Prof. dr. D.G. Simons

Dick G. Simons was born in Heinenoord, The Netherlands, on November 10, 1959.
He received the MSc degree in Physics at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands in 1983. In 1988 he received his PhD, also at the University of Leiden. His PhD research topic involved the development of an imaging gas scintillation spectrometer for X-ray astronomy. This research was performed at the Laboratory for Space Research Leiden of the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON).
From 1988 to 1990 Dick Simons was employed at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science of the Delft University of Technology. Here he worked on surface analysis of materials using scanning Auger electron spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
From 1990 to 2006 he was with the Underwater Acoustics Group of the TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory in The Hague. Here he was program leader of all research concerning underwater acoustic propagation.

In 2006 Dick Simons became a full-time professor in Acoustic Remote Sensing and Seafloor Mapping in the DEOS department.
His research interests include modelling of the reflective and scattering properties of the seafloor; inversion problems in acoustics; global optimisation (e.g. genetic algorithms); mapping the seafloor topography and its dynamic behaviour; acoustic seafloor classification; digital signal processing. From March 2004 he is holding the chair Acoustic remote sensing in the department Earth Observation and Space systems of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

Secondary employment: member of the Scientific Committee of the European Conferences on Underwater Acoustics.