Matt Klassen earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 1993, specializing in number theory and algebraic geometry. Since joining DigiPen in 1999, his interests moved to mathematics relating to computer graphics and geometric modeling with particular emphasis on splines. In 2011, Dr. Klassen helped to lay groundwork for two new programs at DigiPen, requested by President Claude Comair: the BA in Music and Sound Design, and the BS in Computer Science in Digital Audio (originally BS in Engineering and Sound Design). Klassen is a serious classical guitarist, and was delighted to engage in programs at DigiPen which combine mathematics, computer science, and music. He has taught courses in Mathematics of Music (for the BA program), and in Digital Signal Processing (for the BS program). In Spring Semester 2018, Klassen taught a special topics course on "Computation and Modeling of Head-Related Transfer Functions," which explores methods of spatial sound processing with applications for virtual and augmented reality.

Edgar Choueiri, Ph.D.
Director of Engineering Physics
Princeton University

Professor Edgar Choueiri is a professor of applied physics at the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of Princeton University, and Associated Faculty at the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Program in Plasma Physics. He is the director of Princeton University’s Engineering Physics Program, and Chief Scientist at the university’s Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Lab.

Professor Choueiri is also the director of Princeton’s 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics (3D3A) Lab. An avid audiophile, acoustician, and classical music recordist, his decades-long passion for perfecting the realism of music reproduction has led him to work on the difficult fundamental problem of designing advanced digital filters that allow the natural 3D audio to be extracted from stereo sound played through two loudspeakers, without adding any spectral coloration to the sound. He was able to solve this problem mathematically by applying analytical and mathematical tools he uses in his plasma physics research.

Professor Choueiri is a world-renowned leader in the field of plasma physics and plasma propulsion for spacecraft. He is the author of more than 150 scientific publications and encyclopedia articles on plasma rockets, plasma physics, instabilities, and turbulence in collisional plasmas, plasma accelerator modeling, space physics, and applied mathematics. He has been the Principle Investigator (PI) on more than 30 competitively selected research projects (including two space experiments) funded by NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the National Science Foundation, and other governmental and private institutions. He is Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the recipient of many awards and honors, including a knighthood.

Linda Gedemer, Ph.D.
Technical Director, VR Audio Evangelist
Source Sound VR

For 28 years co-chair Linda A. Gedemer has worked as an AV systems consultant and project manager in the development of media production and presentation systems worldwide. She is also an acoustic consultant working in architectural acoustics. She has been actively involved in audio post-production work for many years. In addition, for 12 years Linda served as an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount University as part of LMU’s School of Film and Television. Linda received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and completed her internship at Universal Recording in Chicago; she then relocated to Los Angeles, and began her career as an AV systems designer with such companies as Walt Disney Imagineering. She attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she earned her Master of Science in Acoustics. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD at the University of Salford, UK, and works as a post-graduate researcher at Harman International. She also serves as CTO of Source Sound VR.

Lawrence Schwedler
Program Director, Music and Sound Design
DigiPen Institute of Technology

Lawrence Schwedler is a professional musician with twenty years of experience in the video game industry as a composer, sound designer, and audio director. In 1993 he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in classical guitar performance and electronic music from the University of California at Los Angeles. He was a founding member of the Modern Arts Guitar Quartet, an avant-garde chamber ensemble which toured Europe, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. From 1999 to 2012 he worked for Nintendo Software Technology as Audio Director. There he produced music and sound for fifteen game titles and received credit as co-author on two United States patents, one for interactive real time music composition and another for interactive wave table sound generation. In 2012 he left Nintendo to direct two new degree programs in music and sound design at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond. He lives in Sammamish, Washington with his wife, accompanied from time to time by their son and daughter.

Joe Tylka
Doctoral Candidate, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton University

Joe Tylka is a graduate student in the 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics Laboratory at Princeton University, where he is conducting his dissertation research on navigation and binaural rendering of recorded 3D sound fields. Joe's research interests include 3D audio, psychoacoustics, and digital signal processing.

Ryan Boudinot
Consultant
Immersion Networks

Ryan Boudinot is a consultant for Immersion Networks, a Redmond-based audio technology R&D lab. He has been writing about Seattle’s immersive media community since 2016, on his blog starbirdreality.com. He is the author of two novels and two collections of stories, including Blueprints of the Afterlife, a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award. He has held editorial positions at Amazon, Expedia, Netflix, and Microsoft. Ryan founded and was Executive Director of Seattle City of Literature, the organization that secured Seattle’s membership in UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. He is currently working on a book about creative economies.

