Miriam A. Kolar, Ph.D., studies the human perception of sound in cultural contexts. Her work takes a cross-disciplinary approach to investigating experiential aspects of past and present life linked to sound. New research explores the potential of auralizations for scholarship and public interfacing, engaging issues of virtual reconstruction and knowledge representation.

As lead investigator for the Chavín de Huántar Archaeological Acoustics Project, Miriam has conducted on-site archaeoacoustic research in the Peruvian Andes with archaeologist Dr. John Rick and teams since 2008, exploring an ephemeral class of artifact: the acoustic and auditory perceptual dimensions of ancient architecture and instruments at this 3,000-year-old monument.

Miriam is a recent graduate of the doctoral program at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). Her Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship-supported (SIGF) dissertation, "Archaeological Psychoacoustics at Chavín de Huántar, Perú", was approved in 2013. Prior to her Stanford studies, she worked as concert sound designer and recording engineer, and served as faculty coordinator of the undergraduate music technology program at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

contact
kolar [AT] ccrma [DOT] stanford [DOT] edu