"...produces a music quite unlike that of his contemporaries: it is craggy and intense, nervous and sensitive – in short it demonstrates a marked individuality and shows a creative mind...."

Dominick Argento

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; April 1993
Dissertation: In Mighty Silence, chamber opera; adviser: Dominick Argento
Additional composition studies with: Paul Fetler, Alex Lubet, Lloyd Ultan

• Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, for excellence of dissertation proposal, 1991-92
  
• Graduate School Fellowship, 1988-89
  
• Pi Kappa Lambda, national music honor society, Spring 1992;
  
• President's Leadership and Service Award, Spring 199

M.A. Composition

Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Flushing, NY; May 1988
Thesis: Delusions of Grandeur, string quartet; adviser: Thea Musgrave
Additional composition studies with: Pauline Oliveros, Robert Starer

• Marvin Hamlisch Scholarship, Spring 1988
  
• Graduate Center Fellowship, 1986-87

Crane School of Music, SUNY, Potsdam, NY; May 1986
Composition studies with: Elliot Del Borgo, Arthur Frackenpohl,
Paul Steinberg, Robert Washburn
Additional studies in conducting (Anthony Maiello, Brock McElheran),
piano (Ronald Tarr), and tuba (Peter Popiel)
Departmental Scholar Award, May 1986

Tufts University, Medford, MA; May 1984
Composition studies with T. J. Anderson
Additional studies in conducting (Frank Battisti) and tuba (Samuel Pilafia)

• Class of 1898 Prize, in recognition of breadth of scholarship, Spring 1983
  
• Phi Beta Kappa, honor society, Fall 1983