Nicholas C. Makris

Roles: Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering at MIT, Director of the Laboratory for Acoustics, Sensing, and Undersea Remote Sensing (LASURS).
Affiliations: Center for Ocean Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Education: SB in Physics (MIT), PhD in Ocean Engineering (MIT).

Research Interests: Focuses on ocean acoustics and remote sensing, particularly Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS) for monitoring marine life and environments. Explores applications in hurricane dynamics, planetary science (e.g., Europa's ice shell), and musical instrument acoustics. Develops theoretical frameworks for signal processing, scattering, and perception laws. Active in policy initiatives, such as addressing the New England Fisheries Crisis and UN Floating City Program for sea-level rise.

Key Contributions: Pioneered OAWRS to image fish/marine mammal populations at continental shelf scales. Demonstrated hurricane destructive power estimation via underwater sound. Advanced theories on Weber’s Law in perception, violin acoustics evolution, and nonlinear scattering. Authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers and presented at global research forums.

Awards: Secretary of the Navy Scholar, William I. Koch Professorship, Bose Research Fellowship.

Grants/Projects: NASA Science Definition Team for Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, MIT Center for Ocean Engineering leadership, NSF-funded studies on acoustic sensing.

Labs/Teams: Laboratory for Acoustics, Sensing, and Undersea Remote Sensing (LASURS) at MIT.