November 11, 2019

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

The new recording studio in Gavett Hall is an important milestone for our audio and music engineering (AME) program, which has exceeded all expectations in giving its students the skills they need to enter—and keep up with—the rapidly changing field of audio and sound engineering. Why has this program been so successful?

  • It allows students to pursue their passion for music and become engineers at the same time. Sanaa Finley ’23 was so excited at the prospect, she “couldn’t wait to call my mom and tell her” that she was changing her major to AME.
  • Courses blend the “fun stuff”—recording and sound design—with “highly technical and rigorous” training in acoustics, electronics, digital signal processing, and software design: a combination that companies are looking for, says Mark Bocko, chair of electrical and computer engineering. Many of the program’s 44 alumni are working at companies like Apple, Bose, Dolby Laboratories, Harman, and Microsoft, but also at startups like Magic Leap.
  • The curriculum also puts an emphasis on hands-on projects that students can show to employers.

In addition, the faculty members teaching these students bring a wonderful mix of “real-world” experience, theoretical knowledge, and cutting-edge research skills. Read more here about the success of the program. And also click here to read about a visit by Leslie Ann Jones, four-time Grammy Award winner and director of music recording and scoring at Skywalker Sound, to lecture and teach a master class in the new studio’s control room. Leslie has pioneered a place for women in the audio and sound engineering industry.

Also coming to campus for an open guest lecture is composer/keyboardist Kenneth Burgomaster, whose credits include Sopranos, Sex in the City, Entrapment, Hulk, and Hanna Montana. The lecture will be at noon Thursday, November 21 in CSB 616.

Congratulations to the women’s field hockey team, which won the Liberty League Conference title for the second time in team history on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Vassar. Emma Schlechter ’20 of chemical engineering scored the lone goal and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the two-game tournament, which included a 2-0 win over Ithaca College on Wednesday. During the title game, goalie Kate Kujawa ’20 of mechanical engineering made a great save, diving to her right to block a penalty corner shot and keep Vassar off the board.

The team, which also includes Kathryn Colone ‘ 21, Karina Bridger ’23, Nikki Mercer ’22, and Catherine Hauser ’20 of biomedical engineering;  Amanda Strenk ’22 of chemical engineering; Maya Haigis ’20 and Leona Fisher ’22 of data science; Lesley Leatherman ’23 of electrical and computer engineering; and Brianna Madison ’23 of engineering science will now compete in the NCAA Division III playoffs, which begin on Wednesday.  Read more here.

In a recent video for WIRED, Nobel laureate Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD optics) explains the inner-workings and importance of lasers, not once, but five times — to a child, a teenager, a college student, a graduate student, and, finally, to an expert (Mike Campbell, director of the  Laboratory for Laser Energetics). Each time she moves through progressively more complicated concepts. What a great example of how it really is possible to explain science and engineering to a wide range of audiences — if we just give it some thought. Read more here.

Here’s an interesting topic: According to the developers of biosemiotics, computers do not participate in the circulation and interpretation of meanings through sign exchanges. However, N. Katherine Hayles, the Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, will make the case that computers do indeed generate, interpret, and circulate meanings — and will explore the ethical implications — in a talk sponsored by Advancement and the Humanities Center at 5 p.m. this Thursday, November 14, in the Humanities Center Conference Room D.

A reminder: Students interested in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program can attend upcoming application workshops and information sessions at the iZone on:

  • Wednesday, November 13, 8-9 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 21, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
  • Friday, November 22, 2-4 p.m.

Also, sophomores interested in participating in the Tech Industry Road Trip to Silicon Valley on January 7-9, offered through the Greene Center for Career Education and Connections, have until this Thursday, November 14, to apply at Handshake. Read more here.

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman

 

 
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