Associate Vice President - Louisiana State University

Dr. Stephen David Beck is Associate Vice President as well as the Derryl & Helen Haymon Professor of Music. He holds a joint appointment at the Center for Computation & Technology, where he previously served as the Area Head for the Cultural Computing focus area and Director of the AVATAR Initiative in Digital Media. He was also Interim Director of the center from 2008-2010.

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As AVP, he represents research and creativity activity within the arts, humanities, social and behavioral science disciplines. He is also responsible for the organization and management of the Council on Research, or CoR, funding and award programs, ongoing assessment of research administrative procedures, research policy development and implementation, faculty development workshops and proposal development, facilitation of interdisciplinary research activities, various aspects of the federally mandated research compliance program as well as certain centers that report to ORED.

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Dr. Beck 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 music over networks, and laptop orchestras.

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His current research includes sound diffusion systems, high–performance computing applications in music, music over networks and laptop orchestras. Beck’s 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 labels.

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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 Grid Forum, the Teaching in Higher Education (THE) Forum, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), SIGGRAPH, and the Society of Composers, Inc. He has served in leadership positions of both SEAMUS (President, 1996-2000) and ICMA (Music Coordinator and Regional Director-Americas), and co-founded the Electric LaTex electronic music festival. 

Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities - University of Michigan

Edgar Cardenas received his PhD in Sustainability from Arizona State University. His dissertation, entitled Art-Science for Sustainability, focused on coupling sustainability science with the arts with the objective of bolstering more creative problem solving in sustainability. The culmination of this work resulted in both a written dissertation and a solo thesis exhibit. As a social scientist, Dr. Cardenas focuses on social creativity and small group dynamics, exploring which processes and mechanisms foster creative collaborations. As an interdisciplinary artist, he investigates the ecological, cultural, and technological subtleties of human/environment relationships. He has exhibited internationally at both art and science venues and has been published in art and science journals as well.

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In addition to his research and art practice, Dr. Cardenas has also developed, organized, facilitated, and led several artists-scientists collaborative projects, as well as moderated panels on this topic. Dr. Cardenas also holds an MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of New Haven with a focus on organizational development and conflict management.

Associate Professor of Dance - University of Michigan

Amy Chavasse, Associate Professor of Dance, choreographer, performer, educator, improviser, storyteller and artistic director of ChavasseDance&Performance joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 2006. She has been a guest artist/ faculty member at numerous institutions including Middlebury College, Arizona State, Virginia Commonwealth, UNC-Greensboro, NC School of the Arts, George Washington, Bennington College, University of Calgary and Cornish College of the Arts. She teaches at Ann Arbor Dance Works, ADF’s WFSS series, at DNA- NYC, Florence Summer Dance, Duncan 3.0 (Rome), and was on the faculty of ProDanza Italia from 2006-2010. She teaches contemporary technique, composition, improvisation, repertory, creative process, and social issues in dance.

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As artistic director of ChavasseDance&Performance, Chavasse's work has been presented throughout the U.S. including New York City (Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, 100 Grand, Judson Church, WaxWorks, Triskelion, BAAD Ass! Women’s Fesitval); Washington, D.C. (The Dance Place); San Diego; Seattle (Broadway Performance Hall); Vermont (The Flynn Theater); Tempe, AZ;  and with the NC Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out. Internationally, she has taught and had her work  produced in Trinidad; Cienfuegos and Havana, Cuba; Kaunus and Vilnius, Lithuania; Vienna, Austria; Cali, Colombia; and Buenos Aires. She is dedicated to establishing international connections for her own creative projects and for her students, and since arriving at U-M, she has successfully funded two residencies by Grupo Krapp - Buenos Aires, and ResExtensa Danza Teatro Danza - Bari, Italy. ChavasseDance&Performance traveled to Bari, Italy in July 2011 to teach, rehearse and premiere Hunger for the Longing (a biased history of seduction). Chavasse has danced in many companies and independent projects in NC, DC and NYC, as well as with Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians and Bill Young and Dancers. She received her BFA from the University of NC School of the Arts and her MFA from the University of Washington.

