About Me

Last modified: Jul 21, 2017 @ 5:19 pm

Contact e-mail: donyaquick@gmail.com
Academic e-mail:  dquick@stevens.edu
Alternate e-mail: donyavq@netscape.net

I am currently a Research Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. I am interested in research and teaching in the areas of computer music, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computational linguistics, and programming languages.

PDF Cariculum Vitae
My LinkedIn Profile

Current research area: since the spring of ’09, my research has involved modeling the compositional process through a combination of programming languages, artificial intelligence, machine learning, music theory, and linguistics. I am particularly interested in the relationship between music and language and have been exploring the use of grammars in music generation.

Previous research and academic experience: my background prior to coming to Yale was in computer science and environmental science at Southern Methodist University (SMU). My research involved visualization of DNA/RNA and seismic data as well as event cluster detection in seismic data.

Employment

• Research Assistant Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology, June 2017 – present
• Visiting Professor, Southern Methodist University, August 2016 – May 2017
• Researcher, University of Arizona, June 2016 – August 2016.
• Lecturer, Yale University Department of Computer Science, November 2014 – May 2016.
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Yale University Department of Computer Science, September 2014 – October 2014.
• Software development for Geotech Instruments, 2007.

Education

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Yale University, December 2014.
• M.Phil. in Computer Science, Yale University, December 2011.
• M.S. in Computer Science, Yale University, December 2011.
• M.S. in Computer Science, Southern Methodist University, July 2008.
• B.S. in Computer Science and Environmental Science, Southern Methodist University, May 2008. Graduated summa cum laude.
• A.A. in Science, Lord Fairfax Community College, May 2005.
• Honor societies:
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Phi Theta Kappa

Publications

• Composition by Conversation. Donya Quick and Clayton T. Morrison. Accepted to ICMC 2017 (forthcoming).
• Recursive Generation of Rhythmic Structures with PTGGs. Brian Heim and Donya Quick. Accepted to ICMC 2017 (forthcoming).
• Learning Production Probabilities for Musical Grammars. Donya Quick. Journal of New Music Research, 2016.
• The Haskell School of Music: from Signals to Symphonies.  Paul Hudak and Donya Quick. Textbook under review by publisher.
• Composing with Kulitta. Donya Quick. Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, 2015.
• Media Modules: Intermedia Systems in a Pure Functional Paradigm. Mark Santolucito, Donya Quick, and Paul Hudak. Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, 2015.
• Real-Time Interactive Music in Haskell. Paul Hudak, Donya Quick, Mark Santolucito, and Daniel Winograd-Cort. 2015 Workshop on Functional Art, Music, Modeling, and Design.
• Kulitta: a Framework for Automated Composition. Doctoral Thesis at Yale University. August, 2014.
• Grammar-Based Automated Music Composition in Haskell. Donya Quick and Paul Hudak. 2013 Workshop on Functional Art, Music, Modeling and Design.
• A Temporal Generative Graph Grammar for Harmonic and Metrical Structure. Donya Quick and Paul Hudak. International Computer Music Conference, 2013. Supporting implementation
  
• Computing with Chord Spaces. Donya Quick and Paul Hudak. International Computer Music Conference, 2012. Supporting implementation.
• Generating Music Using Concepts from Schenkerian Analysis and Chord Spaces. Donya Quick. Yale Technical Report, 2010.
• Masters thesis: Applications and Parameter Analysis of Temporal Chaos Game Representation. Southern Methodist University, 2008.
• TCGR: A Novel DNA/RNA Visualization Technique. Donya Quick and Margaret H. Dunham. Extended abstract, NGDM 2007.
• Visualization of DNA/RNA Structure using Temporal CGRs. Margaret H. Dunham, Donya Quick, Yuhang Wang, Monnie McGee, and Jim Waddle. IEEE BIBE 2006.

Posters

• Empirical Evaluation of Kulitta. Donya Quick and Christopher Burrows. Northeast Music Cognition Group, 2015.
• Empirical Assessment of Automated Composition Algorithms. Donya Quick and Christopher Burrows. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association, October 2014.

Software Projects

• MUSICA, contributor, spring 2016 – present. A system for interactive improvisation and musical communication funded by the Communicating with Computers DARPA grant.
• Kulitta, creator and maintainer, spring 2009 – present. A framework for algorithmic and automated composition.
• Euterpea, contributor and maintainer, fall 2009 – present. A library for music representation, algorithmic composition, and sound synthesis in Haskell.

Compositions, Concerts, and Commissions

• Music composition: my more recent compositions, including algorithmic work, can be heard on SoundCloud and my older ones on Soundclick. My algorithmic compositions are also described in detail on this page of my site.
• Vesicularia, algorithmic composition performed at Electronic Music Midwest, October 2016.
• Paul Hudak Symposium Listening Room, April 2016. Concert organization and presentation of multiple original and algorithmic compositions using Euterpea and Kulitta.
• Algorithmic music commission, January 2016. Using Kulitta to produce performable piano compositions for Gartner.
• Euterpea Studio Concert, November 2015. Concert organization and presentation of an algorithmic composition using Kulitta.

Courses Taught

• Functional Creative Coding (spring 2017, SMU). functional paradigms explored through musical applications using Haskell programming language and Euterpea library.
• Sound and Code (spring 2017, SMU). Creating virtual instruments and signal processing programs with Pure Data.
• AI and Creative Composition (fall 2016, SMU). Advanced course examining AI in creative fields, with a focus on automated music generation.
• Creative Coding I (fall 2016 and spring 2017, SMU). Introduction to programming using Processing and Java.
• Computer Music: Sound Representation and Synthesis (spring 2016). Advanced computer music course focused on low-level issues of representing sound and programming with streams. Software used: Haskell and Euterpea.
• Programming Musical Applications (fall 2015, Yale). Introductory course exploring the basics of programming and computer science with music as an area of application. Software used: JythonMusic.
• Computer Music: Algorithmic and Heuristic Composition, (spring 2015). Advanced computer music course focused on programming language representation for score-level musical features and algorithms for producing novel musical works. Software used: Haskell and Euterpea.

Teaching Assistant Experience (Yale University): Object-Oriented Programming, Parallel Programming Techniques, Computer Music: Algorithmic and Heuristic Composition, Machine Learning, Cryptography and Computer Security, and Advanced Artificial Intelligence.

Skills

• Programming languages: Haskell, Python, Processing/Java, C++, C, SQL/MySQL, C#, ML, Verilog, Assembly.
• Other skills: repository/version management, iterative software development with a programming team, algorithmic engineering.

Hobbies and other interests:

• Music: I currently play piano and guitar (classical, electric, and bass electric) and occasionally attempt theremin. In the past I played violin, recorder, and dumbec.
• Origami and other forms of art. My work is hosted on Deviantart.
• Aquatic gastropods, both freshwater and marine. My work on the subject can be found here.
• Marine hermit crab behavior. My work on the subject can be found here.
• Propagation of soft corals and sea anemones.
• Freshwater and marine reef aquariums.

Origami Parasaurolophus, designed and folded by me. Instructions can be found HERE.