Mark E. Schaffer, P.E. ( President )

Education:

M.S. (Mechanical Engineering), University of Texas at Austin, 1976;
B.S. (Engineering Science), University of Texas at Austin, 1975.

Professional Societies:

Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE), Board-Certified
Amer. Soc. of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Cond. Engineers (ASHRAE)
Acoustical Society of America (ASA)

Professional Positions:

Schaffer Acoustics, 1998- Present
McKay Conant Brook, '90-?98
Paul S. Veneklasen & Associates '85-'90, '76-'81
Schaffer Mechanical, Inc., President/Vice-President '81-'85

Professional Experience:

Mr. Schaffer is a full-service acoustical consultant whose projects have included the design of central plants; cogeneration plants; co-location facilities; office buildings (core & shell and interiors); hospitals; schools & universities; apartment & condominium buildings; factories; laboratories; houses of worship; television, radio & film studios; convention centers; theaters and auditoriums. His capabilities include a wide range of activities involving architectural acoustical design, sound isolation, equipment noise & vibration control, environmental noise mitigation, sound system design and the control of floor vibration in laboratories & factories with vibration-sensitive equipment & instrumentation. Mr. Schaffer also provides litigation support in all areas of building acoustics.

Thanks to 30 years of combined experience in acoustics and HVAC system contracting, Mr. Schaffer has a unique background for building systems noise & vibration control. Using that experience he has authored a design guide for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The guide, titled "A Practical Guide to Noise and Vibration Control for HVAC Systems", helps architects and engineers avoid many of the design mistakes that frequently lead to noise and vibration problems in HVAC systems. The guide is now in its second edition.

Mr. Schaffer is a past chair of the ASHRAE Technical Committee on Sound and Vibration and is the principal author for the 1993 revision of the chapter on Sound and Vibration Fundamentals in the ASHRAE Handbook. He is often asked to review technical articles by other authors, assist in the development of national acoustical standards and consult with HVAC equipment manufacturers on acoustical aspects of product design.

Acoustical testing in both the field and the laboratory are a part of Mr. Schaffer's expertise, with extensive experience in the areas of HVAC equipment noise, sound transmission, floor vibration, community noise exposure and product noise testing.

Mr. Schaffer was a member of the national task force that developed the new Classroom Acoustics Standard, ANSI Standard S12.60-2002, which establishes classroom acoustical performance standards for controlling the intrusion of outdoor noise, HVAC system noise and reverberation.

Presentations:

Mr. Schaffer has presented seminars and papers on several aspects of building acoustics at meetings and conferences throughout the world. He currently teaches a short-course on HVAC system noise & vibration control.

Representative Projects

Office Buildings

Federal Office Buildings/Courthouses in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Fresno, Anchorage and Santa Ana, CA
Amgen Corporation, Television Studio & Office Areas, Thousand Oaks, CA
Western Digital Corporation Headquarters, Irvine, CA
Lockheed Corporation Headquarters, Calabasas, CA
Carnation Corporation Headquarters, Glendale, CA
IBM General Products Division, Tucson, AZ
B.F. Goodrich Headquarters, Cleveland, OH
The AT&T Building, Irvine, CA
Arco Centre, Los Angeles, CA

Religious Buildings

Wilshire Temple, West Los Angeles Campus
Good Shepherd Church, Beverly Hills, CA
Kehillat Israel, Pacific Palisades, CA
St. Martin of Tours, Brentwood, CA

Specialty Projects

Staircase Vibration Analysis and Measurement, Barneys of New York, Beverly Hills, CA
Several Electron Microscope/Floor Vibration Projects, UCLA
G.E. Americom South Mountain Earth Station, Somis, CA
Mattel Corporation Floor Vibration, El Segundo, CA
Exterior Chiller Noise Control, Tanzania, Africa
Red Dog Mine, Kotzebue, Alaska

Project with Large Central Plants

Capitol East End Complex, Sacramento
Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu
Estrella Mountain Community College, Phoenix
2000 Summer Olympics International Broadcast Centre, Sydney, Australia
Amgen Corporation, Thousand Oaks, CA

Educational Projects

University of California at San Diego, Clinical Sciences Research Building, La Jolla, CA
University of California at Irvine, 5 laboratory buildings, Irvine, CA
Several Projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Pasadena, CA
Neurosciences Institute, Univ. of Cal. San Diego, La Jolla, CA
The Colburn School of Music, Los Angeles, CA

Public Assembly/Entertainment Projects

Scottsdale Community College, Motion Picture & Television Studios, Scottsdale, AZ
U.S. Army Band Recording Studio Renovation, Arlington, VA
St. Louis Zoo, Living World Exhibit, St. Louis, MO
Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, CA
Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, HI
Paramount Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
Royce Hall Renovation, UCLA