2014 AES Educational Foundation Awards

The Educational Foundation of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) has announced the recipients of the 2014 AES Educational Grants for Graduate Studies in Audio Engineering. The announcement was made by Don Puluse, president of the AES Educational Foundation (AESEF), on behalf of the foundation’s Board of Directors.

This year the foundation offers a special scholarship marking Bruce Swedien’s 80th birthday and recognizing over six decades of recording artistry. This scholarship is funded by his colleagues, family, fans, and friends. The scholarship will aid young recording engineers who believe in putting “Music First!” For more information, visit www.swedienscholarship.org.

The inaugural Bruce Swedien Scholarship is awarded to Pawel Leskiewicz, a graduate student in Sound Recording at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University. He earned his BM with honors from the Royal Conservatory of Music, The Hague, Netherlands. Pawel has won top prizes at several international competitions on classical guitar in his native Poland. He has also completed internships with Channel Classics Records and Polyhymnia International (formerly Philips Classics).

Two special grants are being provided by Harman International Industries to support graduate education in audio. The Board of Directors has decided to renew these grants for last year’s Harman Scholars Brecht De Man and Kai Siedenburg. Mr. De Man has undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering from University of Ghent, Belgium, and is studying for a Ph.D. (EE and Computer Science) at Queen Mary University of London. Mr. Siedenburg has an M.S. in Mathematics from Humboldt University, Berlin, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Music Technology, Department of Music Research, at McGill University. He was previously a Fulbright visiting student at UC Berkeley and did his master’s thesis at University of Vienna.

The Emil Torick Scholar distinction is being given to Charlotte Desvages, who will earn a Ph.D. in audio and acoustics at the University of Edinburgh. Her previous degrees are from Edinburgh (Acoustics and Music Technology) and Universitè de Caen Basse-Normandie (physics). This award, honoring former AES Foundation President Torick, is awarded to an outstanding student with exceptional career goals.

The John Eargle Award, given annually to a student who excels in both technology and music, is a renewal award for Elizabeth Marston towards her M.M. in Sound Recording at McGill University. Ms. Marston holds a B.A. in Music from Seattle Pacific University.

Javed Hamza receives a renewal award to pursue a Ph.D. in Speech and Audio Processing from Imperial College London, where he also completed his previous degrees. Marlene Mathew earns a renewal award towards her Master’s in Music Technology to NYU. She has a BS in Computer Science from CWPost.

Dziedzic Tomasz is a Ph.D. candidate at AGH University of Science & Technology, Poland, where he also received his M.A.; Tomasz is in the department of Mechanics and Vibroacoustics. Robert Fernandes is studying for an M.M. in Sound Recording at McGill; he has a B.M. from Humber College. Jiayue Wu is a Ph.D. candidate in Media Arts and Technology at University of California, Santa Barbara; she has a BS from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology and an MA from Stanford University.