Michele A. Schottenbauer, Ph.D., (1975- ) began studying piano at age 5 and trombone at age 10, composing music at age 10, experimenting with violin, percussion, and recorder in high school, and studying conducting at the university. For 10 years, Dr. S. performed in symphony, wind band, chamber music ensembles, and student recitals. By the age of 21, Dr. S. had studied piano to a virtuoso level under the guidance of Marilyn Neeley, performing several full-length solo piano concerts, including the infamous Liszt Sonata in b, and other major works by Liszt, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Chopin, Prokofiev, and Schoenberg. As of 22 years of age, Dr. S. had composed over 30 pieces of music, including a symphony and other pieces for orchestra, a tone poem for symphonic wind-band, an opera, a string quartet, and various selections for piano, strings, percussion, brass, woodwinds, and voice. University composition teachers included H. Braunlich and A. Stark.
As a youth, Dr. S. was prizewinner and finalist in multiple national composition contests in the United States, including Finalist in the 1995 and 1996 ASCAP Young Composer Awards. Dr. S. was also a national award-winner in the 1992 Creative America Contest (U.S. National Copyright and Patent Office), the 1996 MTNA Collegiate Composition Contest, and the 1991 National Guild of the Community Schools of the Arts’ Young Composer Contest, and a variety of statewide compositions contests. In 1998, Dr. S. received a grant from the American Composer’s Forum, Baltimore-Washington D. C. Chapter, and in 1997, a commission from Dr. Barbara English Maris. At the local and regional levels during high school, Dr. S. won prizes in various composition contests and contests for music performance on piano and trombone, as well as placing statewide in the Voice of America radio broadcasting competition sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for a recorded speech about democracy. Dr. S graduated from high school as valedictorian and a member of the National Honor Society.
In 1998, Dr. S. graduated as university class valedictorian with honors from Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Kappa Lambda, Sigma Pi Sigma, and Phi Eta Sigma, earning bachelor degrees in music composition and physics, a minor in mathematics, and University Scholar designation from the liberal-arts university honors program (including honors tracks in philosophy and environmental science, and honors courses in politics, economics, science, religion, and art). During undergraduate years, Dr. S. was awarded various national, regional, and university awards and scholarships, some of which included the Archdiocesan Scholarship (1993-1997), William Byrd Scholarship (U.S. Government National Science Scholarship, 1993-1997), the Barry Goldwater Scholarship (U.S. Government National Science Scholarship , 1995-1997), the National Society of Physics Students Leadership Scholarship (1997-1998), the William Byron, S.J. Leadership Scholarship (1994-1995), the Theodore Presser Award (1997-1998), School of Music Full Tuition Scholarship (1997-1998), and the Clyde Cowan Award in Physics (1998).
Dr. S. went on to study theology and psychology in graduate school, during which time Dr. S. participated in the Summer Intramural Research Training Award program at the National Institutes of Health, worked in a variety of other educational, research, and healthcare settings, made over 33 presentations at research conferences, published over 17 articles in peer-reviewed professional journals, and co-authored several book chapters, before earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2006. In 2006, Dr. S. received the Excellence in Student Research Award from Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, for having published and presented research at conferences extensively during graduate school. Additional graduate school distinctions included the Board of Trustees Scholarship (1998-2001), Hochwalt Fellowship (2000-2001), and the Dr. Harold and Ruth Ireland Crowley Scholarship (2001-2002). Upon graduation, Dr. S. worked as a Research Assistant Professor and was a Fellow of the American Psychoanalytic Association from 2006 to 2007.
Dr. S. works full-time as an independent researcher, author, composer, educational software developer, and publisher.