Biography
Dr. Kolta received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1998. He gained valuable experience in the field for several years when he discovered his passion for teaching. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science in 2007 and 2009, respectively, from the University at Albany, State University of New York. His master’s project involved implementing an artificial intelligent agent on an original board game. His doctoral dissertation is entitled “Machine Learned Melody Matching using Strictly Relative Musical Abstractions.” In his interdisciplinary work, Dr. Kolta has devised a unique search engine for music that is not based on traditional text queries but is instead based on melody.
Dr. Kolta has several years of industry experience and over twenty years of teaching experience in higher education. His dissertation research has earned him a software patent in 2011 with over thirty claims all based on his unique melody based search engine. This invention incorporates ideas from music theory, music information retrieval, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence into a seamless and functional search engine which works best if the user produces their query audibly, such as by humming or singing. Dr. Kolta hopes to expand this research to Christian musical collections in hopes of making them searchable in new ways to assist both hobbyists and professionals to find musical works that they otherwise would not be able to locate or identify.
Outside of his scholarly achievements, Dr. Kolta is an avid keyboard player and drummer who enjoys composing original songs. He is blessed to be married to Lisa and they are parents of three beautiful children. He enjoys weight lifting, biking, paddle-boarding, and spending time with family, especially at the beach or a theme park.
Degrees
PhD in Computer Science, University of Albany | MS in Computer Science, University of Albany | BS in Industrial and Management Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute