LANCE
BERNHARD BISCHOFF
Principal
Lance founded Bernhard Shipps and Associates, Inc. in 2002, drawing on his wide range of experience in various acoustical fields over his professional seventeen year career. In addition to detailed structural, architectural, and mechanical reviews; he has extensive experience in site approval work, including expert witness testimony and review of applicable noise codes and regulations. Mr. Bischoff has been involved in many aspects of architectural and mechanical system acoustics and vibration control. Project categories included commercial, residential, mixed-use, institutional, medical, performance, and public spaces; as well as special projects involving acoustical isolation construction, where floors, walls and ceiling are acoustically decoupled from the base building structure. Lance also has experience in evaluation of noise and vibration data, mitigation, and compliance with Federal Transit Administration guidelines for rail project noise and vibration assessment.
Associate
Prior to founding the firm, he was an Associate at
Shen Milsom & Wilke, Inc. providing acoustical reviews and noise control
recommendations for a wide variety of projects and buildings. Mr.
Bischoff served as project manager and designer for many SM&W projects; and
provided guidance to other consultants in the firm, drawing from his extensive
experience in acoustical and vibration testing as well as machinery noise
control.
Career
History through Senior Engineer
Mr. Bischoff worked in many disciplines of the
acoustics field for over ten years prior to joining SM&W.
He began his career as a graduate assistant at the Pennsylvania State
University Applied Research Laboratory developing proprietary control algorithms
for multi-channel adaptive vibration control experiments, associated with his
and other student’s thesis work. After graduate school Lance began working on
noise control testing for the Navy’s SEAWOLF submarine program. His duties
involved complex vibration and overside underwater acoustical testing of a
submersible submarine section, and development of time-efficient testing
software. Lance then went on to work
in the field of active noise control with Noise Cancellation Technologies Active
Muffler Division. His duties
included control algorithm, loudspeaker, active muffler, and electronic design
work; as well as extensive acoustical, vibration, and environmental testing of
industrial and automotive active muffler system components. In conjunction with
the development of active noise control technology, Lance gained extensive
experience in conventional (passive) noise and vibration control techniques,
particularly in the area of industrial machinery noise control. Other duties
included assisting in the design of an anechoic dynamometer testing facility, as
well as designing and refining acoustical analytical models, and other testing
fixtures for active muffler technology development.
In September of 1995, Lance began working for an environmental planning
and consulting group in the
Education / Professional Societies
Mr. Bischoff graduated with
honors from the University of Hartford College of Engineering with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Electrical Engineering in May of 1988.
After undergraduate studies, he went on to pursue a Master of Science
degree from The Pennsylvania State University, and published a thesis entitled Multi-Channel
Active Vibration Control of a Mounted Plate
in May of 1991. Lance has
been a member of the Acoustical Society of America and the