc. 2007), Alexander Bohn (M.Sc. 2016), Fan Wu (M.Sc. 2013), David Reed (M.Sc. 2012), Hari Chauhan (M.Sc. 2011), Anthony Britton (M.Sc. 2023), Paras Varshnay (M.Sc. 2024), Udit Sankhadasariya (M.Sc. 2024)
• Current or Former B.Sc. Student (Funded Researchers) : Daniel Cocuzzo (B.Sc. 2008), Saumitro DasGupta (B.Sc. 2010), Alexander Zorn (B.Sc. 2014), Michael Potter (B.Sc. 2019), Trenton Couture (B.Sc. 2019), Seth Penna (B.Sc. 2020), Anna Kaplan (B.Sc. 2020), Anthony Britton (B.Sc. 2022), Jesse Segel (B.Sc. 2024), Isaac Fong (B.Sc. 2025), Edward Hathaway (B.Sc. 2025)
• Former Postdoctoral Associates : Dr. Elizabeth Kusel (2007-2008), Dr. Mark Andrews (2009)

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Teaching

• EECE 5697 - Acoustics and Sensing/Wave Based Remote Sensing and Imaging (Combined Graduate/Undergraduate course)
  
• EECE 7203 - Complex Variables and Differential Equations (Graduate)
  Calculus course on integration of complex functions and solution methods for partial differential equations.
• EECE 3468 - Probability, Noise and Stochastic Processes (Undergraduate)
  
• EECE 2520 - Fundamentals of Linear Systems (Undergraduate)
  
• EECE 2150 - Circuits and Signals: Biomed Apps (Undergraduate)
  
• GEU111 - High Tech Tools and Toys Lab (Undergraduate)
  Introduction to computing in Matlab and C++. Introduction to lab instrumentation and basics of remote sensing experimentation with ultrasound.
  

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Previous Work Experience

• Postdoctoral Associate at MIT Department of Ocean Engineering (2002-2004)
  Conducted 2 major experiments and research under the ONR-sponsored Acoustic Clutter (Geoclutter) Program to examine the dominant source of long range sonar clutter in continental shelf environments.
• Research Engineer at DSO National Laboratories, Singapore (1994-1998)
  Examined the characteristics of sound propagation in shallow waters. Conducted experiments and modelling to study the impact of the environment on sound propagation. Also investigated various inverse methods to recover properties of the environment through match field processing and travel time inversions.

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Selected Journal Publications:

• Radermacher, M.K., Schinault, M.E., Seri, S.G., Mohebbi-Kalkhoran, H., Makris, N.C. and Ratilal, P., “Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breathing sound characteristics from simultaneous above and underwater measurements,” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 157(4), pp. 2304-2318, (2025). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0036353
• H. Mohebbi-Kalkhoran, N. C. Makris and P. Ratilal, "Real-Time Detection, Bearing Estimation, and Whale Species Vocalization Classification From Passive Underwater Acoustic Array Data," in IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 24, no. 22, pp. 37432-37444, 15 Nov.15, 2024. doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2024.3469112.
• Seri, S.G., Schinault, M.E., Penna, S.M., Zhu, C., Sivle, L.D., de Jong, K., Handegard, N.O. and Ratilal, P., “Characterizing coastal cod vocalization using a towed hydrophone array,” ICES Journal of Marine Science, 80(6), pp.1727-1745 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsad104
  
• Schinault, M.E., Seri, S.G., Radermacher, M.K., Mohebbi-Kalkhoran, H., Zhu, C., Makris, N.C. and Ratilal, P., "Development of A Large-Aperture 160-Element Coherent Hydrophone Array System for Instantaneous Wide Area Ocean Acoustic Sensing," IEEE OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads, VA, USA, pp. 1-9, 2022. doi: 10.1109/OCEANS47191.2022.9977226.
  
• Radermacher, M.K., Schinault, M.E., Seri, S.G. and Ratilal, P., "Research and Design for the Power Hierarchy of a 160-Element Linear Towable Ocean Acoustic Coherent Hydrophone Array," IEEE OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads, VA, USA, pp. 1-7, 2022. doi: 10.1109/OCEANS47191.2022.9977087.
  