Ian Shores
Audio Designer
Highwire Games

Ian is a committed, passionate, decisive, and collaborative sound designer. He recently graduated with honors from DigiPen's Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design program and is now the full-time, in-house audio designer at Highwire Games, where he works with industry veterans like Marty O'Donnell and Jaime Griesemer to create highly polished virtual reality video games. He has a discerning ear, over 20 years of classical musical training, and a passion for working with bleeding-edge technologies.

Shauny Jang
Freelance Composer & Sound Designer

Shauny Jang is a composer and sound designer who has been making games since 2013. She graduated with DigiPen’s Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design in 2017, and since then she has contracted for various studios including for Nintendo, where she helped ship Super Mario Maker for 3DS (2016) and Snipperclips Plus (2017). Currently a freelancer, she works for Audiokinetic translating Wwise documentation, educational material, blog posts and press releases. Shauny has been a performer her entire life. She is happiest when she is in front of a piano or a microphone.

Phillip Klassen
Composer & Sound Designer
Windup Audio

Phillip is a game audio content creator who is comfortable playing many different roles on a game team including sound designer, composer, audio implementer, and dialogue editor. After graduating from DigiPen with a BA in Music & Sound Design, Phillip worked at 8th Shore as Audio Lead and later as Project Manager on VR & MR projects InVokeR, Nightmare Grotto, and Med Stars. In 2018 Phillip left 8th Shore and started his own business, Windup Audio, with two other DigiPen graduates as a game audio solutions company.

Randi Ganulin
Visual Artist

Born in Los Angeles, Randi Ganulin completed general studies at UCLA before studying printmaking and illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design, finishing her BFA in communication design at Otis College of Art and Design. She was awarded the Javits Fellowship for her graduate work in photo-based media, earning an MFA from Otis in 1996. She has exhibited nationwide, and her work is included in the collections of the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, NM, the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Center for Fine Art Photography, the cities of Kent and Tacoma, WA, and varied private collections. She lives with her family just east of Seattle, and teaches part-time in the Fine Art Department at DigiPen Institute in Redmond.

Max Hayes
Audio/DSP Programmer
DigiPen Institute of Technology

Max Hayes is an audio/DSP programmer, composer, and sound designer. Starting with a passion for music, Max spent two years studying at Berklee College of Music in the Music Production and Engineering & Electronic Production and Design degree programs. After working as a live sound engineer, a freelance composer, and sound designer for various media his urge to “see behind the curtain” began to grow. His desire to develop audio technology for video games landed him at DigiPen, where he is currently a senior in the B.S. in Computer Science and Digital Audio degree program.

Greg Dixon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Music & Sound Design
DigiPen Institute of Technology

Greg Dixon teaches courses in Advanced Composition and Sound Design at DigiPen. He holds a Ph.D. in music composition with a specialization in computer music from the University of North Texas, where he worked as a composition teaching fellow, recording engineer, and technical assistant for The Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI). Greg received his M.M. in Music Composition and B.M. in Music Engineering Technology from Ball State University.

His compositional research focuses on electronic music and interactive music systems for games, acoustic instruments, sensor technologies, and human interface devices.

Dixon has worked for more than fifteen years as a professional sound engineer, which has greatly influenced his strategies for designing sounds in the studio. In addition, he has served as a producer, recording engineer, arranger, performer, mixer, and mastering engineer on dozens of commercially available recordings in a wide variety of genres.

Nadeem Firasta, MBA
Technologist, Strategist
Dirac Research

Nadeem’s journey to the world of Sound and Audio has taken a scenic route from the time he completed his Master’s in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on Digital Signal Processing, to the time he joined Dirac Research – an amazing company based out of Sweden - where our vision is to Invent the Future of Sound.

On his journey, Nadeem has had the opportunity to design microprocessors at Intel, and later lead their product strategy for a variety of different products spanning multiple segments of the market that Intel serves. After leaving Intel, he started - and built from ground up - Amalfi Consulting LLC, which provides strategy advisory and market development services for many diverse companies. Eventually his passion for audio led him to accept a position with Dirac Research, where he currently develops the company’s product & business strategy across multiple business lines, and is also responsible for market and business development for North America.

Nadeem has earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Southern California, and an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School of Business.

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2018 AES International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality

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