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Grace Stensland ’23, a sound designer and sound effects editor for animated films and TV, delights in odd noises.

University campuses look and feel different this fall, but as we continue to social distance and limit the capacity of large spaces, Rochester musicians have found ways to stay connected with their audiences.

During a recent master class, four-time Grammy Winner and Skywalker Sound director Leslie Ann Jones was impressed to find that nearly half of the ������ students gathered were women.

The University’s $3 million investment in a new state-of-the-art recording studio, control room, mixing rooms, and sound design lab is a major milestone for Rochester’s now six-year-old audio and music engineering program.

Combining her life-long love for music with her interest in technology led Sanaa Finley ’23 to feel “right at home” at Rochester.

Warble. Wow. Flutter. A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back these irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings of the 1980s and ’90s with a digital plug-in.

They major in optical engineering and minor in Italian. Or work toward dual degrees in music and computer science. Or pursue two minors while majoring in audio and music engineering. Meet the graduating seniors from the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences honored for pursuing dual degrees or minors in the humanities.

As a classical guitarist, Juan Estrella ’18 chafes at the constraints traditional instruments place on artistic expression. As an engineer, he is attempting to create a “new electronic musical interface” that would set a new standard for instrument design.

What began as a “silly pastime” of tossing ice chunks down a borehole in Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, has led to a video with more than 8 million views and a collaboration between an acoustics expert and a climate scientist.

Using recital halls as their “labs,” and recording some of the best music students in the world, University researchers are creating virtual reality videos of concerts that literally immerse viewers “within” the performance onstage.