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Eric P. Nichols |
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Updated March 22, 2009 |
Ph.D. Student: Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and Music |
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2471 S. Woolery Mill Dr. http://aimusic.net |
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Research Interests Music cognition – specifically, the development of plausible computer models of the cognitive processes involved in listening to simple melodies. Other research interests include music informatics, computer-aided composition, and machine learning. Education Indiana University – Bloomington Spring 2010 (expected): Joint Ph.D. in
Computer Science and Cognitive Science, Certificate in Cognitive Modeling,
Ph.D. Minor in Music. April 2006: M.S., Computer Science. Montana State University – Bozeman May 2000: B.S., Mathematics and Applied Mathematics with High Honors, Minor in Computer Science. Research experience Music Informatics | Indiana University September 2005 – present With Dr. Christopher Raphael, designed and implemented novel algorithms for: · Cost function optimization in a trellis graph (with applications in automatic harmonic analysis and piano fingering) (using C# and Java) · Polyphonic audio transcription (using C) · Audio segmentation (using C)
Center For Research on Concepts and Cognition January 2004 – present Developing a computer model of music perception and cognition in Western tonal music as a member of the Fluid Analogies Research Group (FARG). Wrote a successful NSF grant proposal which now supports my research through 2009.
Industry experience Research Intern | Microsoft Research June – August 2008 Worked with the Theory and CUE (Computational User Experiences) groups on problems in automatic harmonization of sung melodies stemming from the MySong project. Consultant | Retronyms, LLC September 2007 – present iPhone software engineering, audio software consulting, and Django community website development. President/Owner | AiMusic, LLC January 2007 – present Founded a new company specializing in creativity support tools for musicians. Developed a new and profitable iPhone app. Software Engineer | IntelliChem Inc. May 2001 – December 2003 Played a key role on a product team designing software for top-10 phamaceutical companies; IntelliChem was acquired shortly after our successful 4.0 release. · Designed and implemented client applications (VB 6), web services (C#), and robotic control software for laboratory liquid handlers (C#). · Managed summer interns working on machine learning algorithms for chemical property prediction. · Worked closely with clients at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Pfizer to develop custom software extensions. Lead Technical Writer | Cylant Technology August 2000 – April 2001 Wrote both technical and user documentation for prototype software engineering and security tools in a demanding startup environment. Supported the development team with math and algorithms advice. Designed the company website. Conference Papers/Presentations n Nichols, E., Morris, D., Basu, S., and Raphael, C. "Relationships Between Lyrics and Melody in Popular Music," in International Society for Music Information Retreival Conference (ISMIR), October 2009, Kobe, Japan. n Nichols, E. and Byrd, D. "The Future of Music IR: How Do You Know When a Problem is Solved?" in International Society for Music Information Retreival Conference (ISMIR), October 2009, Kobe, Japan. n Nichols, E. "Lyric-Based Rhythm Suggestion," in International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), August 2009, Montreal, Canada. n Nichols, E. and Joe, E. "Modeling Meter and Key Implication," in Society of Music Perception and Cognition Conference (SMPC), August 2009, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. n Nichols, E. "Lyric-Based Rhythm Suggestion," School of Informatics Grad Poster Session, April 17, 2009, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. Poster awarded First Place in competition. n Nichols, E. "Musicat: a Computer Model of Music Cognition," New Voices in Academia Conference, March 27, 2009, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. n Nichols, E., Morris, D., and Basu, S. "Data-Driven Exploration