R. Preston Hess—MIT, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Design & Music
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About Me

 









“It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophesies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it’s where their work comes from, although its arrival signals the beginning of the long disciplined process of making it their own. Scientists too, as J. Robert Oppenheimer once remarked, ‘live always at the ‘edge of mystery’- the boundary of the unknown.’ But they transform the unkown into the known, haul it in like fisherman; artists get you out into that dark sea.”

- A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit (2006)

My name is Preston Hess. I am a first-year PhD Student in MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences. I spent undergraduate at MIT majoring in Computation and Cognition and minoring in Design, with a Humanities concentration in Music

I am currently researching sound localization and auditory attention at MIT Brain and Cognitive Science’s Laboratory for Computational Audition, headed by Dr. Josh McDermott. Over the last two and a half years in the lab, I have built a large speaker array (in slideshow above), run human experiments, and dedicated significant time building, hacking, and testing Convolutional Neural Networks inspired by the human auditory system.

My passion for creating and my admiration of artists such as Tom Sachs inspired me to pursue a minor in design, where I experiment with materials and fabrication techniques to make many objects that now furnish my room. A humanities concentration in music allows me to gain a deeper understanding of music theory and technology, enriching my 13 years of guitar playing.

Around MIT, I played on MIT’s football team, where I was voted team captain for the 2023 season. I also held positions in MIT’s chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity, such as President, House Manager, Social Chair, and Brotherhood chair. Finally, I acted as the lead for MIT student governments Sexual Assault Awareness & Gender Equity (SAAGE) Committee for two years, organizing events to educate the MIT population on issues surrounding Title IX.

My hobbies include specialty coffee, nice sounds, and reading. I would love to connect with you on any of those topics, and am open to discuss my time and experiences at MIT and in life.





Publications and Research


Conference Proceedings & Posters

2024   Human-like feature attention emerges in task-optimized models of the cocktail party problem
           Ian M. Griffith, R. Preston Hess, Josh H. McDermott
           Advances and Perspective in Auditory Neuroscience 2024. October 2024. Poster Presentation.
2024   Human-like feature attention emerges in task-optimized models of the cocktail party problem
           Ian M. Griffith, R. Preston Hess, Josh H. McDermott
           7th annual conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience. August 2024.  Poster Presentation.
2024   Modeling Auditory Attention with Machine Learning
           Ian M. Griffith, R. Preston Hess, Josh H. McDermott
           47th MidWinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. February 2024. Poster Presentation.
2023   Measuring and Modeling Real-World Sound Localization
          Sagarika Alavilli, Andrew Francl, R. Preston Hess, Josh H. McDermott
           Advances and Perspective in Auditory Neuroscience 2023. November 2023. Poster Presentation.

Music

2024   Creative Demos for Interactive Music Systems Course. These were a chance to show personal creativity using techniques we learned during a particular PSet. Audio and visuals programmed by me!
                1: Programmed a Symple Synth
                2: Programmed a Drum Machine for Practicing
                3: Musical Version of Conways Game of Life (personal favorite)
                4: Click and Drag ‘Smart Soloist’ w/ 3 different modes
                5: Hand-Tracking Controlled Digital String Instrument
                6: Guitar Hero!
2023   5-Minute Untitled Ambient Track

Design

2023    Class Portfolio, Design Studio: Design Techniques and Technologies

Miscellaneous

2023    Blog Post for Phillip Isola’s Graduate course, Deep Learning
2022    Podcast Episode for Simply Neuroscience, where I talk about my experience as a Neuro undergraduate at MIT!