I work in multiple academic disciplines and finding fundamental interdisciplinary connections interests me. I am a seeker of truth and beauty. Personally, Raag Bihaag, Beethoven’s symphony, Baire’s Category theorem and Brahmasutra Bhashya are all equally beautiful and truthful to me. Following my first PhD, I worked as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow, University of Alberta developing mathematical models using GIS for low-carbon energy pathways for the Canadian energy sector. I then did my second PhD in ethnomusicology during which I rigorously studied Western Music, African Music, Middle Eastern and Arabic music, Western theatre performance and production. I am a Hindustani singer, a multi instrumentalist who performs Hindustani music on Sarangi, Carnatic on Mysore Baani Veena and Western classical music on the piano. I have acted and composed music for the Indian cinema (Sanskrit/Kannada Bilingual Ekachakram, Kannada film Maavu Bevu), Indian and Western theater, Indian classical dance. I have performed and collaborated with Ustad Aashish Khan, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Swapan Chaudhary, Pandit Nayan Ghosh, Pandit Yogesh Samsi, A R Rehman, Hollywood composer Rick Boston and travelled across the world as a scholar as well as a performer.

Area of Research

• Indian Music
• Theatre and Dance theory and performance
• Ethnomusicology
• Musicology
• Universal Music Theory
• Music Information Retrieval
• Machine Learning and AI for Music
• AI and Ethics
• Sanskrit and Yoga
• Energy, Climate change and Sustainability.

Translation and interpretation of Sanskrit treatises on Indian music and dance, Designing soundscapes for mental well-being using AI, Indian Epistemological Framework for Ethical AI, Impact of climate change on the music of Korava community in coastal Karnataka. 

1. Sanskrit for Yoga 
2. Appreciation of Carnatic Music

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

  Assistant Professor (From September 2023)

  Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

  1. Sanskrit for Yoga (Jan – April 2024)

  2. Appreciation of Carnatic Music (Jan – April 2024)

   

• Department of Music, University of Alberta, Canada

  Teaching Assistant

  Western Art Music – Fall 2014

  World Music – Fall 2017

  World Music – Fall 2018

  Department of Music, University of Alberta, CanadaTeaching Assistant duties included delivering lectures on special topics, leading class discussions, conducting exams, designing and grading assignments, exams, term papers and podcasts. Meeting with the students regularly to address their difficulties and keep them aligned with the course goals.

Courses designed and taught at University of Alberta:

• Introduction to Sanskrit. Department of Religious Studies. Undergraduate level (Winter 2018)

  Sanskrit facilitates a smooth segue into the knowledge worlds of early India. This course was designed to teach the fundamentals of the Sanskrit language for reading and translating Sanskrit treatises on medicine, yoga, art, drama, aesthetics, poetry, architecture, law, music, mathematics, grammar, and poetics.

• Music and Identity in Indian Cinema. Undergraduate/Graduate Course (Tentative, Summer 2023)

  This course examines various influences of the Indian Cinema music through a detailed critical analysis of the genre. The course will attempt to analyze how Cinema music has blurred the socio-cultural and religious boundaries in defining the Indian multi-cultural identity, within India and outside India among the Indian diaspora.

• Postdoctoral Fellow (2021 – Music and Artificial Intelligence), Robert Bosch Center for Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Duties included close collaboration with the computer research Team in developing Artificial Intelligence based models to address research problems in Music Information Retrieval, Genre Classification, Algorithmic Music composition, guiding and serving as a liaison between Music and Computer Teams.

• Postdoctoral Fellow (2013 – Energy and Climate Modeling), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta. Developed mathematical models to identify best energy efficiency strategies to reduce GHG emissions in Alberta’s energy sector, documented and published the research methodology and results, in a project funded by the Alberta Innovates

  – Energy and Environmental Solutions (AIEES). Other responsibilities included teaching and guiding masters and PhD students in their research.

• Postdoctoral Fellow (2012 – Sanskrit Literature), Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. A critical study of Mahabhaskariya of Bhaskara I (A treatise on ancient Indian astronomy).

• Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) -Canada Graduate Scholarship 2022 (CAD $45, 000).

