Alex Han

Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA)
Stanford University

About Me

I am a multidisciplinary artist and researcher, currently pursuing a Masters degree at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA). My research focuses on using AI and other computational methods to develop new tools for creative expression. I aim to synthesize methods from AI, Human-Computer Interaction, Brain-Computer Interface, and Music Theory & Composition, in order to build expressive audiovisual tools and to use these tools in my own artistic output.

Prior to my graduate studies, my academic background was in cognitive science and philosophy. I graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a B.A. in Cognitive Science. During my time at Brown, I maintained an active performance career as a jazz pianist throughout New England. I received the Mitchell Baker Scholarship for excellence in jazz performance, as well as the Brand Musical Premium - Brown's highest award in music. After graduating from Brown, I attended the master's program in Philosophy at The Graduate Center, CUNY, specializing in philosophy of mind. I left my philosophy program in 2018 to focus on my professional career as a musician.

As a musician, I am a multi-instrumentalist performer, composer, and producer. I am a classically-trained jazz pianist with over 20 years of study. I perform and write music in a wide array of styles including jazz, classical, neo-soul, indie, pop, and experimental. My recent focus has been on songwriting, composition, and production. At Stanford, I currently study composition with Jarosław Kapuściński, and I also co-lead the CCRMA Songwriters Club. Right now, I am focused on composing selectively-generative audiovisual pieces that integrate human and machine synthesis.

At CCRMA, I am concentrating on mastering state-of-the-art computer science methods in machine learning, music information retrieval, digital signal processing, and interactive design. I am a member of several labs and working groups: I work on developing new features in the ChucK programming language (with prof. Ge Wang), conduct research on rhythm and expressive timing in the NeuroMusic Lab (with prof. Takako Fujioka), and serve as a co-lead of the Ambiguous Collaboration Working Group, a student affinity group under Stanford's Human-Centered AI Institute (HAI). I am also working on composition for computer-augmented piano performance, sonification of oscillatory activity in the brain and heart via real-time biofeedback, and design for interactive audiovisual works. I am passionate about building and using systems to augment and amplify, rather than replace, human expression, and are strongly conscious of the new ethical considerations raised by generative art.

CV available upon request. Please email at tae1han at stanford dot edu.