Alumni Professor - Louisiana State University

Dr. Bill DeMastes, a professor of English at LSU, is in his first year as Faculty Athletics Representative. Dr. DeMastes earned his Ph.D in English in 1986 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Field of Study of Drama as Genre and a specialization in 20th-Century American and British Drama. He earned his masters in English in June 1979 from the University of Georgia in Athens where he specialized in 19th-Century American Literature.

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At LSU, he served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2001-2004 and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of English from 1999-2001 and 2010-11. He has also served as Associate Chair of the Department of English (1998-99); Director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts Program (1996-2004); and, Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English (1992-94; 2006-06).

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He was honored with the LSU Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award in 2000 and in 2002 won the LSU Distinguished Faculty Award. He was named in 2009 an LSU Rainmaker which is given to the top 100 LSU Faculty. In 2010 he was named the Tiger Athletic Foundation undergraduate Teaching Award University College and in the summer of 2011 was named the Harry Ransom Summer Fellowship recipient from the University of Texas.

Professor of Physics and Astronomy - Louisiana State University; LIGO Scientific Collaboration

Prof. González research interest is in the detection of gravitational waves with interferometric detectors, such as the one in the LIGO Livingston Observatory, in Livingston, LA. She has published several papers on the specific predictions of Brownian motion as a limiting sources to the detectors' sensitivity. She was a founding member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and has participated intensely in the commissioning of the LIGO detector at the Livingston Observatory since joining LSU in 2001, in issues related to alignment sensing and control. Her group is very involved in the instrumental characterization and calibration of the data collected in the data-taking Science Runs performed by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). From 2000 to 2007, she co-led one of the four data analysis groups in the Collaboration, dedicated to the search of gravitational waves generated by binary systems of compact objects (neutron stars or black holes) in the final inspiraling stage before coalescence. In 2008-2011, she led the LSc detector characterization working group. In 2011, she was elected as the LSC spokesperson.

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Current and select publications include:

• J. Abadie et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration), "Calibration of the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detectors in the Fifth Science Run," Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A624 (2010) 223.

   

• J. Abadie et al. (The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and The VIRGO Collaboration), " Predictions for the Rates of Compact Binary Coalescences Observable by Ground-based Gravitational- wave Detectors, Class. Quantum Grav. 27 (2010) 173001.

   

• J Slutsky, L Blackburn, D A Brown, L Cadonati, J Cain, M Cavagli, S Chatterji, N Christensen, M Coughlin, S Desai, G Gonzlez, T Isogai, E Katsavounidis, B Rankins, T Reed, K Riles, P Shawhan, J R Smith, N Zotov and J Zweizig, " Methods for reducing false alarms in searches for compact binary coalescences in LIGO data," Class. Quantum Grav. 27 (2010) 165023.

   

• B. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration), "Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Binary Coalescences in the First Year of LIGO’s S5 Data," Phys. Rev. D 79 (2009) 122001.

   

• R K Kopparapu, C Hanna, V Kalogera, R O'Shaughnessy, G Gonzalez, PR Brady, and S Fairhurst, "Host Galaxies Catalog Used in LIGO Searches for Compact Binary Coalescence Events," The Astrophysical Journal 675:14591467, 2008 March 10.

   

• G Gonzalez (for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration), "Status of LIGO data analysis," Class. Quantum Grav. 21 (2004) S1575-S1583.

Director, African & African American Studies Program - Louisiana State University

Joyce Marie Jackson is the Director of the African & African American Studies Program and an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University. She received her Ph.D. in Folklore and Ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her key interests center on African American music and culture and performance-centered studies of rituals in Africa and the African diaspora, the Black Mardi Gras Indians, and carnival traditions in Trinidad and Haiti for her forthcoming book on the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians. In addition, she has directed the LSU in Sénégambia Academic Program, and is currently developing an Academic Study Abroad ethnographic field school in Jacmel, Haiti. Jackson has also been the recipient of many awards, national grants and fellowships, including the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Arts Administration.

