Yushen Han

Music Informatics PhD Student

"It is a desirable program for me to apply science and information technology to music. I work more on the scientific and acoustic side to develop algorithms with mathematics (statistics) and computer technologies, and also explore the empirical and musical side in, such as, music notations. To quote one of my favorite colleagues, who is a wonderful pianist, music-theorist and potential statistician, we enjoy our work and "do not need to have fun for the sake of having fun."

"The interaction with my professors and colleagues enables me to make sure that I am working on the meaningful problem, being aware of resources that can help me, and in a way that is reasonably efficient. (I'd like to mention this: as the first PhD student in this program, I enjoy an incredible instructor-to-student ratio.)"

"I enjoy diverse music events (not necessarily classical music) in this town, and am actively involved in performing (guitar) with my colleagues. I got exposed to different genres of music that I could hardly find even in the metropolitan cities like Shanghai (I come from China). Having lived in cities with populations of millions, for years, surprisingly I find Bloomington a really nice place to live (as a minimalist so far), partly because of the diversity of the musical resources that it offers."

"In terms of sharing the techniques powered by computer, they have different interdisciplinary subjects in this school, in which Bioinformatics, Complex Systems etc. are in the science side and may lead to a good career for me with a degree in Electronic Engineering. Without being classically trained (as my professors), I feel that I have a strong personal connection to music, one of the most enjoyable activities in my life, which our work will eventually benefit."