On April 8, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation awarded 184 accomplished artists, writers, scholars, and scientists with Guggenheim Fellowships. We are thrilled to announce that five Columbia-affiliated composers were included in those prestigious ranks: Nina C. Young (DMA 2016), Sky Macklay (DMA 2018), Ashkan Behzadi (DMA 2019), Professor Zosha Di Castri (DMA 2014) in Composition, and Professor Miya Masaoka, Director of the Sound Art Program in the School of the Arts. Congratulations to the awardees!

Nina C. Young is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California. She received her DMA from Columbia University in 2016. Dr. Young uses her musical and scientific backgrounds to create research and music compositions that integrate electronic and instrumental music.

Sky Macklay received her DMA from Columbia University in 2018 and is currently based in Paris, France. Her compositional work explores bold contrasts, audible processes, humor, and the physicality of sound. In addition to her composing, Dr. Macklay is also an oboist and installation artist.

Ashkan Behzadi is currently a Lecturer in Discipline in the Columbia University Department of Music. He received his DMA from the program in 2019. In his work, Dr. Behzadi explores the issue of genre-bending and aims to invoke the collective-memory of folklore music.

Zosha Di Castri is the Francis Goelet Assistant Professor of Music in the Department of Music at Columbia and received her DMA from it in 2014. Her work extends past the realms of concert music to projects with electronics, sound arts, and collaborations with video and dance.

Miya Masaoka is the Director of the Sound Art Program in the School of the Arts. As a sound artist and composer, her work explores bodily perception of vibration, movement, and time while emphasizing the importance of complex timbre relationships.