Shashank Aswathanarayana is a music technologist, percussionist and researcher from Bengaluru, India. He is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to this, Shashank was a music information retrieval engineer at a San Francisco-based mobile startup, Humtap. He holds a Masters degree in Music Technology from New York University and a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University in India. His research interests include spatial/3D audio, soundscape studies and music information retrieval. In his free time, he enjoys trekking, traveling and playing sports.
PhD student
samuellebourgault (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Mengyu Chen is an artist and designer working in the realms of technology, philosophy, and culture. His projects adopt an anti-anthropocentric approach to design and engineering, conceptualizing machines and objects on the same ontological level as human beings.
As a working artist, he completed his Masters in digital + media at RISD while a member of the Data Visceralization Research Group, and a permanent collaborator of the Mestizo Robotics at RISD and RPI. Areas of investigation include interactivity, ideology, prosthetic social extensions, object-oriented aesthetics, and autonomous machines.
Enrica was raised in an Italian hamlet by the Mediterranean sea; her deep sea diver dad taught her early on the value of knowing how to build her creative projects. She studied Architecture in Genova (Italy), urban design in Lyon (France) and media arts and technology in Santa Barbara (U.S.A.). In life she embraced creative fields in which it was indispensable to own the technical side of her creations. Architecture, more than any, requires the knowledge of design as well as construction, materials, and sustainable practices, all merging to make a living sculpture.
PhD student
sdinulescu (at) mat.ucsb.edu
PhD student
diarmid (at) mat.ucsb.edu
PhD student
purvagujar (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Mark Hirsch describes himself as an InterArtist, communicating in languages of sound, visualization, code, and design to realize his ideas. Through his work, Hirsch seeks to use experimental technology to create new connections between seemingly unrelated elements of daily life. The interactive nature of his projects lends a degree of intimacy to the often cold, impersonal aesthetic of digital technology.
Current research includes: sculptural systems, robotics, soft robotics, shape changing structures, mechatronic art.
PhD student
masood (at) mat.ucsb.edu
MSc student
xindi (at) umail.ucsb.edu
Xindi Kang is a researcher and artist working with interactive media. She is interested in interfacing between human and technologies through voice and movements. She designs experiences that inspire people to see and hear themselves in a different way. Her research and professional interest lies in human computer interaction and user experience design. She is currently working towards her Master's degree at the Media Arts and Technology program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
PhD student
anzu (at) umail.ucsb.edu
PhD student
konhyong (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Guitarist, programmer, and expert pillow fighter.
Research interests include machine learning aided algorithmic composition and visualization.
• Interactive Media • Data Visualization • VR • AR
You-Jin focuses on visual programming and ways of presenting a large amount of data on a personal level. He believes the most powerful way to convey knowledge is to process the data into an intimate material. Through right presentation, You-Jin strives to introduce revolutionary ways to communicate with one’s memories and experiences.
You-Jin is a multi-disciplinary creator, who sees the technology in context. The virtual reality environment, which he is designing, acts as a supporting medium to embrace human creativity through emerging technologies.
• BFA in Art and Technology Studies (ATS), SAIC.
• MFA in Computational Media (MFAEDA), Duke University.
MSc student
kobernik (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Myungin is seeking the nature of sound. His research interest is music and sound signal processing and the application, including analysis, synthesis, and reproduction. Myungin received his BSc and MSc in Electronics and Computer Engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
Sihwa Park is a sound interaction designer, media artist, and developer. He is mainly interested in data-driven audiovisual arts based on the concept of "Quantified-Self" and "Data Art". His interest especially lies in the artistic multi-modal transformation of personal data reflecting personal taste, preference or behavior, such as life-logging data, physical activity data, digital content usage/history and so on. Also, he is seeking to create new musical experiences for audiences or performers by embracing new technologies in making a novel musical interface/interaction. Before pursuing his Ph.D. study at Media Arts and Technology at UCSB, he worked as a UX designer and freelance iOS application developer in Seoul, Korea.
PhD student
anshulpendse (at) umail.ucsb.edu
PhD student
reardon (at) ucsb.edu
PhD student
jungah (at) mat.ucsb.edu
MSc Radiation Applied Life Science, Seoul National University. BS Electrical Engineering, Korea University.
PhD student
merttoka (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Mert received his BS degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Sabanci University, Turkey, and worked as a research assistant in Behavioral Analytics and Visualization Lab (BAVLAB) in the same institution. His primary interests include Computer Graphics, Interaction Design, Data Visualization and Physical Computing.
PhD student
adelvalle (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Ashley Del Valle-Morales is a researcher and an entrepreneur currently working in the Expressive Computation Lab doing her PhD in Media Art and Technology. She has a bachelor from the University of Puerto Rico in Electrical Engineering. Ashley is an NSF-GRFP awardee in STEM Education and Learning, and a University Innovation Fellow (UIF). She is interested in Human-Computer Interaction through immersive technologies and aims to develop educational interactive tools and/or experiences to motivate young students, especially those from underrepresented communities, to learn about STEAM.
PhD student
nweitzner (at) mat.ucsb.edu
Yin Yu is interested in exploring the potential of multimedia interactive environments and the relationship between architecture and music through the emerging technologies in contemporary art/architecture practice. Her goal is to broaden the relationship between human beings and the built space by redesigning the environment inspired by music. Application areas include architecture, fashion, performance, public space, social behavior, and interaction design. She also specialized in interdisciplinary pedagogy and curriculum design at the college level for interdisciplinary education.
Currently, she is a PhD student in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering, and a Master of Science in Information Technology, and a Master of Science in Interior Architecture.
Weidi Zhang is a new media artist and visual designer. Her media arts practices synthesize both the artistic and computational, that push the boundaries of space, interactivity, and abstraction into new areas of visual and sonic complexity. Her research and practice interests are investigating the possibilities of non-linear narrativity and semantic meanings in virtual reality environments through spatial assemblage, experimental visualization and intelligent system design. Her works are featured at different galleries and conferences internationally, such as SIGGRAPH 2019, IEEE Vis art program, 'Xcelerator' at Times Art Museum (Beijing), etc. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student in the Media Arts and Technology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She holds her MFA degree in Art + Technology at California Institute of the Arts.
PhD student
mengjiazhu (at) umail.ucsb.edu
