Stephen David Beck, Ph.D.
Download Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Stephen David Beck is the Area Head for the Cultural Computing focus area (formerly the Human & Social World) at the Center for Computation & Technology at LSU. He is also Director of the CCT Laboratory for Creative Arts & Technologies (LCAT), which was he founded at CCT in 2003.
Dr. Beck is Professor of Composition and Computer Music at the LSU School of Music. He received his Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1988, and held a Fulbright Fellowship in 1985-86 where he was a researcher at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. His current research includes sound diffusion systems, high-performance computing applications in music, and virtual music instruments, a system of interactive computer programs that extend and expand on the performance capabilities of acoustic instruments.
Beck's research and collaborative interests also extend to multimedia, computer animation and cyberinfrastructure applications in the arts & humanities. He co-founded the Red Stick International Animation Festival as an outreach program of LCAT, which in three years has become one of the largest animation festivals in the country. He serves as co-chair of the Humanities, Arts & Social Science (HASS) Research Group for the Open Grid Forum, and is a member of the Humanities, Arts, Science & Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC), an international consortium of universities and high-performance computing centers focused on arts and humanities applications for cyber-infrastructure. He has also been a member of the planning committee for summer cyber-infrastructure workshops for arts & humanities faculty held the past two years at the San Diego Supercomputing Center.
His music has been performed throughout the world, including performances at Weill Recital Hall, Sao Paolo Bienal '91, SCREAM Radio Series, Concert Band Directors National Association Biennial, North American Saxophone Alliance, New Music America, World Harp Congress, and on the Triforium Series in Los Angeles. His music and writings have been published by G. Shirmer, MIT Press, and the Computer Music Journal, and his music has been recorded on the SEAMUS, EMF and Gothic record lables.
Dr. Beck has also presented lectures and papers on his research in interactive computer music and high-performance computing applications in the arts at recent meetings of the International Computer Music Conference, the Global/Open Grid Forum, SuperComputing, the Teaching in Higher Education (THE) Forum, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), and the Society of Composers, Inc. He currently serves as a Regional Director (Americas) and Music Coordinator of the International Computer Music Association. He also has served on the board of officers of SEAMUS, as President (1996-2000) and currently as Director of Conferences.
About his music, Beck writes:
"...the use of technology in my music is not meant to replace musicians, but rather to enhance and expand a performer's potential for expressiveness, technique and, most importantly, timbre. There is an uncanny beauty in the physical and mathematical laws of nature, a beauty of intense complexity bond by simplicity, order and logic. For me, this is a constant and powerful source of inspiration, and the use of modern technology seems the perfect tool for expressing that inspiration and awe."