• Mohebbi-Kalkhoran, H., Schinault, M., Makris, N.C. and Ratilal, P., "Integrated computing system for real-time data processing, storage and communication with large aperture 160-element coherent hydrophone array," OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads, VA, USA, pp. 1-9, 2022. doi: 10.1109/OCEANS47191.2022.9977064.
  
• Ratilal, P., Seri, S.G., Mohebbi-Kalkhoran, H., Zhu, C., Schinault, M., Radermacher, M. and Makris, N.C., "Continental Shelf-scale Passive Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing of Marine Ecosystems, Dynamics and Directional Soundscapes: Sensing Whales, Fish, Ships and other Sound Producers in near Real-Time," OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads, VA, USA, pp. 1-7, 2022. doi: 10.1109/OCEANS47191.2022.9977054.
  
• H. A. Garcia, T. Couture, A. Galor, J.M. Topple, W. Huang, D. Tiwari and P. Ratilal, “Comparing Performances of Five Distinct Automatic Classifiers for Fin Whale Vocalizations in Beamformed Spectrograms of Coherent Hydrophone Array,” Remote Sensing, 12(2), p.326, (2020). doi: 10.3390/rs12020326
  
• C. Zhu, S.G. Seri, H. Mohebbi-Kalkhoran and P. Ratilal, “Long-range automatic detection, acoustic signature characterization and bearing-time estimation of multiple ships with coherent hydrophone array,” Remote Sensing, 12(22), p.3731, (2020). doi: 10.3390/rs12223731
  
• M.E. Schinault, S.M. Penna, H.A. Garcia and P. Ratilal, "Investigation and Design of a Towable Hydrophone Array for General Ocean Sensing," IEEE OCEANS 2019 - Marseille, France, 1-5 (2019). doi: 10.1109/OCEANSE.2019.8867239
  
• H. Mohebbi-Kalkhoran, C. Zhu, M. Schinault and P. Ratilal, "Classifying Humpback Whale Calls to Song and Non-song Vocalizations using Bag of Words Descriptor on Acoustic Data. In 2019 18th IEEE International Conference On Machine Learning And Applications (ICMLA) (pp. 865-870). IEEE (2019). doi: 10.1109/ICMLA.2019.00150
  
• S. G. Seri, C. Zhu, M. Schinault, H. Garcia, N. O. Handegard and P. Ratilal, "Long Range Passive Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (POAWRS) of Seismo-acoustic Airgun Signals Received on a Coherent Hydrophone Array," OCEANS 2019 MTS/IEEE SEATTLE, Seattle, WA, USA, pp. 1-8 (2019). doi: 10.23919/OCEANS40490.2019.8962739
  
• H.A. Garcia, C. Zhu, M.E. Schinault, A.I. Kaplan, N.O. Haandegard, O.R. Godø, H. Ahonen, N.C. Makris, D. Wang, W. Huang and P. Ratilal, “Temporal-spatial, spectral and source level distributions of fin whale vocalisations in the Norwegian Sea observed with a coherent hydrophone,” ICES Journal of Marine Science, 76(1), 268-283, (2018). doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsy127
  
• C. Zhu, H. Garcia, A. Kaplan, M. Schinault, N.O. Handegard, O.R. Godø, W. Huang and P. Ratilal, “Detection, Localization and Classification of Multiple Mechanized Ocean Vessels over Continental-Shelf Scale Regions with Passive Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing,” Remote Sensing, 10(11), 1699, 26 pages (2018). doi:10.3390/rs10111699
  
• W. Huang, D. Wang, H. Garcia, O.R. Godø and P. Ratilal, “Continental Shelf-Scale Passive Acoustic Detection and Characterization of Diesel-Electric Ships Using a Coherent Hydrophone Array,” Remote Sensing, 9(8), 772, 27 pages (2017). doi:10.3390/rs9080772
  
• D. Wang and P. Ratilal, “Angular Resolution Enhancement Provided by Nonuniformly-Spaced Linear Hydrophone Arrays in Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing,” Remote Sensing, 9(10), 1036, 16 pages (2017). doi:10.3390/rs9101036
  
• W. Huang, D. Wang and P. Ratilal, “Diel and Spatial Dependence of Humpback Song and Non-Song Vocalizations in Fish Spawning Ground,” Remote Sensing, Vol. 8(9), 712, 22 pages (2016). doi:10.3390/rs8090712
  
• D. Wang, W. Huang, H. Garcia and P. Ratilal, “Vocalization Source Level Distributions and Pulse Compression Gains of Diverse Baleen Whale Species in the Gulf of Maine,” Remote Sensing, 8(11), 881, 22 pages (2016).
  
