Service - Institute

The professional service activities listed below reflect sustained leadership within the international engineering and acoustics communities through editorial responsibilities, conference organization, peer review, and scientific committee membership.

Institute Committee Service

Institute service has focused primarily on the development and governance of Georgia Tech Europe, contributing to its academic, research, and international missions. In particular, strategic planning activities involved adapting Institute-wide priorities to the European campus while ensuring appropriate consideration of Georgia Tech's international activities within the broader institutional framework.

• Member, Assemblée Générale (General Assembly), Georgia Tech Europe – CNRS International Research Laboratory (IRL 2958), 2023–2025.
• Member, Georgia Tech Europe Strategic Planning Committee, 2021.
• Member, Georgia Tech Europe Faculty Recruitment Committees, including evaluation of candidates and hosting campus interview visits, 2016, 2022.

College Committee Service

Because Dr. Declercq’s faculty appointment has been based at Georgia Tech Europe, institutional service has been concentrated at the Institute (Georgia Tech Europe) and School levels rather than through College-level committees located on the Atlanta campus.

School Committee Service

School service has emphasized graduate education, faculty development, curriculum, and faculty recruitment. Committee assignments have reflected both Dr. Declercq’s disciplinary expertise in acoustics and wave propagation and broader contributions to graduate education across engineering and applied mathematics.
Although his primary research is in the Acoustics and Dynamics area of Mechanical Engineering, he served for eleven years on the Applied Mathematics Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Committee. Dr. Declercq’s examination problems consistently emphasized mathematically rigorous analysis motivated by authentic engineering applications.

• Member, Acoustics Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Committee, 2008–2011; 2022–present.
• Member, Applied Mathematics Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Committee, 2011–2022.
• Member, Faculty Recruitment Committee, G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, 2014–2019.
• Member, Graduate Committee, G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, 2019–2020.
• Member, Undergraduate Committee, G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, 2013–present.
• Member, Faculty Development Committee, G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, 2008–2013.

Program Development: Research

At Georgia Tech Europe, Dr. Declercq’s research program development extended well beyond establishing an individual laboratory. It involved helping create an internationally recognized research environment capable of attracting students, collaborators, visiting scholars, industrial partners, and external funding while strengthening the visibility and credibility of Georgia Tech within the French and broader European research ecosystem. Many of these efforts required sustained investment over many years before producing measurable outcomes.

• Established and expanded the ultrasonics and wave physics research program at Georgia Tech Europe, developing one of the campus's internationally recognized research groups.
• Contributed to the international scientific reputation of Georgia Tech Europe by arriving with an already established international research profile and continuing to publish at a high level, helping position Georgia Tech Europe as a serious long-term research partner within the French scientific community.
• Developed long-term collaborations with French, European, Asian and American laboratories that resulted in sustained joint publications, student exchanges, joint supervision, and externally funded research.
• Contributed to the emergence of research on phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials in France through pioneering work on wave propagation, diffraction phenomena, acoustic periodic structures, Chichén Itzá, Epidaurus, backward displacement phenomena and related media coverage, helping stimulate subsequent collaborations and research activity in these fields.
• Led the organization of the 2015 International Congress on Ultrasonics in Metz, bringing the world's leading ultrasonics community to Georgia Tech Europe and significantly increasing the international visibility and recognition of both the campus and the regional research ecosystem.
• Developed and maintained long-term international collaborations that ultimately culminated in the i-META project, illustrating that successful international research programs often require many years of relationship building before funding opportunities mature.
• Development of the Georgia Tech Europe ultrasonics laboratory under evolving resource constraints.

Program Development: Academic

The early years of Georgia Tech Europe required sustained institutional development and continual adaptation. Beyond normal teaching responsibilities, faculty members were frequently required to help develop the educational environment itself. Dr. Declercq’s contributions therefore included not only curriculum delivery, but also the continuous development of teaching methods, laboratory experiences, student mentoring, recruitment, and academic support necessary for a small overseas campus to mature into a successful international extension of Georgia Tech.

