About

Richa Namballa is a PhD student in New York University’s Music Technology program working under the supervision of Dr. Magdalena Fuentes at the Music and Audio Research Laboratory (MARL). She received her M.M. in Music Technology from NYU where she completed her thesis on the analysis of vocal timbre in non-Western popular music genres, under the guidance of Dr. Brian McFee. During her time in the Master’s program, Richa also worked as a research assistant under the direction of Dr. Pablo Ripollés to improve the Computer Human Interface for the Live Labeling of Emotional Responses (CHILLER) for goosebump detection. Richa’s music-related research interests include music information retrieval, digital signal processing, algorithmic composition, and music production.

Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, Richa received a B.A. in Statistics and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. During her time at Cal, Richa was heavily involved in collegiate sports as she interned at the Cal Athletics Fund for two years. Upon graduation, she worked for five years in Silicon Valley as a data scientist in enterprise procurement software.

Richa is committed to improving diversity in STEAM-related fields, so she served as the President for the Society of Women in Technology (SWiTCH), advised by Dr. Agnieszka Roginska, for the 2022-23 academic year and remains an active member today. Additionally, she currently serves on the Audio Engineering Society’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee as a data science researcher.

Outside of academia, Richa is an audio engineer at The McKittrick Hotel where she works on live sound for music and immersive theater productions. Richa has been playing the trombone since elementary school and has participated in wind, jazz, and marching ensembles. In her spare time, she is a Zumba instructor and dog walker/petsitter.