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CHAIR  Matt Klassen

CO-CHAIR, TREASURER  Lawrence Schwedler

PAPERS CHAIR  Pablo F. Hoffmann

WORKSHOPS CHAIR  Sally Kellaway

AUDIO / VISUAL COORDINATOR  Greg Dixon 

GRAPHIC DESIGNER, PHOTOGRAPHER  Randi Ganulin

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR  Phillip Klassen

WEBMASTER  Anna Lantz

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR  Dustin Williams

 

 

 

Matt Klassen, Ph.D.
Professor of Mathematics
DigiPen Institute of Technology

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.

 

 

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.

 

  

Pablo F. Hoffmann  
Research Scientist
Facebook Reality Labs

Pablo F. Hoffmann is a Research Scientist at Facebook Reality Labs where he develops novel audio AR technologies. In 2000 he graduated with an acoustic engineering degree from Universidad Austral de Chile. Subsequently he went to Denmark to continue his studies at Aalborg University, where he received an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 2003 and a Ph.D. degree in three-dimensional sound in 2008. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and later as Assistant Professor at Aalborg University, conducting research on technological and psychoacoustical aspects of spatial sound and its applicability to multimodal interfaces for training applications. In 2014 he moved to industry where he worked at Huawei Technologies developing algorithms for audio enhancement in mobile platforms. He was later a Senior Audio Engineer with Bragi GmbH working on the first truly wireless headphones. His interests span audio digital signal processing, 3D-audio capturing and rendering, human (spatial) sound perception, and hearing enhancement. Pablo is a member of the IEEE and the Audio Engineering Society.

 

 

Sally Kellaway
Snr Audio + Voice Designer
Dynamics 365 Remote Assist

Sally Kellaway is the Senior Audio and Voice Designer at Microsoft Mixed Reality at Work, where she is exploring the future of Spatial Audio in Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Enterprise applications. This intersection of technologies allows Sal to build new workflows and technology pipelines that leverage interactive and immersive audio technologies from audio post production, psychoacoustics and game audio with the mission to discover how humans hear, experience and use audio as signals in Mixed Reality. Sal has a deep passion for communicating about the power of audio, and has spoken at conferences across the globe about her experience working across Game Audio, VR and Audio Hardware Development.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

Phillip Klassen
Composer & Sound Designer
Oxide Games

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. In Summer 2018 Phillip joined the Baltimore area software company Oxide Games as Junior Sound Designer.

 

 

Anna Lantz
Audio Tool Programmer
DigiPen Institute of Technology

Anna Lantz is an audio programmer currently studying for her B.S. in Computer Science and Digital Audio at DigiPen Institute of Technology, with an expected graduation date of April 2020. Anna has always been fascinated by how math, randomness, and patterns can interact with human perception to form music. As a long-time fan of how sound is used in videogames as a form of immersion and communication, Anna was drawn to DigiPen for the opportunity to explore digital signal processing algorithms, the structure of common audio software tools, and the work process of sound design for videogames.