How Queer!: Camp Expression in Francis Poulenc\u27s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano

The music of Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) contains a great deal of humor, irony, and drama. These elements have mostly been attributed to Poulenc’s personal frivolity and associations with over-the-top figures such as Jean Cocteau. Poulenc’s homosexuality, until recently, was marginalized by a discourse shaped by Claude Rostand’s 1950 binary of “monk” (moine) and “bad boy” (voyou). In the early 21st century, Richard Burton notes that this cliché focused the discourse of a sacred/profane binary instead of a heterosexual/homosexual binary. The sacred/profane binary is used by scholars such as H. Wendell Howard to explain the distinction between Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Dialogues des Carmelites, using Rostand’s moine/voyou binary to support the theory that Poulenc’s revived Catholicism was the cause of a shift in compositional aesthetic, not any internal struggle with sexuality. To reframe Poulenc’s work with his homosexuality as a contributing factor, scholars Christopher Moore, Ethan Allred, and Keith Clifton analyze Poulenc’s early ballets and last operas as examples of the camp aesthetic and subversive, gay commentary. Using descriptions of camp by scholars such as Susan Sontag, Moe Meyer, Jack Babuscio, and Eve Sedgewick, virtually all of the scholarship about camp and Poulenc links sonic gestures and extramusical devices in order to affirm the camp aesthetics of juxtaposition, artifice, humor, and theatricality. This document, while acknowledging the elements of camp in Poulenc’s stage works, examines camp elements in his Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano (FP 43, 1926) in order to show Poulenc’s camp aesthetic was an autobiographical commentary about his sexuality, not simply a reaction to a preconceived plot or a visual aesthetic. The Trio, arguably Poulenc’s first critically successful piece of chamber music, was written between two of his camp ballets, Les Biches (FP 36, 1923) and Aubade (FP 51, 1929) and at a time when Poulenc first acknowledged his own same-sex attraction. Poulenc’s turmoil over his homosexuality was present by the time Aubade is written and is a cornerstone of critical readings of his operas. Previous to this conflict, Poulenc’s camp manifests in Les Biches as a subversive, ironic commentary of the heteronormative discourse. This document posits that this same kind of playful subversion and queer commentary is present in the Trio, implying that not only is camp applicable to absolute music as well as ballet and opera, but that camp is an aesthetic which is aligned with Poulenc’s style as a composer, despite the compositional aesthetic he subscribes to at any given time

Doctoral Recital

List of performers and performances

Speed-Robust Scheduling

The speed-robust scheduling problem is a two-stage problem where given $m$ machines, jobs must be grouped into at most $m$ bags while the processing speeds of the given $m$ machines are unknown. After the speeds are revealed, the grouped jobs must be assigned to the machines without being separated. To evaluate the performance of algorithms, we determine upper bounds on the worst-case ratio of the algorithm's makespan and the optimal makespan given full information. We refer to this ratio as the robustness factor. We give an algorithm with a robustness factor $2-1/m$ for the most general setting and improve this to $1.8$ for equal-size jobs. For the special case of infinitesimal jobs, we give an algorithm with an optimal robustness factor equal to $e/(e-1) \approx 1.58$. The particular machine environment in which all machines have either speed $0$ or $1$ was studied before by Stein and Zhong (SODA 2019). For this setting, we provide an algorithm for scheduling infinitesimal jobs with an optimal robustness factor of $(1+\sqrt{2})/2 \approx 1.207$. It lays the foundation for an algorithm matching the lower bound of $4/3$ for equal-size jobs

Coordinating vector field equations and diagrams with a serious game in introductory physics

Mathematical reasoning with algebraic and graphical representations is essential for success in physics courses. Many problems require students to fluently move between algebraic and graphical representations. We developed a freely available serious game to challenge the representational fluency of introductory students regarding vector fields. Within the game, interactive puzzles are solved using different types of vector fields that must be configured with the correct mathematical parameters. A reward system implemented in the game prevents from using trial-and-error approaches and instead encourages the player to establish a mental connection between the graphical representation of the vector field and the (algebraic) equation before taking any action. For correct solutions, the player receives points and can unlock further levels. We report about the aim of the game from an educational perspective, describe potential learning scenarios and reflect about a first attempt to use the game in the classroom

Student Recital

Program listing performers and works performed

Chamber Recital

Program listing performers and works performed

Thermal management of PQ transformer for a passively cooled power module

Paper presented at 2018 Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers International Congress, 27-30 May 2018.In this paper we study the thermal performance of a 5 kW rectifier module experimentally and numerically, with the aim of changing the cooling methodology from an active cooled (fan cooled) to a passively cooled system. Numerical model of the rectifier for fan cooled operation is developed and experimentally validated, following which the critical components in the system are identified. In this system, magnetic components like transformers were observed to have the poorest thermal performance. Given the lack of attention thermal management of magnetic components has received compared to switching components, we numerically study the thermal performance of a PQ 40/40 transformer in a passive (natural convection) scenario. Modifications to the transformer structure were studied and the heat transfer from the transformer was observed to be convection limited (large convection thermal resistance). Providing a minimum resistance conduction path from effective hot spot to ambient was observed to be the best practice. Further, providing a heat transfer path between the coil and core was observed to be crucial to transformer thermal performance