'It UC MERCI UC Music Experience Research Community Initiative BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO •SAN FRANCISCO • SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ • MERCED Dear Mr. Neal Stulberg, We are writing to formally invite you to give a talk at the UC MERCI Symposium at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA, Oct. 1-3, funded by a UC President's Multicampus Research Projects and Initiatives Award. These Awards are designed to spur connected research within and across UC campuses in areas of interest to the University and Californians. Our proposal to focus on building UC scientific research in music was awarded a two-year Planning Grant and designated one of only five UC-wide Research Catalyst Award winners. The main objective of the UC MERCI Award is to develop scientific research in music across the UC system. Our goal for this inaugural workshop is to survey a broad swath of ongoing music research at all the UC campuses and schools within each campus, ranging from studies examining the effects of music participation on learning and health to brain imaging studies to studies on music development and skill acquisition. We hope to find areas of common interest, opportunity, and enthusiasm and to foster and propose research partnerships within UC and with the music industry and others. With that goal in mind, the Symposium schedule will feature: Evening of Thursday, Oct. 1: The conference opens with a Public Event that includes registration, a review of the current two-year MERCI Planning Grant objectives, an overview of the forthcoming workshops on Friday and Saturday, a series of Keynote lectures, and a Keynote lecture and performance by Professor Neal Stulberg, Chair of the UCLA Music Department and Director of Orchestral Studies. Afterwards, there will be a Student Reception on campus that will include live music by local pop-rock bands. Friday, Oct. 2: Presentations by UC researchers in four areas: Music, Health & Medicine; Music, Mind & Br