My experiential learning experience was my Senior Capstone project for my Environmental Sustainability major.
Final Project Outcome
This research poster was presented at SUNY Oneonta’s Student Research and Creative Activity 2025 Showcase.
What I did
Data sonification is the process of converting data into sounds, allowing audiences to understand information through auditory representations. I completed a data sonification project by using weather data recorded by the Perna Science Weather Station every six hours from November 1, 2024 until November 8, 2024 for temperature, relative humidity, dew point and wind speed. Dr. Nathan Asman, my faculty sponsor, and I took these numerical data points and utilized Max/MSP, the visual programming language used to convert raw data points into MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), allowing for the sonification of weather. We assigned musical parameters to be controlled by each data type. Wind speed is controlling the pitches, temperature is controlling the cutoff frequency of a High-Cut Low Pass Filter, relative humidity is controlling the dry/wet of reverb, and dewpoint is controlling the duration of each note. The audio is accurate to what the weather data is expressing.
What I learned
I learned about the importance of bridging the gap between scientific research and the public. People can't make informed decisions that impact the environment if they do not understand the environment. By turning environmental data into an artistic sensory experience, people can engage in science in a way that invokes emotions and connection to the Earth. When I was observing the reactions of my audiences listening to my data sonification piece, they were engaged and curious. This experience will help me in the future because I aspire to create a career that is intersectional among the fields of music and science.