• Helped establish the academic culture of Georgia Tech Europe during its formative years by adapting continuously to changing student populations, facilities, curricula, and institutional needs.
• Introduced diversified assessment methods (projects, presentations, reports, homework and examinations), an approach later adopted more broadly at Georgia Tech Europe. (Already documented elsewhere in this CV.)
• Developed laboratory instruction despite initially limited facilities, progressively building an effective experimental environment for undergraduate and graduate education.
• Developed teaching approaches specifically adapted to students transitioning between European and American educational systems, helping students successfully prepare for later study at the Atlanta campus.
• Contributed to student recruitment across Europe through recruitment visits and extensive individual advising.
• Provided sustained academic advising extending from recruitment through graduate school and often continuing after graduation.
• Contributed to strengthening Georgia Tech Europe's international identity through integration of research, education, industrial collaborations and international partnerships.
• For the past fourteen years, Dr. Declercq has served as the principal Mechanical Engineering faculty representative at Georgia Tech Europe, always maintaining an open-door policy for all our graduate students seeking academic advice while at Georgia Tech Europe.
Many aspects of Georgia Tech Europe's academic environment could not simply be inherited from an established campus but had to be created, adapted, and continuously refined in response to local educational, cultural, and institutional realities.

Other Institute Service Contributions

The activities below reflect continuing contributions to the day-to-day academic environment and international recognition of Georgia Tech Europe. Although many fall outside the scope of formal committee assignments, they support student recruitment, academic advising, international collaborations, laboratory operations, institutional reporting, and the welcoming environment that characterizes Georgia Tech Europe's engagement with students, visitors, and research partners.

Student Recruitment

Student recruitment visits formed an important component of Georgia Tech Europe's outreach to leading French engineering schools. These visits provided opportunities to present Georgia Tech's graduate programs, strengthen relationships with partner institutions, and recruit highly qualified students to Georgia Tech Europe and the Atlanta campus. Many students encountered during these visits subsequently enrolled in graduate programs at Georgia Tech.

• École Centrale Paris, Cluny, France (2019)
• École Centrale Lille, France (2016–2018)
• École Centrale Angers, France (2017)
• École Centrale Metz, France (2017)

Academic Advising and Student Support

Provided academic guidance and mentoring to graduate students at Georgia Tech Europe beyond formal advising responsibilities. This role has included assisting students with academic planning, research opportunities, international mobility, and graduate study while serving as a readily accessible faculty resource within the Georgia Tech Europe community.

• Graduate Program Advisor for Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech Europe (Fall 2011; Fall 2015–present)
• Faculty contact for Georgia Tech M.S. thesis students participating in European double-degree programs while in residence at Georgia Tech Europe (Spring 2023–present)
• Faculty contact for Georgia Tech Europe students considering Ph.D. studies in Atlanta or at other international universities (2023–present)

International Research Laboratory (IRL) Contributions

Contributed to the operation and external evaluation of the Georgia Tech Europe–CNRS International Research Laboratory through scientific hosting, institutional documentation, and preparation for periodic reviews required by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

• Hosted scientific visitor Prof. Jingfei Liu (Texas Tech University), 2025.
• Contributed to preparation of the five-year activity reports and laboratory presentations for CNRS evaluations (2012, 2017, 2022).
• Prepared laboratory description documents for visiting review committees and official CNRS documentation (2015, 2021).

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Served as faculty judge for the Georgia Tech Undergraduate Research Spring Symposium when participation from Georgia Tech Europe was feasible through remote or contingency arrangements.

17th Annual Undergraduate Research Spring Symposium (standby judge), 2023.
15th Annual Undergraduate Research Spring Symposium (virtual), 2021.

Laboratory and Community Engagement

Supported the welcoming and collaborative environment of Georgia Tech Europe by hosting visitors, assisting educational activities, and contributing to public-facing presentations of laboratory research.

• Hosted a high-school internship student (Cloé Schroeder), 2025.
• Contributed scientific imagery for Georgia Tech Europe artistic and outreach display boards, 2023.