Dr. James Sabatier

Degrees Earned

• Ph.D., 1984, University of Mississippi

Experience

• Assistant Research Professor, 1984-92, University of Mississippi
• Associate Research Professor, 1993-2001, University of Mississippi
• Research Professor, 2001-, University of Mississippi
• Staff Scientist 1987-92, National Center for Physical Acoustics.
• Senior Scientist 1993-, National Center for Physical Acoustics.

Memberships

• Acoustical Society of America
• American Association of Physics Teachers
• Mississippi Academy of Sciences
• Mississippi Association of Physicists
• Soil Science Society of America
• SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering

Research Interests

My research interests are primarily in the study and development of various acoustic techniques and capabilities for study of porous materials, especially the first few meters of the earth’s surface. The ground surface or ocean floor, to a depth of a few meters, is granular fluid filled porous material. Sound waves that travel through such porous materials lose energy due to viscosity and heat condition. This energy loss can be expressed in terms of pore properties such as permeability, porosity, tortuosity. Sound waves can therefore be used as a probe in naturally occurring porous materials to measure the physical properties of the porous material.

There are numerous applications for this research including the characterization of soil properties, definition of soil layers, and quantification of soil roughness using acoustic methods. Acoustic methods tend to be less invasive and less costly than traditional methods used for these efforts. A second application of this research is in landmine detection to help to alleviate a global crisis.