• D. Wang, H.Garcia, W. Huang, D.D. Tran, A.D. Jain, D.H. Yi, Z. Gong, J.M. Jech, O.R. Godoe, N.C. Makris and P. Ratilal, "Vast assembly of vocal marine mammals from diverse species on fish spawning ground," Nature, doi:10.1038/nature16960, 02 March, Vol. 531, 366-370 (2016).
  
• Z. Gong, P. Ratilal and N.C. Makris, "Simultaneous localization of multiple broadband non-impulsive acoustic sources in an ocean waveguide using the array invariant," J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 138(5), 2649-2667 (2015).
  
• Gong Z, Jain AD, Tran D, Yi DH, Wu F, Zorn A, Ratilal P and Makris N, "Ecosystem Scale Acoustic Sensing Reveals Humpback Whale Behavior Synchronous with Herring Spawning Processes and Re-Evaluation Finds No Effect of Sonar on Humpback Song Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine in Fall 2006," PLoS ONE 9(10): e104733. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104733 (2014)
  
• D. Tran, W. Huang, A. Bohn, D. Wang, Z. Gong, N. Makris and P. Ratilal, "Using a coherent hydrophone array for observing sperm whale range, classification, and shallow-water dive profiles,"J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 135(6), 3352-3363 (2014).
  
• A. Jain, A. Ignisca, D. Yi, P. Ratilal, and N. Makris, "Feasibility of Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS) of Atlantic Cod with Seafloor Scattering Limitations,"Remote Sens. Vol. 6(1), 180-208; doi:10.3390/rs6010180 (2014).
  
• Z. Gong, D. Tran and P. Ratilal,"Comparing passive source localization and tracking approaches with a towed horizontal receiver array in an ocean waveguide,"J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 134, 3705-3720 (2013).
  
• Z. Gong, T. Chen, P. Ratilal, N. Makris, "Temporal coherence of the acoustic field forward propagated through a continental shelf with random internal waves"J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 134, 3476-3485 (2013).
  
• D. Tran, M. Andrews and P. Ratilal, "Probability Distribution for Energy of Saturated Broadband Ocean Acoustic Transmission: Results from Gulf of Maine 2006 Experiment,"J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 132, 3659-2672 (2012).
  
• S. Jagannathan, E. Kusel, P. Ratilal, N. Makris, "Scattering from extended targets in range-dependent fluctuating ocean-waveguides with clutter from theory and experiments,"J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 132, 680-693 (2012).
  
• M. Andrews, Z. Gong and P. Ratilal, "Effects of multiple scattering, attenuation and dispersion in waveguide sensing of fish,"J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 130, 1253-1271 (2011).
  
• S. Jagannathan, B. Horn, P. Ratilal and N. Makris, "Force estimation and prediction from time-varying density images,"IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis & Machine Intelligence, Vol. 33, 1132-1146, (2011).
  
• Z. Gong, M. Andrews, S. Jagannathan, R. Patel, N.C. Makris, and P. Ratilal, "Lowfrequency target strength and abundance of shoaling Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) in the Gulf of Maine during the Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing 2006 Experiment," J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 127, 104-123 (2010).
  
• I. Bertsatos, M. Zanolin, P. Ratilal, T. Chen, and N. Makris, "General second-order covariance of Gaussian maximum likelihood estimates applied to passive source localization in fluctuating waveguides", J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Vol. 128, 2635-2651 (2010).
  
• M. Andrews, Z. Gong and P. Ratilal, "High-resolution population density imaging of random scatterers with the matched filter scattered field variance," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Vol. 126, 1057-1068 (2009).
  