Gresdna A. Doty Professor of Acting - Louisiana State University

George Judy is a member of Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. His credits as an actor, writer, director and educator include work with the Royal National Theatre Studio, London, The Asolo Theatre, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Illinois Shakespeare Festival and twelve seasons with the Tony award-winning Utah Shakespearean Festival where he performed such favorite roles as Bottom inA Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sir Toby Belch inTwelfth Nightand Polonius inHamlet. Most recent credits include Beverly Weston in Swine Palace'sAugust: Osage County, Lear in Swine Palace’sKing Learand Falstaff inMerry Wives of Windsor, Richelieu inThe Three Musketeersand Alonso inThe Tempestat the Illinois Shakespeare Festival under the direction of Deb Alley. His many regional credits include musical roles such as Pseudolus inA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Joe inDamn Yankees, Frederik inA Little Night Musicand Mack the Knife inThree Penny Opera as well as a stint as a Singing Ringmaster with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey.

Louis S. Flowers Professor, Erich and Lea Sternberg Honors Professor, Brij Mohan Distinguished Professor, Biological Sciences - Louisiana State University

Vince LiCata is a biochemist in the Department of Biological Sciences, and he writes science-based plays that have been produced in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Kansas City, New York, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and Bangkok. COCKTAIL, co-written with Ping Chong, premiered at Swine Palace, and was published by Silkworm Books. His recent play DNA STORY also premiered in Baton Rouge, and is being filmed with support from the Coypu Foundation. Vince has twice won the Baltimore Playwright's Festival. He has also appeared onstage, including in: The Elephant Man, Mousetrap, Arsenic and Old Lace, Killing the Beast, Uncle Vanya, The Grass Harp, Spoon River Anthology, Twelve Angry Men, and locally in: All in the Timing, A View of the Dome, The Adventures of Little Red Riding Hood, and Sacred Waste. Current ongoing projects include SciDance: where scientific concepts are choreographed into dances, and SciArt Conversations: a presentation series, co-curated with Kristin Sosnowsky, where artists and scientists are asked to present and respond to each other on a topic where their interests overlap.

Professor of Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mike joined CANES in 2015 when he transferred from the Department of Theatre and Drama. For the graduate program in ITS, he teaches courses in dramatic literature (primarily British, American, and Continental), dramatic criticism, and theatre and performance theory ranging from Shakespeare to the European avant-garde and postdramatic theatre. His CANES teaching will include a course on the reinterpretation of classical plays by contemporary experimental theatre artists as well as offerings in the Classical Humanities track (Literature and the Arts, Renaissance to Remix; Theatre and Science, Classical to Contemporary).

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Mike is an affiliate faculty member in several areas (Integrated Liberal Studies; Visual Cultures; Celtic Studies; Center for European Studies) and an active contributor to International Studies and the UW Study Abroad program, having developed and taught in programs in London, Dublin and Florence.

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He is author of Performing Drama/Dramatizing Performance: Alternative Theater and the Dramatic Text (U Michigan); Elmer Rice: A Research and Production Sourcebook (Greenwood); and Decades of American Playwriting: The 1970s (Methuen, 2017) as well as essays on theatre pedagogy, dramatic literature, and performance theory. He is currently at work on a history of experimental American theatre companies post-1970 for Methuen.

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Current research interests also focus on interdisciplinary studies of theatre and science, a field in which he has published extensively. He is collecting these essays for a volume devoted to theatre and science and tentatively entitled “‘Congregations Rich with Entropy’: Performance and the Emergence of Complexity.”

Associate Professor of Folklore and Gender Studies - Louisiana State University

Carolyn Ware is Associate Professor of Folklore and Gender Studies in the Department of English at Louisiana State University. She received her Ph. D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Her key interests center on women’s folklore, festival culture, Cajun Mardi Gras traditions, and public folklore. Publications include Cajun Mardi Gras Masks (co-author) and Cajun Women and Mardi Gras, Reading the Rules Backwards as well as numerous journal articles and chapters on Louisiana folklife, rural Mardi Gras traditions, coastal communities and cultural resiliency, and women’s folklore and gender roles. In addition to her research she has served for the American Folklore Society, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and is Director at Large of the Louisiana Folklore Society.