V.J. Manzo, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Music at WPI. He is a composer and guitarist with research interests in theory and composition, artificial intelligence, interactive music systems, and music cognition. V.J. is author of several books published by Oxford University Press including Max/MSP/Jitter for Music, Foundations of Music Technology, and co-author of Interactive Composition and Environmental Sound Artists. He has created numerous software projects including the Modal Object Library, a collection of programming objects to control harmony in algorithmic and electro-acoustic compositions, and EAMIR, an open-source project and non-profit charity organization that supports composition, performance, education, and research through accessible technology-based musical instruments. At WPI, he is the PI and founding director of the RATLab, a research collective focusing on the convergence of music and technology through his two labs: the Electric Guitar Innovation Lab (EGIL) and the Interactive Music Systems Lab (IMSLab).