Jiayue Cecilia Wu, PhD is an audio engineer and musician whose work explores the intersection of music, technology, and healing. Her latest research involves using ambisonics and virtual reality to aid in meditation. Through her "Music, Meditation, and Technology" class, Cecilia teaches students the art of using sound engineering and technology to create more effective meditative techniques.

At CU Denver, Cecilia is an assistant professor and the recording arts graduate program (MSRA) director. She recently shared about three goals she’s been working toward lately.

1. Getting her students involved in more research on a national and international stage

Cecilia has helped seven students receive EUReCA grants through CU Denver to pursue their research. In spring 2025, Cecilia’s MSRA student Justin Alley was awarded CU Denver’s Graduate Award in Creative Work for his innovative research in machine learning algorithm development for music composition. Cecilia has also co-authored two papers with MSRA students that were published in the Audio Engineer Society’s Journal and presented at the AES conventions. Seven students were able to travel with Cecilia to AES conventions, NAMM Show, and SEAMUS National conference where they sat on panels as subject matter experts. 

Being able to give more students opportunities like these is a goal of Cecilia’s. Doing things like original research, contributing to peer-reviewed journals, and participating in panels at conferences such as AES, NAMM show, and SEAMUS will help her students’ careers by giving them exposure and valuable connections in the audio industry.

2. Creating opportunities for more recording arts students

The audio engineering industry is primarily populated by male practitioners. Cecilia has worked over her eight years at CU Denver to encourage a more diverse student demographic to engage in and excel at the craft, and she is particularly concerned about opening up opportunities for underrepresented students. Out of the 300+ students studying recording arts in the College of Arts & Media (CAM), only around 30 identify as female or non-binary. Within Cecilia’s purview of graduate courses, there has been an increase in female-identifying MSRA students over the years. She has seen the numbers go from zero to eight this year. While that increase represents progress, Cecilia is working to see that number go even higher by inviting undergraduate recording arts students to apply for the 4+1 MSRA program via a personal email invitation. 

Cecilia takes CU Denver’s commitment to make education work for all to heart in the classroom as she considers how best to accommodate her students and how they best learn, receive instruction, and constructive feedback. One of her recent graduate students, David Toro, worked on research for his thesis which seeks to make the recording arts profession more accessible to more people. David, who is blind, successfully defended his thesis on how legal reinforcement can help make audio tools like digital audio workstations and plugins usable for people with disabilities. 

3. Incorporating her research and creative work to help the CU Denver community stay calm, happy, and well

For several years now, Cecilia has been traveling to Tibet to capture meditative practices in that region through soundscape and field recordings. She has been graciously received as her work serves to preserve the meditative traditions of the cultures that call that area home, including Nepali, Tibetan, and Bhutanese cultures. Most recently, Cecilia partnered with  Tibetan videographer Chakme Rinpoche, matching her audio recordings and productions with video footage of the region to create a documentary, the “Sound of Nangqên.” Now that the film is complete, Cecilia will use the funding she won from the Eileen M. Hayes award for equity and opportunity from the College Music Society to get the film into festivals. Earlier this year, Sound of Nangqên screened at the Dragonboat Film Festival in Denver and at many international computer music and electronic music festivals and research conferences.

In CAM, Cecilia teaches “Music, Meditation, and Technology” (MUSC 4360/MSRA5360) in spring semesters and incorporates some of the techniques she’s developed from her work in the Himalayan region. The purpose of the class is to help students use their creativity to stay healthy and well in our stressful society. Cecilia has taught the class here at CU Denver and at the International College Beijing (ICB) through CU Denver’s partnership with China Agricultural University. Despite differences in locations and culture, Cecilia says the struggles her students grapple with—both in the U.S. and in China—are similar, and teaching students how to create their own meditative practices is valuable both for themselves and the people who will benefit from their creations.