<p>Compmom, I think comp/tech graduate school is one of the things my son is thinking about. He would rather have a very strong foundation in composition with a secondary emphasis on technology during his undergraduate studies and then pursue a Masters degree (if he should be so lucky) at places like Mills, Stanford, Yale, UCSD, Harvard where he can go deeper into electronic, computer, and electroacoustic composition. I am sure you can also get to the same grad programs through more technical degrees. </p>
<p>An Arduino is a type of prototyping microprocessor board. It is a low-cost mini computing device that is somewhat easy to program and make do things. You can use them as the brain in robotics, people put them in weather balloons to handle GPS and tracking duties. In music they can be turned into little synthesizers or guitar effects pedals or midi controllers. You can control sensors, displays, input devices and more. Since they are small and low cost they can be embedded in things where it would otherwise be too expensive or risky or small to stick a laptop.</p>