• E. T. Kusel and P. Ratilal, "Effect of incident field refraction on scattered field from vertically extended cylindrical targets in range-dependent ocean waveguides," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Vol 125, 1930-1936 (2009).
  
• N. Makris, P. Ratilal, S. Jagannathan, Z. Gong, M. Andrews, I. Bertsatos, O. Godoe, R. Nero, M. Jech, "Critical Population Density Triggers Rapid Formation of Vast Oceanic Fish Shoals," Science, Vol. 323, No. 5922, 1734-1737 (March 27, 2009).
  
• S. Jagannathan, I. Bersatos, D. Symonds, T. Chen, H. Nia, A. Jain, M. Andrews, Z. Gong, R. Nero, L. Ngor, M. Jech, O. Godo, S. Lee, P. Ratilal, and N. Makris, "Ocean acoustic waveguide remote sensing (OAWRS) of marine ecosystems," Invited paper, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., Vol. 395, 137-160 (2009).
  
• M. Andrews, T. Chen and P. Ratilal, "Empirical dependence of acoustic transmission scintillation statistics on bandwidth, frequency and range in New Jersey continental shelf," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 111-124 (2009).
  
• T. Chen, P. Ratilal and N. C. Makris, "Temporal coherence after multiple forward scattering through random three-dimensional inhomogeneities in an ocean waveguide," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 124, 2812-2822 (2008).
  
• A. Galinde, N. Donabed, M. Andrews, S. Lee, N. C. Makris and P. Ratilal, "Range-dependent waveguide scattering model calibrated for bottom reverberation in a continental shelf environments," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 123, 1270-1281 (2008).
  
• P. Ratilal, M. Andrews, N. Donabed, A. Galinde, C. Rappaport and D. Fenneman, "Model for continuously scanning ultrasound vibrometer sensing displacements of randomly rough vibrating surfaces," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 121, 863-878 (2007).
  
• N.C. Makris, P. Ratilal, D.T. Symonds, S. Jagannathan, S. Lee, and R. Nero, "Fish Population and Behavior Revealed by Instantaneous Continental-Shelf-Scale Imaging," Science, Volume 311, 660-663 February 3, (2006).
  
• P. Ratilal and N.C. Makris, " Mean and covariance of the forward field propagated through a stratified ocean waveguide with three-dimensional random inhomogeneities," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 118, 3532-3559 (2005).
  
• T. Chen, P. Ratilal and N.C. Makris, "Mean and variance of the forward field propagated through three-dimensional random internal waves in a continental-shelf waveguide," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 118, 3560-3574 (2005).
  
• P. Ratilal, Y. Lai, D.T. Symonds, L.A. Ruhlmann, J. Goff, C.W. Holland, J.R. Preston, E.K. Scheer, M.T. Garr and N.C. Makris, "Long range acoustic imaging of the Continental Shelf Environment: The Acoustic Clutter Reconnaisance Experiment 2001," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 1977-1998 (2005).
  
• P. Ratilal, Y. Lai and N.C. Makris, "Validity of the Sonar Equation and Babinet's Principle in a Stratified Medium," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 112, 1797-1816 (2002).
  
• A. Thode, M. Zanolin, E. Naftali, I. Ingram, P. Ratilal, and N. C. Makris, "Necessary conditions for a maximum likelihood estimate to become asymptotically unbiased and attain the Cramer-Rao lower bound. II. Range and depth localization of a sound source in an ocean waveguide," J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 112, 1890-1910 (2002).
  
• P. Ratilal and N.C. Makris, "Extinction theorem for object scattering in a stratified medium," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 110, 2924-2945 (2001).
  
• N.C. Makris and P. Ratilal, "A unified model for reverberation and submerged object scattering in a stratified ocean waveguide," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 108, 909-941 (2001).
  
• P. Ratilal, P. Gerstoft and J. T. Goh, "Subspace approach to inversion by genetic algorithms involving multiple frequencies," Journal of Computational Acoustics, Vol. 6, 99-115 (1998).
  
• P. Ratilal, P. Gerstoft, J.T. Goh and K.P. Yeo, "Inversion of pressure data on a vertical array to determine the seafloor geoacoustic properties," Journal of Computational Acoustics, Vol. 6, 269-289 (1998).

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