Stephen David Beck is the Derryl and Helen Haymon Professor of Composition and Computer Music at the LSU School of Music. He currently serves as Associate Vice President of Research and Economic Development at LSU. He received his PhD in music composition and theory from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1988, where he studied with Henri Lazarof, Elaine Barkin, Alden Ashforth, Paul Reale and Roger Bourland. From 1985-86, he held a Fulbright Fellowship as a researcher at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. At LSU, he was a founding member of the LSU Center for Computation & Technology, where he created the Cultural Computing research group. This was followed by the establishment of the Experimental Music & Digital Media PhD program at the School of Music. His current research includes sound diffusion systems, high-performance computing applications in music, music interaction with alternative interfaces, and music software for laptops and mobile devices.