of Musical Chord Sequences," in 13th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI), February 2009, pp 227-236, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA. n Nichols, E. and Hofstadter, D.R. "Musicat: a computational model of creativity in a musical domain," NSF CreativeIT Workshop, January 2009, Arlington, Virginia, USA. n Raphael, C., and Nichols, E., "Linear Dynamic Programming and the Training of Sequence Estimators, " INFORMS Computing Society (ICS), 2009, Charleston, South Carolina, USA. n Linhares, A. and Nichols, E., "Automated Scientific Discovery and Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts Model, " AAAI 2008 Fall Symposium on Automated Scientific Discovery, 2008, Arlington, Virginia, USA. n Nichols, E. and Linhares, A., "Creativity veRsus Classical Computation, " North American Conference on Computing and Philosophy, 2008, Bloomington, USA. n Raphael, C. and Nichols, E., "Training Music Sequence Recognizers with Linear Dynamic Programming," in MML 2008 International Workshop on Machine Learning and Music, 2008, pp 19-20, Helsinki, Finland. n Knopke, I. and Nichols, E., "Constrained automatic chord alignment and detection of musical structure," CIM 2008 Fourth Conf. on Interdisciplinary Musicology Proc., 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece. n Nichols, E. and Raphael, C., "Automatic Transcription of Music Audio Through Continuous Parameter Tracking," in ISMIR 2007 Eighth Int. Conf. on Music Inf. Retr. Proc., 2007, pp 387-392, Vienna, Austria. n Kasimi, A., Nichols, E., and Raphael, C., "A Simple Algorithm for Automatic Generation of Polyphonic Piano Fingerings," in ISMIR 2007 Eighth Int. Conf. on Music Inf. Retr. Proc., 2007, pp 355-356, Vienna, Austria. n Nichols, E. and Knopke, I., "Musical Attractors: A New Method for Audio Synthesis," in AES 31st Int. Conf. Proc., June 25-27, 2007, London, UK. n Nichols, E. and Raphael, C., "Globally Optimal Audio Partitioning," in ISMIR 2006 Seventh Int. Conf. on Music Inf. Retr. Proc., 2006, pp 202-205, Victoria, Canada. Publications n Raphael, C., and Nichols, E., "Linear Dynamic Programming and the Training of Sequence Estimators, " in Operations Research and Cyber-Infrastructure, eds. Chinneck, J., Kristjansson, B., and Saltzman, M. Springer: New York, NY, 2009, pp 219-231. n Nichols, E.P., "Dynamic Melodic Expectation in the Creative Microdomain SeekWell." Available (from Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition; 510 North Fess; Bloomington IN 47408) as CRCC Technical Report #138. n Nagoski, E.R. and Nichols, E.P. "Risk, Choice, and Environment: an exploratory agent based model of sexual heterogeneity". In preparation. n Jordan, R.N., Nichols, E.P., and Cunningham, A.B. (1999). "The role of (bio)surfactant sorption in promoting the bioavailability of nutrients localized at the solid-water interface." Wat. Sci. Technol. p 91, v 39 no 7. Awards n NSF SGER Grant for: "Musicat: a computational model of creativity in a musical domain," under the direction of Douglas R. Hofstadter, 2007-2009 n Summer Research Fellowship in Cognitive Science, Indiana Univ., 2004-2006 n NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2003-2004 n Barry Goldwater Fellowship, 1998 n Presidential Scholar, Montana State University, 1995-2000 TeachinG Instructor | Indiana University September 2008 – December 2008 Instructor for an undergraduate artificial intelligence course (CompSci B351/CogSci Q351). Associate Instructor | Indiana University January 2004 – May 2005 Lab instructor for an introductory computer literacy and Microsoft Office course. Guest Lecturer | Indiana University January 2004 – May 2005 Ad-hoc lecturer for several graduate seminars on music informatics. skills / Other n C# and the .NET Framework, Objective-C, Cocoa Touch (iPhone SDK), Visual Basic 6, C, C++, Java, Python, Django n Experience in Scheme, Lisp, PERL, Ada, and Pascal n Keyboardist, bass guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with the folk-rock band Angerhard Eclectic n Member of Guidonian Hand, a five-person madrigal vocal ensemble n Studied artificial intelligence and mathematics in Lyon, France for one semester |
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References available upon request |
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