Meet the BPM Research Team

Erica Knowles, PhD – Principal Investigator

Dr. Knowles is an associate professor in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department at Berklee College of Music. She received her B.S. in Historical Musicology from Hofstra University, her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Seton Hall University, and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Northwestern University.

Dr. Knowles is interested in how we acquire and understand musical structure. She is particularly interested in how musical training can influence how we learn from the auditory environment and how different types of musical training can change the representation of and access to this information.

Outside of teaching and research, Dr. Knowles enjoys playing cello, running, and spending time with her family and friends.

Mi-Lan Hoang – Research Assistant

Mi-Lan Hoang is an undergraduate student at the Berklee College of Music, majoring in Music Therapy with minors in Psychology and Musical Theatre Performance. She has previously worked at the Lab for Infant + Toddler Language at Emerson College (2022) and was chosen to participate in the Berklee Music and Health Institute and Nicorette Smoking Foundation’s SmokeLess Break Challenge (2022), where she served as the research core of the winning team in the Confidence Category. Additionally, Mi-Lan was chosen to complete a summer fellowship through the University of Pennsylvania’s MindCORE Interdisciplinary Mind and Brain Research program (2023). There, she worked at the Health Communication and Equity Lab, helping develop vaping prevention social media campaigns tailored for LGBTQ+ youth. Mi-Lan has a special interest in neuroscience, with a focus on the complex interactions between music and the brain to further develop musical techniques for rehabilitation and intervention. In conjunction with her passion for activism and social justice, her work centers around advocating for transdisciplinary research and therapy with art at the foundation of holistic care. In her spare time, Mi-Lan enjoys cooking, crocheting, and taking long naps.

Ella Shalev – Research Assistant

Ella is an undergraduate student at Berklee College of Music majoring in music therapy and minoring in Psychology. Prior to attending Berklee, Ella completed a Diploma in Jazz Composition and Performance from The Global Jazz Institute at the Rimon School of Music in Israel, where she received the prestigious Berklee-Bracha Foundation full excellence scholarship, awarded to 2 students nationwide every year. Ella is fascinated by how music functions are represented in the brain and is currently working on an extended literature review investigating shared mechanics of dyslexia and music for the purpose of developing music and medicine protocols for preventing dyslexia in early developmental stages and improving literacy skills at the elementary school level. In the future, Ella intends to become a Neurologic Music Therapist and advance her academic studies to a graduate and a Ph.D. in neuroscience, in the hope of pursuing research proving the biological scientific evidence for music and medicine protocols and establishing new protocols.

Ethan Bessette – Research Assistant

Hi! My name is Ethan Bessette and I’m a student at Berklee College of Music studying Electronic Production and Design, Interactive Media Scoring, and Psychology. I plan to continue my education at least to a master’s degree (for now) to delve deeper into extended reality research and design. In my free time, I enjoy playing video and tabletop games with friends, as well as running!

Rose Koo – Research Assistant

Rose is a 6th-semester undergraduate student at Berklee College of Music, pursuing a major in Music Therapy with minors in Psychology and Musical Theatre Performance. She also works with the Health and Wellness department at Berklee, where she is especially passionate about promoting and advocating for topics surrounding mental health to her peers. Rose hopes to become a music therapist for people with various mental health concerns in the future and to pursue a master’s and PhD level education in Psychology. Outside of school, Rose enjoys performing in local Musical Theatre productions, baking, and going on runs along the Charles River.

Bethanie Liu – Research Assistant

Bethanie is an undergraduate student at Berklee College of Music, pursuing a double major in Electronic Production and Design (EPD) and Contemporary Writing and Production (CWP), with double minors in creative coding and electronic performance. As a multi-instrumentalist, Bethanie has had the pleasure of performing at renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, St John’s Smith Square in London, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, The Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv, and many more.

Bethanie is passionate about interdisciplinary research between music, technology, and cognitive sciences. She is currently working on audio-oriented extended reality projects that assist in physical and cognitive rehabilitation through music. She aspires to create technology tools that are accessible and inclusive for everyone, with hopes of making the experience of enjoying, expressing, and creating music open to all.

Lab Alumni

Sierra Coe-Frisco
Andrew Levine
Alexandra Grace
Claire Zhang
Holly Jurca
Sheena Odabashian
Mateo Larrea