• Andrew Stewart Memorial Graduate Prize, University of Alberta Endowment, 2018 (CAD $5000).

• Edmonton Arts Council (EAC) Cultural Diversity in the Arts Grant Award, 2017  (CAD$15,000).

• All India Radio (AIR) B High Grade in Veena, Republic of India, 2016.

• Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship for Music, University of Alberta, 2016 (CAD$35, 000).

• Pansy and George Strange Scholarship for Music, University of Alberta, 2015 (CAD $1000).

• Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship for Music, University of Alberta, 2015 (CAD $35,000).

• NSERC Industrial Research Fellowship for Engineering, University of Alberta, 2014.

• Amulya & Vimala Reddy Gold Medal for best PhD, Indian Institute of Science, 2013.

• GHG Trainer, Inventory & Mitigation Modeling, UNFCCC – Republic of Korea, 2011.

• Visiting Scientist, Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Italy, 2011.

• Best Doctoral Symposium Award for Engineering, IBM Research, IIT Delhi, 2010.

• Best Social Service Award for Educating Underprivileged Children, India Sudar, 2009.

• Discovering Structural Similarities among ragas in Indian Art Music: A Computational Approach”, Ranjani H. G., Deepak Paramashivan and T. V. Sreenivas, accepted for publication in Sadhana, Academy Proceedings in Engineering Sciences, 2019.

• A compact pitch and time representation for melodic contours in Indian art music’, H. G. Ranjani, Ajay Srinivasamurthy, Deepak Paramashivan, Thippur V. Sreenivas, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2019, Vol 145: 1, pp 597-603.

• Ranjani H.G., D. Paramashivan, and T.V. Sreenivas, “Quantized Melodic Countours in Indian Art Music Perception: Application to Transcription”, Proc. ISMIR 2017, pp 17-180.

• Deepak P. Kaundinya,, K. Ramasubramanian and M. S. Sriram. “Significance of Asakrt-Karma in finding Manda-Karna”, Indian Journal of History of Science, 47.4 (2012) 561–587.

• Kaundinya*, D. P., Balachandra, P., Ravindranath, N. H., & Ashok, V. (2013). A GIS (geographical information system)-based spatial data mining approach for optimal location and capacity planning of distributed biomass power generation facilities: A case study of Tumkur district, India. Energy, 52, 77-88.
  doi:10.1016/j.energy.2013.02.011

• Subramanyam V, Paramshivan D, Kumar A, Mondal, A. Using Sankey diagrams to map energy flow from primary fuel to end use, Energy Conversion and Management, 2015, 91: 342–352.

• Verma A, Nimana B, Olateju B, Rahman MM, Radpour S, Canter C, Subramanyam V, Paramashivan D, Vaezi M, Kumar A. A techno-economic assessment of bitumen and synthetic crude oil transport (SCO) in the Canadian oil sands industry: oil via rail or pipeline?, 2015.

• Kaundinya*, D. Paramashivan., Balachandra, P., & Ravindranath, N. H. (2009). Grid-connected versus stand-alone energy systems for decentralized power—A review of literature. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(8), 2041-2050.
  doi:10.1016/j.rser.2009.02.002

  (*Family name Kaundinya was used in some of the earlier publications)

• ‘Towards Explainable Deep Learning for Automated Music Genre Classification’, Madhav, Shreyas., Paramashivan, Deepak., and Rajkumar, Arun., First Conference on Deployable AI, 2021.
• Bonyad M, Paramashivan D*, Kumar A. Energy efficiency opportunities in Alberta’s agriculture sector, presented at the Biological Solutions Forum, Oct. 9-10, 2013, Calgary, AB.
• Deepak Paramashivan Kaundinya, P. Balachandra, N. H. Ravindranath ‘Decentralized Biomass Power as a Low-carbon Pathway to Rural Development: Summary of Findings from Case Study in Southern India’, (International Modeling Conference on “Using Indigenous Resources for Green Development”, Seoul, South Korea, 2012).
• Deepak Paramashivan Kaundinya, P. Balachandra, N. H. Ravindranath, Veilumuthu Ashok, H. S. Sudhira, Avadhanam Udyaadiyta ‘A GIS Based Clustering Algorithm for Optimal Siting of Grid-connected and Stand-alone Biomass Energy Facility in Rural Region- A case study of Tumkur district, India’ (International Energy Workshop, 2011, Stanford, CA).

