My name is Lily Gruman. I am a cellist and engineer based in the US.
I earned undergraduate degrees in music and electrical engineering at Iowa State University, worked for three years as a software engineer, and then uprooted myself to pursue graduate study in music.
At ISU, I earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, with Honors and a minor in Music Technology, as well as a B.A. in Music.
ECpE
While studying electrical engineerinng, I became familiar with topics such as
- circuit theory
- digital logic
- differential equations
- linear algebra
- energy systems and power electronics
- alternative energy
- fourier analysis and synthesis
- electromagnetism
- automatic control systems
- embedded systems
- integrated circuits
I focused particularly on control systems, with additional focuses in electromagnetism and embedded systems.
I was also introduced to several programming languages and software tools, including
- Matlab/Simulink
- PSpice
- Verilog
- C
- Linux
- Java
- Eclipse
- Python
- Assembly
- ARM Cortex
- Cadence Virtuoso
- Arduino
My senior design project consisted of a proof-of-concept design for a food vending system that would automatically reorder new merchandise when supply ran low, making an attempt to optimize the bundling of restock deliveries. While I worked primarily on the sensor prototype, others on our team developed a networking model, a frontend portal, and a routing algorithm.
Music Technology
The Minor in Music Technology focused on three areas of computer-based tools for music composition, performance, and production:
- Digital Audio Workstations (Pro Tools)
- Programming (Max)
- Sampling and Synthesis (Kontakt, Reaktor)
Honors
In addition to a breadth of seminars, the honors component of my degree required an additional capstone project, which I derived from the music technology portion of my studies. Specifically, I created a Max patch that would attempt to generate well-formed counterpoint for a given cantus firmus, using the first-species guidelines outlined in Johann Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. It is implemented using an application of Dijkstra's Shortest-Path-First algorithm in a graph representation of the allowed possible notes. In the submitted version, the edges are naively set to the sizes of the melodic intervals, but a smarter version could adjust those weights based on other factors.
Music
Thanks to AP credit from high school, mostly in calculus and physics, I had just enough room in my schedule to squeeze in a music degree in addition to engineering. Throughout this course of study, I performed several solo and chamber pieces.
- Dvořák's Cello Concerto
- Schumann's Cello Concerto
- Shostakovich's Cello Concerto
- Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto
- TODO
After graduating in 2019, I moved to the Kansas City area to work at Garmin as a software engineer in hardware integration.
Garmin
In addition to the C, Python, and embedded systems experience I brought, I was exposed to
- C++
- C/C++ build systems
- Git
- Gerrit
- Jenkins
- Yocto
- the linux kernel
- udev
- systemd
- serial communication
- NMEA 0183
At Home
During this time, especially in the midst of the COVID pandemic, I picked up several personal projects, including
- recording and producing music in REAPER
- setting up my PC to dual-boot Windows and Arch Linux
- learning Kotlin for Android app development
- learning Rust
- learning about topics like communication systems, linguistics, electromagnetics, acoustics, sound design, and animation
- picking up new instruments including guitar, flute, and tuba
- choosing a new name and preparing to come out (🏳️⚧️)
After a pandemic of personal reflection, I decided to make a few major changes to my path in life, one of which was to pursue a Master's degree in cello performance at the University of Kansas.
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