Dr. James T. Spencer, Music Director, SU Brass Ensemble and Laura J. and L Douglas Meredith Professor at Syracuse University, began his studies at the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam) before receiving his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Iowa State University. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Virginia, he joined the College of Arts and Sciences faculty. Dr. Spencer has served as the Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and is the Founding Executive Director of the University’s Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute (FNSSI). He has published over ninety scientific papers and sixty new musical compositions and arrangements. Dr. Spencer plays with a variety of performing ensembles including the Excelsior Cornet Band, NY’s only professional Civil War reenactment brass band. Dr. Spencer has also been the Music Director of the Bethlehem Summer Music Festival continuously since 1976.