• Bonyad M, Paramashivan D, Subramanyam V, Kumar A. Identification of best energy efficiency opportunities in Alberta’s energy sector – Phase III – GHG mitigation cost curves for the agricultural sector. Work in progress. Summary report prepared for Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES), Suite 1800, Phipps McKinnon Building, 10020 101A Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3G2, February 2014.

• Shah T, Paramshivan D, Subramanyam V, Radpour S, Kumar A. Identification of best energy efficiency opportunities in Alberta’s energy sector – Phase II – Progress Report 4: Development of energy demand tree for mining sector of Alberta. Summary Report submitted to the Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions (EES), 1800 Phipps Mckinnon Building, 10020 101A Avenue, T5J 3G2 Edmonton, Alberta, March 2013.

• Subramanyam V, Paramshivan D, Radpour S, Kumar A. Identification of best energy efficiency opportunities in Alberta’s energy sector – Phase II – Progress Report 3: GHG mitigation cost curves for transport sector of Alberta. Summary Report submitted to the Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions (EES), 1800 Phipps Mckinnon Building, 10020 101A Avenue, T5J 3G2 Edmonton, Alberta, February 2013.

• Paramashivan, Deepak, ‘Text-setting in Tyagaraja’spancharatnakritis – Application of text-setting concepts in Western Classical music to Tyagaraja’s Jagadanandakaraka, the only PancharatnaKrithi in Sanskrit.’(Analytical Approaches to World Music)

• D. Paramashivan, “”Music of India and the Middle-East – Interactions and Influences: A Study based on paṇdarīka viṭṭhala’s Rāgamālā, Rāgamañjarī and Sadrāgacandrodayaḥ from the 16th Century”, Accepted for publication at Borderless flows Improvisational Interactions across Asia, Africa and Beyond, Music Festival and Conference Proceedings, 2023.

  (*Family name Kaundinya was used in some of the earlier publications)

• ‘Music of India and Arabia – Interactions and Influences’, Borderless flows Improvisational Interactions across Asia, Africa and Beyond, Music Festival and Conference Proceedings, 2023.

• Indian Musicological Treatise on Middle Eastern Music, Indo-Persian Confluence 2020, UCLA, November 2020.

• ‘Lecture Demonstration on Theater Music of Mysore’, Tamil Nadu University of Music and Fine Arts, Chennai, India, January 2020.‘Lecture Demonstration on Raga Jhinjhuti as Handled by Mysore Composers’, Madras Music Academy, Chennai, India, December 2019.

• ‘Master class on Indian Classical Music’, Berklee School of Music, Boston, USA, October 2019 (link).

• ‘Master class on Sarangi and Indo Jazz composition’, New England Conservatory, Boston, USA, October 2019.

• ‘Side Wings – The Golden Age of Kannada Theater’, accepted for presentation at ICTM Conference, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok- Thailand, July 2019.

• ‘Music of India and Arabia – Interactions and Influences’, World Sanskrit Conference 2018, Vancouver-Canada, July 2018.

• ‘Rangageethegalu – The Forgotten Music of Modern Kannada Theater’, British Forum for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, Newcastle, –United Kingdom, April 2018.

• ‘Historical Evolution of Indian Classical Music and Sarangi-from the Vedic Era to Khayal Music’ Symposium on History of Indian Sciences, University of Canterbury, –New Zealand, April 2017.

• ‘Lecture and Demonstration: Sarangi’, 5th International Scientific Meeting for Sound and Musical Instruments, Organological Congress, Tomar, –Portugal, October 2016.

• ‘Pandit Ram Narayan’s Sapaat Taan on Sarangi’ British Forum for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, Kent, –London, April 2016.

• ‘Lecture and Demonstration: Indian Classical Music’ Conservatorio Di Musica ‘Giuseppe Tartini’, Trieste, -Italy, June 2011.