The INCE-USA Distinguished Service Medal is presented to those Members who have shown exceptional dedication and service to the Institute. It is an award that acknowledges volunteers who provide significant and sustained suppoprt to INCE-USA and by extension to the profession of Noise Control Engineering.
The Distinguished Service Medal is not intended for those whose services to the Institute are considered a normal part of the duties of the Officers, Directors, or INCE members. The Medal is intended to be exclusive of those activities honored by other INCE-USA awards, e.g., the Outstanding Educator Award, the Distinguished Noise Control Engineer Award, or the Award for Excellence in Noise Control Engineering.
The nominees are, and have been focused on doing what is best for INCE/USA, its members and the Noise Control Engineering profession. In each case, a significant amount of their free time has been and continues to be taken up to make things work for the Institute’s members and the profession which it represents. Members of the INCE Board of Directors and people serving as INCE Officers all do their part for the organization, and do spend time serving the Institute and its members. The Institute would not run without them. However, the Nominees have dedicated large amounts of time over many years, without remuneration, to the Institute. They have also taken on great responsibilities and done so because they know that it is the right thing to do.
An incorporator and Founding Member of INCE-USA, George Maling has for 39 years tirelessly devoted an enormous amount of his own time to INCE-USA. He and his wife Norah ran the Institute for many years, and in doing so, George and Norah saved INCE-USA a great deal of money. Beyond the cost and time spent, George and Norah always knew what to do so that things ran efficiently and smoothly. It is only when they stopped running the organization that we truly realized the many taks they performed and the time required to do them. Review of the specifications for the new Business Office underlined just how much George and Norah did for the Institute, and to this day George continues to contribute to INCE-USA. Among other things, he edited Noise/News and Noise News International magazine, attends INCE Board of Directors meetings, and also helps put together the Conference Proceedings. George led the effort to digitize early issues of NCEJ and past issues of NOISE Control/Sound. George also helped to establish the INCE Foundation and has served as its President. His tireless efforts leading the National Academies of Engineering's panel on Technology for a Quieter America are another example of his selfless dedication to the noise control community. George has also served as our official photographer during INCE conferences. In addition to his many specific contributions, he also continues to be an important source of information, advice, and support for the INCE Board, Officers, and Committees.
Throughout the formation, growth, and progress of INCE, Norah Maling has been helping INCE both directly and indirectly through her support of George which enabled him to dedicate long hours to INCE and the noise control community. Without George and Norah, INCE/USA would not be the fine organization that it is today; they are the personification of altruism, and the Institute is fortunate that they have focused on making it the successful, professional organization that it is.
Courtney had this great idea to make INCE conference papers available electronically, so that people with particular noise control problems could perform a search and see what people had done and find people to contact. Courtney volunteered to take on what became a monumental task. This effort proved to be very time consuming. He gradually worked backwards through the proceedings for every conference back to 1971 preparing them for insertion into an electronic database. He also served as Editor of the Noise Control Engineering Journal, a volunteer role at that time.
Courtney has for many years been instrumental in the process of INCE Board Certification. He reviewed and prepared the Board Certification examinations, and took part in grading candidates' examinations. He volunteered for this work because of his dedication to advancing the technical proficiency of the INCE membership.
Courtney served as Technical Program Chair for NOISE-CON 2010. Additionally, Courtney worked with George Maling and the Technical Chairs of the INCE-USA conferences to digitize each conference's proceedings.
Joseph "Joe" Cuschieri is the Executive Director of INCE, a position for which he volunteers: this saves INCE significant expense. As the Executive Director, Joe helps to manage and arrange Board of Directors and Committee meetings twice each year. His responsiveness to everyone is admirable, particularly when you realize how busy he must be. He also is the person who finds out how to do things and then explains to the IBO how to do them. Joe has become the source of information for INCE, and all questions on day-to-day issues with the INCE Business Office (IBO) get funneled through Joe.
Joe also served a term as President of INCE-USA.
Where would INCE be without him through the difficult transitions with a series of Business Offices? In particular, his handling of the transition to a new INCE Business Office through NOISE-CON 2008 was amazing; this was a difficult time, but Joe always made sure things got done. He updated the conference website, set up the on-line registration, and has continued to implement much of the INCE website editing and conference website co-ordination since then.
Over the years, Joe has also run several NOISE-CON conferences and INTER-NOISE congresses. In those cases, he did most of the work behind the conferences by himself. Usually, the Conference Chair requires secretarial and IBO help to do that, but Joe volunteered to take on the work himself.
In preparing this nomination, one Member commented, “If an email message is sent out by someone with a question or problem needing attention, it seems that Joe is the first to respond with the most logical answer or solution.” And a Director on the INCE-USA Board remarked, “I don’t know when Joe sleeps”.
