Personal memories of Ken Plotkin

Ken and I were competitors, co-participants in conferences and professional societies and, occasionally, co-workers. Our times together at meetings or on projects covered about ten years starting in the late 1990s. We worked together on projects for the National Park Service, and spent many meetings of SAE Committee A21 together. These times permitted us to become well-acquainted with each other, and to develop mutual respect for each other's experience and knowledge. We were almost exact contemporaries, being the same ages and starting our careers at almost the same time—Ken at Wyle and I at BBN. Our experiences were somewhat different, with Ken working mostly on military noise issues and I on general transportation noise. We each worked with expert mentors on the our respective coasts; Ken working with Lou Southerland and others in California, I with Ted Schultz, Dick Bolt, and others in Massachusetts. From these times, we enjoyed each other's company, learned a lot from each other, and made memories.