Chet Udell: A Passion for Instrumentation Creates a New Path

Chet Udell, a professor, musician, engineer, and designer at Oregon State University (OSU), has created a diverse range of innovative instruments throughout his career. Among his most notable creations are "The Optron," an electric guitar-lightsaber mashup that visualizes music with multicolored lights, and "The SpiderHarp," a spiderweb-shaped instrument designed to play "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" while helping biologists research spider vibration detection.

Udell's work extends beyond the realm of music, as he has developed tools for scientists, such as a vibrational camera trap to monitor agricultural pests and a dendrometer to measure minute fluctuations in plant stems using magnets. As director of OSU's OPEnS Lab, Udell fosters a passion for creating new environmental sensing technologies among undergraduates and hosts MacGyver sessions at AGU meetings to encourage scientists to experiment with their own designs.

Udell's journey into the world of music and instrumentation began at a young age, providing him with a grounding during a difficult childhood. Music became his refuge and a means of processing reality. When asked about a book, movie, or piece of media about his field that he would recommend to young scientists, Udell suggested "The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World" by R. Murray Schafer, which opened his ears to the world of sound and ecology.

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