In this lecture, Professor Elaine Chew will discuss how computer analysis of performed music can reveal the shape and form of musical structures that emerge in expressive performance. 

Professor Chew will also show that abnormal heart rhythms exhibit behaviors akin to the variations introduced in performance and composition, thereby opening the door to applying a host of analytical techniques hitherto reserved for music to cardiac arrhythmias. This novel musical view and description of abnormal heart signals have potential to be translated to technologies that can facilitate personalised treatment and diagnoses. 

Professor Elaine Chew is the Principal Investigator of a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant Project COSMOS: Computational Shaping and Modeling of Musical Structures.

Her research centers on the mathematical modeling and computational analysis of music structures, with recent applications to cardiac signal analysis. Her research has been featured on platforms including BBC World Service/Radio 3, Smithsonian Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, Wired Blog, MIT Technology Review and The Telegraph. 

Elaine completed her PhD and masters degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She has served as Professor of Digital Media at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)'s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. Elaine's academic career has also included positions at Harvard, the University of Southern California (USC), Lehigh University, MIT, Georgia Tech and the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM, France). 

Her accolades also include receiving the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE), the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) and fellowships at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is also a Fellow of the NAS Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposia and NAE Frontiers of Engineering Symposia for outstanding young scientists and engineers.